ABC Law - Jason and Sally Case Study - Law Assignment Help

Assignment Task:

Question 1

ABC Law (ABC) acted for Les on a contractual dispute that eventually settled on terms that Les was not particularly happy about, but that he was prepared to accept to conclude the matter nevertheless. ABC charged Les $65,000 for its services in 3 separate invoices ($15,000, $20,000, and $30,000).

Les reluctantly paid the last instalment just before settlement of the dispute. He has paid all fees owed to ABC.

At the start of the matter ABC issued compliant cost disclosure and a cost agreement. The estimated legal fees were $15,000. ABC never updated the estimate.

Three months after the settlement Les gets legal advice that ABC breached the cost disclosure requirements by not updating the estimate. Les demands a refund of $50,000, which is rejected. So, Les applies to the Supreme Court for cost assessment.

Les also demands his client file. ABC refuses to release the client file on the basis they are exercising a common law lien.

ABC also assert that if they were to release the client file, they will not release any file notes or the cost disclosure statement and cost agreement because these documents belong to ABC. Les makes a formal complaint to the Law Society about all of the above.

Discuss the following:

• Is Les able to seek assessment after all costs have been paid?

• To what extent, if any, has ABC breached the disclosure compliance requirements?

• Is ABC’s exercise of the common law lien a valid one?

• How should it be determined whether ABC is entitled to withhold all of its file notes, and the cost disclosure and cost agreement documents if ABC decides to release the client file back to Les?

• What is the effect of Les’ complaint on the assessment?

Your response to the above enquiries should be in one answer totaling 200 words.

Question 2

Jason and Sally are best of friends. They went through University together studying law, and are now solicitors working in different law practices in the ACT.

Sally is in a spot of bother with her mortgage repayments, and in a generous gesture of friendship Jason has promised to deposit $2,500 into her account to help her with the next two mortgage payments. However, the money never arrives and Sally is now in trouble with her bank.

Jason and Sally are currently acting in the sale of a commercial building in Civic. Jason acts for the seller and Sally for the buyer. The purchase price is $10 million dollars. Contracts are exchanged and settlement will occur on 2 June 2020.

Yesterday, Jason wrote to Sally advising, on instructions, that his client is seeking the release of the deposit of $1 million to forestall orders in the Federal Circuit Court being made on a creditor’s petition against the seller. If this happens the settlement of the sale of  the commercial building is in jeopardy because there is a likelihood that the liquidator will cancel the contract on the basis that the commercial building’s real value is closer to $15 million. Jason states that his instructions are that his client will use the deposit to pay-off the creditor, thus avoiding insolvency.

Jason writes to Sally stating “…I expect that upon receipt of the funds into my client’s account they will immediately attend to discharging their liability to the creditor in question.”

Sally obtains urgent instructions, and after discussion with her client the funds are released to Jason’s trust account, which is then on-deposited to the seller’s nominated account.

Unfortunately, the seller uses the $1 million to prop-up another failing business, and the funds are not applied to paying off the creditor. The seller is placed in liquidation, and the settlement of the sale is stalled.

Discuss whether in the above scenario there have been any undertakings given by Jason to Sally and if so  whether there are any breaches of undertakings pursuant to rule 6 of the Legal Profession (Solicitors) Rules 2015. Support your discussion with relevant case law.

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