Letter · Costs, billing & litigation funding
Costs disclosure and costs agreement letter (Uniform Law ss 174 and 180)
Full written costs disclosure for Uniform Law matters likely to exceed $3,000, which also operates as the costs agreement when accepted. Covers scope, basis of charging, estimate, billing, AI use and the client's statutory rights.
- Kind
- Letter. A letter or email you adapt and send.
- Where it applies
- New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia
- AI use
- Yellow AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at
- 17 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked against the cited sources on 17 October 2026.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use at the start of any non-commercial Uniform Law matter (NSW, Victoria, WA) where professional fees are likely to exceed $3,000, or when a matter outgrows the standard form. Not for conditional (no win, no fee) arrangements, which need a separate agreement that meets s 181.
How AI may be used
AI can produce a first draft from the scope, the estimate the lawyer has named and this precedent, listing every figure still needing an instruction. The lawyer fixes the estimate, rates and scope and checks the statutory content before it is sent.
AI may
- Populate the letter from the file note and the lawyer's approved estimate, leaving unresolved figures in brackets.
- Build the stage-by-stage estimate table from the lawyer's inputs and check the arithmetic and GST.
- Check the draft against the s 174(2)(a) client-rights list and flag anything missing.
AI must not
- Must not invent rates, estimates, assumptions or the name of the regulator.
- Must not convert the letter into a conditional or uplift arrangement, or add any term calculating fees by reference to an award or settlement (s 183).
- Must not send or e-sign the letter on the practice's behalf.
The lawyer checks
- The estimate is the lawyer's own, with the main variables stated, and reflects any efficiency from AI-assisted work.
- The client-rights section, the regulator details and the time limits are current for the state.
- The file records the steps taken to ensure the client understood and consented (s 174(3)).
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 for signed-in accounts. It is free. When you sign 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
- Uniform Law standard costs disclosure form (matters likely to cost $750 to $3,000): completion guide
- Engagement and costs agreement clauses: AI use, client consent and charging for AI-assisted work
- Billing and time-recording policy for AI-assisted work
- Notice to client of a significant change in legal costs (Uniform Law s 174(1)(b))
- Litigation funding agreement review checklist (including class actions)
All precedents for Costs, billing & litigation funding · Tasks and AI use in this area