Terms of Engagement

Part A of Schedule 1 (Purchase) sets out the work we agree to undertake if you have engaged us to act for you in the purchase of a property.

Part A of Schedule 2 (Sale) sets out the work we agree to undertake if you have engaged us to act for you in the sale of a property.

The scope of work outlined above will be referred to in this document as the “Work”. If the scope of the Work changes, we will let you know as soon as possible and revise any estimate of costs we have given you.

We will charge you professional fees for undertaking the Work on a fixed fee basis (as set out in our Costs Disclosure) (Legal Fee).

Our Legal Fee is subject to the assumptions and exclusions set out in:

1. if you have engaged us in relation to a purchase, Part B of Schedule 1 (Purchase); or
2. if you have engaged us in relation to a sale, Part B of Schedule 2 (Sale).

Any third party costs (referred to in clause 3 (Third Party Costs) below) incurred by us on your behalf, will be added to our Legal Fee.

Our Costs Disclosure details the stages of your matter, and the Legal Fee associated with each such stage.

If your matter enters Stage 1, but does not proceed to Stage 2 (in each case, as defined in our Costs Disclosure), we will still charge the full Legal Fee quoted for Stage 1 (this is because Stage 1 involves time-consuming legal Work that cannot reasonably be pro-rated).

If your matter enters, but does not complete, Stage 2, we will charge you a pro-rated amount of the quoted Legal Fee for Stage 2. This amount will be determined by us having regard to the amount of the Work we have completed in Stage 2 of your matter.

We will charge you a direct reimbursement of any third-party expenses we incur in carrying out the Work (Third Party Costs).

GST will be added to any Third Party Costs where the liability arises.

We will not charge you a profit or a premium on any Third Party Costs, we will only charge you a reimbursement for our direct out-of-pocket expenses.

We will not charge you for any in-house expenses such as phone calls, printing or photocopying etc.

Please refer to our website calculator terms and conditions for further information about how Third Party Costs are calculated and charged.

Your Valice team will be introduced to you shortly after you have engaged us. Feel free to contact your team at any time to discuss your matter.

The Principal Lawyer responsible for your matter will be Shauna Mainprize:

Shauna Mainprize
Founder & Principal Lawyer

Shauna’s contact details will provided to you upon engaging us. You may contact Shauna to discuss the costs or scope of Work for your matter.

You may accept our Costs Disclosure and Terms of Engagement by:

1. marking the checkbox at Step 3 of our website calculator (Review & Accept); and
2. making payment of the initial deposit at Step 4 of our website calculator (Initial Payment) (Deposit).

Upon acceptance, you agree to pay for our services on the terms set out in this Terms of Engagement.

The Deposit will be held by us in our trust account towards payment of our Legal Fee.

If you change your mind about engaging Valice after you have paid the Deposit, but before you attend your initial Welcome Chat, we will refund the Deposit to you in full.

Please note that once you have booked and attended a Welcome Chat, the Deposit is no longer refundable as we will have commenced Work on your matter and incurred Legal Fees.

We will issue a tax invoice to you at the conclusion of your matter with us.

All tax invoices are due and payable 7 days from the date given to you, unless your matter proceeds to completion/settlement, in which case it will be due and payable at your settlement.

You consent to us sending our tax invoices to you electronically at your usual email address.

Interest will be charged on any amounts unpaid after the expiry of 30 days from the date the tax invoice is given to you.

Interest will be charged at the maximum rate prescribed by rule 78 of the Legal Profession Uniform General Rules 2015 (NSW) (Uniform General Rules), being the Cash Rate Target set by the Reserve Bank of Australia, plus 2%, per annum.

The Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW) (LPUL) provides that we cannot take action for recovery of legal costs until 30 days after a tax invoice (that is compliant with the LPUL) has been given to you.

