FAQ

There are some things a client can do for yourself. Our firm will let you know what you can do to keep costs down.

These include:-

• write out the relevant history of the relationship
• Fill out your own court forms (we probably will need to prepare the Orders sought and prepare Affidavits). We will check your work and use it whenever possible.
• You can sort out your own documents before you give them to us.
• You can organize bulk photocopying
• We can give you the level of service that you want. That is:-
• We are happy to do the lot
• We are happy to do most of it
• We are happy to assist you to do most of it

Please remember we sell our time. We charge you for what we do. If you ring us seventeen times in one day then we will charge you for seventeen phone calls. If you are anxious, then consider whether you should be speaking to your solicitor or not – would it be better if you spoke to a friend or counsellor about your distress? Perhaps you could write down your questions and make one or two calls rather than seventeen? Write down your questions before you come into the office so that you can make the best use of your time while you are with us.

We consider your first consultation to be very important. You will be given the opportunity to explain to your solicitor the nature of your problems/disputes. Your solicitor will ask questions of you to clarify the problem and usually provide you with advice, based on what you have told them and usually discuss with you what we call “next steps”. “Next steps” normally involves establishing what you need to do, and what we need to do in the future, and sometimes the timeframes in which this needs to be done to assist further with your matter.

Consultations

We are happy for you to have a support person with you during your consultations with us; however there are certain consultations where we may ask that person to wait in reception while we speak with you directly. We prefer that you ask the questions, not your support person – after all, you are the client. We cannot under any circumstances take instructions on your behalf from your support person/s or other family members unless you specifically authorise us in writing to take instructions from them. If we feel your support person is hindering your communication or our ability to speak to you then we may ask your support person to leave the room.

Court Events

Some court events, eg Children’s Court or domestic violence matters take place in a closed Court. Only the parties and their legal representatives may be present. Your support person must wait outside. For other matters, you may have a support person present in the Court. They will be required to sit in the public gallery and must not interfere in the Court proceedings. If they do they may be asked to leave the Court. We discourage you from having a “cheer squad”, ie a group of people, to support you during any Court events. The Court will be watching not only your conduct in Court but also the conduct of your supporters. It can be counter-productive to your matter if there are too many people in the court room. During your trial, any person that will be called as a witness will not be able to be present in the Court until that person has given their evidence and has been cross-examined. We also discourage bringing children to court. There are no child minding facilities at Court and it will be necessary for you to make alternative arrangements. Your children cannot come into the Courtroom.

We recommend you wear what you would wear to a formal event – fairly formal and dressed up. For men, if you do not have a suit, then wear dark trousers and a collared, long-sleeved shirt and tie. For women, a skirt and blouse. We recommend you do not show any unnecessary cleavage, your midriff or too much of your thighs. It is important that you make the right impression and that you look as if you are serious about your action. You only have one chance to make a first impression. Outlandish hairstyles/torn or dirty clothes/singlets/stubbies/thongs/swimming costumes and sarongs do not have a place at the Court.

The law in Queensland and Australia provides that when a file is costed, an allowance can be made for general care and consideration. Care and consideration is an amount allowed in addition to set fees, which compensates for work done, for which the scale doesn’t adequately provide given the nature or complexity of a matter. It compensates, for example:

• For multiple drafts of complex documents/letters;
• For re reading your file before a conference with you or before court;
• For inter office conferences where a number of solicitors meet to discuss the way forward on your file.

Family law is not a straightforward area of law. It is a complex and specialised area. The knowledge and experience gained by our family lawyers enables them to apply their skill and knowledge to unique matters. As a guide, the court has considered an allocation of 15% to 35% is fair and reasonable fee for care and consideration.

Care and consideration at Power Legal

As a matter of course, at Power Legal, unless your matter is particularly complex, we charge 10% for care and consideration. Care and consideration would not be appropriate for routine tasks requiring basic skills expected of a lawyer and those that could be performed by a paralegal or clerk.

At Power Legal we engage Queensland Independent Costing Services (QICS) to cost our files. It is fair to us and fair to our clients. Care and consideration is not automatic, it is discretionary and if there is a dispute, the decision as to whether or not it is allowed rests upon the cost assessor. If QICS need to make a decision regarding what to charge you, QICS will always favour you, the client, rather than us.