Queensland Law Society
      Client Engagement 
      Precedent
      (Legal fees less than $1500 exc GST)
         INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE
         Delete highlighted sections that are not required. 
         ‘Fees’ has an option for fixed fee work or hourly rate work, delete the option not required.
         ‘Termination or early conclusion’ has an option for fixed fee work or hourly rate work, delete the option not 
         required). 
         If you wish to use the client engagement precedent as a trust account authority, you must obtain the client’s 
         signature (you will not be able to rely on the client simply continuing to provide you with instructions as authority
         for trust account purposes). You may use an e-signing platform. If you do not wish to use the client engagement
         precedent as a trust account authority you may choose to remove the client signing requirement.
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               Client Engagement                                                    transfer funds promptly to our trust account when 
                                                                                     requested;
               These terms and the attached letter form our client 
               engagement with you (the client). This offer may be                  pay our bills when they are due; and
               accepted by signing and returning a copy to us, by                   comply with your obligations about cyber-security, 
               acceptance in writing (including by email) or continuing to           including telephoning us and third parties (i.e. real 
               provide instructions.                                                 estate agents, insurers, medical providers etc.) to 
               The Client                                                            confirm both our and your bank details, and not 
                                                                                     acting on emailed or text message requests for 
                                                   payment.
               Scope of work                                                    Joint Clients
               The scope of the work (the work) you wish us to                  By having you as joint clients, we confirm that:
               undertake is:                                                        information or instructions given by one client may be
                                                   shared with the other joint clients;
               Fees                                                                 if one of you insists that information or instructions be
                                                                                     withheld from the other(s), we will have to cease 
               [OPTION FIXED FEES] Our fees (including GST, if                       acting for all of you;
               applicable) will be:                                                 if a conflict arises, you may incur additional legal fees
                                                   and you will all need to engage new solicitors.
               You will also incur disbursements of                                                              If this is a conveyance, under the Lexon 
               Your total legal fees and disbursements will be:                                                 instructions from any one of you on behalf 
               OR                                                                      of all of you unless you inform us that the 
               [OPTION HOURLY RATE] Our fees will be charged on an                     authority of any person to provide 
               hourly rate and charged in six (6) minute increments (or                instruction is withdrawn. 
               part thereof). The applicable hourly rate(s) (including          How we will work with you
               GST, if applicable) for your matter will be:
                                              Our office hours are  am 
               You will also incur disbursements of   pm Monday to Friday. 
               enter text.>                                                     Your calls and emails will be returned as soon as 
               We estimate your legal fees and disbursements will be            possible, but within  
               between                        hours, or the next business day. You are also welcome to 
                                                                                use our on-line booking system to schedule 
               If you ask us to do additional work or it becomes                appointments, including telephone call-backs.
               reasonably necessary to do so, you are responsible for 
               additional fees and disbursements calculated at the rates        However, if you have a matter where you urgently need 
               agreed.                                                          assistance, please call rather than email, and indicate the
                                                                                urgency to the person taking your call.  
               Your Obligations                                                 Written instructions are best, and we will often 
               These obligations are essential and important. You must:         communicate with you by email rather than by telephone 
                                                                                (with the exception of bank details or payment 
                  give us timely and full instructions when we ask you         instructions), as this allows you to consider our advice at 
                   for instructions;                                            your convenience. We are entitled to treat any instruction 
                  keep us informed of any changes to your email,               received from your email, electronic or phone accounts 
                   telephone or address;                                        as being from you without further verification.
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               Who will carry out the work                                      If we cease to act for you:
               To ensure our services are provided to you in the most               we will remove our name from the court record in any
               cost-effective, timely and efficient manner, we will                  court proceedings;
               nominate solicitors with the skills for your needs. Any              you will receive a final bill for all outstanding legal 
               delegation of work will be subject to the supervision of the          costs;
               responsible solicitor for your matter.                               you must pay our legal costs up until the date when 
                                                                                     we cease to act.
               We may use precedents and other tools in providing our 
               services to you. You have a right to use the documents           Termination or early conclusion
               we prepare for you only for the purposes for which they 
               are supplied. Unless otherwise agreed, we retain                 [OPTION FIXED FEE MATTERS] If our engagement 
               copyright.                                                       ends or your matter concludes before we complete the 
                                                                                scope of work, you must pay that part of the fixed fee that
               Trust Money                                                      reasonably reflects the value of the work performed to the
                                                                                date of the termination or conclusion of the matter, plus 
               We may (at any time) request that you provide us with            any expenses and disbursements which are not included 
               reasonable security for payment of our fees in advance of        in the fixed fee.
               us undertaking work. Money paid in advance will be held 
               in our trust account for payment of outlays or until             OR
               payment of our bills is required. You authorise us to draw       [OPTION HOURLY RATE] If our engagement ends or 
               on all trust money held by us on your behalf to pay legal        your matter concludes before we complete the scope of 
               fees, outlays, GST and any other amount due from you to          work, you must pay us the value of the work performed to
               us including such costs incurred but which we have not           the date of the termination or conclusion of the matter, 
               already paid if the relevant procedures or requirements          plus any expenses and disbursements.
               under the Legal Profession Regulation 2017 are complied
               with.                                                            File Retention
               Bills                                                            At the conclusion of our retainer and if all outstanding 
               You consent to us delivering your bills either                   fees and disbursements are paid you may collect your 
               electronically or as agreed. Our bills are immediately           documents without charge. Where your documents are 
               due and payable. Interest on unpaid accounts will be             held by us in electronic form, only electronic copies, in a 
               charged at the rate prescribed under s59(3) Civil                ‘read-only’ format will be provided.
               Proceedings Act 2011 for a money order debt.                     You consent to:
               Ending this retainer                                                 your documents being held in electronic form;
               You may end this retainer and withdraw instructions at               us destroying any paper duplicates at any time;
               any time before we complete the scope of work and for                us transferring your documents in electronic form;
               any reason.                                                          us destroying or deleting all of your documents 
               We may end this retainer with your agreement or for a                 (whether electronic or paper) after our retention 
               good reason and on reasonable notice. Good reasons                    period of seven (7) years without contacting you 
               may include but are not limited to:                                   again.
                  failing to pay our bills;                                    Privacy Information
                  being unable to properly verify your identity or your 
                   authority to give instructions;                              The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and other privacy legislation 
                                                                                applies when we collect personal information from you in 
                  unreasonably refusing to follow our advice;                  order for us to carry out your work. Except for your name 
                  requiring us to act unlawfully or unethically;               and address, this information is also confidential and may
                  demonstrating a lack of confidence in us; or                 be protected by legal professional privilege.  Disclosure of
                                                                                this information may be compelled by law. You also 
                  failing to provide us with adequate instructions.            authorise us to disclose this information where necessary
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       in the process of carrying out your work (e.g. to our staff, 
       Court or other parties involved in your matter).
          You consent to your email address being 
          added to our email service. We use this 
          service to keep all our clients up-to-date with
          important information about the firm (e.g. 
          office closure due to Christmas, public 
          holidays), urgent arrangements required 
          resulting from COVID lockdowns, extreme 
          weather events or natural disasters and to 
          provide you with information that we think 
          may be of interest to you. You can 
          unsubscribe from this service at any time.
       Providing feedback
       We welcome feedback – good and bad. We would rather 
       have the opportunity to rectify a problem than have a 
       dissatisfied client. So please let us know if there is an 
       issue, and we will do our best to provide a solution.
       Client(s)
       Date
       Client(s)
       Date
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