Working Together – you and Wynyard Wood

You are a client whose business we value. At Wynyard Wood we are committed to providing you with a high quality legal service which we will deliver promptly and efficiently. Our relationship with you is important to us. We often find that clients are unfamiliar with what is involved in the services being offered, the terms of engagement or the charges which can result. Therefore, we will explain here what we will do for you. We will also set out what we expect you to do for us – in other words, our terms of business.

Each time we begin new work for you, you may receive our confirmation of instructions letter and a copy of our terms of engagement. While this may seem unnecessary, we believe it is important that issues such as cost and your expectations of us are fully appreciated before we can perform any service for you.

What we will do for you

• Our aim is to provide you with high quality legal advice and representation.
• We will endeavour to answer all your enquiries and telephone calls promptly – if for any reason the lawyer with whom you are dealing is unable to do this, we will let you know.
• We will handle your instructions carefully, professionally and promptly. We will ensure that your work is handled by a suitably qualified person.
• We will listen carefully to any concerns that you may have about our service and take any appropriate action.
• When we are handling a legal matter for you, we will endeavour to provide you with a progress report at least every month.
• We publish a regular client newsletter that will help to keep you informed of important legal issues.
• Unless otherwise permitted by you, all information received from you will be kept confidential and will only be disclosed to those who need to have that information in order for us to give effect to your instructions.
• We will retain the file in relation to the particular matter for seven years, after which unless we hear from you to the contrary, we may destroy it.

Specific Terms

Instructions
We can act only on your clear instructions. Where instructions cannot be reasonably obtained from you, we may cease work until these are received. At any time you may tell us to stop.

If you do, you will be liable at that point for fees and expenses we have incurred to that date. Unless you tell us to stop, we may continue working on the matter and you will continue to be liable for the on-going costs.

Our Charges
Our costs will be fair and reasonable for the work involved. Our charges will be based on our normal hourly rates, calculated according to the time spent on the task, plus disbursements and Goods and Services Tax (GST) (if applicable) and will be rendered to you in an invoice. In some circumstances, our charges will also be influenced by other factors including :

• Degree of skill and knowledge involved
• Any degree of urgency
• The difficulty and complexity
• Degrees of responsibility involved

We may by prior arrangement agree to limit our fee to a certain level in the form of a quote. Where a quote is given it is assumed that no unexpected complications will arise. If unforeseen difficulties occur, our fee may have to be altered. In some cases, due to the nature of the work we are required to perform, we will not be able to provide a quote for our work in advance. However, in these circumstances we can advise you of the hourly rate of the lawyers working on your behalf.

Generally, costs for work relating to residential property, sales, purchases and refinancing will not be payable until settlement or completion of that transaction.

If the work with which we are dealing on your behalf if on-going, we will endeavour to issue interim accounts on a regular basis throughout the course of completing the work. This ensures that you are aware of the cost of the legal services provided and enables you to budget for payment.

Should you have any queries or concerns in respect of any invoice that has been rendered, please raise the issue with the lawyer handling your file, the partner in charge, or our Practice Manager.

Non Resident Clients
Where you are not a New Zealand resident, we may ask you to pay a retainer before commencement of work on your behalf.

Disbursements
We may need to incur certain disbursements on your behalf. These may include toll and facsimile charges, registration and filing fees, company and land search fees and agency charges. By instructing us to act, you authorise us to incur these and other such charges as are reasonably necessary to put your instructions into effect.

This firm uses Turpan Services Limited for searching, registration and filing. That company is owned by interests associated with the partners of this firm and the partners' families.

Payment of Disbursements
We may need to pay significant disbursements on your behalf. Sometimes, we can anticipate these out of pocket expenses and will send you an account in advance. Otherwise these expenses will be included in a subsequent invoice.

Payment Of Account
Payment of our account is due within fourteen days of the date of our invoice. The expectation of prompt payment is reflected in our bills.

Unpaid Accounts
If prompt payment is not received we may:

1. Charge you interest calculated monthly on the outstanding balance of the debt until payment in full is made. Interest will be charged at 12% per annum or at such lower rate as we may agree on. The minimum monthly charge will be $5.00.

2. If there is not a satisfactory explanation for non-payment of the account, issue a letter requesting payment within fourteen days. If payment is still not forthcoming, we may initiate debt recovery proceedings. The amount sought will include an interest charge (as per clause (a)) and the cost of recovery or attempting to recover the outstanding costs.

Withholding Services on Overdue Accounts
We reserve the right to stop any further legal work for you if you have an outstanding debt to us and you have not entered into a satisfactory arrangement for payment. We will not accept responsibility for any consequence of our doing so.

Any Concerns?

If you have any queries or concerns at any point please contact the lawyer handling your file.

If for any reason you do not feel that the person has adequately responded to your query, or if you would prefer to speak to somebody other than those directly involved, please feel free to contact one of the Partners or our Practice Manager who will be happy to help you.