Letter · Costs, billing & litigation funding
Cooling-off letter for a conditional costs agreement
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.
- Kind
- Letter. A letter or email you adapt and send.
- Where it applies
- Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales
- AI use
- Yellow You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on.
- Law stated as at
- 23 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 23 October 2026 against the 4 authorities it cites, for Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Send with a conditional costs agreement under the Uniform Law or the Legal Profession Act 2007 (Qld). Do not use it for an agreement between law practices only. In Queensland, read section 323(4) before using it for a sophisticated client.
Used for these tasks
Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.
How AI may be used
The tool may date the cooling-off period the lawyer has calculated and repeat the recovery limit in the section, and it must not shorten the period below five clear business days or add an uplift.
AI may
- Insert the start and end of the period after the lawyer has counted the clear business days
- State the written-notice address and the recovery limit in section 181(5) or section 323(5)
- Say whether the agreement makes any disbursement payable if the client ends it in the period
AI must not
- Must not describe a phone call as the written notice
- Must not say the practice can recover an uplift if the client ends the agreement in the cooling-off period
- Must not use this letter for an agreement between law practices only
- Must not drop the cooling-off period for a Queensland sophisticated client unless the lawyer has applied section 323(4)
The lawyer checks
- The period is not less than 5 clear business days, and the end date is the lawyer's count
- The agreement itself contains the cooling-off period, the success definition, and the independent-advice statement
- The matter is not a criminal proceeding and is not a proceeding under the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth)
- For the Uniform Law, the lawyer has checked whether the Uniform Rules specify any further excluded proceedings under section 181(7)(c). Those rules were not copied here
- The client signs this acknowledgement separately from the agreement. Both are kept in the firm's system
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
The full text is available after you log in. It is free. When you log in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
More in Costs, billing & litigation funding
- Without prejudice save as to costs offer, with the client's settlement figures kept off the letter
- Costs update notice for a personal injury claim
- Costs assessment Form A1.1: client against own law practice
- Application for costs assessment of legal fees (UCPR Form 60)
- Summons for taxation of costs (Supreme Court Costs Court)
- Queensland speculative personal injury costs agreement
- Uniform Law standard costs disclosure form (matters likely to cost $750 to $3,000): completion guide
- Engagement letter with a generative AI clause (United States)
- Costs disclosure and costs agreement letter (Uniform Law ss 174 and 180)
- Revised costs estimate for a personal injury claim
- Costs assessment Form A3: ordered party and party costs
- Affidavit filed with an application to assess legal fees (UCPR Form 46)
- Party-party taxation information form (Supreme Court Costs Court)
- Offer of compromise under UCPR rule 20.26 (NSW)
- Disclosure of costs before a settlement is signed
- Statement disclosing third-party litigation funding (United States)
- Engagement and costs agreement clauses: AI use, client consent and charging for AI-assisted work
- Who pays records, experts and barristers
- Worksheet before a personal injury costs update
- Costs assessment Form A4: review of an assessor's determination
- Costs statement for assessment other than under the Legal Profession Act (UCPR Form 60A)
- Legal profession legislation taxation information form (Costs Court)
- Itemised bill and letter answering a request for one
- Timekeeper check before billing generative AI work (United States)
- Billing and time-recording policy for AI-assisted work
- Worksheet comparing a draft bill with the costs disclosure
- Record of the client's response to a costs update
- Notice of objection to a costs statement (UCPR Form 61)
- Gross sum information form (Supreme Court Costs Court)
- Opening costs estimate worksheet
- Letter when a flat fee should change because a tool did the work (United States)
- Disclosure to an associated third party payer, and of another law practice
- Summons for gross sum costs (Supreme Court Costs Court)
- Notice to client of a significant change in legal costs (Uniform Law s 174(1)(b))
- VCAT legal practice list application (civil disputes)
- Letter when the retainer ends
- Litigation funding agreement review checklist (including class actions)
- Progress report of legal costs incurred
- Queensland speculative personal injury costs cap worksheet
All precedents for Costs, billing & litigation funding · Tasks and AI use in this area