Queensland Consolidated Acts

LEGAL PROFESSION ACT 2007 - SECT 323

323 Conditional costs agreements

(1) A costs agreement may provide that the payment of some or all of the legal costs is conditional on the successful outcome of the matter to which those costs relate.

(2) A conditional costs agreement may relate to any matter, except a matter that involves criminal proceedings or proceedings under the Family Law Act 1975 (Cwlth) .

(3) A conditional costs agreement—

(a) must set out the circumstances that constitute the successful outcome of the matter to which it relates; and

(b) may provide for disbursements to be paid irrespective of the outcome of the matter; and

(c) must be—

(i) in writing; and

(ii) in clear plain language; and

(iii) signed by the client; and

(d) must contain a statement that the client has been informed of the client’s right to seek independent legal advice before entering into the agreement; and

(e) must contain a cooling-off period of not less than 5 clear business days during which the client, by written notice, may terminate the agreement.

(4) Subsection (3) (c) (iii) , (d) and (e) do not apply to either of the following—

(a) a conditional costs agreement as mentioned in section 322 (1) (c) ;

(b) a conditional costs agreement made with a sophisticated client.

(5) If a client terminates an agreement within the period mentioned in subsection (3) (e) , the law practice—

(a) may recover only those legal costs for legal services performed for the client before that termination that were performed on the instructions of the client and with the client’s knowledge that the legal services would be performed during that period; and

(b) without affecting the generality of paragraph (a) , may not recover the uplift fee (if any).