It really is a simple Philosophy
Work smart, work fast, use smart people, and use smart technology.
Time is money.
Job done.
Job finished.
File closed.
We guarantee our work
The Law is a living, breathing, changing and growing process.
So to Lyons Lawyers
Our system of law started prior to the industrial revolution in England, and it has undergone constant and daily change since.It is the linchpin to trade and commerce, especially in this Global Economy,which is now moving at the speed of sound.
People and businesses need confidence in their legal position ,otherwise everything is build like a house of cards and must come tumbling down – anarchy will reign,and nothing will remain sacred or protected.
The process of Law has not remained in the draconian ages where things took an eternity.
The electronic and technical communication has been welcomed in Courts and Lyons Lawyers.
First there were handwritten court pleadings. Along came the typewriter and through many phases came the word processor, and spell check.
Instead of standing in lines to file documents Lyons Lawyers can now file Summons, Statement of Claims, pleadings, affidavits and other documents electronically, in most Court Jurisdictions. Gradually all Courts will have this electronic capacity to file documents.
You may say what is the relevance of all this?
The answer is time, speed and costs, thus clients save on Legal Costs.
If clients of Lyons Lawyers have email this is also a major saving of time, speed and costs.
Also Lyons Lawyers have the capacity for clients to log into their file and review it at any time.
Case preparation reviewed by Courts
Cases are reviewed constantly by Courts who want the problem resolved or listed for hearing and out of their case list as quickly as possible. The reason Lyons lawyers raises these matters, is many people have a view that Lawyers intentionally delay the proceedings so they can charge more fees.That is rubbish.We want happy satisfied clients
COURTS MANAGEMENT
Courts manage every case in its lists. The Courts consider their time very precious and valuable, and are acutely aware that other litigants are at the end of the queue waiting for their case to percolate to the top of the hearing list.
Parties must comply with numerous directions from the Court by a certain dates.
Matters are continuously reviewed by the Courts and further tasks and time limits are imposed by the Courts on their parties and their lawyers,to ready the case for hearing.
The Court wants to minimise costs to both parties and can order “Court Appointed Experts” so that there are not a multitude of experts expressing different views.
The Court can order certain evidence be taken before an Arbitrator saving the Court an enormous amount of time. Building cases fit particularly into this category or case where there are overseas witnesses
Informal Settlement Conferences
The Court always welcomes Informal Settlement Conferences between the parties.
Formal Settlement Conference
More frequently, Courts will not listed a case for hearing unless the parties have attended a Formal Conference to try and settle a matter.
Again, the answer is time, speed and costs, thus clients save clients on Legal Costs.
FORMAL OFFERS OF SETTLEMENT.
Another strategy of speeding up the resolution of a matter is the Formal Offers of Settlement.
For instance say one party may offers to pay the other party $100,000 plus cost, and that offer is rejected.
The party who rejected the offer obtains a Judgment of only $80,000.
The Court may order that party, to pay the other parties Legal Costs on an Indemnity basis from the date of the offer, notwithstanding they obtained a Judgment of $80,000.
The reason why the courts treat this savagely is bases on the following philosophy.
- In the past too many litigants would simply reject all overtures of settlement and would have a free spin of the chocolate wheel;
- Often litigants insisted that they wanted to hear it from the lips of the Judge;
The Courts and Judges have reacted, declaring (sic) "this offer of settlement should have been accepted. In failing to accept this offer of settlement, you have take up the Courts valuable time for a matter which should not have been in the Courts list, and depriving other genuine litigants of the Courts valuable time".
Again a great time and cost saving imitative.
COSTS
Without doubt legal costs cause terrible anxiety for clients ( and understandably so).
In most matters a fixed fee can be negotiated and Lyons Lawyers have to stick to that agreement, whether or not it takes more time than Lyons Lawyers estimated or allowed.
Basically Lyons Lawyers sell their expertise and time
Court or litigation matters fall into an entirely different and tricky category.As Betty Davis said about "old age isn’t for wimps",the same can be said about litigation.
