FEES – There will be no hidden costs or nasty surprises!

On this page

01. How do lawyers charge?

01.1. Professional Fees
01.2. A fixed fee
01.3. An hourly rate
01.4. A Mix of fixed fee and hourly rate

02. How do we charge?

02.1. We give fee estimates in writing

03. Advice policy /risk management / practice standards
04. Solicitor & Barrister (counsel) legal team – When to brief counsel?
05. Why do fees vary?
06. Retainer fees
07. A retainer agreement – cost agreement
08. Timesheets
09. Disbursements
10. Disclosure pursuant to the Legal Profession Uniform Law (LPUL)
11. Fees for general legal matters / Conveyancing / Wills & power of attorney (POA)

11.1. Conveyancing
11.2. Wills & power of attorney (POA)
11.3. Call out fees

12. Lawyers Consultation fee structure (except Migration)
13. Criminal law /Traffic Cases /Family violence safety notices/Intervention orders
14. Migration Fees - In Australia

- Skills Assessment
- Student Visas
- TR (temporary resident 485 visa)
- General Skilled Categories Visas (GSM)
- Family, Parent & Partner Visas
- Employer Sponsored
- AAT reviews (Administrative Appeals Tribunal)
- Judicial review at the Federal Circuit Court of Australia
- Ministerial intervention
- Visitor Visa
- Re applying for rejected Visitor Visa
- Legal Submission

15. Family law fees
16. Solicitor/lawyer's certificates for bank loans
17. Estimated fees for lawyer assisted forms – Legal Documents Portal
18. Estimated fees for Self Checkout Forms – Legal Documents Portal

01. How do lawyers charge?

01.1. Professional Fees

Professional fees are what a lawyer charges for their expertise, time and experience. These fees do not include incidentals such as filing fees, stationary, postage or copying. It’s important to note that professional fees (unlike Court filing fees) also attract GST, meaning that 10% of the cost will be added to your bill.

*Fees noted in this page cover our firm’s professional fees only. There may be additional fees payable such as government lodgement fees and other disbursements. Where your circumstances are more complex (or fall outside our standard scope of services), we will provide you with a tailored fee estimate.

01.2. A fixed fee

A fixed fee is simply that – a fee that is fixed. For legal matters that are clear and straightforward, such as some visa matters, wills, divorce agreements, issuing a letter, drafting a will, or reviewing a contract we can provide a flat/fixed fee. Make sure that you know what the costs do and do not cover, eg: GST, filing fees may not be included.

01.3. An hourly rate

The most common cost arrangement where the lawyer charges an agreed-upon rate according to the hours spent working on a legal matter up until its resolution. The hourly rate may depend on the location of the lawyer’s practice, their seniority and their expertise in the matter. Experienced lawyers in smaller or rural towns can typically charge from $200 to 400 per hour while those in major urban areas can charge from $300 to $500 per hour.

Billing units
Time will be charged according to hourly rates charged in 6-minute units. For example, the time charged for an attendance of up to 6 minutes will be rounded up to 6 minutes and the time charged for an attendance between 6 and 12 minutes will be rounded up to 12 minutes.

01.4. A Mix of fixed fee and hourly rate

In certain instances, we may have to charge a mixture of both fixed fees and hourly rate. We will charge a fixed fee where it is possible to identify a fixed set of work to be completed and an hourly charge for matters that arise are not clear, straightforward or in situation where it is not possible to identify a fix set work or the time it will take. The hourly rates to be charged will be indicated in the cost disclosure provided to you.

02. How do we charge?

• In straightforward matters we charge a fixed fee
• Where is not strait forward and where it is not possible to identify a particular stage to provide you a fixed we will charge a mixed fee, i.e., a fixed fee (for specifically identifiable step) and an hourly rate for matters that cannot be provided fixed fee. Our hourly rate are as noted below.

Those members of the firm that work on your matter will record the time they spend and charge according to the following rates.

• The firm’s fees are determined by applying these hourly rates to the units of time recorded by each staff member on your matter.
  Time is recorded in 6-minute units e.g. the time charged for a phone call of up to 6 minutes will be 6 minutes and the time charged for an attendance between 6 and 12 minutes will be 12 minutes.
• Once the fee reaches 500 or 1000AUD, we will send you an invoice/receipt.

