Terms of engagement

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All services offered by Harkness Henry are subject to our following Terms of Engagement and Information for Clients.

FEES AND CHARGES

  • A fee estimate and/or the basis upon which fees will be charged will be set out in our Letter of Engagement. If work is to be charged for on a time basis, the then current hourly rate of the lawyer(s) involved will apply. Each lawyer’s hourly rate is subject to review at least annually. Time is recorded in units of 6 minutes, with time rounded up to the nearest unit of 6 minutes.
  • Where the work required falls outside of the scope of any initial estimate, we will advise you as early as practicable that the initial estimate no longer applies.
  • Estimates will be provided and reviewed upon request.
  • Fees are calculated in accordance with the New Zealand Law Society (“Law Society”) guidelines including:
    • Skill, specialised knowledge, and responsibility
    • Time involved
    • Complexity
    • Urgency
    • Importance of the work and the results achieved
    • Risk
    • Experience, reputation, and ability of the lawyer(s) involved
    • The lawyer(s) involved not being available to other clients because of their commitment to the required work
    • Fixed or conditional fees
    • Any quote or estimate of fees given by the lawyer
    • Any fee agreement entered into between the lawyer and client
    • The reasonable costs of running a practice
    • The fee customarily charged in the market and locality for similar legal service(s)
  • A file handling and administration fee is charged to cover ordinary expenses. Any additional charges will appear on the invoice for the period in which they are incurred. Payment in advance may be requested for disbursements.

PAYMENT OF ACCOUNTS

  • Accounts are due for payment either on settlement of transactions or otherwise on the 20th day of the month following the date of the tax invoice ("due date"). If you have difficulty meeting any account, please let us know.
  • An account will be sent on completion of your instructions or interim accounts will be sent monthly.
  • Outstanding accounts will incur interest at the rate of 1% per month charged at our discretion.
  • Accounts which have not been paid by the 20th of the month following due date may be referred to a debt collection agency without notice.
  • You will be liable for all our collection costs (including legal costs).
  • We may ask you to pre-pay amounts to us, or to provide security for our fees and expenses. You authorise us 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.
  • You may wish to make periodic payments into our trust account on account of fees, expenses or disbursements.
  • 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 still remain responsible for payment to us if the third party fails to pay us.

CONFIDENTIALITY

  • If legal requirements require proof of identity, any of the following forms are acceptable:
    • Drivers Licence
    • Passport
    • Firearms Licence
    • Other government-issued photo ID
  • We 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:
    • To the extent necessary or desirable to enable us to carry out your instructions; or
    • To the extent permitted or required by law or by the Law Society’s Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers.
  • This information will only be made available to those within our firm who are providing legal services for you, as far as this is practicable. We will not disclose to you confidential information which we have concerning any other client.
  • We may retain copies of your documents and records should we provide you with the original of these.
  • If we receive a request for information from your auditor, you authorise us to supply the requested information and you agree to pay us our usual fee for doing so.

FILE DESTRUCTION

  • Generally, files will be destroyed 10 years after file closure.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

  • 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.

DUTY OF CARE

  • 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 in writing.

TRUST ACCOUNT

  • We maintain a trust account for all funds which we receive from clients (except moneys received for payment of our invoices).
  • You can pay your funds to us by direct credit or by cheque (including bank cheque) made payable to "Harkness Henry Trust Account."
  • Any funds that we receive from you, or on your behalf, are held on trust for you until distributed in accordance with your instructions.
  • All payments of funds, other than to you, will only be made with your prior written authority. “Written authority” means a letter or fax signed by you and does not include an email. Any funds that are paid to you will be paid by trust account cheque.
  • If your payment to us is not made in cleared funds (for example, by personal cheque) then we may wait until the funds have cleared before disbursing the funds in accordance with your instructions.
  • If we receive funds for you, we will (subject to any other obligations we have) pay them to you once we are satisfied that those funds have been cleared through the banking system. This may mean that if funds are paid to us electronically you may not receive them until the next banking day.
  • We will not issue you with a receipt unless you request one.
  • We keep records of your funds going into, or out of, our trust account and of any of your funds that have been put on interest bearing deposit.
  • If we are holding significant funds on your behalf we will normally lodge those funds on interest bearing deposit with our bank. In that case we will charge an administration fee of up to 6% of the gross interest earned.
  • Each year you will be sent a Resident Withholding Tax Certificate (if applicable). While we do not have a policy of regularly sending records of your funds to you, we will supply you with a copy of your records on request unless we are prevented from doing so ethically or by law. If appropriate, a reasonable charge may be made for providing you with a copy of your records.
  • We will not use any of your funds for our own benefit. However, we may lawfully claim a set off against, or lien over, all or part of your funds (including their proceeds) for any of your debts due to us.

ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION

  • Where we correspond with you using electronic communication (as defined in the Electronic Transactions Act 2002 ("the ETA")), the rules set out in the ETA will apply except that electronic communications sent to us will be deemed to be received at the time they come to our attention.
  • Electronic communication will be used unless you advise us to the contrary.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT

  • These terms outline the terms upon which instructions are accepted.
  • These terms apply to any current engagement and any future engagement, whether or not we send you another copy of them. They are available online at www.harkness.co.nz for your perusal at any time.
  • Your instructions represent acceptance of these terms.
  • We may unilaterally change these terms over time. You will be notified of any such changes.
  • Our relationship with you is governed by New Zealand law and the New Zealand courts have exclusive jurisdiction.