Every new matter follows the same procedure, so that you know from the first day what we have been asked to do, what it will cost, and what we need from you.
We discuss the matter with you and check your name, and that of any opposing party, against the firm's existing records. We cannot act where a conflict of interest exists, and we establish that before anything else.
You receive a letter recording the mandate: what we have been instructed to do, the limits of that instruction, and the terms on which we act. Nothing proceeds on a handshake.
A written fee agreement sets out exactly how our fees are calculated, with the applicable tariff schedule annexed to it. You will know the basis of every charge before we begin.
We complete as much of this as we can from our consultation and send it to you to check, correct and sign, rather than handing you a blank form.
We are obliged by law to establish and verify who our clients are. We tell you precisely which documents are required for your circumstances — the list differs for an individual, a company, a trust and a non-profit organisation.
Once the mandate and fee agreement are signed and your FICA documents are verified, the matter is opened on our systems and substantive work starts.
The requirements depend on who our client is:
An individual
A company or close corporation
A trust
A non-profit organisation
Why we cannot make exceptions. The Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 38 of 2001 applies to every law firm in South Africa, in the same way it applies to banks. We are not permitted to act for a client whose identity has not been verified, however well we may already know them.
Fees are calculated on the tariff prescribed for the court in which the matter proceeds — the High Court or the Magistrates' Courts — as published in the Government Gazette, with the firm's uplift applied. The tariff schedule is annexed to your fee agreement.
Commercial, conveyancing, compliance and advisory work is charged on a basis recorded in your fee agreement, applied to the time spent and the work actually done.
Disbursements — counsel, the sheriff, court fees, experts — are charged at cost and set out separately. Where costs are recovered from another party they are recovered on a lower scale, and we explain that difference before you litigate, not after.
You are entitled to have any account rendered by the firm assessed in accordance with the Legal Practice Act and the rules of the Legal Practice Council. We would rather you asked us about an account than wondered about it.
Send us a brief outline of your matter and we will tell you what we would need in order to act.
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