OpenLegal

Terms of OpenLegal Lawyer Subscription

Client Costs Agreement

Our Details: OpenLegal Pty Ltd(ABN 76632574979). Level 13/111 Elizabeth Street Sydney 2000, NSW Australia.

  1. Acceptance of Offer
    1. This document sets out the terms of our offer to provide legal services to you and constitutes our costs agreement and disclosure pursuant to the Legal Profession Uniform Law (“the Uniform Law”).
    2. You confirm that you have hereby been informed of your right to obtain independent legal advice before entering into this Conditional Costs Agreement.
    3. Payment of our Payment Advice to OpenLegal Pty Ltd and/or instructing us constitutes acceptance of this Costs Agreement.
  2. Professional Fees 
    1. We will charge you on the fixed fee basis as set out below
    2. 1 Annual Lawyer Subscription, at 12 x $99 – $1,188.00 (inclusive of credit card surcharge fee of $23.17).
    3. GST – $108.90
    4. Total: $1,306.80
    5. You will be receipted monthly for $106.97.
  3. Additional Work 
    1. If you request or require services in addition to the Scope of Work, and if we agree to perform this work, we will agree to either: 
      1. Issue you with a new fixed fee agreement, or 
      2. Charge you on an hourly basis, as per the following rates (ex GST): Practice Leader or Consultant: $525 per hour Senior Lawyer: $425 per hour Lawyer: $375 per hour Lawyer (up to 2 years PQE): $325 per hour Paralegal: $185 per hour Costs Agreement
  4. Disbursements
    1. We may incur disbursements, being money we pay or are liable to pay to others on your behalf. Disbursements may include search fees, court filing fees, process server fees, expert fees, witness expenses, travel expenses, transcript expenses and barrister’s fees. We will advise you of these fees as soon as practicable which you will be required to pay directly as necessary. 
    2. We are not responsible for these potential third party fees, which are payable when due and are subject to variance at any time.
  5. Variables
    1. Some of the variables which may impact upon the cost estimate provided above include the following:
      1. the number and duration of telephone calls or other communications; 
      2. your prompt and efficient response to requests for information or instructions; 
      3. whether your instructions are varied;
      4. whether documents have to be revised in light of varied instructions; 
      5. the lawyer or other persons with whom we deal and the level of co-operation of the lawyer’s clients and other persons involved; 
      6. changes in the law; and 
      7. the complexity or uncertainty concerning legal issues affecting your matter.
  6. Billing Arrangements
    1. Fixed free prices are to be paid in full to OpenLegal at the outset of your matter. If a different payment arrangement has been organised, you agree to pay as per that arrangement. If invoices have been issued for ongoing work, these may be issued weekly, fortnightly, or monthly. All tax invoices are due and payable 30 days from the date of the tax invoice. You consent to us sending our tax invoices to you electronically at your usual email address or mobile phone number as specified by you.
  7. Interest Charges
    1. Interest at the maximum rate prescribed in Rule 75 of the Legal Profession Uniform General Rules 2015 (“Uniform General Rules”) (being the Cash Rate Target set by the Reserve Bank of Australia plus 2%) will be charged on any amounts unpaid after the expiry of 30 days after a tax invoice is given to you.
  8. Recovery of Costs 
    1. The Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW) (“the Uniform Law”) provides that we cannot take action for recovery of legal costs until 30 days after a tax invoice (which complies with the Uniform Law) has been given to you.
  9. Your Rights
    1. It is your right to:
      1. obtain independent legal advice before agreeing to the proposed costs agreement;
      2. negotiate a costs agreement with us;
      3. negotiate the method of billing (e.g. task based or time based);
      4. request and receive an itemised bill within 30 days after a lump sum bill or partially itemised bill is payable;
      5. seek the assistance of the designated local regulatory authority (the NSW Commissioner) in the event of a dispute about legal costs; 
      6. be notified as soon as is reasonably practicable of any substantial change to any matter affecting costs;
      7. accept or reject any offer we make for an interstate costs law to apply to your matter; and 
      8. notify us that you require an interstate costs law to apply to your matter.
    2. We are entitled to charge you a reasonable amount to provide a progress report on your matter but may not charge to provide a written report on the legal costs incurred by you.
    3. Nothing in these terms affects your rights under the Australian Consumer Law.
  10. Your Rights in relation to a Dispute concerning Costs
    1. If you have a dispute in relation to any aspect of our legal costs you have the following avenues of redress:
    2. in the first instance we encourage you to discuss your concerns with us so that any issue can be identified and we can have the opportunity of resolving the matter promptly and without it adversely impacting on our business relationship;
    3. you may apply to the Manager, Costs Assessment located at the Supreme Court of NSW for an assessment of our costs. This application must be made within 12 months after the bill was provided or request for payment made or after the costs were paid.
  11. Authorisation to Transfer Money from Trust Account 
    1. You authorise us to receive directly into our trust account any judgment or settlement amount, or money received from any source in furtherance of your work, and to pay our professional fees, any uplift fee, internal expenses and disbursements in accordance with the provisions of Rule 42 of the Uniform General Rules. A trust statement will be forwarded to you upon completion of the matter.
  12. Retention of Your Documents
