FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION FOR ONGOING MATTERS PLEASE CALL 0400 998 420 FOR MORE INFORMATION © Near-full moon over the Pilbara, WA. OSPREY Legal’s FIXED-FEE POLICY & SERVICES Free Initial Consultation for Ongoing MattersOSPREY Legal is pleased to offer a free initial consultation for many legal services if you instruct OSPREY Legal to continue to represent you on an ongoing basis.For instance, if you meet with OSPREY Legal for an initial consultation on a family law matter and some Magistrates Court matters, OSPREY Legal will invoice you for the initial consultation. However if you instruct OSPREY Legal to continue to represent you for that matter on an ongoing basis, OSPREY Legal will credit your account the initial consultation fee.OSPREY Legal offers free initial consultation on ongoing matters that are fixed-fee matters, a combination of fixed-fee and hourly rate, and hourly rate matters. Conditions apply, which will be included in the costs agreement between yourself and OSPREY Legal. OSPREY Legal Fixed-Fee vs. Hourly RateA fixed-fee is simply that – a fee that is fixed for a particular legal service. Fixed-fees are appropriate for legal matters that are relatively simple, clear, and straightforward to finalise. It is not always possible to provide a full fixed-fee price for a matter, such as for contentious family law childrens or property matters. For instance, where there is no current agreement between the parties and the relationship between the parties has broken down, it is very difficult for OSPREY Legal to give an accurate fixed-fee price for its services to the end of the matter. This is because how long the matter will remain contested and whether it is settled before trial or not is determined entirely by the parties themselves and their willingness to reach a negotiated settlement before their legal costs escalate.Where possible OSPREY Legal will charge a fixed-fee for a service within a contentious matter, such as for the drafting and filing of court documents. However, it may remain impossible to provide a fixed-fee for the whole matter as that will largely be determined by the parties’ willingness to settle the matter.When OSPREY Legal cannot quote a fixed-fee for a service, OSPREY Legal will charge a competitive hourly rate. Invoicing by OSPREY LegalFor your initial consultation, OSPREY Legal will take a payment for the initial consultation via EFTPOS or cash, at the discretion of the client. An EFTPOS receipt will be given to you immediately (where applicable), and a full invoice and receipt will be issued once the funds are received in OSPREY Legal’s office account. If OSPREY Legal is engaged for your matter on an ongoing basis, then the cost of your initial consultation will be credited to your account. OSPREY Legal will invoice you regularly and on a case-by-case basis determined by quantity of the bill, workload and timing of your matter, at OSPREY Legal’s discretion. Your invoice will give a detailed summary of the work carried out for your matter, which you are able to review and challenge as required. If you have funds in your trust account OSPREY Legal will issue you with a tax invoice, but cannot access your trust funds to pay your tax invoice without your consent and/or as allowed to by WA legislation. Details of how your trust funds can be accessed are detailed in your costs agreement with OSPREY Legal.All OSPREY Legal’s fees are subject to GST of 10%. OSPREY Legal’s Fixed-Fee PolicyOSPREY Legal has been offering fixed-fee services for its clients in a limited number of matters since its inception in July 2013, including some family law, Magistrates Court and drafting of documents matters.OSPREY Legal has now expanded its range of fixed-fee legal services to most of its professional services including most family law and Magistrate Court matters, Wills creation, and solicitor’s certificate matters. The range of fixed-fee services OSPREY Legal offers are detailed throughout OSPREY Legal’s website.OSPREY Legal will also consider offering a fixed-fee for new legal services if the legal matter makes a fixed-fee service possible. OSPREY Legal’s Trust AccountOSPREY Legal requires clients to deposit funds in the OSPREY Legal trust account for ongoing matters and for fixed-fee matters. The quantity of funds required to be deposited will depend on the nature of the matter and will be at OSPREY Legal’s discretion. Conditions apply for how much you will be asked to deposit trust funds into your OSPREY Legal trust account, and will be detailed in the costs agreement between yourself and OSPREY Legal.Your funds held in your OSPREY Legal trust fund remain funds owned and controlled by you. OSPREY Legal cannot and does not access or use your trust funds unless instructed to do so by you and/or as allowed to by WA legislation. Details of how your trust funds can be accessed are detailed in your costs agreement with OSPREY Legal.OSPREY Legal has managed a trust account for its client’s funds since 2013. The OSPREY Legal trust account has been audited annually as required by Western Australian law and Legal Practice Board of WA (LPBWA), and was randomly audited by the LPBWA in mid-2019. OSPREY Legal’s trust account has passed all its trust audits since 2013.
