Frequently Asked Questions

A: We recommend you contact us as soon as possible once you are aware of an issue or potential issue. There are often very strict timeframes applying to matters and if you miss an applicable timeframe, you may be prevented from taking any action needed.

When it comes to our education law related matters, we recommend clients contact us as soon as a decision is made, or where the student has received an indication that a decision will be made and they are provided with an opportunity to respond first. We often see student clients coming to us when they have already tried to respond to a matter themselves or have sought a review of a decision and they come to us seeking assistance with an appeal. Whilst we can assist at those stages, the arguments that can be made at those stages, or the evidence that can be presented may be limited in accordance with the applicable policies, whereas at the very early stages of a matter the arguments and material that can be presented is usually much broader. Coming to us for assistance straight away at the earliest opportunity increases the chances of succeeding in your matter, rather than waiting until the later stages in the process, where there may be rules against things such as putting in new evidence. Sometimes it can be a case of ‘one shot and that’s your lot’, so it is important to put your best foot forward early on.

A: Unfortunately, we cannot give opinions or advice on your matter prior to being retained. To give accurate advice and opinions our legal team needs to review your documents, any external legislation or internal policies and procedures relevant to your matter, and consider your position. Often our matters are multifaceted, we need time to strategise and consider your position in depth. Blossom Lawyers prides itself on giving accurate and correct advice to its clients. If you are unsure about proceeding, feel your enquiry has not been captured and wish to speak to a solicitor, or you are unsure of what outcome you are seeking, you can always book in for a paid initial consultation with a solicitor of our firm (See ‘What is a paid initial consultation?’ below).

A: Unfortunately, we will not know whether the direction you are thinking about taking is the correct one without reviewing your material first and then confirming and advising what avenues are available to you (if any). If you wish to discuss your matter generally consider booking in for a paid initial consultation. 

A: We have to be formally retained before we can provide any assistance to you in your matter, meaning that we need to have sent you our retainer documents which set out the work you would be engaging us to perform, the estimate of costs and terms and conditions associated with the work. You would then need to follow the steps set out in our retainer offer letter to formally retain us. Until these steps are taken, we cannot perform any services on your behalf and you will need to continue to protect your position regarding your matter until we are formally retained.

A: An initial consultation is a paid consultation service our firm provides to its prospective clients. The consultation involves a solicitor briefly reviewing your position and documents for half an hour prior to attending a one-on-one consultation with you either in person, over the phone or through Microsoft Teams for up to 1 hour. Initial consultations are a great way for you to receive advice from a solicitor and to help you decide whether you want to progress your matter further. Some matters may involve a review of voluminous documents and providing a more lengthy advice, and may be more suited to retaining us to review your material and provide a written or verbal advice as opposed to having an initial consultation, and in those cases we will inform you of this being the best way forward for you as opposed to an initial consultation.

A: Trust money is money that we hold on trust for you in anticipation of the work we will perform and the external costs we may incur (disbursements) when providing our services. There are strict rules we are required to comply with when handling trust money and we take our obligations seriously to protect client’s trust money for its intended purposes. For more information on trust money, you can visit the Queensland Law Society’s website which outlines our obligations when handling your trust funds or see ‘Why have I received an anticipated trust deposit?’.

A: When we send you our retainer documents, we will also send you an anticipated trust deposit slip requesting money in trust (see ‘What is trust money’ above). These funds are held as trust money and remain against your file until the matter is invoiced, which may occur during, at various times throughout and/or at the end of the work being performed. When we invoice you, we will send you a tax invoice outlining the work performed on your matter and we apply your trust money to pay the invoice. If there are surplus funds in the trust account at the end of your matter any balance that is remaining in trust will be returned to you. At times we may request further funds in trust, this could be due to further work needing to be performed, the work being performed requiring more time than initially anticipated, for the payment of third parties such as counsel or court filing fees or any other costs that may come up during the course of our retainer. 

A: Some matters have deadlines imposed on them by third parties or due to external factors. These deadlines could be the result of an action (e.g. having your employment terminated) or be given by a third party (such as a university) or set out in legislation. Your matter’s deadline (if any) can sometimes impact on our ability to take on your matter and at times we may give you a date to retain us by to ensure we are provided with sufficient time to turn your work around by the applicable deadline. At times, these deadlines or the failure to retain us by a specified date may result in us not being able to take your matter on.

A: We are always open and honest with our clients and will independently assess your matter to provide you with our opinion on where you stand. At times, the advice given may not line up with the position you hoped to be in legally or be considered good news. Blossom Lawyers will always discuss this empathetically with you so you understand the ‘why’. Our team wish the best for you and ensure our clients fully understand their legal position (favourable or not) so that they can make informed decisions about how they wish to proceed.

A: From the moment we answer your call and discuss your enquiry all information you provide us is confidential. Any information you provide us with stays between you and our office, and is not provided to anyone else unless we have your instructions to disclose it. We also perform a conflict check before offering to help in your matter to make sure we do not have a conflict of interest, so you can be assured your information is safe with us and there is no conflict of interest (see ‘What is a conflict of interest?’ below).

