Terms and Client Care Information

1. Introduction

1.1 These terms apply to work carried out by Matthews Law (we or us) for our clients (you), except to the extent that we agree otherwise in writing. We can change these terms by notice to you or by publication on our website. Changes will be effective immediately. Your continued instructions will confirm your acceptance of our terms and any changes to them.

1.2 These terms include information which the Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers of the New Zealand Law Society (NZLS Rules) require us to provide you.

2. Our services and advice

2.1 The services we will provide to you, and the name and status of the person(s) responsible for those services, will be set out in an engagement letter or email or incorporated in correspondence between us (engagement terms).

2.2 We will represent you on legal matters within the scope of the engagement terms. We rely on you providing full instructions, and our advice assumes that you advise us of all relevant facts.

2.3 Our advice is solely for your benefit, and must not be disclosed to, or relied on by, third parties (except your other advisors or as required by law) without our written consent (not to be unreasonably withheld). Our advice is limited to the matters specified in it and is subject to any changes in law.

2.4 We are only responsible for advising on New Zealand law. We are not responsible for advising you on tax matters. We can engage, or facilitate your engagement of, other experts (eg specialist lawyers or economists) to advise on aspects of a matter with your consent.

2.5 When your instructions on a matter are completed, our engagement for that matter will end. We are not obliged to notify you of subsequent law changes or to provide further services relating to that matter.

3. Confidential information

3.1 We will not disclose any confidential information which we obtain as your lawyers to any other person, except to the extent required by law or the NZLS Rules, or where you authorise us to do so. Nor will we disclose confidential information about our other clients to you.

3.2 We can disclose information about you that we have acquired in our professional relationship if it is widely known or a matter of public record. We can disclose that you are a client, and our involvement in any public or non-confidential matters, to reputable legal directories for ranking purposes.

3.3 We have no duty to disclose information to you which is not known to the lawyers advising you on your matter, or is otherwise subject to privilege, or which is confidential to another client. If any of our lawyers undertakes activities outside the firm (such as a directorship, trusteeship or other governance role) information obtained in those roles is private to the individual and we have no obligation to you in relation to that.

4. Conflicts of interest

4.1 We will comply with the NZLS Rules in respect of conflicts of interests. Acting for another client on a separate matter does not normally constitute a legal conflict, even if the other client’s interests differ to yours.

4.2 However our work is often strategically significant, especially in the core competition and regulatory areas. Consequently where possible we prefer to have ongoing relationships with clients and to act for one major player in an industry at any time (exceptions may include situations where there are common interests, where parties are not material competitors, and where we receive international and domestic “one-off” type referrals). In return we seek a level of commitment from our clients and open discussions about expected workflows.

5. Fees and related financial matters

5.1 Our fees: We will charge you for the services at our standard rates for the relevant work, except to the extent we agree otherwise in our engagement terms.

5.2 We encourage fixed fee work (where practical), and are happy to provide estimates (where appropriate) or work to particular cost parameters. If provided, estimates will be a guide only. We prefer to scope work at the outset so that you and we are clear on the work required where possible. We can charge you a fee for scoping larger projects or unique matters to the extent this involves consideration of legal issues.

5.3 Our fees are charged in accordance with the NZLS Rules, which require that fees be fair and reasonable for the services provided.

5.4 Our fees usually reflect the time spent based on our hourly rates but this may be adjusted to reflect other factors permitted by the NZLS Rules (for example, skill and specialist knowledge, the matter’s importance, the result achieved, urgency, risk, complexity, novelty, the possibility that acceptance of the instructions precludes our engagement by other clients, and fees customarily charged for such matters). Unless otherwise agreed in writing, any work that is “out of scope” or unscoped (including supplementary reporting or explanations, and any additional work we do because any of our assumptions are not correct) will be charged on that basis.

5.5 Our hourly rates are periodically reviewed and can change. Any change will take effect from 1 January each year or otherwise from the date we advise you of the change.

5.6 Other charges (expenses): We may incur expenses (disbursements) on your behalf. You will be liable for these and we can require advance payment of them. These may include third party costs such as filing fees, photocopying (if outsourced for larger volumes of work), barristers’ or other specialists’ fees and expenses, offshore client-related bank fees, couriers or travel-related costs. We will discuss any major or unusual expenditure with you before incurring those costs.

5.7 Office services: We will charge you a standard service charge (at a rate of 4% of the amount of our fee) to cover general office services provided by us (for example: general photocopying, printing, phone charges, deliveries and postage).

5.8 GST (if any): This is payable by you on our fees and expenses.

5.9 Invoices: We will generally issue invoices monthly and on completion of the matter (or termination of our engagement). For new clients or on particular projects we may issue invoices on a more regular (eg weekly) basis. We can also issue an invoice when we incur a material expense.

5.10 Our invoices do not usually include itemised or hourly breakdowns of our attendances. We are happy to provide time records on request.

5.11 Payment: Invoices are payable within 14 days of the invoice date.

5.12 Overdue amounts: Interest will accrue on any overdue amounts from the day after payment was due until the day payment is made in full. Interest will be payable on demand and will be calculated at the rate 5% above our main trading bank’s 90-day bank bill buy rate as at the close of business on the day payment became due. You agree to pay any costs we incur in recovering overdue amounts from you.

5.13 Third parties: You are responsible for payment of our invoices on the due date even if you expect to be reimbursed by a third party (even if our invoices are directed to a third party).