Pricing Policy
Last updated: 29 October 2021 ©
Michael Law Group’s objective is to provide our clients (you) with high quality Australian business and employment legal services at a fair and reasonable cost.
Our commitment to you includes:
Fixed fee or hourly fee legal services tailored to your needs.
Fixed fees mean you have certainty about their legal fees and do not have to worry about billable hours adding up for phone calls or emails.
Hourly legal fees will usually apply to client advisory and dispute packages where your work scope is not predictable and have the benefit of allowing you to pay for only the legal services you need.
We will also provide information about any change to the scope of our work during your matter and any fee changes before our clients are billed for these.
We also provide estimates of third party expenses to our clients (also known as disbursements). Third party expenses may include fees to ASIC, suppliers and legal agents and these fees are separate to our legal service fees. Please note that third party expenses are an estimate only and actual costs may exceed the estimate.
Fixed fee or hourly fee ?
Typically we will charge a fixed fee for your legal drafting or contract review work. If you need multiple changes (for example, because of a third party requesting these changes) or some other reason that results in your work scope changing, we may need to change the arrangement to an hourly fee one. Rest assured, we'll discuss this with you beforehand.
What are disbursements?
Disbursements are money we pay or are liable to pay to others on your behalf and may include ASIC, NSW land registry fees. Our clients are responsible for paying for the cost of disbursements and these are separate to our legal service fees.
What we expect from our clients before work begins:
Acceptance of engagement & costs disclosure agreement
We require our clients to sign a client engagement letter and costs disclosure agreement before we start any work.
Why? Because we like to make sure that we have properly understood your instructions about the legal services you want so we can provide you with the best possible service.
We accept full payment for legal services and estimated disbursements in our solicitor trust account before we start work unless you have an hourly legal fee arrangement with us.
Why do we accept payment upfront for fixed fee work?
We like to keep your account administration costs low so we can continue to provide high quality legal services to you at a fair cost. Accepting fees upfront means there is no collections work after services are delivered.
Rest assured that any money held on trust that is not used is returned to clients promptly. For example, unused trust money for estimated disbursement fees that were lower than our estimate or if you have requested services that you no longer require and have not been performed by us yet.
Payment for work completed
Subject to applicable laws and rules of professional conduct, if we disagree on any aspect of a client engagement or for other appropriate reasons, we have the right to withdraw from assisting you. If you elect to terminate our engagement prior to the conclusion of your matter or if we elect to withdraw, you are responsible for fees and expenses accrued through the effective date of termination.
Fair use policy
Our fair use policy deals with your use of our services as a valued client and ensures that Michael Law Group is able to continue to provide quality business legal services at a fair cost to entrepreneurs launching in Australia.
We reserve the right to either terminate a client agreement or charge an additional fee in the following circumstances (client’s will be notified if their actions will give rise to termination of a client agreement or an extra fee).
1. If a client does not provide instructions in a timely manner;
2. causes unnecessary delays;
3. frequently changes instructions; or
4. if the scope of work for negotiations or drafting changes.
Document revisions
Clients are able to request up to 3 rounds of revisions to documents drafted by Michael Law Group within 14 days from the first date of drafting unless otherwise stated in our product and service descriptions or client engagement letters. If we offer flexibility and vary our review times and/or rounds of revision for one matter, our leniency does not waive our right to enforce this clause in future instances for the same or other matters.
Importantly, we include up to 3 rounds of revisions but if you only need one round, our legal fee remains the same, i.e. we do not return a portion of our legal fee. The 3 rounds act as a safety net for client's looking for price certainty.
We reserve our right to change our document revision policy. We will notify you of any changes on our website.
Some other things you should know about our pricing:
Quotes
Price quotes remain valid for up to 30 days unless a shorter time is stated.
Website pricing
Website pricing applies in most instances but may differ based on the factors we take into account when we price, described below.
Price changes
We reserve our right to change our prices for our services and online products. We will notify you of price changes on our website.
Pricing errors
We take care to ensure that our prices are displayed correctly. In the event that our pricing is incorrect, we reserve our right to correct the pricing. We will not be liable for any claim in relation to pricing errors.
Lean costs for our clients
We keep costs as lean as possible so we can continue to provide our clients fair prices. For example, we usually email clients instead of posting letters and we may telephone client’s for their initial or service consultation to avoid travel expenses or a meeting fee where possible.
Factors we take into account when we price
1. if the scope of work is for negotiations or drafting changes;
2. how long it will take to complete the work;
3. if your instructions are varied;
4. if there is frequent follow up because you do not provide timely instructions;
5. if documents have to be revised in light of varied instructions beyond the allowable 3 revisions within 14 days of drafting;
6. if further negotiations are required in light of your varied instructions;
7. changes in the law; and
8. the complexity or uncertainty concerning legal issues affecting your matter.
Our partners
We collaborate with organisations. We have absolutely no control over the pricing of our partners or the quality of their offerings. You should make your own enquiries and exercise your own judgement about the suitability of their services for your particular circumstances.
You may reach us on 1800 478 278 in Australia or +61 2 9151 7322 form overseas, at info@michaellawgroup.com.au or using the contact forms if you have any questions about how we work.
We look forward to working with you.
Vivian Michael
FOUNDER I MICHAEL LAW GROUP