DEWHIRST LAW

OUR STANDARD TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT

These Standard Terms of Engagement (Terms) apply in respect of all work carried out by us
for you, except to the extent that we otherwise agree with you in writing.
1

Services

Financial

2.1

The services we are to provide for you are outlined in our engagement letter
instruction form issued by us from time to time (Engagement Letter).

2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.7

legal

Fees:

2.2

or

The fees we will charge or the manner in which they will be arrived at, are set out
in our Engagement Letter.

If the Engagement Letter specifies a fixed fee, we will charge this for the agreed
scope of our services. Work which falls outside that scope will be charged on an
hourly rate basis. We will advise you as soon as reasonably practicable if it
becomes necessary for us to provide services outside the agreed scope and, if
requested, give you an estimate of the likely amount of the further costs.
Where our fees are calculated on an hourly basis, the hourly rates are set out in our
Engagement Letter. The differences in those rates reflect the experience and
specialisation of our professional staff. Time spent is recorded in 6 minute units,
with time rounded up to the next unit of 6 minutes.

Disbursements and expenses: In providing services we may incur disbursements or

have to make payments to third parties on your behalf. These will be included in our
invoice to you when the expense is incurred. We may require an advance payment for
the disbursements or expenses which we will be incurring on your behalf.
GST (if any): Is payable by you on our fees and charges.

Office Expenses: We charge a fee to cover office expenses (including photocopying,

faxing, phone calls and file storage). This fee is calculated at a standard rate of 3.5% of
our legal fees (exc GST).
Invoices: We will send interim invoices to you, usually monthly and on completion of
the matter, or termination of our engagement. We may also send you an invoice when
we incur a significant expense.

Payment: Invoices are payable within 14 days of the date of the invoice, unless
alternative arrangements have been made with us.
Security: We may ask you to pre-pay amounts to us, or to provide security for our
fees and expenses. You authorise us:

to debit against amounts pre-paid by you; and

to deduct from any funds held on your behalf in our trust account

any fees, expenses or disbursements for which we have provided an invoice.

2.8

Third Parties: Although you may expect to be reimbursed by a third party for our fees
and expenses, and although our invoices may at your request or with your approval be
directed to a third party, you will remain responsible for payment to us if the third party
fails to pay.

Confidentiality

3.1

We will hold in confidence all information concerning you or your affairs that we acquire
during the course of acting for you. We will not disclose any of this information to any
other person except:

3.2

3.3
3.4
4

to the extent necessary or desirable to enable us to carry out your instructions; or

to the extent required by law or by the Law Societys Rules of Conduct and Client
Care for Lawyers.

You agree that we may provide any information we hold relating to your United States
Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) or Common Reporting Standard (CRS)
status, or other FATCA or CRS matters, to IRD and to our banks if they request
information to be able to meet their FATCA obligations. Please ask us if you would like
more information about FATCA or CRS.

Confidential information concerning you will as far as practicable be made available only
to those within our firm who are providing legal services for you.
We will of course, not disclose to you confidential information which we have in relation
to any other client.
Scope of Our Work

We are not qualified to give:

investment advice. You should get that advice from a qualified financial advisor;

insurance advice. You should get that advice from an insurance broker; or

tax advice. You should get that advice from your accountant or tax advisor;

advice about foreign laws. We can help you contact a lawyer in another country.

Termination

5.2

We may terminate our retainer in any of the circumstances set out in the Law Society's
Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers.

5.1

5.3

You may terminate our retainer at any time.

If our retainer is terminated you must pay us all fees due up to the date of termination
and all expenses incurred up to that date.

Retention of files and documents

Conflicts of Interest

Duty of Care

Trust Account

10

Limiting Our Liability To You

10.2

If you are more than one person (such as a couple or a partnership), this maximum is
the maximum combined amount that we will have to pay you together.

10.1

10.3

11

11.1

You authorise us (without further reference to you) to destroy all files and documents
for this matter (other than any documents that we hold in safe custody for you) 7 years
after our engagement ends, or earlier if we have converted those files and documents
to an electronic format.

We have procedures in place to identify and respond to conflicts of interest. If a conflict

of interest arises we will advise you of this and follow the requirements and procedures
set out in the Law Society's Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers.

Our duty of care is to you and not to any other person. Before any other person may
rely on our advice, we must expressly agree to this.

We maintain a trust account for all funds which we receive from clients (except monies
received for payment of our invoices). If we are holding significant funds on your
behalf we will normally lodge those funds on interest bearing deposit with a bank.

The maximum aggregate amount that we will have to pay you is the amount set by the
New Zealand Law Society as the minimum standard for the indemnity limit on our
professional indemnity insurance. This applies to the extent permitted by law, whatever
you are claiming for and however liability arises or might arise if not for this clause
(whether in contract, tort (including negligence), equity or otherwise). We will not have
to pay you more than the maximum amount for anything caused by or resulting from
anything we do or do not do, or delay in doing, whether or not it is contemplated or
authorised by any agreement with you.

If you engage us to do work for the purposes of a business, you agree the Consumer
Guarantees Act does not apply. Otherwise nothing in this clause 10 limits any rights you
might have under the Consumer Guarantees Act.
Professional Indemnity Insurance and Lawyers Fidelity Fund

We hold professional indemnity insurance that exceeds the New Zealand Law Societys
minimum standards. If you would like further information about our insurance, please
ask.
3

11.2

The New Zealand Law Society operates a Lawyers Fidelity Fund to compensate clients
who suffer theft of money or property entrusted to lawyers. The Fund covers losses of
up to $100,000 per individual claimant. It does not cover loss where you have
instructed us to invest money on your behalf (subject to limited exceptions set out in
the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act).

12

Complaints

12.2

If you have a complaint about our services or charges, you may refer your complaint to
the person in our firm who has overall responsibility for your work.

12.1

12.3

12.4

We maintain a procedure for handling any complaints by clients, designed to ensure

that a complaint is dealt with promptly and fairly.

If you do not wish to refer your complaint to that person, or you are not satisfied with
that persons response to your complaint, you may refer your complaint to Matthew
Hay, Principal, Succeed Legal, matt.hay@succedlegal.co.nz. Matthew is lawyer who is
not associated with us, and who is experienced in the areas of work that we do.
Matthew will independently assess your complaint and work with us to ensure that it is
dealt with promptly and fairly.
The Law Society operates the Lawyers Complaints Service and you are able to make a
complaint to that service. To do so, phone 0800 261 801 and you will be connected to
the nearest Complaints Service Office, which can provide information and advice about
making a complaint.

13

General

13.2

We are entitled to change these Terms from time to time, in which case we will send
you amended Terms.

13.1

13.3

These Terms apply to any current engagement and also to any future engagement,
whether or not we send you another copy of them.

Our relationship with you is governed by New Zealand law and New Zealand courts
have non-exclusive jurisdiction.

If you have any questions about these terms, please do not hesitate to ask.
Effective from 1 September 2015