INTRODUCTION
These terms of engagement set out certain standard terms and conditions on which Armstrong Murray Ltd provides legal and related services to you. These Terms of Engagement apply subject to any additional or alternative terms which we may agree in writing with you. We reserve the right to change these terms from time to time and will publish the changed terms on our website. By instructing us to provide you with legal services you agree that you have accepted these Terms of Engagement and any amendments we make to them.
1. OUR SERVICES
The legal services which we are to provide for you are outlined in our engagement letter.
2. YOUR INSTRUCTIONS
You are required to provide us with a current residential address and suitable identification. We can accept instructions and report to any of the following unless you advise us in writing.
- If we act for a couple in a transaction, we can accept instructions from either party.
- If we act for a company, we can accept instructions from any director or officer of that company or any employee or other person who you have authorised to work with us.
- If we act for a trust, we can accept instructions from any trustee or officer of that trust.
- If we act for a partnership, we can accept any instructions from any partner or officer of that partnership.
At all times, you are obliged to provide us with all or any relevant instructions, information, evidence and documents in a timely manner. Any failure to do so may have a material effect on our conclusions and the provision of work, services or representation.
3. FINANCIAL
Fees
Our fees are calculated in accordance with the factors set out at Chapter 9 of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act (Lawyers: Conduct and Client Care) Rules 2008. They are principally based on an hourly rate calculated on the time spent working on your file. Sometimes our charges will also be influenced by any degree of urgency and the difficulties and complexities of the case. Our directors, principals, associates, senior solicitors, solicitors, legal executives, trust administrators and law clerks have an hourly billing rate based on their experience and expertise. You may request the hourly rate of any person working on your file. This hourly rate may increase from time to time based on the experience of the person or persons acting in your matter.
Estimates
If you would like us to give you an estimate of what we expect the fees will be for your matter, we will do so. This will be a guide only and is not a fixed quote. We will also, at your request, tell you the amount of fees incurred to date, or we can let you know when fees reach a certain level.
Disbursements
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 advance payment for the disbursement or expense of which we will be incurring on your behalf.
Anti-Money Laundering
Armstrong Murray Ltd is required to comply with the terms of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009.
In that respect, we are required to collect and retain client information for matters on which we are instructed. That information includes but is not limited to: identity verification, tax numbers (New Zealand and/or foreign) and proof of residential address. In some cases, we are also required to verify source of client funds and/or source of client wealth. That information is required to be obtained by us in respect of most
We currently comply with the obligations under that Act by either obtaining copies of necessary documents in person, or as certified copies, or by outsourcing the collection of that information to an accredited provider of these services.
In completing our Letter of Engagement, you are deemed to have agreed to us instructing an accredited provider to obtain this information from you and your related entities and to pass that information on to us, in order that we can comply with our Anti-Money Laundering obligations. You also acknowledge that our provider (as at 1 July 2021 we use First AML Limited) will charge a fee to us for obtaining that information. Such fee will be recovered from you as a disbursement.
Office Service Charge Fee
In addition to disbursements, we may charge a fee of up to $65 per invoice, to cover out of pocket costs which are not included in our fee and which are not recorded as disbursements. These include items such as photocopying, printing, postage and phone calls. For litigation matters this sum may be greater, primarily dependent on the quantity of printing/photocopying required for Court filings.
Accounts
Our invoices are payable within 14 days of receipt. All accounts are pre-printed E & OE which means that “errors and omissions” in our invoice are excepted. Accounts rendered to you shall be paid in full before we undertake or provide any further work or services on your behalf. If an account is overdue, we may charge interest at the rate of 2% per month or part thereof on any amount outstanding, with interest calculated from the date payment becomes due until the date of payment.
If the work we are doing for you is ongoing, we will issue interim accounts, usually on a monthly basis.
If you have any queries or concerns regarding any invoice that has been rendered, please raise the matter with either the director in charge or our Practice Manager.
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, nevertheless you remain principally liable for payment.
Should we decide to take any action to recover any outstanding invoice(s) and any interest payable thereon, we will, in addition to recovering such outstanding invoice(s) and interest, be entitled to recover against you our legal costs and any disbursements (on an indemnity – solicitor/client basis) in relation to any such action, which will include the enforcement or attempted enforcement of any of our rights under these terms of engagement and our letter of engagement.
