Apr 30, 2023 –
The Standard Precedent Cost Agreements are provided by the Law Society for the assistance of practitioners.
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Jan 4, 2021 –
Costs scales in the civil jurisdiction
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Apr 30, 2023 –
Legal Costs Fact Sheets and Costs Disclosure Forms translated into various languages
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Feb 15, 2017 –
Short form and long form bills of costs are gone. Recent changes to the Supreme Court costs adjudication rules have introduced a user friendly form for costs claims which is simpler to prepare and easier to assess and respond to. The former two-tiere
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Mar 15, 2017 –
Many lawyers issue recovery proceedings in the Magistrates Court against their clients in order to recover their fees. In many cases the client will defend the proceedings, often on the basis that they have been "overcharged", and usually also on the
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Feb 16, 2012 –
The Law Society's Costs Committee is in the process of finalising a draft precedent retainer agreement for use by solicitors, together with notes on its application. However, there are some concepts which, whilst vital to the validity of the agreemen
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Sep 15, 2016 –
Schedule 3 of the Legal Practitioners Act
came into operation on 1July 2014.
It is somewhat surprising that some
firms are still struggling with the basics in complying with the requirements of that Schedule.
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Apr 16, 2012 –
On 8 March, 2012 the Full Court (Justices Gray, Kourakis and Blue) unanimously dismissed an appeal from a decision of a Judge of the District Court refusing an application by the plaintiff for solicitor/client costs and interest on costs from the beg
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Jul 15, 2017 –
Everyone should by now be aware of the requirements of Schedule 3 of the Legal Practitioners Act (LP Act) in relation to costs disclosure. For the purposes of this article, a family lawyer must disclose to a client:
• the basis on which legal cos
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Jul 15, 2015 –
Conditional costs agreements with uplift have been permitted in South Australia since 1993 but the position with respect to these agreements has been affected by the 2014 amendments to the Legal Practitioners Act.
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Jul 25, 2014 –
The provision contained in the Legal Practitioners (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 1981 and the Legal Practitioners Regulations 2014 dame into force on 1 July 2014. Those provisions include new requirements for withdrawing money from trust on account o
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Jun 15, 2009 –
In a lead article in the Australian Financial Review of 20 March 2009, the general counsel and company secretary of Ramsay Health Care was quoted as saying: "Hourly billing does not encourage excellence, strategic thinking or ingenuity. On the contra
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Mar 16, 2012 –
Just as particular terms of the agreement may require additional disclosure to the client, peculiarities of the client may require additional disclosure. If a client is illiterate or does not understand English, they will obviously not be procedurall
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Aug 15, 2015 –
All practitioners should be aware that
on 1 July 2015, an exemption which
applied to certain client retainers entered prior to 1 July 2014 came to an end.
Major amendments to the Legal
Practitioners Act 1981 (SA) (the Act) came
into effect on 1
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Jun 19, 2015 –
Most practitioners would - or should - be well aware of the practical difficulties now encountered as a result of the Full Court decision in Players Pty Ltd (in liquidation) (Receivers appointed) & ors v Clone Pty Ltd (2013) 115 SASR 547.
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Jul 25, 2013 –
As a part of the trust account inspection process, legal practitioners are asked to provide Professional Standards with a copy of their solicitor/client agreement.
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Jun 24, 2014 –
From 1 July, costs law will be found in Schedule 3 of the Legal Practitioners Act. The new rules apply if a client first instructs a law practice on or after 1 July.
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Mar 1, 2018 –
My article in the September 2016 edition of the Bulletin dealt with various issues relating to costs disclosure, costs agreements and bills. A recent decision of the Full Court of the Supreme Court is relevant in relation to some of those issues, and
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May 15, 2017 –
An often nearly foolproof way to be sued for professional negligence is to sue a client (particularly a disgruntled one) for unpaid fees.
Claims in negligence arising from actions by practitioners in pursuit of their fees are a common source of no
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Mar 1, 2012 –
In this edition of the Bulletin, Bill Ericson and Mark Livesey QC provide insight into the obligations of solicitors with respect to costs and engaging counsel.
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Oct 30, 2015 –
The Court has inherent jurisdiction over practitioners as officers of the court, allowing the Court to make personal costs orders against practitioners where there is failure to act within the required aptness.
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Nov 15, 2013 –
There appears to be an increasing use by solicitors of agreements with clients under which the solicitors will not charge to conduct litigation (almost always for a plaintiff) if the action fails.
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Feb 6, 2012 –
Many practitioners recall a time when the obligation of an instructing solicitors to make payment of barristers' fees was stringently observed.
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Aug 25, 2014 –
I know what you're thinking: "Not another article on Fees and Billing! Haven't we just had one of those?" Well, yes, but it was nearly two years ago. Given the commencement of the substantial amendments to the Legal Practitioners Act 1981 (LPA) relat
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Aug 6, 2015 –
We all like to think that the law is sensible, commercial and prefers substance over form but details do matter in the practice of the law.
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