Terms of Use

Access to the Macalister Mazengarb website is subject to these terms of use. In using and accessing this website, you are deemed to have accepted these terms of use. Please check these from time to time for any amendments.

Disclaimer

The purpose of this website is to provide you with general information on Macalister Mazengarb and certain legal developments. The information on this website is not intended as legal or other professional advice nor is it aimed at specific users. We give no warranty, to the extent permitted by law, as to the accuracy, reliability, completeness or fitness for any purpose of the information contained on this website. If you are using the information contained on this website for business purposes, the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 shall not apply.

Liability

To the extent permitted by law, we shall not be liable for any damage, loss or expense, of any kind whatsoever, which is either directly or indirectly incurred or suffered as a result of the use of or access to this website or its content. You should seek legal advice before relying upon any of the information contained on this website.

Intellectual Property

All intellectual property, including trademarks and copyright, on this website is owned by us. You must not, without our prior written consent, copy, adapt, modify, reproduce, redistribute or use in any way for commercial or public use any part of this website. You may, however, access, download print and view information contained on this website for your own personal or internal business use.

Non-availability

From time to time this website may not be continuously available for reasons that may include maintenance, repair, or temporary scheduled outages. We will, therefore, not be liable for any consequences arising either directly or indirectly from the non-availability of this website.

Legal-Es* (Client Extranet Facility)

When using and accessing the Legal-Es* facility on this website, either in your personal capacity or on behalf of your employer (being a client of Macalister Mazengarb and on behalf of which or whom you are instructing us or we are advising), the following acknowledgments and conditions will apply to that access and use:

1. you confirm that you are either our client in your personal capacity, or that you are an employee acting on behalf of your employer, and your employer is our client. If you are an employee, you confirm that you are authorised by your employer to register for, and, from time to time, to use, the Legal-Es* facility;
2. you are responsible for keeping your user name and password confidential and secret, and taking all measures required to ensure that the Legal-Es* facility cannot be accessed or used by anyone who is not authorised by you and/or the client on behalf of whom you are instructing us or we are advising. You will immediately notify us of any unauthorised access to or use of Legal-Es* or disclosure of your user name or password. You, and/or the client on behalf of whom you are instructing us or we are advising, will take all reasonable measures, at your or the client’s own cost, to prevent any such unauthorised use, access or disclosure;
3. while we have taken reasonable measures to ensure that the Legal-Es* facility is secure, it is nevertheless prone to the usual security-related risks considered with Internet-based information storage and retrieval systems;
4. we will continue to maintain your registration for the Legal-Es* facility until such time as you notify us, in writing, that you wish your registration to be cancelled. Any such cancellation must allow at least two clear working days for Internet processing. On cancellation, we will destroy all electronic versions of the documentation then in your account being stored in the Legal-Es* portal;
5. you are the only person permitted to cancel your registration for the Legal-Es* facility. We will not act on any instructions to cancel your registration for the Legal-Es* facility from any other person; and
6. you and/or the client on behalf of whom you are instructing us or we are advising, irrevocably and unconditionally indemnify and hold harmless Macalister Mazengarb from and against all losses, costs, claims, liabilities and damages arising from, either directly or indirectly, any use or misuse of the Legal-Es* facility.

We may, from time to time, post files, such as PDF files, on Legal-Es*. We will not be responsible for any amendments that are made by you, or a third party, subsequent to those files being posted on the website. We cannot guarantee unlimited or on-going access to these files. You are, therefore, responsible for ensuring that any files you wish to continue to use or access are saved by you on a device other than our website.

Security

We can neither guarantee nor ensure that this website or any information transmitted to or from this website is or will be secure or free from any defect. Therefore, you transmit any information to us, through this website, at your own risk.

Privacy

Any information that we collect about you, or any client on behalf of whom you are instructing us or we are advising, is subject to our privacy statement, which is governed by these terms of use.

Jurisdiction

This website and the information contained on it is governed and to be interpreted by New Zealand law.

Terms of Use

Terms and Conditions of Engagement

Introduction

These terms of engagement govern the relationship between Macalister Mazengarb (“us”) and you when you instruct us to act for you.You do not need to sign these terms of engagement, although we will assume that you have accepted them by instructing, or continuing to instruct, us

In acting for you, our duties are owed to you only. Unless we agree otherwise in writing, those duties will not extend to third parties. The advice that we give you is, therefore, for your benefit only.

Confidentiality and Privacy

All information that we receive from you will remain private and confidential and will be disclosed only to other staff working on your matter or to any other person with your consent.

The information that we receive from you will become subject to the client-lawyer privilege. However, we may be required to disclose that information as a matter of law or because of our duties under the New Zealand Law Society Rules of Professional Conduct, or because of some other mandatory legal requirement.