02.1. We give fee estimates in writing

• • Before we start a matter, we will provide you with a fee estimation in writing, so, there will be no hidden costs or nasty surprises.
  • We offer competitive fees – feel free to compare with competitors of equal standards.
  • Our practice will assess your circumstances and provide you a suitable fee structure.
  • If the scope of the matter changes, we will keep you informed in writing.

03. Advice policy / risk management / practice standards

Our lawyers will advise you after understanding in detail your circumstances. It is our policy to provide legal advice once we have conducted a full intake and consultation in which we will conduct an assessment (and take written notes). This policy enables our lawyers to provide you with the best and most accurate legal advice.

04. Solicitor & Barrister (counsel) legal team – When to brief counsel?

As your legal practitioner we may advice you and appear in court on behalf of you and at times engage and brief counsel on how to proceed while in court.

As legal practitioners we will obtain all relevant details from you (‘take instructions’), assess the case, and provide advice. In circumstances and especially where litigation is probable, in consultation, select a counsel (barrister) with appropriate skills and experience in the area of law involved.

As your instructing solicitor, we may need to prepare a brief to counsel. When acting in your best interest and to obtain a successful outcome, it may be vital that counsel is briefed, and opinion is obtained. Courts have indicated that it is the duty of the instructor to seek a stay if counsel’s absence would not be in the interest of the client.

In certain cases it is vital to get the right legal team with counsel at an early stage particularly in the development of legal strategy; otherwise you whole case would be in jeopardy!
This situation is very similar to obtaining expert medical advice, where individuals are first referred to a medical specialist via their general practitioner.

Your ‘instructing solicitor’ will advise you if a barrister should also be engaged. Similar to the medical analogy, early briefing of a barrister is often of distinct advantage to an early/favourable resolution.

Once the case is underway, the barrister and instructing solicitor will work in consultation.

05. Why do fees vary?

• Due to the level of experience – We have more than 20 years of combined legal experience.
• the specific difficulties or complexities of a case – We think out of the box to get you the result!
• the costs associated with running a business or practice – We are note not an expensive city law firm but a mid-level professional suburban law firm.
• the desire of the applicant for higher professional service – apart from our own professional standards are governed by the legal profession uniform law.
• the current marketplace fee levels – Our fees are competitive in line with market rates considering our expertise levels.

06. Retainer fees

When you hire a lawyer, they may request to be paid a retainer fee. Retainer fees are common amongst law firms, especially if they will be doing work for you on a continual basis. This money (say, $5,000) is then held on trust as security, and used to cover your fees when you give express authority, or when you cannot pay your bills.

07. A retainer agreement – cost agreement

A retainer agreement establishes the lawyer-client relationship, and may cover things like:

• how much you can expect to pay (ballpark estimate)
• fees, disbursements and other costs
• retainer amount (if applicable)
• billing format, when bills are due, and interest charged if you do not pay your bill on time
• scope of the retainer: what you have hired the lawyer to do, and what you have not
• whether work may be delegated (for example, to a paralegal, articled clerk, associate, administrative support staff)
• withdrawal, transfer or termination of services
• how communication will happen (for example, email, phone, letters, etc)
• confidentiality.

08. Timesheets

Solicitors and other professionals (such as accountants) will often keep a record of the work they have done by keeping a timesheet. A timesheet records the date, description, client, and amount of time (billing units) spent on a task.The timesheet is then put into software and used to calculate a client’s bill. Solicitors will also often have minimum billing targets, for example, that they have to bill for 6 hours of work per day. If you request an itemised bill, you will see the tasks loaded into the timesheet which account for the fees charged to you.

09. Disbursements

In providing legal services to you, it may also be necessary to incur other fees, these fees, expenses and other charges we incur on your behalf are referred to as disbursements.

• couriers, printing, postage
• long-distance telephone, faxing
• service of documents (process server)
• court filing fees
• government fees
• medical reports
• assessments
• transcripts
• expert fees.

We will charge you at cost for any disbursements we incur on your behalf. You must pay reasonable disbursements, including GST (Goods and Services Tax), incurred by us on your behalf either on demand or at the conclusion of this matter.

We may also request that you provide us with payment in advance of us incurring a disbursement on your behalf, if so, these funds will be held in a trust account until payment of the disbursement is required. If there are disbursements to be incurred that are unusual, we will seek your instructions before incurring the expense.

10. Disclosure pursuant to the Legal Profession Uniform Law (LPUL)

We are required under LPUL and also it is our policy to inform you of (estimated) professional fees (in advance) when required.

