Our Promise
CLEAR AND fAIR pRICING WITH nO sURPRISES
At KPA Lawyers we believe that legal advice should come with clear and predictable pricing.
We work with you to scope your matter, choose a fee structure that fits the work, and put it all in writing before we start.
Whether you are buying or selling a home or business, getting a divorce, planning your estate or running a dispute, we explain exactly how we charge, what you can expect to pay, and what your rights are as a client.
Get Started
Request a Written Fee
Estimate
Speak with our team about your matter and receive a written Costs Disclosure before any work begins.
Costs disclosure
How Do We Bill?
Before we begin work on your matter, we provide you with a written Costs Disclosure and a written Costs Agreement. These set out:
- The lawyers who will work on your matter and their hourly rates
- Our best estimate of total legal costs, either as a single figure or as a reasoned range where a single figure is not reasonably practicable
- The major factors that may cause your costs to change
- The disbursements (third-party costs) we expect to incur on your behalf
- Your rights, including your right to negotiate the costs agreement, negotiate the billing method, request an itemised bill, and seek a costs assessment if you are unhappy with a bill
Should anything significant change during the course of your matter — the scope changes, or new issues emerge that were not foreseeable when we provided our initial estimate — we will update our costs and provide them to you in writing as soon as practicable, so that you are never working from an outdated estimate.
How time is recorded
Time Recording: 6-Minute Unit
Where we bill by time, we record our work in 6-minute units at the relevant lawyer’s hourly rate. This is the standard time-recording method used by Australian law firms.
You can request a fully itemised bill at any time, showing the date, lawyer, time recorded and a description of every activity charged to your matter.
Effective 1 July 2026
Our Hourly Rates
The hourly rates below apply unless we have agreed an alternative fee arrangement with you. All rates exclude GST and are reviewed annually on 1 July.
Position
Hourly Rate (excl. GST)
Director
$750.00
Partner
$650.00
Special Counsel
$650.00
Senior Associate
$600.00
Associate
$500.00
Lawyer
$400.00
Senior Conveyancer
$400.00
Conveyancing Clerk
$350.00
Legal Executive
$320.00
Law Graduate
$320.00
Paralegal
$300.00
Secretarial and administrative services, including word processing and typing
$150.00
All rates exclude GST and are reviewed annually on 1 July.
Third-party costs
What Are Disbursements?
Disbursements are third-party costs we incur in the course of running your matter. We pass these costs through to you at cost, with no markup, on your bill.
Some common examples include:
- Court and tribunal filing fees (e.g. Supreme Court of Victoria, VCAT, Federal Circuit and Family Court)
- Barrister’s fees
- Expert reports (e.g. accountants, valuers, building experts)
- Title searches, property certificates and PEXA/settlement fees (for conveyancing matters)
- Government application fees (e.g. Department of Home Affairs visa application charges)
- Process serving, ASIC and PPSR searches, and similar
For any disbursement that exceeds $500, we will seek your consent in writing before incurring it.
Greater cost certainty
Alternative Fee Arrangements
In our experience, hourly billing is not always the right fit for every matter. Where the scope of our work can be clearly defined, or where you want greater cost certainty, we are happy to discuss any of the following fee alternatives.
Fixed Fees
Where a matter or task can be adequately scoped, we will provide you with a competitive fixed fee.
Volume Discounts
Tiered and incremental discounts that apply once your legal spend or volume of work hits agreed thresholds.Suited to businesses that send us regular work, or clients with bulk requirements such as multiple conveyancing matters. Thresholds are agreed up front based on your projected spend.
Retainer
A flat fee charged for a defined period. Suitable for businesses that want predictable monthly legal costs. Scope can be set to include specific work types or all work.
Blended Rates
For secondments and other long-term consulting arrangements, giving you the resources you need with appropriate supervision at a single agreed rate.
Risk Sharing / Milestone Approach
For transactions of a certain size, we can offer a significant up-front discount with the final fee payable on the outcome of the transaction. This reduces your up-front legal spend and aligns our interests with the success of your project.
We are happy to discuss any of these options with you before you instruct us. Just ask.
Legal Profession Uniform Law
Your Rights as a Client
Under the Legal Profession Uniform Law, you have specific rights about how your legal costs are calculated, billed and disputed. We will set these out in writing in your Costs Disclosure. In summary, you have the right to:
- Negotiate the Costs Agreement with us before you sign it
- Negotiate the billing method — for example, ask for a fixed fee, a capped fee, or staged billing instead of hourly
- Receive a bill that is either a lump-sum bill or, if you prefer, an itemised bill showing every time entry
- Request an itemised bill within 30 days of receiving a lump-sum bill, at no additional cost
- Ask questions about any bill and discuss any concerns with the lawyer responsible for your matter
- Seek a costs assessment through the Supreme Court of Victoria, or make a complaint to the Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner (VLSB+C), if you cannot resolve a costs dispute with us directly
Important to understand
What We Don’t Do
To be clear about the limits of our billing models:
We do not offer “no win, no fee” arrangements in any practice area. We charge for the work we do, on the basis set out in your Costs Agreement.
We do not charge contingency fees.
We do not offer pro bono representation. Our role is to provide strategic, commercially focused legal advice on a paid basis.
We do not guarantee outcomes. No reputable lawyer can. We will give you our honest, considered assessment of the prospects and risks at every stage.
Working with us efficiently
How to Keep Your Legal Costs Down
There are practical steps you can take to keep your legal costs under control. We share them openly because we measure our success by the clients who come back, and the ones they send our way.
- Define the scope early. The clearer you can be about what work you want us to do, the more accurate our estimate can be and the more likely a fixed fee becomes.
- Consolidate your questions. A single email with five questions costs less than five separate phone calls.
- Send us documents in order. Time we spend organising or chasing missing paperwork is billable time.
- Use the right person. Not every task requires a Partner or senior lawyer. We will always allocate work to the most appropriate level of lawyer or paralegal, and you can ask us to confirm this in your Costs Agreement.
- Tell us your budget. If you have a hard ceiling, tell us. We can usually structure our work to fit, or tell you honestly if we cannot.
- Stay decisive. Changes in instructions part-way through a matter are the single biggest cause of cost overruns. If your circumstances change, tell us early.