GST
GST will, if applicable, be charged and payable in addition to the amount of any fee.
Retainer
A retainer may sometimes be required which we will place in our trust account prior to work commencing and may be held on interest bearing deposit (interest accrued will be to your credit) until the conclusion of the file. Until then all monthly invoices are to be paid on the due date until the completion of that file. The retainer will be applied against the final account with any balance being refunded to you.
Monies Held or Received
For any property related or financing transactions, you must credit our trust account on the day of settlement with cleared funds of the amount required before 10am.
Where we hold any funds on your behalf in our trust account, whether received by us on your behalf or paid into our trust account by you, regardless of the intended purpose of those funds, you irrevocably authorise us to deduct all of our fees and disbursements and any other charges held or received on your behalf in respect of any matter we are dealing with on your behalf, prior to the funds being disbursed to you or any other person or entity nominated by you. The raising of an invoice and statement to you is our authority for such a deduction and all such invoices/statements will be forwarded to you.
Security for payment
If we act for a trust, the trustees of the trust with unlimited liability personally guarantee the payment of our fees to us. For that reason, we may treat the trustees personally as debtor.
If we act for a company:
(a) the directors of the company from time to time personally guarantee the payment of our fees to us; and
(b) by accepting these terms of engagement you acknowledge and agree that a security interest is granted in all of the company’s present and after acquired assets as security for the payment of our fees to us; and
(c) you waive your right to receive a copy of any verification statement in
respect of any security interest granted to us by you; and
(d) you agree to indemnify us, upon demand, for all costs and expenses
(including legal fees) incurred by us: as a result of our attempted
enforcement of any security interest granted to us by you; and in
complying with any demand made under section 162 of the Personal
Property Securities Act 1999; and
(e) on request, you shall promptly do all things and provide all information
necessary to enable us to perfect and maintain the perfection of any
security interest granted to us by you (including by registration of a
financing statement).
Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and Common Reporting Standards (FATCA / CRS)
To the extent that we hold funds in our trust account on your behalf whether on deposit or otherwise, you authorise us to disclose any information required to be disclosed to either this firm’s bank or the Inland Revenue Department pursuant to FATCA / CRS requirements. You authorise us to collect FATCA / CRS information from you in relation to such funds on an ongoing basis and whenever monies are held in our trust account and disclose such information as and when required under FATCA / CRS.
4. CONFIDENTIALITY
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:
- to the extent necessary or desirable to enable us to carry out your instructions; or
- to the extent required by law or by the Conduct and Client Care Rules for Lawyers.
Your confidential information will (as far as practicable) only be made available to those within our firm who are providing legal services for you.
We will not disclose confidential information which we have in relation to any other client to you.
5. TERMINATION
You may terminate our services at any time. We may terminate our services at any time on written notice. We will then issue a final account to you and will hold your files, deeds, and any money in trust until payment has been received in full for any outstanding accounts. We reserve the right to withdraw from our representation of you without your consent. We are bound by the Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers. We may terminate your retainer for good cause as set out in rule 4.2.1 after giving you reasonable notice specifying our grounds for termination.
6. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
We have procedures in place to deal with issues that arise if the interests of two or more clients conflict. If a conflict of interest arises we will advise you of this and follow the requirements and procedures set out in the Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers.
7. RETENTION OF FILES AND DOCUMENTS
You authorise us (without further reference to you) to destroy all files and documents for a particular 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.
8. DUTY OF CARE
Our duty of care is owed to you and not to any other person. Before any other person may rely on our advice, we must expressly agree to this.
9. TRUST ACCOUNT
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. In that case we will charge an administration fee of up to 5% of the interest derived.
10. ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS
Unless otherwise agreed with you, we will communicate with you and others at times by email. As emails are not always secure, or may have defects (such as viruses), we do not accept responsibility and will not be liable for any damage or loss caused by an email that is intercepted, or has a virus or other defect.
11. LAW AND JURISDICTION
These terms of engagement and any other agreement we have with you are governed by New Zealand law and we and you irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the New Zealand Courts.
12. FUTURE INSTRUCTIONS
Unless otherwise agreed in writing, these terms having been handed or sent to you, will apply to all instructions received from you including current matters and future instructions whether or not these terms of engagement are signed.
13. GENERAL
We are entitled to change these terms of engagement from time to time, in which case we will send you amended terms.