Our Invoicing

We are registered for GST and will submit correctly rendered tax invoices to you to an email address as you direct.

We will ordinarily invoice you monthly in arrears or at the conclusion of each matter. We will forward tax invoices, that meet ATO requirements, in the form of a PDF attachment to the email address(es) specified by you for the purpose. We will not provide paper copies of invoices unless you specifically request them.

Our invoices need to be paid within 14 days of the date of invoice. If an invoice remains unpaid 14 days after its date we may charge you interest at a rate not exceeding the Cash Rate Target (as fixed by the Reserve Bank of Australia) plus 3 per cent, such interest accruing daily from the invoice date. If you do not pay our invoice(s), we may be entitled to exercise a ‘solicitor’s lien’, allowing us to retain your documents until our outstanding fees are paid.

Jurisdiction

We are on occasion asked to advise on matters outside Australia and we offer advisory support as you request. This advisory is based on past work in SE Asia, Africa and the Americas.

The Legal Profession Act 2007 (Qld) as applied in Queensland Australia is applicable to the legal costs and our conduct of each matter you engage us on and the laws applicable in Queensland apply to the services provided to you.

Reporting

We will provide such reports as you reasonably require, whether on an ad hoc or regular basis, including reports on work in progress and costs.

A Burn Down report or chart can be provided when you require us to work within a fixed budgeted amount within an agile methodology.

Have a Concern

If you have any concerns about our legal costs, please do not hesitate to contact the principal solicitor, Clara Duncan.

This is because it is important to us that, in consenting to the proposed course of action for the conduct of your matter (in particular the proposed costs) you are informed and understand the issues involved.

You may take the following action in the event of a dispute with us about legal costs:

(a) apply for a costs review within 12 months after being given a bill, a request for payment is made or the costs are paid without a bill being given or request for payment being made;

(b) apply for the costs agreement to be set aside;

(c) make a complaint to the Legal Services Commissioner. This includes making a complaint that includes a civil dispute to the Legal Services Commission within 60 days after the legal costs were payable or within 30 days after a request for an itemised bill was complied with.

Your Rights

You have a right to negotiate a costs agreement and the applicable billing method with us. You may want to seek independent legal advice before agreeing to the legal costs we propose to charge in this matter. You have a right to receive a Bill of Costs from us and request an itemised Bill of Costs within 30 days after receiving a bill that is not itemised, or is only partially itemized, from us. You have a right to be notified of any significant change to the basis on which legal costs will be calculated or any significant change to the estimate of total legal costs. You have the right to seek the assistance of the designated local regulatory authority (Queensland Legal Services Commissioner) in the event of a dispute about legal costs. The LSC sets out in a regulatory guide how legal practices are to address legal costs, outlays and disbursements,
and billing. If you apply a RCTI you may waive your rights.

You may ask that timesheets are submitted with invoices and presented weekly to your representative. Timesheets are presented as a true record of actual time spent and this practice endeavours to reduce administration or limited value-add tasks in connection with your matter. In good faith a discount may be applied in your favour for activities that do not advance your matter, however urgent matters requiring eight hours (being the basis for any day rate) are charged at hourly rates (pro rata for each 6 minute interval) of the acting lawyer.