Posted: June 9th, 2016

An authority for Mr Hapless to sign to allow the bill of costs to be paid from the firm trust account. You should refer to the Mt Gravatt Law Centre Precedents to assist them in the preparation of these documents.

nstructions: Please Do not use any resource from overside Only from State Brisbane Australia
When Warren Warrior returns to the office you hand him the application for bail for to check. He tells you he has spent a further two hours preparing the matter for court and asks that you draft a file note to note this and record the information in the time sheet. Warren Warrior hands to you a copy of a Costs Agreement and Trust Account Authority signed by Mr. Hapless which you place on the file. The following details are included in the costs agreement.
1. Work will be charged on an hourly basis, not a fixed fee basis;
2. Warren’s hourly charge out rate is $320 + GST;
3. The hourly charge out rate for a paralegal is $140 + GST;
4. The estimated cost of acting on behalf of Mr Hapless regarding his criminal law matter is between $10,000 and $20,000;
5. If Mr Hapless was successful in defending a charge against him he may possibly be successful in obtaining an order that between $5,000 and $10,000 of his legal costs be paid by the prosecution;
6. If Mr Hapless is not successful in defending a charge against him then he might have a costs order awarded against him that may require him to pay between $5,000 and $10,000 legal costs of the prosecution
Warren Warrior attends court on the following day and is successful in his submissions in obtaining bail for Mr. Hapless. He is absent from the office for three hours for his appearance in this matter.
On his return Warren tells you that Mr Hapless was granted bail on the basis that his mother paid $1,000 to the Court as surety and that Mr Hapless agreed to return to the Court for the next callover hearing date in one month’s time;
He advises that your task is to prepare:
1. A file note recording what Warren has told you about the bail hearing and the time involved, and recording this information in the time billing sheet;
2. A letter to Mr Hapless noting the terms on which bail was granted and the date that he must appear back at Court, and enclosing an authority for Mr Hapless to sign and return so that his doctor can provide information to Warren Warrior about Mr Hapless;
3. The bill of costs (itemised tax invoice) for the work done on the file for the bail application which is to include the time you spent on the matter from commencement as well as the time the solicitor has spent on the matter;
4. An authority for Mr Hapless to sign to allow the bill of costs to be paid from the firm trust account.
You should refer to the Mt Gravatt Law Centre Precedents to assist them in the preparation of these documents.
Assessment checklist:
Please ensure you provide the following document/s for this assessment.
• File note
• Letter to Mr. hapless
• Bill of costs
• Authority for Mr.Hapless to allow costs to be drawn