[DATE, ex. Mercredi 11 juin 1998]
[NOM, SOCIÉTÉ ET ADRESSE, ex.
John Smith
XYZ Inc.
1234 First Street
Suite 567
Anycity, Anystate 85245]
Cher [NAME, ex. John Smith],
Objet: Conditions d’engagement pour les services juridiques
Nous sommes heureux que vous ayez renvoyé votre affaire juridique à ce cabinet. Nous consacrerons l’énergie et les ressources nécessaires pour répondre à vos besoins et vous inviterons à rester en contact étroit avec nous pendant que nous procédons à cette affaire.
Le but de cette lettre est de communiquer les conditions de notre prestation de services en votre nom et de soulever les différentes questions qui nécessitent une discussion. Veuillez lire attentivement cette lettre et nous aviser si vous avez des questions ou des commentaires.
1. Portée de nos travaux. Nous traiterons votre dossier de manière appropriée et procéderons à des activités juridiques qui, à notre avis, répondront à vos besoins et à vos intérêts. Nous pouvons, de temps à autre, avoir besoin de demander vos instructions et même les demander par écrit. Veuillez communiquer souvent avec nous afin
de vous assurer que vos besoins sont satisfaits.
2. Billing rates for fees. The firm charges clients for legal matters with predetermined billing rates for each lawyer, law clerk and legal assistant. These billing rates are reviewed annually and usually change on January 1 of each year. Your work will proceed on this basis and will be delegated to competent persons whose training and education levels will provide the service you need at the most effective cost to you. Even though this is the normal billing process, there may be times when the firm will appropriately bill you more or less than the standard billing rates. Those will be discussed and mutually agreed upon.
In addition to billing for lawyers, law clerks’ and legal assistants’ fees, we will bill you directly for witness fees, discovery and transcription costs, search and investigation fees, filing fees, court fees, long distance telephone and fax costs, photocopies, postage, messenger service, express service and other kinds of service directly related to handling your legal work.
We will render bills to you at least monthly and expect payment from you upon receipt of our bill, and in any event, no later than 30 days from the date of billing. If your account is not paid within the 30 day time limit, then, in accordance with our firm policy, the management of the firm will insist that no further work be done on your file until the account is paid and your retainer brought up to date.
3. Retainers. In order to administer your file properly, we first obtain from you payment of a retainer fee. This retainer fee stays in our trust account and acts as a fund for the payment of accounts sent to you and disbursements made on your behalf. When we render monthly bills to you, we will use the retainer account to pay those bills and when you send your payment to us it will be used to restore the retainer to its original amount. Upon completion of the work, any unused retainer funds will be refunded to you. As mentioned above, if your retainer is not restored within 30 days after we render our account then no further work be done on your file until is paid and your retainer brought up to date. In such case, it may even be necessary for us to withdraw from representation on your matter.
4. Communication. We will endeavour to keep you informed as your matter progresses and to seek your input as to how you would like us to proceed. Maintaining open communication is very important to us and to you. If you choose to call our lawyers, a fee may be charged; however, for answers to you routine questions (for example, status of your matter), you might be best advised to call the secretary of the lawyer primarily responsible for your file, since the time of secretaries is generally not chargeable to our clients. Any expressions on our part concerning the outcome of your legal matters are expressions of our best professional judgements but are not guarantees. Clerks, legal assistants and secretaries are not authorized to express any such opinions or judgements.
Nous attendons avec impatience une relation mutuellement avantageuse qui satisfera vos besoins juridiques.
Sincèrement,
[VOTRE NOM, ex. Jill Jones]
Acceptation:
J’ai (nous), j’ai lu ce qui précède et je comprends les termes et conditions et j’accepte ces termes et conditions.
DATE: ________________________, 19_____
[NOM DU CLIENT, ex. John Smith]
