Check a New South Wales conditional costs agreement and uplift
MaintainedLast reviewed
Key facts
- Human involvement
- YellowClose supervision
- How AI is used
- From the draft, mark plain language, the successful outcome, the client's signature, the independent-advice statement and cooling-off of at least five clear business days, and if there is an uplift set out its basis, estimate or range, and percentage of legal costs excluding disbursements. Do not decide that the uplift is permitted.
- What the lawyer must review
- Decide whether section 181(7) allows a conditional agreement in this matter
- For a litigious matter, form the reasonable belief that success is reasonably likely before agreeing an uplift
- Keep the uplift at or under 25 per cent of legal costs excluding disbursements
Rules that apply
The document starts from the task name. Change it if this piece of work is different.
The work product
Forum. Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW)
Produce. A marked-up conditional costs agreement for the lawyer to settle.
Have ready. Draft agreement; Lawyer's statement of the successful outcome; Proposed uplift percentage.
Example of the limit. Illustrative example: The draft for a litigious claim includes a 20 per cent uplift on professional fees and five clear business days to terminate. The markup records the section 182 belief as not yet made. The lawyer makes that belief before the client is asked to sign.
Stop and hand it back when
- The reasonable-likelihood belief is missing in a litigious matter.
- The uplift is charged on disbursements or exceeds 25 per cent.
Sources for this task were checked on 2026-10-23.
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | From the draft, mark plain language, the successful outcome, the client's signature, the independent-advice statement and cooling-off of at least five clear business days, and if there is an uplift set out its basis, estimate or range, and percentage of legal costs excluding disbursements. Do not decide that the uplift is permitted. |
| Lawyer | Set the scope, supervise the work closely, verify every part relied on, resolve omissions and exceptions, and approve the exact output. |
Checklist
- A conditional costs agreement is not available for criminal proceedings, proceedings under the Family Law Act 1975, or proceedings specified in the Uniform Rules.
- Require writing, plain language, the successful outcome, the client's signature, the independent-advice statement, and at least five clear business days' cooling-off, unless the agreement is between law practices only.
- On a cooling-off termination, no uplift is recoverable, and only informed work done during that period may be recovered.
- Section 182(2): a litigious uplift requires a reasonable belief that a successful outcome is reasonably likely, and must not exceed 25 per cent of the legal costs excluding disbursements.
Forms and precedents for this task
| Form or precedent | Kind | AI use | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| New matter checklist | Checklist | AI use Yellow | Checklist for opening a plaintiff injury file: identity, conflicts, the diary, costs disclosure, authorities, and consent before health records go into a tool. |
| Queensland speculative personal injury costs agreement | Agreement | AI use Yellow | A Queensland conditional costs agreement for a speculative personal injury claim, where fees are not worked out from the settlement. |
| Cooling-off letter for a conditional costs agreement | Letter | AI use Yellow | A letter telling the client they can end a conditional costs agreement by written notice in a cooling-off period of at least five clear business days, and what may be charged if they do. |
| Letter when the retainer ends | Letter | AI use Yellow | A letter when the firm stops acting, setting out any costs still sought. |
Signed-in accounts can read the full text of each one. All precedents.
Sources
- Legal Profession Uniform Law s 181, conditional costs agreements · 2026-10-23
- Legal Profession Uniform Law s 182, conditional costs agreements involving uplift fees · 2026-10-23
These sections do not contain the Queensland section 347 cap. Do not import it.
The client signs the agreement. A later court document from the same file is subject to Practice Note SC Gen 23.