    1. On completion of your work, or following termination (by either party) of our services, we will retain your documents for 7 years. Your agreement to these terms constitutes your authority for us to destroy the file after those 7 years. The authority does not relate to any documents which are deposited in safe custody which will, subject to agreement, be retained on your behalf indefinitely. We are entitled to retain your documents while there is money owing to us for our costs.
    2. You will be liable for the cost of storing and retrieving documents in storage and our professional fees in connection with this.
  13. Termination by Us
    1. We may cease to act for you or refuse to perform further work, including:
      1. while any of our tax invoices remain unpaid;
      2. if you do not within 7 days comply with any request to pay an amount in respect of disbursements; 
      3. if you fail to provide us with clear and timely instructions to enable us to advance your matter, for example, compromising our ability to comply with Court directions, orders or practice notes;
      4. if you refuse to accept our advice;
      5. if you indicate to us or we form the view that you have lost confidence in us; 
      6. if there are any ethical grounds which we consider require us to cease acting for you, for example a conflict of interest; 
      7. for any other reason outside our control which has the effect of compromising our ability to perform the work required within the required timeframe;
      8. if in our sole discretion we consider it is no longer appropriate to act for you; or 
      9. for just cause. 
    2. We will give you reasonable written notice of termination of our services. You will be required to pay our costs incurred up to the date of termination.
  14. Termination by You
    1. You may terminate our services by written notice at any time. If you do you will be required to pay our costs incurred up to the date of termination (including if the matter is litigious, any cancellation fees or other fees such as hearing allocation fees for which we remain responsible).
  15. Lien
    1. Without affecting any lien to which we are otherwise entitled at law over funds, papers and other property of yours:
      1. we shall be entitled to retain by way of lien any funds, property or papers of yours, which are from time to time in our possession or control, until all costs, disbursements, interest and other moneys due to the firm have been paid; and
      2. our lien will continue notwithstanding that we cease to act for you. 
  1. Privacy
    1. We will collect personal information from you in the course of providing our legal services. We may also obtain personal information from third party searches, other investigations and, sometimes, from adverse parties.
    2. We are required to collect the full name and address of our clients by Rule 93 of the Uniform General Rules. Accurate name and address information must also be collected in order to comply with the trust account record keeping requirements of Rule 47 of the Uniform General Rules and to comply with our duty to the courts.
    3. Your personal information will only be used for the purposes for which it is collected or in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). For example, we may use your personal information to provide advice and recommendations that take into account your personal circumstances.
    4. If you do not provide us with the full name and address information required by law we cannot act for you. If you do not provide us with the other personal information that we request our advice may be wrong for you or misleading. 
    5. Depending on the nature of your matter the types of bodies to whom we may disclose your personal information include the courts, the other party or parties to litigation, experts and barristers, the Office of State Revenue, PEXA Limited, the Land and Property Information Division of the Department of Lands, the Registrar General and third parties involved in the completion or processing of a transaction.
    6. We do not disclose your information overseas unless your instructions involve dealing with parties located overseas. If your matter involves parties overseas we may disclose select personal information to overseas recipients associated with that matter in order to carry out your instructions.
    7. We manage and protect your personal information in accordance with our privacy policy [which can be found on our firm website or a copy of which we shall provide at your request]. Our privacy policy contains information about how you can access and correct the personal information we hold about you and how you can raise any concerns about our personal information handling practices. For more information, please contact us in writing.
  2. Sending Material Electronically
    1. We are able to send and receive documents electronically. However, as such transmission is not secure it may be copied, recorded, read or interfered with by third parties while in transit. If you ask us to transmit any document electronically, you release us from any claim you may have as a result of any unauthorised copying, recording, reading or interference with that document, for any delay or non-delivery of any document and for any damage caused to your system or any files. 
  1. GST
    1. Where applicable, GST is payable on our professional fees and expenses and will be clearly shown on our tax invoices. By accepting these terms you agree to pay us an amount equivalent to the GST imposed on these charges.
  2. Governing Law
    1. The law of New South Wales governs these terms and legal costs in relation to any matter upon which we are instructed to act.
  3. Conditions for Lawyer Subscription Service
    You acknowledge that:
    1. Your annual payment will auto-renew 12 months after the date of your first payment, unless you cancel. 
    2. The Lawyer Subscription service includes phone consultations with our lawyers, but does not include reviews of documents, drafting of legal documents, litigation services or litigation advice.
    3. Each call needs to be related to a new legal matter.
    4. Any requested legal work beyond the scope of a phone consultation will be priced additionally to your subscription plan.
    5. The monthly fee remains in place whether or not you book any phone consultations within a given month.