What we charge, and what drives the number

The three ways legal work is priced, and the one that hides the ball

Three pricing models are in common use in Queensland. The difference between them decides whether you can plan around the cost or not.

Hourly rates

The firm records time in six minute units and bills you for it. A phone call is a unit. An email is a unit. The rate is knowable but the total is not, because nobody can say in advance how many units your matter will take. That is defensible for open-ended work, such as a contested property settlement where the other side controls half the timetable. It is harder to defend for a guilty plea on one charge, where the work is largely predictable.

Fixed fees

The firm names a number for a defined piece of work, and it does not move unless the work does. The value is not that it is always cheaper, because sometimes it is not. The value is that you can decide using real information, instead of choosing between running your defence properly and keeping the bill down.

A fixed fee only works if the scope is written down. Ours says what stage it covers, what happens on an adjournment, and what happens if a guilty plea becomes a contested hearing.

The "from" price

A headline of "from $X" is a floor, not a quote. It describes the simplest possible version of a matter, with no negotiation, no adjournment and no complication. Nothing about advertising that way is unlawful, but the gap between the headline and the invoice is where most complaints about legal costs start.

Test it with two questions. What is the total, including everything, if I plead guilty and it finishes on the first date? What is the total if it is contested and runs for a day? If a firm will not answer both in writing, the number on the website is advertising rather than pricing.

Costs agreements, and what Queensland law makes a firm tell you

A costs agreement is the contract between you and the law practice about money. It is separate from your instructions about the matter itself. It is governed by Part 3.4 of the Legal Profession Act 2007 (Qld), and the obligations sit on the firm, not on you.

When disclosure is required

• Under $1,500 excluding GST and disbursements: no formal disclosure is required, under section 311. A sensible firm still puts the figure in writing.
• Between $1,500 and $3,000: abbreviated disclosure under section 307B, covering the services, the basis of calculation, an estimate of costs and disbursements, and your key rights.
• Over $3,000: detailed disclosure under section 308 is mandatory, in writing and in plain language, given before or as soon as practicable after the firm is retained, under section 310.

What detailed disclosure has to contain

1. The basis on which costs are calculated, including whether a scale applies.
2. An estimate of total costs, or a range with the major variables explained.
3. Your right to negotiate the agreement, receive a bill, request an itemised bill, and be told of any substantial change.
4. The billing intervals and the interest rate on overdue costs.
5. For litigation, what you might recover if you win and what you might pay if you lose.
6. Your right to progress reports, who to contact about costs, and how to dispute a bill, including costs assessment and the time limits.

Section 315 requires ongoing disclosure. If something substantial changes, including the estimate, the firm must tell you in writing as soon as reasonably practicable. Being told at the end that the matter cost three times the estimate is not compliance.

What happens if a firm does not disclose

Section 316 is blunt. If the required disclosure is not made, you need not pay until the costs are assessed, the firm cannot sue to recover them, you may apply to set the costs agreement aside, and a costs assessor may reduce the bill in proportion to the seriousness of the failure. It is also capable of being unsatisfactory professional conduct or professional misconduct.

Two more rights matter. Under section 332, you can ask for an itemised bill after a lump sum bill, it must be provided within 28 days, and you cannot be charged for it. Under section 335, you can apply for a costs assessment, generally within 12 months after the bill was given, payment was requested, or the costs were paid.

No win no fee has no place in a criminal or family matter

Conditional costs agreements are a personal injury and civil litigation arrangement. Section 323(2) says one may relate to any matter except a matter involving criminal proceedings or proceedings under the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). If a firm offers you no win no fee on a criminal charge or a parenting dispute, keep looking.

Our fees

We quote a fixed fee range in writing before any work starts on most criminal, traffic and domestic violence matters. Contested family law is quoted stage by stage instead, because the other side controls half the timetable and no honest firm can put a single number on that.

We do not publish a price list. A figure on a web page goes stale, and a firm leaving an out-of-date number up is worse than one that never posted it, because you plan around it. What we will do is give you the number for your matter, in writing, before you commit to anything, and tell you what it excludes at the same time.

