Notification of client's rights
33 Notification of client's rights
A bill must include or be accompanied by a written statement setting out—
the following avenues that are open to the client in the event of a dispute in relation to legal costs:
raising the matter with the law practice;
adjudication of costs by the Supreme Court under
Part 7;
the setting aside of a costs agreement under clause 30;
if the client believes there has been overcharging—making a complaint to the Commissioner; and
if the bill is not an itemised bill—the law practice's obligation to provide an itemised bill on request by the client;
and
any time limits that apply to the taking of any action referred to in paragraph (a).
[Note: Note
These matters will already have been disclosed under clause 10(1).]
Subclause (1) does not apply in relation to a sophisticated client.
A law practice is taken to have complied with the requirement to provide the written statement referred to in subclause (1) if it provides a written statement in or to the effect of a form prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this subclause.
A form prescribed for the purposes of subclause (3) may, instead of itself containing details of the kind referred to in that subclause, refer to publicly accessible sources of information (such as an Internet website) from which those details can be obtained.
The regulations may—
require the Society to develop a statement of the relevant details and to revise it as necessary to keep it up to date; and
require the Society to make the statement publicly available in the prescribed manner.
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