Letter of Engagement

We are pleased to act for you in this matter on the basis set out below.  We enclose the following which sets out:

  • Information for clients which lawyers are required by the Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers to provide; and
  • Our terms of engagement.

Services to be provided

The following is a summary of the legal services we expect to provide to you:

 

Fees

Our charge for the services described above will be based on the time required to complete the work and also on the level of skills of the person handling the work as well as responsibility involved in providing such services.

Where we have indicated to you our fees to complete this matter, such indication is merely an estimate of the time that we may spend on this matter.  An estimate is not a quote.  Any significant assumptions included in the estimate will be stated and you must tell us if those assumptions are wrong or change.  In the event of any unforeseen circumstances or complications resulting in further works to be done, ie if an agreement submitted to us requires a number of changes, you will be charged with the hourly rate for the attendances on top of the fixed fee quote.  We will inform you if we are likely to exceed the estimate by any substantial amount.  Unless specified, an estimate excludes GST, disbursements and expenses.

Responsibility for Services

The names and status of the people in our firm who will have the general carriage of or overall responsibility for the services we provide for you are:

Name                                      Position                                  Hourly Rate

            Hyun Jung (Nicole) Lee          Director                                   $450.00 plus GST

Somee Chung                         Director                                   $450.00 plus GST

Kim Keys                                 Consultant                               $350.00 plus GST

Monica Tan                             Consultant                               $350.00 plus GST

Claire Hong                             Senior Legal Executive           $250.00 plus GST

Solicitors                                                                                 $250.00 plus GST

Law Clerks                                                                              $200.00 plus GST

Limitations on our Obligations or Liability

Our liability shall in no circumstances exceed the amount of five (5) times the fees you have paid.  If you are not willing to accept such limitation please let us know immediately.

If the information in this letter and the accompanying material is acceptable, please sign the attached copy of this letter where indicated and return the same to us.  If you orally advise your acceptance or instruct us to proceed, you will in any event be bound by these terms.

We look forward to being of service to you.

 

 

INFORMATION FOR CLIENTS

Set out below is the information required by the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act (Lawyers: Conduct and Client Care) Rules 2008 (“Rules”):

  1. Fees: The basis on which fees will be charged and also the timing of payment of such fees is set out in our letter of engagement.  We may deduct from any funds held on your behalf in our trust account, any fees, expenses or disbursements for which we have provided an invoice.
  2. Professional Indemnity Insurance: We hold professional indemnity insurance with QBE Insurance (International) Limited that meets or exceeds the minimum standards specified by the New Zealand Law Society (“Law Society”). We will provide you with particulars of the minimum standards upon request.
  3. Lawyers’ Fidelity Fund: The Law Society maintains the Lawyers’ Fidelity Fund for the purpose of providing clients of lawyers with protection against pecuniary loss arising from theft by lawyers. The maximum amount payable by the Fidelity Fund by way of compensation to an individual claimant is limited to $100,000.00.  Except in certain circumstances specified in the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006, the Fidelity Fund does not cover a client for any loss relating to money that a lawyer is instructed to invest on behalf of the client.
  4. Complaints: We maintain a procedure for handling any complaints by clients, designed to ensure that a complaint is dealt with promptly and fairly.

If you have a complaint about our services or charges, you may refer your complaint to the person in our firm who has the overall responsibility for your work.

If you do not wish to refer your complaint to that person, or you are not satisfied with that person’s response to your complaint, you may refer your complaint to Hyun Jung (Nicole) Lee or Somee Chung.

We may be contacted as follows:

  • by letter;
  • by email at nicole@cl-law.co.nz ; somee@cl-law.co.nz; or
  • by telephoning at (09) 485 3434.

The Law Society operates the Lawyers Complaints Service and you are able to make a complaint to that service.  To do so, you can phone 0800 261 801 and you will be connected to the nearest Complaints Service Office, which can provide information and advice about making a complaint.

