About instructing a barrister
The role of an instructing solicitor
I am a Barrister sole. A Barrister sole is a lawyer who specialises in courtroom advocacy. As a Barrister sole, I do not operate a trust account which means I cannot hold money in advance of my fees. The New Zealand Law Society requires a Barrister sole to accept instructions from an instructing solicitor. While I am qualified to accept some instructions directly from a client without an instructing solicitor, that is in very limited circumstances.
Who can be my instructing solicitor?
Your instructing solicitor can be a solicitor you already use or have used in the past — for example, someone who has helped you with conveyancing, or preparing a will. If you do not have a solicitor, I am happy to provide recommendations for appropriate instructing solicitors in the Bay of Plenty and Waikato regions.
Fees
What will it cost me if I am not on legal aid?
My fees are charged on an hourly basis. My hourly rate is $500 per hour including GST. I do not operate on a fixed fee basis. However, I will generally be able to provide a total fee estimate once I have reviewed the file, setting out the various stages of the proceedings and the estimated costs for each.
Before I commence work on any matter I require a retainer of $5,000, which is to be paid to the instructing solicitor and held in their trust account before I accept any instructions and undertake any work on your behalf.
Further information
For full details of my fee arrangements, invoicing, disbursements, and other financial terms, please refer to my Standard Terms of Engagement. If you have any further questions about costs, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Documents
Terms & engagement letter
My Standard Terms of Engagement and a template Letter of Engagement are available to download below. These should be read before instructing me.