A: Lawyers cannot represent a person if they have a conflict of interest. A conflict exists when a lawyer’s representation of a client would be negatively affected by the lawyer’s own interests or the lawyer’s duties to another person. For example, in employment related matters, we would not take on a client who is wishing to make a claim against an employer if we have previously acted for that employer. In our education law related matters, we only act for students; we do not act for schools and universities. This ensures there is no conflict of interest in acting against an education provider. However, we will check that the university personnel involved are not known to our staff to ensure there is no conflict of interest in us challenging decisions by certain personnel.

A: Wherever possible, we will have a team with varying levels of experience and hourly rates working on your matter. Matters are always overseen by a senior solicitor who will delegate work to more junior staff members where appropriate to minimise costs to clients. For example, we may have a paralegal or junior lawyer review your documents, request more information from you, compile briefs and perform research in your matter prior to it being presented to a more senior solicitor or the principal for their review. This is for the benefit of our clients to ensure your matter is being handled efficiently and cost effectively. Please be assured, all matters are reviewed fully by a solicitor and/or our principal prior to any advice being provided.

A: We charge for our services on an hourly basis, meaning that we charge for the time we spend working on you matter. Our hourly rates are set out in the table below:

When we send you our retainer documents, we set out the hourly rates being charged, and we provide a costs estimate for the work being performed. This is an estimate only as the actual time spent on your matter can vary depending on things such how many documents we are required to review, how much time we spend communicating with you and other parties, and the volume of policies and procedures or legislation we are required to peruse and consider. If it looks like the work being performed is likely to exceed our estimate significantly, we provide you with an updated costs estimate as your matter progresses.

If your matter is suited to an initial consultation, these are charged at $500 + GST (See ‘What is a paid initial consultation?’)

A: We understand during your matter you will be anxious about your prospects of success. As your lawyers, we will answer your queries and provide reassurance where possible but unfortunately, we cannot guarantee a favourable outcome in your matter. We will, however, ensure you understand your legal position (good or bad) and provide you with the options available to you and our recommendations on your best next steps. We can, however, assure you that we will do our very best to act in your best interests in your matter and will seek to achieve the best outcome possible. We will also provide advice not just on what your options are but whether we believe the cost to you outweighs the financial or non-financial benefit you may achieve by progressing your matter. We pride ourselves on being honest with all our clients and if our team believes an avenue will be of no benefit to you, we will let you know.

A: When you contact us you will speak to a member of our administration team/client liaison who will take down your details and ask you questions about your matter (all of which is treated as strictly confidential). Once your initial enquiry details are gathered your information will then be passed on to a member of the legal team who will consider whether we can assist with your matter and in what way you require our assistance. We will then provide you with a proposed scope of works (being the works to be performed) and costs estimate for that proposed work. If you are happy with the scope and costs estimate, retainer documents containing information such as our hourly rates, the scope of works, costs estimate, terms and conditions, disclosure notice and costs agreement will be sent to you for your review and once accepted and all steps have been taken to formally retain us, we can start assisting you with your matter.

A: We understand at times you may wish someone else such as a family member or friend to advocate and assist you with your matter. Just let a member of our team know when you contact us and we will arrange for a third party authority form to be sent to you for signing giving us permission to receive instructions from and speak to someone else on your behalf. Please note unless you are under the age of 18 and the person contacting us is your legal guardian, we must receive permission from you and have your consent to speak to a third party on your behalf (including if they are a family member or spouse). If you are contacting us for the first time on someone else’s behalf, that’s fine just let our team know when you call and provide us with the contact details of the other person, so we can contact them and arrange for the necessary forms to be completed. We recommend that if calling for someone else, you check they would like our assistance first before contacting us.

A: As much as we wish all our clients success with their matters, decisions made by third-party decision makers are not always favourable to clients. It may be that the decision maker has made an error in their decision, or the circumstances of our client’s matter did not put them in the best position under the university’s policies and after providing advice to our client of the risk of an adverse fi nding given the circumstances, the client wished to give it a try anyway. If a review or appeal avenue is available, there is usually strict criteria as to the grounds that a review or appeal can be made. Whilst Blossom may be familiar with your matter if we assisted in the earlier stage of your matter, drafting review or appeal submissions involves reviewing further documents such as the outcome letter and reasons for the decision, reviewing the relevant policies and procedures specifi c to reviews and appeals, considering whether new evidence is required or available, and drafting review or appeal submissions. Broadly speaking, a different test and criteria is applied when drafting a review and/or appeal submission than when we assist with a response in the earlier stages of a matter. A review or appeal submission is generally challenging the previous fi nding based on arguments that the decision was wrong, or harsh or new evidence has become available. Next stages such as these require a fresh review of the existing and new documents and different policy provisions, and drafting new submissions, albeit that we have some background knowledge of your matter having assisted with it at the earlier stage(s).

A: The scope of works and the fee estimate need to be viewed separately. The scope of works outlines what work we are authorised to do on your behalf. The costs estimate is our best guess for how much your matter will cost. The costs estimate can be increased depending on how your matter progresses. Likewise, if work needs to be performed that falls outside the authorised scope of works, we will need to provide you with a new updated scope of works for you to agree to. This authorises us to perform the work. Please also refer to Q13 above for more information regarding our charges and how we charge for time spent working on your matter.