COSTS BASED ON A PERCENTAGE OF VERDICT
The American and Asian people relate easily to costs being a percentage of the verdict, for example one-third (1/3) of the Verdict to go to the Lyons Lawyers.
Sadly the Legal Professional Act prevents us applying this mechanism, which has a lot to recommend it.
Nevertheless both means of measuring costs can be incorporated into the one cost agreement using the percentage measurement as a SAFETY VALVE.
For instance “legal cost shall not exceed one–third of the verdict or what ever is the lesser amount”
Litigation is:
- unpredictable;
- time consuming;
- stressful; and
- Expensive.
And it is impossible to give an accurate estimation of costs, notwithstanding the best will in the in the world.
By analogy, if you have ever built a house, or had an extension to your home you will know how costs can blow out, through no fault of the builders.
- The excavations hit rock;
- It rains constantly and you now have a swimming pool;
- You pump the water out and it keeps raining and wont dry out;
- The logistics of seamlessly moving from the form workers to the bricky, concreter, plumber,electricians ,tilers, plasters, carpenter etc is thrown into disarray,and the process is disjointed more timely and expensive.
The words that invariably come from people mouths who are involved with Building are” never again
This is not because Lyons Lawyers are deceitful or evasive about costs, but rather this area is particularly difficult to measure in dollars and cents terms.
If Lyons Lawyers could predict these costs, we would be picking tonight’s lotto numbers and sharing them with our staff, friends and clients in the coming weeks.
We do not have a crystal Ball.
UNPREDICTABLE
For example Lyons Lawyers recently has a battle before the Supreme Court in a matter of Onus-v- Telstra. We are still waiting on the judgement .
Our client Mr Onus owns the Oakes Airdrome at Camden.
Telstra wish to erect a 30 metre Mobile Telephone Tower approximately 150 metres to the side of the landing strip. In our opinion the tower represented a significant potential danger to aircraft .
The Oakes Airdrome does not have a Control Tower to warn planes landing and taking off, nor does it have radar.
Lyons Lawyers estimated a day in Court.
Lyons Lawyers obtained an Injunction restraining Telstra from erecting the tower.
The matter was before the Court for about 5 days.
Clearly Lyons Lawyers estimations were wrong, and the costs have blown out wildly
Hopefully it will have a happy ending for our client, he will obtain a permanent Injunction against Telstra, and that Telstra pay his costs.
If Mr Onus does not succeed, Lyons Lawyers will waive a large proportion of our fees, bearing in mind we still have overheads and wages to pay to keep the office afloat and running
BLOW OUT OF COURT TIME
On a happier note Lyons Lawyers had an interesting case of Hogarth, in which our lady had fallen down the rear stairs of a very old wooden house built on stilts in the outer suburbs of Sydney. Our client suffered injuries, medical expenses, loss of wages , etc.
The concrete steps had no side railings.
The rear door was very wide pushing pedestrians to the outer edge of the unprotected stairs.
If you asked Lyons Lawyers how long the hearing of the case would take ,we would have said "no more than a day".
If you asked Lyons Lawyers how much the client would we awarded,we would have said about $100,000.
The Defendant said “the house was built prior to the Local Government Act of 1919 and there was no requirement for Railings on the stairs at that time.”
This represented a complete defence to our ladies claim.
It is unusual to have an old wooden house built about 1900 with rear concrete stairs?
We decided to have the concrete steps “Carbon dated”.
The concrete steps were analysed and found to be poured in 1976 and therefore the Local Government Act did apply and the stairs required railings.
The hearing went for more than 10 days, and our client was awarded approximately $700,000 plus costs.
Lyons Lawyers couldn’t believe the outcome.
However the matter did not end there as the other party appealed and eventually we settled on a Judgment of $300,000 plus costs.
The point to these examples is that litigation has its own momentum and can twist and turn and take more time than anticipated.
Lyons Lawyers sell their expertise measured in time.
Lyons Lawyers fees are like a Taxi metre which is constantly being turned off and on.
When Lyons Lawyers are working on a clients matter the Taxi metre is on .