5.Persons Responsible for the Work: The names and status of the person or persons who will have the general carriage of or overall responsibility for the services are set out in our letter of engagement.

6. Client Care and Service: The Law Society client care and service information is set out below.

Whatever legal services your lawyer is providing, he or she must:

  • Act competently, in a timely way, and in accordance with instructions received and arrangements made.
  • Protect and promote your interests and act for you free from compromising influences or loyalties.
  • Discuss with you your objectives and how they should best be achieved.
  • Provide you with information about the work to be done, who will do it and the way the services will be provided.
  • Charge you a fee that is fair and reasonable and let you know how and when you will be billed.
  • Give you clear information and advice.
  • Protect your privacy and ensure appropriate confidentiality.
  • Treat you fairly, respectfully and without discrimination.
  • Keep you informed about the work being done and advise you when it is completed.
  • Let you know how to make a complaint and deal with any complaint promptly and fairly.

The obligations lawyers owe to clients are described in the Rules.  Those obligations are subject to other overriding duties, including duties to the courts and to the justice system.

If you have any questions, please visit www.lawsociety.org.nz or call 0800 261 801.

7. Limitations on extent of our Obligations or Liability: Any limitations on the extent of our obligations to you or any limitation or exclusion of liability are set out in our letter of engagement.

TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT

These Terms of Engagement (“Terms”) apply in respect of all work carried out by us for you, except to the extent that we otherwise agree with you in writing.

  1. General

 

1.1 The Terms apply to any current engagement and also to any future engagement, whether or not we send you another copy of them.

1.2 We are entitled to change the Terms from time to time, in which case we will send you the amended Terms.

1.3 Our relationship with you is governed by New Zealand law and New Zealand courts have exclusive jurisdiction.

 

  1. Services

2.1 The services we are to provide for you are outlined in our engagement letter along with any further instructions that you provide to us in writing (or that we record in writing).

2.2 In order to provide you with efficient advice and services and to provide the most cost-effective service, it may be that part or all of your instructions will be delegated to other professionals in our firm.

  1. Financials

 3.1 Fees:

(a) The fees we will charge or the manner in which they will be arrived at, are set out in our engagement letter.

(b) If the engagement letter specifies a fixed fee, we will charge this for the agreed scope of our services. Work which falls outside that scope will be charged on an hourly rate basis.  We will advise you as soon as reasonably practicable if it becomes necessary for us to provide services outside the agreed scope and, if requested, give you an estimate of the likely amount of the further costs.

(c) Where our fees are calculated on an hourly basis, the hourly rates are set out in our engagement letter. The differences in those rates reflect the experience and specialisation of our professional staff.  Time spent is recorded in 6 minute units, with time rounded up to the next unit of 6 minutes.

(d) Hourly fees may be adjusted (upwards or downwards) to ensure the fee is fair and reasonable to take into account matters such as the complexity, urgency, value and importance of the s Full details of the relevant fee factors are set out in Rule 9 of the Rules.

3.2 Disbursements and expenses: In providing services 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 an advance payment for the disbursements or expenses which we will be incurring on your behalf.  You also authorise us to make payments to third parties on your behalf which are reasonably required to undertake the services (which may include items such as experts’ costs or counsel’s fees).  These will be included in our invoice to you, shown as “disbursements” when the expenses are incurred (or in advance when we know we will be incurring them on your behalf).

3.3 GST (if any): Goods and Services Tax is payable by you on our fees and charges.

3.4 Office service charge fee (Administrative expenses): In addition to disbursements, we charge a fee of $100 + GST or 5% of our 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 and printing, postage, courier costs and phone calls.  We also charge an e-dealing fee of $20.00 to $40.00 plus GST depending on the number of transactions.

3.5 Invoices: We will send interim invoices to you, usually on a monthly basis and on completion of the matter, or termination of our engagement.  We may also send you an invoice when we incur a significant expense or undertake a significant amount of work over a shorter period of time.

