Like in many industries, we ordinarily request our clients to pay our estimated fees and disbursements in advance of us commencing work on a matter. We do this to minimise bad debts and wasted time chasing payment – allowing us to pass on these savings to our clients through our competitive fees.
The legal profession is heavily regulated and we are required to quarantine any fees we receive in advance of performing work and rendering an invoice into a separate bank account (known as a solicitor’s trust account). Ordinarily, your money will remain in this account until we have completed the work and rendered an invoice.
We also use our trust account to collect monies on your behalf from third parties. This ensures that your monies are kept separate from the rest of our business operations.
We will periodically (or at your request) send you a statement showing the funds you have in our trust account and any trust account transactions associated with your matter.
If you have any questions, please contact your file manager.
Why can’t you issue me with an invoice before you do the work?
The regulation governing the legal profession only permits us to render an invoice (essentially a request for payment) after the services have been provided. If the services have not been provided, we are required to treat funds as trust moneys.
