Online Advice Session Terms & Conditions

Effective date:

March 18, 2026

  1. Terms of Advice Sessions: The Lawyer’s Friend offers Advice Sessions, which we define as a limited-scope advice service with defined time and service scope. These are the Terms and Conditions on which we conduct our Advice Sessions. If you proceed with the Advice Session, then you are agreeing to these Terms and Conditions.  
  1. Other definitions: A reference to ‘we’ or ‘us’ or ‘our’ is a reference to both The Lawyer’s Friend as the law practice and to the lawyer with whom you meet as an individual legal practitioner.  

When you book an Advice Session  

When you book an Advice Session you will be asked to provide your name and contact details. We’ll also need to know if there is anyone else involved so we can perform a conflict check.    

  1. Other party (if any): Provide details of any other party involved, particularly if you are in dispute with them. Don’t provide any confidential information at this point. We will need to check for a conflict of interest. If a conflict exists, we will not be able to advise you. We will let you know as soon as possible.  
  1. Verification of Identity: Prior to the appointment, you may be asked to provide photo ID so we can verify your identity. You will be given details on how to do this in our intake form. Your information will be handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy [Link]
  1. Fill out the Session Questionnaire: Filling out our Advice Session questionnaire will help make our Advice Session as effective and efficient as possible. The questionnaire will ask you to provide details like your full name, telephone and email contact details and information about what you would like to discuss. You can also send us a small amount of additional information (i.e., information that can be reviewed within our time parameters for preparation) so we can give you the most appropriate advice when we meet.  
  1. Scope of Advice Session: The scope and quality of the Advice Session is determined by the information you provide in the session questionnaire. To get the most out of your Advice Session, make sure you provide information that is relevant, correct and complete.  

About the Advice Session:  

  1. Your Advice Session is a limited scope service: The Advice Session is offered for the sole purpose of giving you advice about the issues you nominated on making your booking, or as agreed during the Advice Session. It may not always be possible to consider the full ramifications of the issue at hand, and you may need to seek additional advice, for example on financial or tax issues if appropriate.  
  1. No retainer for ongoing for legal services with us: You agree that unless and until you provide clear instructions for us to act on your behalf in your matter and we offer you a client engagement agreement:
  • We are not your legal representative and you do not have any ongoing retainer for legal advice or representation with us in respect of this matter and
  • We will not be doing any work or taking any steps on your behalf in relation to your matter to protect any rights or interests you may have.
  • If you need any additional advice or representation after the Advice Session, we will first need to enter into a new client engagement agreement with you.  
  1. Complex or lengthy Advice Sessions: If during the Advice Session further topics for discussion arise or the material or question you want to discuss is novel or complex, we may need to adjust the price and length of the Advice Session or book a further Advice Session to ensure all the relevant issues are resolved.  
  1. Inclusions: The price of the Advice Session includes our preparation time of 15 minutes and a short note of advice that will be emailed to you after the Advice Session. If an unusual amount of preparation time is required, for example in reviewing complex material or researching an unusual question, we will contact you to discuss any additional costs prior to our Advice Session.  
  1. Advice note: If you wish to query the content or scope of the note of advice, for example if you believe it is not an accurate record of our conversation, please contact us by email. If you seek a longer and more detailed advice, please request a quote so we can assist you.  
  1. Our duties as legal practitioners: The Lawyer’s Friend is a law practice and legal practitioners must give you advice that is correct and appropriate in a client’s particular circumstances. Our advice and expertise is valuable regardless of whether it delivers the result that you want, and you may not refuse payment on the basis of disappointment with our advice.
  1. Referrals: If we believe that your query requires specific technical expertise outside our normal scope of services, we reserve the right to make a referral or recommendation to a suitably qualified alternative advisor rather than proceeding with the Advice Session.  
  1. Right to refuse: We reserve the right to decline a booking or cancel an Advice Session prior to its commencement or during the Advice Session, for example if we believe in our absolute discretion that the topic or manner of discussion is not appropriate or if we identify a conflict of interest.  
  1. Reminder, changes and cancellations: We will send you a reminder 48 hours and two hours prior to our Advice Session. You can reschedule or cancel your booked Advice Session at any time up to 24 hours prior to the appointed time through the booking page. Any change closer to the time will be charged at our discretion and we reserve the right to refuse your booking where you repeatedly cancel or reschedule.  
  1. How we meet: We will send you an invitation and will meet with you on the Teams video conferencing app. Face-to-face meetings can be arranged at our discretion, for an additional charge.  
  1. Recording: We do not permit you, any other person or your AI Assistant (or similar software) to record our Advice Session without prior consent. We may make a sound recording of all meetings for the purposes of transcribing and recording instructions and advice given, with transcription provided by secure and data-protected artificial intelligence. Your information will be handled in accordance with our professional obligations and our Privacy Policy.
  1. Fees: You can find the fees for Advice Sessions on our website https://lawyersfriend.com.au but as noted, we may need to charge an additional fee depending on the content of the conversation and level of preparation required. If any variation of the price is required, we will let you know the prior to the Advice Session and we will give you a costs disclosure statement, if you are entitled to one, in accordance with the Legal Profession Uniform Law (Vic) (Uniform Law).
  1. Payments: We will forward an invoice to you shortly after our Advice Session with our advice note. All invoices are payable upon receipt. You can pay by credit card or by direct deposit to our Australian bank account.  
  1. Confidentiality: We keep your information confidential in accordance with our professional obligations as set out in Rule 9 of the Legal Profession Uniform Law Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules.
  1. Intellectual property: Any materials and/or information we provide to you during or after the Advice Session are provided for your use only. The material and information remain our property and may not be used for any purpose other than to act on the advice. In particular  
  • you may not sell, copy, distribute or publish any of the material.  
  • you may not alter or modify the material and information.  
  • you may not pass off the material or information as your own to any other person, and  
  • you may not in any way provide the material to anyone outside your organisation without our written consent.  
  1. Liability: The quality of our advice depends on the clarity and completeness of the instructions and information given. We accept no liability where you have not provided information that enables us to advise you appropriately.  
  1. Feedback and Complaints: We are always keen to know what is and is not working for you. Please do provide feedback through the link provided to you at the end of your matter because it helps us improve. If you are unhappy, please contact us to explain why and we can try to resolve any issues. If we are unable to resolve any problems and you wish to complain about our costs or service or conduct, please contact the Victorian Legal Services Commissioner. Note however that if you are a law practice, you are not entitled to raise a costs dispute (see Parts 4.3 & 5.2, Uniform Law).  
  1. Changes to these Terms and Conditions: We reserve the right to change these Terms and Conditions at any time. We will contact you by email let you know if we do so between your making the booking and the time of your Advice Session.  
  1. Governing Law: This agreement is governed by the laws of the state of Victoria, regardless of your location and jurisdiction.
  1. Privacy: We collect personal information about you in order to enable you to access and use the Platform, to contact and communicate with you, to respond to your enquiries and for other purposes set out in our Privacy Policy.

For any questions, please contact us:  

Jennie Pakula, Law Practice Principal

Lawyer’s Friend Pty Ltd (ABN 75 674 321 058)

Level 11, 456 Lonsdale St

Melbourne VIC 3000

Email: info@lawyersfriend.com.au