Our terms

Our terms of engagement contain the information we are required to provide to clients under the Rules of Conduct and Client Care for Lawyers issued by the New Zealand Law Society and set out the terms on which we carry out work for our clients.

In relation to settlements and payments:

  • these are our settlement requirements which are in accordance with Appendix One of the Property Law Section Guidelines, July 2012 (updated February 2020)
  • before we can make an electronic payment into your bank account, we need to be provided with evidence of your account name and number – see Payments to you.

There are a number of significant recent developments that are changing the way law firms work and the information that we are required to gather about your identity, financial transactions and taxation status, namely: the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act (AML/CFT), the Common Reporting Standards for citizens and tax residents of OECD countries (CRS) and Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act for US citizens/tax residents (FATCA). When you instruct us, we will be required to verify your identity and we generally need you to complete a consent form company, individual, joint, trust) so that we may release your information to our bank. For further information about AML/CFT please see here and for FATCA and CRS see here.

Please see our  Verification and certification documentation for details of what certified identification and proof of address we require from you when completing your client verification form.

For guidance on how to sign the form electronically on your iPhone, see here, or in Adobe, see here.

For more information contact:

Richard Greenaway

richard.greenaway@al.nz