3.6 Payment: Invoices are payable within 3 days from the receipt of the invoice, unless alternative arrangements have been made with us.  We may require interest to be paid on any amount which is more than 3 days overdue.  Interest will be calculated at the rate of 12% as at the close of business on the date payment became due.  If any invoice is overdue by 14 days, we reserve our right to refer the debt to any collector for debt collection and you will be responsible for payment of any debt collection charges.

If your account is overdue we may stop work on any matters in respect of which we are providing services to you and require an additional payment of fees in advance or other security before recommencing work.

We accept direct credit and credit card payment.  If you choose to pay by credit card, please note that a surcharge at the rate of 2.95% will be added to the total amount due.

You authorise us to deduct our fees and other expenses from funds held in our trust account on your behalf on provision of an invoice to you, unless those funds are held for a particular purpose.

3.7      Refund: Any payment of our fees or charges such as disbursements made by you will not be refunded.

3.8      Security:  We may ask you to pre-pay amounts to us, or to provide security for our fees and expenses.  You authorise us:

(a) to debit against amounts pre-paid by you; and

(b) to deduct from any funds held on your behalf in our trust account,

any fees, expenses or disbursements for which we have provided an invoice.

You authorise and direct us to apply any monies we are holding for and on your behalf first in payment of any fees, expenses or disbursements for which we have provided an invoice.

3.9      Third Parties:  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, you nevertheless remain responsible for payment of such invoice if the third party fails to pay us.

  1. 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:
  1. to the extent necessary or desirable to enable us to carry out your instructions; or
  1. to the extent required by law or by Rules; or
  1. as expressly or impliedly agreed by you; or
  1. as necessary to protect our interests in respect of any complaint or dispute; or
  1. to the extent required or permitted by law.
  • Confidential information concerning you will as far as practicable be made available only to those within our firm who are providing legal services for you.
  • We will of course, not disclose to you confidential information which we have in relation to any other client.
  • Personal Information and Privacy: In our dealings with you we will collect and hold personal information about you. We will use that information to carry out the service and to make contact with you.  Provision of personal information is voluntary but if you do not provide full information this may impact on our ability to provide the services.
  • We may disclose your name and address to third parties such as credit agencies to perform a credit reference or to undertake credit management or collection processes if it is reasonable to do so.
  • Subject to clause 4.1, you authorise us to disclose, in the normal course of performing the services, such personal information to third parties for the purpose of providing the services and any other purposes set out in these Terms.

 

  • Verification of identity: Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act 2009 requires us to collect from you and to retain information required to verify your identity. We may therefore ask you to show us documents verifying your identity (such as passport or driver’s licence).  We may retain copies of these documents.  We may perform such other client verification checks as to your identity and checks as to the source of any funds and source of wealth associated with any transaction to which the service relates as we consider to be required by law.  We may ask for evidence of source of funds and source of wealth.
  • We ask that you complete a full verification form below and return to us. Please note that we are unable to commence any work until we have received a verification form signed by you.
  1. Termination

 

  • You may terminate our retainer at any time.
  • We may terminate our retainer in any of the circumstances set out in the Rules as follows:
  1. instructions that require the lawyer to breach any professional obligation;
  2. the inability or failure of the client to pay a fee on the agreed basis, or, in the absence of an agreed basis, a reasonable fee at the appropriate time;
  3. the client misleading or deceiving the lawyer in a material respect;
  4. the client failing to provide instructions to the lawyer in a sufficiently timely way;
  5. except in litigation matters, the adoption by the client against the advice of the lawyer of a course of action that the lawyer believes is highly imprudent and may be inconsistent with the lawyer’s fundamental obligations.
  • If our retainer is terminated you must pay us all fees and expenses incurred up to the date of termination.
  1. Retention of files and documents

 

  • You authorise us (without further reference to you) to destroy all files and documents for this 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.
  • We will provide you copies to you in accordance with our obligations under the Privacy Act 1993 on request. We may charge for the cost of providing records to you.
  • We own copyright in all documents or work we create in the course of performing the services but grant you a non exclusive licence to use and copy the documents as you see fit for your own personal or commercial use. However, you may not permit any third party to copy, adapt or use the documents without our written permission.
  1. Conflicts of Interest