Notes:

a. Although we may have quoted you an estimated fee or a fixed fee, it is generally impractical and impossible to state with any degree of certainty the exact fees associated with a matter. Should additional costs arise, we will contact you via email to advise you of the costs associated with the service.

b. This estimate of total legal costs is NOT BINDING on us, as the work required may change, but is our best advice at this point in time. The estimate is based on our current understanding of the present circumstances of this matter. If the scope of this matter or your instructions to us change in a way that results in a significant change to anything we have previously disclosed, including this estimate, we will revise the estimate as soon as practicable.

c. The usual basis of our charges will be a fixed fee. At times depending on the nature of the matter we may adopt a combination and will be specially noted in the CA (Part B).

1. We are able to give you a low-cost fixed price on this matter on the basis of the work we have noted on the cost agreement without the need for additional time consuming work and complexities.
2. We have allocated a specific number of limited time duration for this matter and given you a fixed fee based on the specific work we have agreed/decided on at the time of the retainer based work we have noted on the cost agreement.
3. It is our practice to provide fixed fees in matters but where it is impractical or exceeded the scope of work we will clearly indicate at a relevant stage an estimation or an hourly billing rate for those work.

d. In most instances it is impractical to quote a fixed fee in advance for the full matter, because, it is impossible to tell with any degree of certainty what work is going to be involved, however we estimate our fees and disbursements for each specific step before we undertake work and will provide to you in writing.

e. These costs will vary according to the complexity of the matter, the attitude and the conduct of the other parties, the issues that may arise and the stage at which a settlement may be reached. Our indicative fees are an estimate only of the likely costs and are not a quotation. Costs will vary for each matter and there may be circumstances that arise where the costs may be different to our initial estimates.

f. There may be occasions when we advise you that it is necessary to instruct experts such as Valuars, accountants, experts as well as legal counsel or specialists in particular areas. We will provide you with prior notice, their fees and seek confirmation of your instructions before engaging such experts.

g. It is usual in legal matters for each party to pay their own solicitor’s costs. We note however that the Court has the power to order one party to pay all or part of the other party’s costs as well as their own solicitor’s costs in situations where the court decides that a party has acted unreasonably, failed to comply with orders or directions of the court or refused to accept offers of settlement that were reasonable, thereby extending litigation and increasing costs.

h. Subject to you entering into a Costs Agreement with us, if and when relevant our charges are determined by time will be charged according to hourly rates charged in 6-minute units. For example, the time charged for an attendance of up to 6 minutes will be rounded up to 6 minutes and the time charged for an attendance between 6 and 12 minutes will be rounded up to 12 minutes.

i. All fees are in Australian Dollars.

j. All fee indications are estimations only and GST must be added.

11. Fees for general legal matters / Conveyancing / Wills & power of attorney (POA)

11.1. Conveyancing

11.2. Wills & power of attorney (POA)

Power of Attorney Price Estimation

Medical Treatment Planning – Price Estimation

Packages for Wills and POA - Price Estimation

* Promotion Price – T & C’s: Available only during a publicly advertised promotional period. Will be subject to relevant T & C’s.  We may offer this price for long term clients or registered clients from time to time, in special promotional campaigns.

NOTE: All prices listed above exclude GST. If your matter is complex and requires additional work the prices quoted would be reassessed dependant on your matter.

Complimentary service – Clients now have the ability to register themselves with our offices and nominate us as their legal representative. This promotes convenience in times when you require legal assistance on short notice as you will already be a registered client on our systems.

11.3 Call out fees:

We charge a call out fee of $220 (incl. GST) to locations within 20km of our Chelsea Heights and Dandenong Office.
We charge a call out fee of $330 (incl. GST) to locations within 40km of Melbourne CBD.
Note: call out fee does not include the consultation fee.
Please refer to our consultation fees section on this page - Hourly rate charges will apply if the 1 hr consultation time is exceeded.