When Lyons Lawyers are not working on a client’s matter the metre is off.
COSTS BASED ON A PERCENTAGE OF VERDICTS
The American and Asian people relate easily to costs being a percentage of the verdict, for example one-third (1/3) of the Verdict to go to the Lyons Lawyers.
Sadly the Legal Professional Act prevents us applying this mechanism, which has a lot to recommend it.
Nevertheless both means of measuring costs can we incorporated into the one cost agreement using the percentage measurement as a safety valve.
For instance “legal cost shall not exceed one-third of the verdict or what ever is the lesser amount”
Litigation should not be entered unwisely, and parties should be prepared to compromise and to be commercial as the outcome can be unexpected and costly.You should be physically, emotionally and financially strong-litigation is not for wimps or people looking for justice or fairness-at best Court are an approximation of justice and fairness-there is no "absolutes".The road to Bankruptcy is paved with people who said "it is a matter of principal"
Many the time we have had a witness who was absolutely wonderful before the case started, but was deplorable in the witness box. Some people become very nervous and fall to pieces under cross examination.
Sometimes when the ball starts rolling, the process wont stop.
Lyons lawyers have been acting since about 1996 in a matter of Nortex-v-Lamru which you can Google. There are about 50 Judgments representing various stages of the case.
So far these have been about 200 hearing days, with hundreds of ancillary Court attendances and miscellaneous side events involving appointment of a Liquidator for Nortex and the matter has still not finished not finished.
We have been to the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, High Court of Australia and now back to the Court of Appeal.
Lyons Lawyers are about to embark on enforcement proceedings including Bankruptcy, Company Liquidations and Winding, up and still it will go on.
ADVERSARIAL LEGAL SYSTEM
Our Court legal system is the “adversarial system” and simplistically it is based on the destroying the credibility of a witness or the weight the court should give to that witnesses evidence.
Cross Examination is the most lethal part of a case.
Lawyers know their craft, diluting or destroying the credibility of a witness.
It is not a pleasant process for anyone
What you thought was the nub of the case, is not raised, but rather your credibility or the credibility of a witness is attacked and questioned.
Dishonesty and exaggeration is the rock people perish on.
Case will be lost by the failure of clients to make full disclosure and to be truthful and honest with their lawyers and in the witness box.
When in the witness box you should just answer the question,rather then trying to analyse the question and the ramifications of your answer.So often witness say to themselves in the witness box "if I say that it will destroy my case",when in reality if the answer is truthfully ,it will have very little bearing on the outcome of your case.
A little white lie can destroy a case a really good case.
Some of you may recall the fairy tale of Hands Christian Andersen and reading the book, when "the book is really reading you".
So to a Judge or Magistrate is reading your performance in the witness box.
If you are caught out with your little white lie ,all the foundations of your case crumple, and the Magistrate or Judge question your evidence and asks,"if you exaggerated or lied over such a trivial and irrelevant matter ,what more serious acts of deceit and dishonesty have you committed".
You should always refrain from making any admissions to the police without legal advice.What ever you say to the police will be thrown in your face in the witness box.
In Europe the system aims at finding out the truth of what happened, and is called the “inquisitorial system”.
Most of the Courts have introduced compulsory mediation in certain matters. When mediation was introduced Lyons Lawyers were doubtful as to the utility of such initiative, but to our surprise it is often very successful.
The Federal Magistrates Court, Family Law and the Supreme Court in Estate & Family Provisions claims, require the matter to be mediated prior to the matter being heard by the Court.
Recently the Family Court ordered 3 Mediations in a matter in which we were involved .The matter settled on the door step of the Court on the day it was listed for 3 days hearing.
MEDIATION & SETTLEMENT CONFERENCES:
THE COURTS DO NOT WANT TO HEAR DISPUTES BETWEEN PARTIES
You may well say that this is ridiculous statement.
Let me confirm that Courts would much prefer you to resolve the matter and settle a dispute amongst yourselves, whether it is a resolution initiated by the parties, their solicitors, informal or formal mediations, or through divine intervention.