 

  • We are obliged to protect and promote your interests to the exclusion of the interests of third parties and ourselves as set out in the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act (Lawyers: Conduct and Client Care) Rules 2008. This may result in a situation arising where we have a conflict of interest.  We have procedures in place to identify and respond to conflicts of interest.  If a conflict of interest arises we will advise you of this and follow the requirements and procedures set out in the Rules.  This may mean we cannot act for you further in a particular matter and we may terminate our engagement.

 

  1. Duty of Care

 

  • Our duty of care is to you and not to any other person. Before any other person may rely on our advice, we must expressly agree to this.
  • Our advice is opinion only, based on the facts known to us and on our professional judgement, and is subject to any changes in the law after the date on which the advice is given. We are not liable for errors in, or omissions from, any information provided by third parties.
  • Our advice is not to be referred to in connection with any prospectus, financial statement, or public document without our written consent.
  • Our advice relates only to each particular matter in respect of which you engage us. Once that matter is at an end, we will not owe you any duty or liability in respect of any related or other matters unless you specifically engage us in respect of those related or other matters.
  • Unless otherwise agreed, we may communicate with you and with others by electronic means. We cannot guarantee that these communications will not be lost or affected for some reason beyond our reasonable control, and we will not be liable for any damage or loss caused thereby.
  1. Trust Account

 

  • We maintain a trust account for all funds which we receive from clients (except monies received for payment of our invoices). Unless it is not reasonable or practicable to do so, if we are holding significant funds on your behalf we will normally lodge those funds on interest bearing deposit with a bank registered under section 69 of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act subject to your having completed to the bank’s satisfaction any request for information relating to the deposit or certification required by the bank. Interest earned from call deposits, less withholding tax and an interest administration fee payable to us of 10% of the interest, will be credited to you.
  • Payments out of the trust account will be made either to you or to others with your authority. Written authorisation from you (and if we are acting for more than one of you, from all of you) will be required when payment is to be made to a third party. Before making a payment to another account we may require verification of the account details by provision of (for example) a copy of a deposit slip, cheque or bank statement showing the account number, a signed authority from you including the bank account details, or a signed letter from the relevant financial institution providing bank account details.
  • A full record of our trust account is kept at all times. A statement of trust account transactions detailing funds received and payments made on your behalf will be provided to you periodically and at any time upon your request.
  1. Communications

10.1     We will obtain from you contact details, including email address, postal address and telephone numbers. We may provide documents and other communications to you by email (or other electronic means). You will advise us if any of your contact details change.

10.2     We will report to you periodically on the progress of any engagement and will inform you of any material and unexpected delays, significant changes or complications in the work being undertaken. You may request a progress report at any time.

  • You agree that we may provide you from time to time with other information that may be relevant to you, such as newsletters and information bulletins. At any time you may request that this not be sent to you.
  1. Compliance
  • We are obliged to comply with all laws applicable to us in all jurisdictions, including but not limited to:
    1. Anti-money laundering (AML) and countering financing of terrorism (CFT) laws; and
    2. Laws relating to tax and client reporting and withholdings.
  • We may be required to undertake customer due diligence on you, persons acting on your behalf and other relevant persons such as beneficial owners and controlling persons. We may not be able to begin acting, or to continue acting, for you until that is completed.
  • To ensure our compliance and yours, we may be required to provide information about you, persons acting on your behalf or other relevant persons to third parties (such as government agencies). There may be circumstances where we are not able to tell you or such persons if we do provide information.
  • Please ensure that you and/or any of the persons described previously are aware of and consent to this. It is important to ensure that all information provided to us is accurate. If the information required is not provided, or considered by us to be potentially inaccurate, misleading, or in contravention of any law, we may terminate or refuse to enter into an engagement.