Terms and Conditions:

If you decide to instruct Cockcroft Law Ltd to act for you on any matter,
these terms and conditions will apply.

1.       Interpretation
1.1     We or CLL means Cockcroft Law Limited.

1.2     You  means the person, company or entity who or which has asked CLL to act for him/her/it.

1.3     Order means the order for Services placed by the Client with CLL, whether made verbally or in writing.

1.4     Services means the services to be or which have been or are provided by CLL as a result of an Order.

2.       Contract
2.1     We will only deal on these terms and conditions (“Terms”), and any Order placed by you, verbally or in writing, will be subject to these Terms and no other.
 
2.2     By placing an Order, you acknowledge that you have received a copy of these Terms, have read the same and accept they are binding on you for all purposes connected with the provision of Services by CBL.

3.       Charges & Payment
3.1     At the date of these terms, we charge $NZ275 per hour plus GST for provision of the Services. This charge out rate may be changed at any time by notice given to you, provided that no change will be effective in respect of an Order placed at the existing rate. We shall be entitled to charge at a higher rate for Services performed urgently at the Client’s request.

3.2     Prices quoted are exclusive of any actual outgoings incurred by us in carrying out the Services, which shall be charged to you at the cost to us.

3.3     We shall invoice monthly for Services, whether ongoing or completed. Payment of each invoice is due by the 20th of the month following the date of the invoice. Penalty interest at a rate 5% above ASB Bank Ltd’s commercial overdraft rate from time to time hall be payable on all overdue amounts from date of due payment to date of actual payment.

3.4     We may cease providing the Services or refuse to accept an Order from you if any previously rendered invoice remains unpaid.

3.5     If you cancel an Order at any time prior to its fulfilment by us, any Services already provided pursuant to the Order to date of cancellation  will be payable by you.

3.6     We will quote for the provision of the Services if you request, provided that in doing so we shall include its best estimate of how many hours it anticipates will be required to perform or provide the Services. If that estimate turns out to be less than the hours actually required, we will be entitled to charge for the extra hours provided we have, prior to the expiration of the estimated hours, advised you in writing you hav accepted the additional charges, either verbally or in writing.

3.7     We shall be entitled to exercise a lien on your documents held by us pending payment of all outstanding invoices.

4.       Provision of Services
4.1     You will provide all information and documents necessary for us to properly perform  the Services. We shall be entitled to assume that the documents and information handed to or made available to it in respect of any Order are complete.

4.2     We shall perform the Services in a good, skilful and proper manner and in accordance with all professional requirements imposed by the New Zealand Law Society (“NZLS”). However, you acknowledge that the provision of legal services is not an exact science and that, consequently, we may not be able to deliver the result you are seeking. Provided we have met  the requirements of this paragraph, you shall remain liable to pay all invoices rendered by us for the Services.

4.3     We shall perform the Services as expeditiously as possible, provided that you acknowledge that by their nature legal services are not always capable of quick resolution, and we shall not be liable for any delays caused or brought about by delays or failure to act of any party with whom we are necessarily dealing in providing the Services.

4.4     If you are dissatisfied with any Services provided by us, by reason of alleged overcharging, you nevertheless shall be required to pay all invoices rendered by us unless you have, within any timelines stipulated by NZLS, challenged or queried the amount of an invoice.

5.        Warranties and Claims
5.1     Our liability whether in contract or tort (and whether under these Terms or otherwise) is limited to the payment to you of the amount paid by you for the Services in respect of which a complaint is made under paragraph 5.2

5.2     We warrant that the Services shall be performed in accordance with the requirements of paragraph 4. If you allege or claim that this is not the case, then, subject to paragraphs 5.1 and 5.3:

(a)          you shall take such independent professional advice as you consider necessary (which action is recommended by CLL) and shall advise us in writing of your allegations or complaints (“Complaints”) concerning the Services within 10 working days of becoming aware of them;

 

(b)          we shall respond in writing to the Complaints within 10 working days of receipt of same;

(c)          you and we shall in good faith attempt to resolve differences within a further 20 working days. Any written agreement reached and signed by or on behalf of you and we shall be binding on both of us, and you shall not be entitled to take any further action with regard to the particular Complaint;

(d)          if you and we are unable to reach such agreement, the matter shall be referred to mediation before a mediator on a timetable and on terms agreed by us both or, failing agreement within a further 10 working days, appointed by the president of NZLS;

(e)          if a mediated settlement is not reached by mediation, the matter shall be referred to the arbitration of a single arbitrator appointed and acting in accordance with the Arbitration Act 1996. The decision of the arbitrator shall be final and binding.

5.3     In the event any claim by you against us for breach of contract, negligence or otherwise, the maximum amount we shall be liable to pay you is the amount invoiced by us to you for the Services the subject of the Complaint. In no circumstances will we be liable for any actual loss which is greater than the invoiced amount or for any consequential, indirect or special damages or losses whatsoever.

5.4     Save as expressly provided in these Terms, all express or implied conditions, statements or warranties, whether statutory or otherwise, are expressly excluded.  Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, if you  acquires the Services for the purposes of a business, you acknowledges that any contract between us and you shall be a business transaction for the purposes of the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 and that Act shall not apply to any such contract or the provision of Services under it.

5.5     No clause shall be construed as limiting any other clause but shall be construed as extending the widest limitation of liability in our favour.

5.6     If for any reason any paragraph in these Terms is held to be unenforceable by any court of competent jurisdiction or by reason of any requirement or rule of NZLS, the following shall apply:

(a)          the offending provision shall be deemed deleted from these Terms without, however, affecting the remainder; and

(b)          there shall be implied into these Terms a provision which reflects to the greatest possible extent the provision deemed unenforceable so as to reflect the intent of these Terms and the unenforceable provision particularly, with only such changes made to it as are required to avoid the implied provision itself being deemed  unenforceable.

6.        Confidentiality
6.1     We will hold in confidence all information concerning you or your affairs that we acquire during the course of acting for you. We will not disclose any of this information to any other person except:

(a)      to the extent necessary or desirable to enable us to carry out your instructions; or

(b)     to the extent required by law or by the Law Society's Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers.

6.2     Confidential information concerning you will as far as practicable be made available only to those within our firm who are providing legal services for you.

7.        Termination
7.1     You may terminate our retainer at any time.

7.2     We may terminate our retainer in any of the circumstances set out in the NZLS’ Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers.

7.3     If our retainer is terminated you must pay us all fees due up to the date of termination and all expenses incurred up to that date. 

8.        Retention of files and documents
You authorise us (without further reference to you) to destroy all files and documents for this matter (other than any documents that we hold in safe custody for you) 7 years after our engagement ends, or earlier if we have converted those files and documents to an electronic format.

9.        Conflicts of Interest
We have procedures in place to identify and respond to 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 NZLS’ Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers.

10.      General
10.1    These Terms apply to any current engagement and also to any future engagement, whether or not we send you another copy of them.

10.2    We are entitled to change these Terms from time to time, in which case we will send you amended Terms.

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