General
These Terms of Engagement (‘Terms’) apply when we, ATH Consulting, provide (‘the Services”) to you, our client, unless otherwise agreed in writing. The scope of the Services provided may be outlined in any introductory discussion, email or document. We will treat you as having accepted the Terms if you continue to instruct us after you receive them.
We may from time to time amend these Terms and will advise you accordingly by email or in writing if we have a current engagement in place with you. The change will bind you in respect of any matters on which we act for you, after notification of the change.
In opening a file, we will obtain from you contact details, including email address, postal address and telephone numbers. We will provide documents and other communications to you primarily by secure email (or other
means). You will advise us if any of your contact details change.
We will report to you periodically on the progress of the Services and will inform you of any material or unexpected delays, significant changes or complications in the work being undertaken. You may request a
progress report at any time.
These Terms are governed by New Zealand law and subject to the jurisdiction of New Zealand courts.
Fees
You may request an estimate of our fees at any time and we will do our best to provide you with an estimate (which may be a range between a minimum and a maximum amount or for a particular task or step). An estimate
is not a quote. We will then inform you if we are likely to exceed the estimate by any substantial amount. Any estimate excludes GST, disbursements and any expenses.
Our fees will reflect the nature and scope of the Services and take into account matters such as the complexity, urgency, level of knowledge, skill and experience required. Full details of the relevant fee factors are set out in Rule 9 of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act (Lawyers: Conduct and Client Care) Rules 2008.
If the engagement specifies a fixed fee, we will charge this for the agreed scope of the Services. Work which falls outside that scope will be charged on an hourly rate basis.
As a guideline for general HR support our rate is $200 + GST per hour. For more complex legal work including investigations, mediations and hearings our rate is $260 + GST per hour.
In providing the Services we may incur disbursements and payments to third parties such as search fees, court filing fees, registration fees and travel and courier charges. These will be included in our invoice to you, shown as “disbursements” (or in advance when we know we will be incurring them on your behalf).
We may send interim invoices to you, usually monthly, and on completion of the Services. Invoices are payable within 14 days of the date of the invoice unless alternative arrangements have been made with us.
If your account is overdue after our reasonable attempts to receive payment, 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 before recommencing any further work. We may also, at our sole discretion, apply to recover any unpaid fees including any costs we incur in seeking to recover the amounts from you, including our own fees and the fees of any collection agency. You consent to the disclosure of any personal information necessary for us to recover any unpaid fees.
Confidentiality
We will hold in confidence all information concerning you or your affairs that we acquire during provision of the Services. We will not disclose any of this information to any other person except to the extent necessary to enable us to carry out your instructions or to the extent required or permitted by law.
Documents, Records and Information
The information we collect and hold about you will be kept at our offices and/or at secure file storage sites (including electronic file storage sites) elsewhere. If you are an individual, you have the right to access and correctthis information. If you require access, please contact us on either alyn@athconsulting.co.nz or tracey@athconsulting.co.nz. We may, at any time at our option, return documents (either in hard or electronic form) to you rather than retain them.
Unless you instruct us in writing otherwise, we will destroy (or delete in the case of electronic records) all files and documents in respect of the Services 7 years after the Services ends. We may also, at our discretion, in some cases retain documents for longer.
Compliance
We are obliged to comply with all laws applicable to us, including, but not limited to, anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism laws. We may also 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 perform such other customer verification checks as to your identity and checks as we consider to be required by law. 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) and you consent to us doing so.
Conflicts of Interest
We have procedures in place to identify and respond to conflicts of interest or potential 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 Lawyers and Conveyancers Act (Lawyers: Conduct and Client Care) Rules 2008.
Duty of Care & Limitation of Liability
Our duty of care is to you, our client. Our advice is based on the facts known to us and on our professional judgement as at the date on which the Services are provided. We do not accept any responsibility or liability to any third parties, including for example any directors, shareholders, associated companies, employees or family members unless we expressly agree in writing, whether or not they may be affected by the Services or who may rely on any advice we give. We are not liable for errors in, or omissions from, any information provided by thirdparties.
Except if we act beyond the scope of the Services or negligently, or in breach of the rules of natural justice, you will indemnify us against all reasonable costs that might be incurred by because of any complaint or other action against us personally arising out of the Services if we are subsequently required to take part in any proceedings arising out of the Services.
To the extent allowed by law, our liability to you in connection with our Services is limited to the amount available to be payable under any Professional Indemnity, Public Liability or other applicable Insurance we hold.
Termination
You may terminate the Services at any time by notification in writing or by email to alyn@athconsulting.co.nz. No notice or reason is required. We may terminate our retainer in any of the circumstances set out in the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act (Lawyers: Conduct and Client Care) Rules 2008 including the existence of a conflict of interest, non-payment of fees, and failure to provide instructions. If our retainer is terminated you must pay us all fees, disbursements and expenses incurred up to the date of termination.
Feedback and Concerns
Client satisfaction is one of our primary objectives and feedback from clients is helpful to us. If you have any concerns or complaints or would like to comment on any aspect of the Services, please contact
alyn@athconsulting.co.nz or tracey@athconsulting.co.nz. We will inquire into your complaint and endeavour in good faith to resolve the matter with you in a way that is fair to all concerned.
If you are not satisfied with the way we have dealt with your complaint the New Zealand Law Society has acomplaints service to which you may refer the issue. Matters may be directed to:
Lawyers Complaints Service
Phone: 0800 261 801
PO Box 5041
Wellington 6140
New Zealand Email:
complaints@lawsociety.org.nz