(1) A costs agreement (a
"conditional 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.
(b)
include a statement that the client has been informed of the client's rights
to seek independent legal advice before entering into the agreement.
(4) A
conditional costs agreement 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, but this requirement does not apply where the
agreement is made between law practices only.
(a) may recover only those legal costs in respect of 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) in particular, may not recover any
uplift fee.
(6) A conditional costs agreement may provide for disbursements
to be paid irrespective of the outcome of the matter.
(c) proceedings under
legislation specified in the Uniform Rules for the purposes of this section.
(8) A contravention of provisions of this Law or the Uniform Rules relating to
conditional costs agreements by a law practice is capable of constituting
unsatisfactory professional conduct or professional misconduct on the part of
any principal of the law practice or any legal practitioner associate or
foreign lawyer associate involved in the contravention.