It is your right to:

1. negotiate a costs agreement with us;
2. negotiate the method of billing (e.g., task based or time based billing);
3. receive a bill from us, and if that bill is in the form of a lump sum or partially itemised bill, to request and receive an itemised bill within 30 days after receiving such initial lump sum or partially itemised bill;
4. seek the assistance of the designated local regulatory authority, being the Office of the NSW Legal Services Commissioner, in the event of a dispute about legal costs;
5. accept or reject any offer we make for an interstate costs law to apply to your matter, and
6. notify us that you require an interstate costs law to apply to your matter.

If you request an itemised bill and the total amount of the legal costs specified in it exceeds the amount previously specified in the lump sum bill for the same matter, the additional costs may be recovered by us only if:

1. when the lump sum bill is given, we inform you in writing that the total amount of the legal costs specified in any itemised bill may be higher than the amount specified in the lump sum bill; and
2. the costs are determined to be payable after a costs assessment or after a binding determination under section 292 of the LPUL.

Nothing in these terms affects your rights under the Australian Consumer Law.

If you have a dispute in relation to any aspect of our Legal Fee, you have the following options:

1. in the first instance, we encourage you to discuss your concerns with us so that we can assist identifying any issues, have the opportunity to resolve the matter promptly, and reduce any adverse impact on our valued business relationship with you; and
2. you may apply to the “Manager, Costs Assessment” located at the Supreme Court of NSW for an assessment of our Legal Fee. This application must be made within 12 months after the bill was given to you.

Before we commence Work on your matter (or any additional work the subject of a revised Costs Disclosure), we may require you to deposit funds into our trust account towards payment of our Legal Fee (determined by us on a case-by-case basis, having regard to the scope and type of work).

Unless otherwise agreed with you, we may determine not to incur fees or expenses in excess of the amount we hold in trust on your behalf.

You authorise us to receive, directly into our trust account, any judgement or settlement amount or money received from any source in furtherance of, or in connection with, the Work, and to use those funds to pay our Legal Fee and Third Party Costs in accordance with rule 42 of the Uniform General Rules.

A trust statement will be forwarded to you upon completion of the matter.

Upon completion of the Work, or otherwise upon termination (by either party) of our services, we will retain your documents for a period 7 years, following which you confirm we are authorised to destroy them. This authority does not extend 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 any money owing to us for our costs in respect of your matter.

You will be liable for the cost of storing and retrieving your documents in safe custody, and our professional fees in connection with this.

We may cease acting for you, or refuse to perform further work, in any of the following circumstances:

1. if any of our tax invoices remain unpaid after they are due and payable;
2. if you do not, within 7 days, comply with any request to pay an amount in respect of Third Party Costs or future professional fees;
3. if you fail to provide us with clear and timely instructions to enable us to advance your matter;
4. if you refuse to accept or follow 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 (e.g. a conflict of interest);
7. for any other reason outside our control which has the effect of compromising our ability to perform the Work 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.

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.

You may terminate our services by written notice at any time. You will be required to pay our costs incurred up to the date of termination (including any future Third Party Costs for which we remain responsible for) in accordance with clauses 2 (Professional fees) and 3 (Third Party Costs).

Without affecting any lien to which we are otherwise entitled at law over funds, documents and other property of yours, we are entitled to retain, by way of lien, any funds, property or documents of yours that are, from time to time, in our possession or control, until all Legal Fees, Third Party Costs, interest and other moneys due to us have been paid.

This lien will continue even if we have ceased acting for you.

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.

We manage and protect your personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy, a copy of which can be found on our website.

We will send and receive documents electronically in connection with your matter. Given that such transmission is not always secure, it is possible that such documents and emails may be copied, recorded, read or interfered with by third parties while in transit.

We will take all reasonable precaution to ensure this does not happen, and will notify you immediately upon becoming aware of any such occurrence.

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.

The laws of New South Wales govern these terms and legal costs in relation to any matter upon which we are instructed to act (unless otherwise stated).