Fees
Fees
In the absence of any agreement to the contrary, we will charge for the Legal Services on the basis of the time spent in carrying out the work. Time spent will include time spent in conducting customer due diligence procedures and travelling to or from any meetings.
Time based fees will be charged at varying rates depending on the nature of the work and the level of the partner or other lawyer/legal executive undertaking such work. These rates may be changed from time to time. Full details of rates will be provided on request. The precise rate will be based on a number of factors including:
- whether the work required to be done is of a routine nature or of a complex and novel nature in relation to a specific transaction;
- whether there is specialised legal knowledge required in connection with the advice;
- the complexity and/or value of your business, whether generally or in relation to the specific transaction
- the amount of information and/or the volume of documents which we may have to review in connection with the legal advice;
- the importance and urgency of any action required to be taken in connection with the matter;
- the time of day which any work required to be done was carried out; and
- the amount of time spent in carrying out the work.
Time spent on a matter will be recorded by all members of the firm dealing with it and the total time recorded will be one but not the only factor taken into account in assessing the level of fees to be charged for work done on a time spent basis. The partner responsible for your work will always be willing to discuss the basis for charging a particular matter at the outset. It may be possible to give an indication of costs but this is unlikely in litigation.
Where hourly rates are given these are exclusive of tax and disbursements.
Where an estimate of fees is requested and given, unless otherwise agreed, it is only an indication of the amount anticipated as being the likely charge and shall not be regarded as an agreed fee for the work on the transaction unless specifically confirmed as a fixed quotation. No estimate or quotation will be effective unless given in writing. In particular any estimate or quotation will be on the basis of the information you have given us, that you have provided us with all key information and documents at the outset, there are no material changes of instruction, there are no material changes of circumstances, the fee does not include disbursements and costs, there are no unforeseen complex, legal or other issues and we do not need to liaise with other non identified parties. Our charges may therefore differ from estimates and quotations which are provisional. We can indicate current unbilled time costs on request.
We may levy a standard disbursement charge determined by us from time to time for items such as registration fees, search fees, courier fees and similar items and these disbursement charges may be higher or lower than the actual cost incurred by us.
Where we are obliged to charge GST, VAT or any other similar tax in respect of any of the services which we provide, we will add the relevant tax to our charges and disbursements at the applicable rate from time to time in force. All estimates or quotations given by us (or on our behalf) are given exclusive of disbursements and exclusive of any GST, VAT or any other similar tax unless otherwise expressly stated.
