"Clark Boyce have added value to our business by providing a high level of service, utilising t...
Craig Inder
CLIENT SERVICE COMMITMENT
1. Client Care and Service
As members of the Law Society, Clark Boyce Lawyers is committed to ensuring that our clients have minimum expectations of how we will provide our services. How we will do this is detailed below.Whatever legal service your lawyer is providing, he or she must:
- Act competently, in a timely way and in accordance with instructions received and arrangements made
- Protect and promote your interests and act for you free from compromising influences or loyalties
- Discuss with you your objectives and how they should best be achieved
- Provide you with information about the work to be done, who will do it and the way the services will be provided
- Charge you a fee that is fair and reasonable and let you know when you will be billed
- Give you clear information and advice
- Protect your privacy and ensure appropriate confidentiality
- Treat you fairly, respectfully and without discrimination
- Keep you informed about the work being done and advise when it is completed
- Let you know how to make a complaint and deal with any complaint promptly and fairly
2. Fees
The fees that will be assessed and charged to you are provided in our terms of engagement letter. The terms of engagement letter also sets out when fees are required to be paid by and the means by which payment may be arranged.
In determining any fee, any one or more of the following factors will be taken into account:
- The time and labour expended
- The skill, specialised knowledge and responsibility required to perform the services properly
- The importance of the matter to you and the results achieved
- The urgency and circumstances in which the matter is undertaken and any time limitations imposed, including those imposed by you
- The degree of risk we assume in undertaking the services including the amount or value of any property involved
- The complexity of the matter and difficulty or novelty of the questions involved
- The experience, reputation and ability of those within our firm, involved with your matter
- The possibility that the acceptance of your work will preclude employment of our lawyers by other clients
- Whether the fee is fixed or conditional
- Any quote or estimate of fees given by us
- Any fee agreement entered into
- The reasonable costs of the running of our Practice
- The fee customarily charged in the market and locality for legal services similar to yours
We will of course be happy to provide an estimate of fees for services that we are asked to undertake. We do however reserve the right to amend any fee estimate if it is apparent the range of services that the original estimate of fees was based upon materially change.
3. Professional Indemnity Insurance
We currently hold professional indemnity insurance that meets or exceeds the minimum standards as specified by the Law Society.
4. Lawyers Fidelity Fund
The Law Society maintains the Lawyers Fidelity Fund for the purposes of providing clients with protection against pecuniary loss arising from theft by lawyers.
The maximum amount payable by the Fidelity Fund by way of compensation to an individual claimant is limited to $100,000.
We draw to your attention the fact that the Fund will not pay compensation in respect to money instructed to be invested on your behalf, outside our Trust Account.
Please let us know if you would like further information in relation to the Fidelity Fund.
5. Partner(s) Responsible
The partner who will assume overall responsibility for the services we undertake and carry out on your behalf will be specified in the Engagement Letter. That letter will also disclose persons who may assist and be involved in work with your file.
6. Complaints Procedure
We will provide you with a competent and timely service following receipt of instructions to act for you on a specified matter.
We do however maintain a procedure for handling any complaints, designed to ensure that any dissatisfaction is dealt with in timely fashion and with fairness.
If you have any complaint about our services or charges then in the first instance you may refer your complaint to the person in the firm who has overall responsibility for your work.
Should you not wish to refer your complaint to that person or you are not satisfied with that person's response to your complaint, you may then refer your complaint to Kelvin Glenn who is our Practice Manager. Kelvin may be contacted in writing, at his email address of kelvin@clarkboce.co.nz or by telephone (03) 379 4420.
If you still remain dissatisfied then you have the right to take the matter up with the New Zealand Law Society which maintains a complaints service. Their contact details are complaints@lawsociety.org.nz. Alternatively you may write to New Zealand Law Society, PO Box 5041, Lambton Quay, Wellington 6145.
7. Limitation of Liability
Any limitations on the extent of our obligations to you or any limitation or exclusion of liability will be set out in our Letter of Engagement.
8. Communication
Our aim is to communicate regularly, professionally and within reasonable timeframes. To achieve this we will:
Telephone Calls
- We will endeavour to reply to all telephone messages within 24 hours of receiving them. If you are unavailable and have a telephone messaging system a brief message will be left
Letters & Email's
- We will endeavour to provide an interim response to all written correspondence within 5 working days from the date of receipt in our office
- Advise in any "interim" response as to the date by which a full response will be sent
- We will endeavour to respond to all emails correctly addressed within 48 hours of receiving them
Updates
- We will provide written updates as work on any matter progresses
- When a matter is completed we will advise you within 5 working days and seek instructions in respect to any future actions arising
Contact Clark Boyce Lawyers Christchurch on 03 379 4420 and we can arrange an appointment with one of our specialised legal teams.