Electronic Communication

We often communicate by electronic means, which is not always secure. We will not accept any responsibility and will not become liable for any damage or loss that may arise or be caused from an email or any other form of electronic communication that is intercepted or if an error occurs that is beyond our control.

You cannot assume that any particular e-mail, and its attachment or attachments, have reached us. If you are relying on any particular e-mail having been received by us, then you must check that it has been received.

If you would prefer us to use other means of communication and correspondence, then please let us know and we will endeavour to do so.

Conflicts of Interest

We will let you know, as soon as possible, of any conflict of interest that may arise in the course of our relationship.We will attempt to resolve any conflict or potential conflict that may arise in accordance with any legal or ethical obligations that we may be under.

Fees

Fees are (unless we have given you, in advance and in writing, a fixed or capped fee) generally calculated on a time recorded basis. However, this is not the only factor that is taken into account. We will also consider the skill, knowledge, experience and expertise of the staff involved, the nature, complexity and urgency of the matter and the reasonable costs of running a law practice. This is in line with the Rules of Professional Conduct for Barristers and Solicitors issued by the New Zealand Law Society. These factors are not necessarily predictable and we are, therefore, unable to always provide you with a fixed, or even accurate, estimate of our costs.

Where we give you an estimate of the likely fee or maximum fee for a job, we will get your authorisation, in advance, if that fee is likely to be exceeded.Our invoices are to be paid by you within 14 days of the date of the invoice. If you have any problems in paying your account with us, please let either our Practice Manager or the person acting for you on the matter know and we may be able to come to an alternative arrangement. Likewise, should you have any concerns with our invoice, then please let us know.

Other Costs

Any disbursements or out-of-pocket expenses such as toll calls, facsimile charges, forms and photocopying, travel expenses, courier charges, court fees, legal forms and registration or search fees, will be charged in addition to our fee. Also, in most cases, an Office Services fee will be charged. Should you require us to instruct a barrister or expert then you will also become liable to pay their fee upon demand (by either the barrister or us).

If we instruct a debt collection agency, or another lawyer, to recover any outstanding fees and or disbursements you owe us, then you will also be liable for those fees and/or disbursements. In addition we reserve the right to charge you interest at the rate of two per cent (2%) per month if our fees and disbursements remain unpaid at the end of the month following the date of our invoice to you, calculated from that date down to the date of actual payment.

Files and Documents

We store all files and documents for a minimum period of seven years after completion of the matter. We may, however, agree to retain certain documents in secure storage for a longer period of time. As a result of the Land Information New Zealand Land -online audits, we will retain certain information for a period of ten years.

Should you terminate your relationship with us, then provided that you have no outstanding moneys owed to us, then you may uplift your file and all documents from us. We reserve the right to make a complete copy of these.

Terms and Termination

These terms of engagement form the basis upon which we will act for you, unless they are waived by written agreement by both you and us.

At any time during the course of your relationship with us, either you or we may terminate the relationship. In the event of termination, you will continue to be liable for any fees outstanding and costs we incur prior and subsequent to the termination. We also reserve the right to change or update these terms of engagement from time to time with immediate effect. To this intent, the relationship between you and us will be governed, at any particular time, by the version of these terms and conditions of engagement appearing on this site at the relevant time.

Privacy Statement

Macalister Mazengarb collects information, including where relevant personal information, about you and/or any client on behalf of which or whom you are instructing us or which we are advising.

We may use personal information which we collect and hold for the purposes of representing and advising you and/or, if you are instructing us on behalf of a client, that client. We may also use personal information:

• for instructing other co-advisers (if we have obtained your prior written authorisation) in relation to your legal matters;
• for sending you publications;
• for evaluating any application you submit for employment with us;
• for providing you access to and use of our client extranet facility ( Legal-Es*); and
• for internal administrative and clerical purposes.

If you do not provide us with the necessary personal information that we ask for, or provide incorrect or incomplete information, we may be unable to advise or represent you properly. Also, we may be unable to register you for, or allow you the use of, our client extranet function ( Legal-Es* ).

We may need to disclose personal information about you and/or the client you are instructing us on behalf of, to third parties in the course of advising or representing you or the client. We may also disclose personal information about you or the client you are instructing us on behalf of if:

• you so authorise or direct;
• we are required by law to do so;
• it is required or authorised by the New Zealand Law Secretary of Professional Conduct; or
• verifying your identity if you forget your username or password for our client extranet function ( Legal-Es*).

All personal information collected on this website, and otherwise by our firm, is collected and stored by Macalister Mazengarb, Level 7, 23 Waring Taylor Street, Wellington. We will take all reasonable steps to protect personal information we hold at any time from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration or destruction.

You have rights of access to and correction of personal information held by us from time to time under the Privacy Act 1993.