What actually moves the number

Two people charged with the same offence can be quoted very differently, and the reasons are not mysterious.

• The charge and the court. A summary charge finalised in a Magistrates Court is a different piece of work to an indictable charge committed to the District Court.
• Plea or contest. A guilty plea listed for sentence on the day is the cheapest outcome available. A contested hearing means cross-examination, witnesses and a full day or more in court.
• The size of the brief. Four pages of QP9 material is not the same as nine hours of body-worn footage and 300 pages of telephone intercepts, and somebody has to watch and read all of it.
• Whether a barrister is briefed. On trials and most District Court work one is, and their fee is a disbursement, not part of ours.
• Whether expert material is needed. A psychologist's report, a traffic engineer or an interpreter each add a cost we pay on your behalf at what it costs us.
• How early you come to us. Negotiating a charge down before a plea is entered is usually cheaper than fixing a position after it has been taken.

How to get the number

Call 07 5522 5777. The first fifteen minutes by phone are free on every matter except family law, and that is generally enough for us to tell you the range and what would move it. If the matter needs a proper sit-down, a first appointment at Southport or Brisbane is $440 including GST. That fee covers the appointment itself and is not credited against your fees if you go on to engage us, so you are never paying twice for the same hour.

You are entitled to costs disclosure in writing under the Legal Profession Act 2007 (Qld) before you are committed to anything, and the section above sets out exactly what that document has to contain. Ask any firm for it, including us.

What a fixed fee includes

For a criminal or traffic matter quoted as a fixed fee range, the figure covers the whole of that stage of the work, not just the appearance:

• Conferences with the solicitor running your file, in person, by phone or by video.
• Obtaining and reading the QP9 and the brief, including body worn camera and CCTV.
• Advice on the elements of the charge, the evidence and the realistic range of outcomes.
• Written negotiations with police prosecutions or the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions about amending, substituting or withdrawing charges.
• Preparing the sentencing material, including submissions and references.
• The court appearance itself, including waiting time on the day.
• Your calls and emails. We do not bill you for asking a question.
• Storage of your file afterwards, and a copy of your material on request.

It does not include a promise about the result. No firm can lawfully make one, and any that does is telling you something about how it treats the rules it practises under.

What is not included, and why

These are the items that turn a quoted fee into a larger bill at other firms. We list them so you can price your matter properly, including if you engage someone else.

Counsel, meaning a barrister

Counsel is a separate practitioner with a separate fee, usually a brief fee plus a daily rate, charged to you as a disbursement. Most Magistrates Court matters do not need one. District and Supreme Court trials and many sentences do. We tell you before we brief anyone, and what it costs.

Expert reports

A psychological or psychiatric report can change a sentence. A traffic engineer can change a dangerous driving hearing. A valuer or forensic accountant can change a property settlement. None of them work for free, and their fees are not within our control.

Court filing fees and statutory charges

Filing and application fees are set by regulation and indexed on 1 July each year. Police charges do not attract a filing fee for you, but family law and divorce applications, civil claims and some licence applications do. Transfer duty and title registration on a conveyance are separate again. We give you the current figure at the time, because last year's figure is usually wrong.

Appeals

An appeal is a new matter, not a continuation of the old one. Different court, a transcript, fresh submissions and often counsel. A fee quoted for a Magistrates Court sentence has never included a District Court appeal, here or anywhere else. The time limits are short, so ask about cost and merit on the day of the result.

Interpreters

The court may arrange an interpreter for the hearing itself. Conferences in our office are different, and an accredited interpreter charges their own rate. Tell us at the first appointment so it is arranged rather than discovered at the courtroom door.

Travel to regional courts

Southport, Brisbane, Beenleigh, Coolangatta, Richlands and Holland Park carry no travel charge. For a court outside that area we quote the travel separately and in advance, or tell you honestly that a local firm will cost you less.

Disbursements, and how your money is held

A disbursement is money we pay to someone else on your behalf. It is not our fee and we do not mark it up. The common ones look like this.

