Working with Us
Tim Tierney is the principal of the firm. All other persons in the firm are employees.
Andrew Cameron, Tessa Poulson, Peter Tierney and Tim Tierney are legal practitioners. Others may assist on your file including secretaries and clerks. They are not legal practitioners.
Unless otherwise advised the person who signs your letters is the person primarily responsible for your file. You will be told if the person responsible changes.
The secretaries of Andrew Cameron, Tessa Poulson, Peter Tierney and Tim Tierney will have a detailed knowledge of the file they deal with. Please direct enquiries to the person responsible for your file or their secretary. Usually others in the office will not have a detailed knowledge of your file. The secretary may be able to answer many queries in relation to your file if you are unable to contact your lawyer. Procedural matters such as organising appointments are best arranged with the secretary. A team approach to your matter is more efficient and cost effective.
Any Concerns?
We aim to give great service. Please let us know if you are dissatisfied, or have some comment that might help us assist you better. Please tell the lawyer dealing with the file of your concerns or dissatisfaction. If this does not resolve your concern, please raise the matter with one of the other lawyers. Things rarely go wrong, but if so, the sooner we know, the sooner we can fix it.
If you are unsure or unclear with the advice given, let the lawyer know. If necessary, we can arrange a second opinion from one of our other lawyers or someone outside of the firm.
If you are not satisfied with our response, let us know. If we are still unable to satisfy you, the Law Society regulates the conduct of lawyers. The address of the Law Society is 28 Murray Street, Hobart, Tasmania 7000.
Other Experts
Let us know if you need non–legal advice related to your matter. Any comment we make about non-legal matters incidental to your matter is on the basis we are only qualified to advise as lawyers. We are not qualified as financiers, accountants, financial planners, land or building surveyors, insurance brokers or valuers. Any expert advice you need on such matters should be from a qualified adviser. If it would assist, we can refer you to advisers we trust and respect. We will give you a number of advisors from which to select. We do not accept liability for the advice or actions of other advisers. We do not seek or accept fees or commissions from any person or product we recommend.
Cost
We will provide you with an estimate as to what your costs will be after our initial discussions. It may be necessary for us to revise our estimate. It is often difficult to predict the progress and outcome of matters and often difficult to estimate costs exactly. We can provide you with an indication as to your costs to date and an up to date estimate of future costs at any time.
Costs incurred by you are payable even if you decide not to go ahead with your matter.
When dealing with a legal practitioner, you have rights to negotiate a costs agreement, receive a bill of costs and to request an itemised account within 30 days of receipt of a bill.
On some matters, such as property purchases and sales, we charge a fixed fee for the standard elements of a transaction. Outside those standard elements of such matters and where the uncertain future of the matter means we cannot calculate a fixed fee, our fee is based on the time taken to perform the work.
Our time is charged on the basis of six (6) minute units of activity . Each unit or part of a unit is charged at 1/10 of the hourly rate applicable.
The hourly rate at as at the 1st July 2010 is as follows:
- Tim Tierney $260.00 + GST $26.00
- Peter Tierney $250.00 + GST $25.00
- Andrew Cameron $220.00 + GST $22.00
- Tessa Poulson $160.00 + GST $16.00
- Paralegal $120.00 + GST $12.00
- Clerk/Secretary $90.00 + GST $9.00
Secretarial time typing dictated correspondence and documents is not separately charged.
We obtain GST exempt and GST free supplies as your agent.
Where the future of the matter is uncertain, we cannot give you a precise estimate of likely costs. If you need some likely range and the details of the variables, please telephone.
You will need to reimburse us for those expenses we reasonably incur on your matter. To distribute the cost fairly between clients, we charge for any significant photocopying, postage, phone charges etc.
We usually send our account when the file is completed but if the matter goes beyond two months, we may send accounts monthly. We can send accounts on earlier request by you.
Our account is payable within twenty-one (21) days of the date of the account.
Keeping in Touch
Let us know if you need an update as to progress with your matter. If you think matters are going too slow, let us know, so we can chase the matter or explain the source of delay. Legal practitioners must give their clients a written report of the progress of the matter within 7 days of a request from the client.
We answer client messages as a priority. Sometimes court and other commitments cause delays. If you leave a message it is often helpful to give details to reception or a secretary. Reception or a secretary may answer the query or get instructions how to deal with it. Please let us know when you leave a message if there is a time constraint on calling you back. If your call is not answered within your time constraints, please call back and mention the delay so we can make sure the matter is dealt with.
Email/ Fax
We like to use email, and if not available faxes, to send written communication quickly and reliably. There is a risk of interception in any form of communication. Electronic communication caries the extra danger of picking up a virus or worm. We uses virus checking and firewalls but cannot avoid that risk entirely. So far, our systems have meant we have not had problems.
If you do not wish us to use email or faxes, let us know.
If you do not clear your emails regularly or if you fax location is not secure, ask us to ring before we email or fax.
We often send attachments to our emails in Adobe PDF format and sometimes in Microsoft Word. Let us know if you need us to send in a special format to read attachments to our emails.
Note our file reference number in the subject line of our emails. Please include this number in any emails you send to have the email attached directly to our electronic file
Conflicting Interests
We do not act in contentious matters for more than one side of the dispute. We may be unable to act in contentious matters against persons who have previously been clients of the firm or who are neighbours, friends or relatives of personnel of the firm.
If you are aware of any possible conflict of interest, let us know.
In non-contentious matters, we will give you notice if we act for any other party. Where we act for more than one party we will stop acting if we determine we are unable to continue with the matter without acting contrary to the interests of a party. We may be prevented from disclosing to a party in conflict the full knowledge we have or give advice because it is contrary to the interest of another party. In those circumstances, we direct each party to other firms and will not act further in that matter for either.
Privacy
We will need to discuss your file with others involved in advancing the transaction: such as the other lawyers, banks or the agent. If you have some one assisting you, please confirm their authority to act for you.
Your File
Let us know if you need a copy of the entire contents of your file documents. We will send you copies of documents we think you need to access. We can give you the complete copy of the file documents if you need it. You will need to pay our account on retrieving your file including the cost of making a copy of the file, before we release the file. We may destroy closed files archived for more than seven years. If you do not wish your file destroyed after seven years, collect it from us before then. We destroy out of date archived files in a way that protects your confidentiality. We may store your archived file digitally rather than on paper.
Office Access
If our stairs present a difficulty to you please tell us. We can arrange to see you in a ground floor office.
Office Hours
Our office is open 9.00 am. to 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday. The lawyers are often in the office outside those times so let us know if you need an after hours appointment.