12. Lawyers Consultation fee structure

Note: In a large firm, you would expect much higher charge out rates such as:

Partner: 600 TO 800 per hour
Special Counsel: 600 per hour
Senior Associate: 500 per hour
Junior Solicitor: 400 per hour

13. Criminal law / Traffic Cases / Family violence safety notices / Intervention orders

14. Migration Fees - In Australia

We will give you a fixed fee after assessing circumstances in the first consultation

Note: hourly rate may vary depending on the seniority and matter  type (general indication only)
Note: We do not employ agents who are non-lawyers and our professional fees are in AUD and include GST

Skills Assessment	From  500 - 1000 (depends on the matter)
Student Visas	From  1100
TR (temporary resident 485 visa)	From  990 - 1500
General Skilled Categories Visas (GSM)	Estimated professional *fees starts from 5000 *Fees differ based on number of applicants and the complexity of the GSM visa.Below is an example of fee payment stages and a breakdownAustralian Migration PROCESS – Three Steps Initial assessment and consultation appointment May differ based on the complexity of the matter – Book Appointment Now! 149 (one on one conference, check list and advice) 1100 Visa application process (this will be paid in stages as noted below) Full and final assessment stage: 3300 EOI Lodging stage: 990 Visa Application Lodging stage: 330 To get a clearer understanding of our cost structure and when you need to pay including the t& c and about EOI’s please visit the links below. Disclosure & Cost Agreement SkillSelect expression of interest (EOI) Invitations Occupation ceilings Australian Migration
Family , Parent & Partner Visas	From  4000
	Sponsored Parent (subclass 870) Five Year (Temporary) Visa - 1500
Employer Sponsored	From 3300 (visa application) From 3300 (sponsorship, nomination and RCB application)
AAT reviews (Administrative Appeals Tribunal)	Initial conference 330 Application lodgement with brief submission 1500 Assessment, advice and Preparation of legal submissions 4000 to 6000 Attendance at the hearing 2000 Post hearing submissions TBA
Labour agreements Fees depend on the Types of labour agreement and the work involved. There are five types of labour agreements: Company Specific labour agreements Designated Area Migration Agreements (DAMA) Industry labour agreements Project agreements Global Talent Employer Sponsored (GTES) agreements	Full workload 9900 For certain components only fee estimation is 5500
Judicial review at the Federal Circuit Court of Australia Visit  https://www.victorylaw.com.au/news/migration-news/judicial-review-of-migration-decisions-by-the-federal-circuit-court-of-australia/#v11  for more information about  Judicial Review of Migration Decisions by the Federal Circuit Court of Australia	Step 1.1 Initial conference 220 Step 1.2 Advice re: application lodgement, affidavit requirements, bridging visa process to stay legal, service on the Minister 1700 to 2500 Step 2 Directions hearing: Conference with you and brief advice, address for service, liaising with the Ministers’ lawyers and  attending to directions hearing matters and consent orders. 1100 Step 3 Post directions hearing – detailed perusal , assessment and opinion re: jurisdictional error 5500 Step 4 Post directions hearing – further preparation for a contested hearing 10000 to 15000  (Fee estimation) If you intend to contest at the final hearing we may have to brief counsel. Please refer to - Solicitor & Barrister (counsel) legal team – When to brief counsel? Step 5 Contested Hearing TBA If you intend to contest at the final hearing we may have to brief counsel. Please refer to - Solicitor & Barrister (counsel) legal team – When to brief counsel?
Ministerial intervention	5500
Visitor Visa	From 1100 to 2200
Re applying for rejected Visitor Visa	From 2000 - 2500
Legal Submission	From 2200 or 4300 + (depending on the complexity)

15. Family law fees

Family law - Financial/ property Settlement

Non-complicated

• Advising you on full financial disclosure, requesting full disclosure documents from the other side, negotiations with the other side and advice without any court appearances 2000 – 4000
• parties formalise negotiated agreement in writing by consent orders, Preparation of Application for Consent Orders to be lodged with the Court (if required); Preparation of Consent Orders or Binding Financial Agreement; liaising with other side on the typed orders, amendments before lodging, and lodging with the Court; 2000 – 6000

Parties unable to come to an agreement

• Sometimes parties are unable to come to an agreement and will proceed with their matter in Court (contested litigation).
• For the preparation of applications (or responses), affidavit, and financial statement, our fees are 2000-3000
• It may be possible for the matter to be settled at this stage

If contested litigation is commenced

• Costs up to the first date on which we have to go to Court is 2500
• Sometimes on the first date the matter can be settled
• For Court Appearances, conference, negotiations, obtain further detailed instructions, to explain orders on 1st date within Courts to final settlement on the day - 8000 to 9000

16. Solicitor/lawyer's certificates for bank loans

Fee Estimation Starts from 440 (the exact amount will depend on the matter)

We will provide a quote once we assess the full set of loan documents.

17. Estimated fees for Lawyer Assisted Forms – Legal Documents Portal

18. Estimated fees for Self Checkout Forms - Legal Documents Portal