Trust accounts

If you pay us before the work is done, that money is trust money. It goes into the firm's general trust account, which is regulated under Part 3.3 of the Legal Profession Act 2007 (Qld), audited externally, and inspected by the Queensland Law Society. It is your money while it sits there. We can only withdraw it as the Act and your costs agreement permit, which in practice means after we have given you a bill for work actually performed, or to pay a disbursement on your behalf.

If your matter finishes with money left in trust, it comes back to you. If you ask for a statement of the account at any point, you get one.

Payment plans

Most people facing a charge did not budget for a lawyer. We would rather structure the payment than have you go to court unrepresented, so we offer instalment arrangements on most fixed fee matters.

• A deposit opens the file. The amount depends on the matter and is set out in your costs agreement.
• The balance is paid by instalments on terms we agree in writing before the plan starts.
• The plan is documented in your costs agreement, so the amount, the dates and the consequences of missing one are all in the same place.
• We will tell you plainly if a plan is not workable for the stage your matter is at, for example a hearing three weeks away.

Ask about this on the first call rather than after you receive a bill. It is a much easier conversation at the start.

When Legal Aid or the duty lawyer is the right answer

Sometimes the honest advice is that you should not be paying a private firm at all. Two services exist and both are worth understanding before you spend money.

The duty lawyer

Legal Aid Queensland funds a criminal law duty lawyer service at Magistrates Courts and Childrens Courts, including Southport and Brisbane. It is free, there is no appointment, and you ask for it at the courthouse on the day. Duty lawyers appear on adjournments and remands, guilty pleas in summary matters, bail applications, breaches of bail and community based orders, and traffic charges carrying a real risk of imprisonment.

They will not run a contested hearing, a committal or a trial, and cannot act if you already have a lawyer. They are also seeing a long list in a short morning. For a straightforward plea on a minor charge, the duty lawyer is often the sensible choice. Where your licence, your job or your visa turns on the result, it usually is not.

A grant of legal aid

A grant of aid is different. You apply to Legal Aid Queensland and the application is tested two ways. The means test looks at your income and assets, and those of any financially associated person, and a contribution may be payable even if you qualify. The merits test asks whether the matter is one a reasonable person paying their own money would pursue, and whether funding it is a justifiable use of public money.

Criminal aid is generally directed to charges where imprisonment is a real prospect or the matter is on indictment. Family law aid is narrower again and usually focuses on children. The figures change, so check the current position at legalaid.qld.gov.au. If we think you would qualify, we will say so at the first appointment.

What to ask any firm before you engage them

Use it on us, and on every other firm you call. A firm that answers these clearly and in writing on the first call is telling you how it will behave for the rest of the matter.

1. Is the fee fixed, or is it a starting point? If it is a range, what specifically moves me from the bottom to the top of it?
2. What exactly does the fee cover, and at what stage does it stop? Get the answer in terms of court events, not adjectives.
3. What happens to the fee if the matter is adjourned, or if it takes three mentions instead of one?
4. What happens if I plead not guilty and it goes to a hearing? What is that figure?
5. Will a barrister be briefed, and if so what will that cost? Is it included or is it a disbursement?
6. What disbursements do you expect in a matter like mine, and what is the likely total?
7. Who will actually run my file, and who will appear in court? Name the person, not the firm.
8. Will I get written costs disclosure and a costs agreement before any work starts?
9. What are your billing intervals, and what interest do you charge on an overdue account?
10. Do you offer a payment plan, and what are the terms?
11. Am I likely to be eligible for legal aid or a duty lawyer, and will you tell me if I am?
12. If I am unhappy with the bill, what can I do about it? A firm should be able to explain itemised bills and costs assessment without flinching.

Two answers should end the conversation. A refusal to put the fee in writing before work starts, and any promise about the outcome. Nobody can guarantee a result in a court.

If you want our number for your own matter, start with the free 15 minute call. Bring the notice to appear or the letter, and you will leave knowing the charge, the process, the realistic range of outcomes and the cost.