TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT
Thank you for considering Ackroyd LLP for your legal service needs. We look forward to working with you and are pleased to provide you with the following information respecting our fee structure and the lawyer and client relationship.Together with this document you will receive a retainer letter which gives the particulars of the matter on which you have sought our services. Please review the letter. It establishes what we have agreed will be the scope of our services.
Our fees are our charges for services. Legal fees are subject to the Goods and Services Tax, which will be added to your account. The fees on your matter will be determined by one of the methods set out below. We may provide you with an estimate of the overall costs anticipated respecting the legal services you will be provided. The retainer letter will indicate the manner of charging that will be applied to your file. We have set out a brief description of each method below:
1. Hourly Rate or Time Basis, with value review on completion of the matter.
The starting point for determining the fees you will be charged will be the time spent on the matter. In determining the chargeable time for a matter, we include telephone calls, meetings, preparation time, sending, receiving and reviewing correspondence, drafting documents, travel time, reviewing documents and files, research, court appearances and, generally, all time spent in providing legal services to you in the matter. Records of time and the services rendered are kept. Should you have any questions with respect to your account, these records may be made available to you.
The time charge rates for a matter will depend on the Acharge-out@ rate of the lawyer or lawyers doing the work. This information, if applicable, will be provided to you in the retainer letter. "Charge-out" rates may be changed from time to time. If you have any questions about the charge rates, please do not hesitate to contact us.
SERVICES TO BE RENDERED
Interim bills will be based on the amount of time spent on the matter to the time the interim bill is sent.
Your final account may be adjusted up or down to a fair and reasonable amount, based on various factors, including:
(a) the nature of the matter, including the difficulty and urgency; its importance to you, its monetary value, and the need for special skills or services;
(b) the result obtained;
(c) any estimate we have given you; and
(d) the direct costs we incur in providing the services. 2. Flat-Rate Charge
In some cases, we may provide our services for a flat-rate charge, plus disbursements, other charges and GST. This flat-rate charge quote is based on the assumption that your matter will be completed as anticipated and is subject to increase if the matter turns out to be significantly more complex or time consuming than was originally anticipated. If we are unable to complete the matter within the quote given, you will be advised and have the option to decide whether you want the matter to continue.
3. Contingency Fees
In some cases, we may provide our services for a fee which is a percentage of the amount, if any, recovered, as provided in a written signed contingency fee agreement that is filed with the Court of Queen=s Bench of Alberta.
Under the Law Society Code of Professional Conduct, we are allowed to recover certain "other charges" for non-legal services. You will be charged for photocopying, FAX transmissions and special stationary costs (tabs for court briefs and factums). If you have any questions regarding these "other charges" please do not hesitate to contact us.
Disbursements are payments we make to third parties for expenses incurred in carrying forward your matter. We incur these expenses as your agent. Some examples of disbursements include: long distance charges for telephone calls, courier charges, travel expenses, Land Titles Office
OTHER CHARGES
fees, Corporate Registry fees, transcripts, court filing fees, process service fees, surveys, search and certificate fees, and generally any other payments we must make to the third parties on your behalf. You will be responsible for paying our disbursements on your matter as well as GST where applicable.
In many cases we may require our clients to pay a certain sum "up front" to help cover the fees, disbursements and other charges for a certain block of work to be done. This money is kept in a trust account and is used for disbursements as they are incurred and is applied to payment of fees when an account is rendered.
Legal matters sometimes take considerable time to resolve. To keep you informed as to how much the matter is costing you and to allow us to continue to carry forward with your case, you will likely receive interim accounts. When your matter is completed, you will receive a final account.
All accounts, including interim accounts, are due when rendered.
We want to handle your legal mater in a prompt, effective manner. We hope you will let us know if there is any way we can improve the service we provide to you. As the client, you will decide the general direction of your matter. Before taking any major step in your matter, we will ask for your instructions on how to proceed. We will usually make a recommendation, but the final decision will be yours. We will then provide the legal services necessary to carry out your instructions. We cannot accept instructions that are in conflict with our duties to the courts, other lawyers or the public. The Code of Professional Conduct of the Law Society of Alberta provides the standards we are to meet.
We can make no promises or guarantees as to the outcome of your matter. We will, however, give you our considered opinion and provide you with competent legal services.
If you have retained us to take court action to recover money damages, you should be aware that winning your case in court does not necessarily mean that you will actually recover the money the court awards. If the defendant is insolvent or uninsured, further proceedings may be needed to
RETAINERS
ACCOUNTS
recover the damages, and in some cases no recovery is possible, even after the case has been won in court.
Two-way communication will be very important in our relationship. If you ever feel you do not fully understand what is going on, please call or make an appointment for a meeting. If you have any information that might be of assistance to us in handling your matter, call and let us know. We will report to you from time to time by letter, telephone call or in person. You will also receive copies of most correspondence sent and received and documents prepared on your matter. If you do not understand a document, please call.
Certain communications between solicitor and client are absolutely confidential. This confidentiality is known as "solicitor-client privilege." Because of it, you can give us all the facts relevant to your matter without fear that prejudicial information will become public.
Not all solicitor-client communications are privileged. The privilege only arises when the client reveals information in confidence to obtain legal advice or services. Information you give us that is not privileged is treated instead as confidential, and as such, may be disclosed in certain circumstances. Our ethical rules define the limited circumstances in which confidential information may be disclosed.
If you have any questions about privilege or confidentiality, please do not hesitate to contact us and ask.
We maintain a separate bank account for money we hold in trust for our clients. The account is designated as a trust account. The Law Society has established very strict standards for lawyers' trust accounts. Trust accounts are audited annually by a professional accountant and the results of the audit are reported to the Law Society. The Law Society also conducts spot audits.
In most cases, the interest on trust accounts goes to the Law Foundation of Alberta and is used for law reform and public legal education. However, if a large sum of money is to be held in trust for an extended period of time, a specific interest-bearing trust account can be opened for the
COMMUNICATION
CONFIDENTIALITY
money, with the interest payable to the client. You will be required to pay a special charge to set up this type of account.
Both you and our firm have the right to terminate this engagement on reasonable notice to the other party.
Should our relationship end, we will render a final account covering unbilled time, other charges and disbursements. You will have to pay this account and all other outstanding accounts before we will release the file, except in the circumstances set out in the Code of Professional Conduct.
