Mackenzie Elvin

These Terms (“Terms”) set out the basis on which you engage us to accept and act on your instructions.

The Terms will form the basis of our professional relationship with you and apply in respect of all work carried out by us for you, except to the extent that we otherwise agree with you in writing. We change these Terms from time to time.  If we do that we will notify you of any major changes.By instructing us to provide you with legal services, you are deemed to have accepted these Terms.

OUR SERVICE

As a law firm we understand the trust and confidence you have placed in us.  We will exercise all reasonable skill, care and diligence when performing work for you.

HOW WE CHARGE

All fees we charge are based on criteria approved by the New Zealand Law Society which require us to charge a fee that is fair and reasonable for the services provided having regard to your interests and our interests.  We can take into account a number of factors including time spent on the matter, skill and knowledge required, importance to you and the results achieved, urgency (including time limitations imposed by you) value of property and risk, complexity and difficulty and our experience and reputation.We are happy to provide an estimate of what we expect our fees to be.  This will be a guide only and not a fixed quote.

OTHER CHARGES

We may incur additional out of pocket expenses which we refer to as disbursements.  Disbursements include  toll calls, faxes, mobile phone charges, court costs, photocopying, printing, legal agents costs etc.  Disbursements will be charged at actual cost or our best estimate of actual cost which may include a margin for handling.

A general office expenses charge will be debited on the opening of any new matter to cover stationery, forms, postage and the costs of file creation and storage to meet NZ Law Society requirements.

Where we refer you to other professionals or barristers we may be liable for their charges.  If that is the case we will invoice you for their charges.

Goods and Services Tax is charged at the current GST rate on our fees and (if applicable) other charges.

OUR BILLING PROCESS AND TERMS OF PAYMENT

We will either bill you at the completion of the work or we will interim bill you on a monthly basis.  Payment is due on the 20th of the month following the date of our bill.  Out of pocket expenses are to be paid immediately we invoice you.  A penalty for late payment will be applied to overdue accounts at the overdraft rate our Bankers charge us plus 4%.  If you anticipate difficulties in paying our account you must contact us and make arrangements for payment.We may ask you to pre-pay amounts to us where we are going to incur significant disbursements on your behalf or where we are instructing barristers or other parties.  We may also ask you to provide security for our fees and expenses.  You authorise us to debit against amounts pre-paid by you or 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.Where we have done work for you but have not been paid we have the right to retain certain original documents and correspondence on your file until such time as we are paid.  Known as a lien, this will be important if you decide to instruct another firm to act for you for whatever reason.Although you may expect to be reimbursed by a third party (such as a tenant) 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 responsible for payment to us if the third party fails to pay us.If you are instructing us on behalf of another party such as in your capacity as Director or Shareholder of a Company or as a Settlor or a Trustee of a Trust or Executor or Administrator of an Estate then you will be personally liable (together with the Company, Trust, Estate or other party) to pay our fees and disbursements.

SETTLEMENT MONIES

For property and financing transactions where payment of monies is due by you, we require cleared funds for the correct amount to be deposited with us no later than the morning of settlement.  In practice cleared funds will usually mean a bank cheque or confirmed clear funds banked to our trust account electronically.  A personal cheque will not be an acceptable method of payment.

TERMINATION OR SUSPENSION OF WORK

You are entitled to terminate your instructions to us upon giving us reasonable notice.  Our fees for services reasonably and properly provided to you prior to termination must be paid by you prior to uplifting your records.We can stop working for you if we have good cause to do so but will first give you reasonable notice of this and tell you why we want to terminate our engagement.

CONFIDENTIALITY

HOW WE DEAL WITH FILES AND DOCUMENTS

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Personal information held by us is able to be corrected by you in terms of the Privacy Act 1993.  By instructing us you also authorise us to collect credit information about you and authorise any other persons to provide us with such information.

SAFE CUSTODY ARRANGEMENTS

We cannot accept for safe custody money, negotiable instruments, bearer bonds or coupons, stamps or currency notes, as insurance cover is not available for such items.  If you do ask us to store such items for you it will be on the basis that we cannot accept any risk in respect of them.

INVESTMENT ADVICE

We do not give and accept no liability for “investment advice”.

TRUST ACCOUNT INTEREST & TERM DEPOSITS

If we are holding significant funds on your behalf we will normally lodge those funds on interest bearing deposit on call so that you get the benefit of the interest earned.Alternatively, after discussion with us, you may decide to instruct us to place the funds on term deposit through our trust account.  In that case we are required to make certain disclosures under the terms of the Investment Advisers (Disclosure) Act 1996 and Solicitors Trust Account Rules.In either case our administration fee is 5% of the interest earned.

COMPLAINTS

If you have a complaint please discuss it with the person doing the work. If you are still not satisfied you can discuss it with our Client Satisfaction Manager. In the event that you are not happy with the outcome you have the right to take the matter up with the New Zealand Law Society which runs a complaints service (see Client Care and Service Information).

LEGAL AID

Where applicable you may wish to apply for legal aid.  If legal aid is granted our hourly rate will be disclosed to you at the time we make the application.  In the event that legal aid is not granted you will be liable for our account at the hourly rate disclosed to you.

HEALTH AND SAFETY

The Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 obliges us to ensure the safety of our staff.  We agree to be mutually responsible with you when our staff visit your premises to ensure their safety and see no harm is caused to them.  We will expect you to ensure that our staff are made aware of any hazards and the steps required to mitigate those.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

We will use Internet email to communicate with you and on your behalf during the course of our representation of you.  It is widely known that ordinary Internet email is entirely insecure.  If you would like us to engage in something more secure than ordinary Internet email, please indicate so, otherwise we will presume that ordinary Internet email is acceptable.  While we use standard virus checking software, we accept no responsibility for viruses or anything similar in any emails or any attachments which come from us.

NEW ZEALAND LAW APPLIED

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