Again, the answer is time, speed and costs, thus clients save on Legal Costs.
Courts are the last recourse when other every effort has been exhausted trying to resolve a matter.
In Personal Injury claims, many informal conferences are initiated between the lawyers to save in a blow out of costs, and have a high degree of success. It is also less stressful for the parties, who have vented their spleen and moved on with their life, and are in a more amenable state of mind.
COURT INITIATIVES
We do not know how many times, we have been told that clients previous Solicitor has run their case so as to build up legal costs.
Our response to this is rubbish.
Courts are very much hand on in management of each and every case.
Every case is regularly reviewed and dead lines set for every aspect of the case, and then reviewed again before the matter is listed for hearing ( and woe beget the Solicitor who has not complied with these directions,including personal adverse costs order against the solicitor or the matter struck out exposing the solicitor to a claim for damages by the client).
Again, the answer is time, speed and costs, thus clients save clients on Legal Costs.
SUPREME, FEDERAL & FAMILY COURT
The Court insists that each party put their case in written or Affidavit form.
- In this way it saves many hours of the Court valuable time getting the history of a matter into evidence.
- Generally no additional evidence will be admitted;
- It refines and crystallises the real issue of the case, saving the legal representatives stumbling about in the dark, trying to work out what the others party’s case is about.
- Each party basically know what the others case is about and can address the Court on what they believe support their case and the Law.
- Its all about time-precious time.
- Many of the above examples are simplistic. Affidavits must comply with the rules of evidence, which in itself should be a university degree. Lyons Lawyers have seen Judges reject every paragraph in an Affidavit, leaving the name of the deponent of the affidavit and the deponents signature.
Courts encourage the parties to:
MEDIATE
Mediation can take a number of forms:-
- A Court appointed Mediator, endeavours to assist the parties reach a solution to their problem;
- A Mediator agreed by the parties.
Mediations are informal settlement negotiations between the parties and their Legal Representative,with the assistance of a trained Mediator trying to reach a settlement.
It is very informal.
The Mediator moves between the combatants conveying offers of settlements, and discussion their position, and relaying that information to the other party.
The Mediate has absolutely no powers to make either party to do something against their wishes or settle.
The Mediator is a facilitator of information between the parties.
Again former Judges of the Supreme Court act as mediators. Sir Lawrence Street, the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales is a most eminent and pleasant man ,who undertakes such work with enormous success.
Mediations or Informal settlement conferences have an amazing success rate, possibly as high as seventy (70%) percent.
Everyone is required to sign confidentiality agreement. If the Mediation is unsuccessful then nothing said or done in that conference can be raised at the hearing.
Again a great time and cost saving initiative.
ARBITRATE
If Lyons Lawyers had a case that needed to be dealt with haste than we would recommend Arbitration.
Clients offer ask why it takes so much time to have their case dealt with by the Court?
The answer is very simple:-
- The clients matter has just joined the queue;
- The clients matter goes to the bottom of the queue.
- The clients matter gradually bubbles to the top of the queue and is allocated a hearing date.
- The Courts have hundred of matter waiting in their lists, and many of these case may have a hearing time estimate of weeks ,months and more.
- Sadly there are not enough Courts and Judges, and hours in a day.
At Lyons Lawyers, we see the process of Arbitration taking a much bigger roll, as it offers expedition, time and Costs savings.
In some Jurisdictions the Court requires the parties to provide their evidence in Affidavit form, to provide documents automatically including Tax return, Company Profit and loss statements, bank statements, and superannuation details and so on.
All of these initiatives are aimed at narrowing, refining and crystallising the issues that the parties are arguing about, rather then spending an inordinate amount of time working out what the dispute is really about.
Arbitration can save parties time sitting in the Court list waiting for their matter to be listed for hearing.
If the parties agree, an Arbitrator usually a former High Court Judge or Supreme Court Judge, can be appointed to determine the matter.
The matter is determined by the Arbitrator as if he was the Judge who would otherwise be hearing the matter in the normal course of events.
The Arbitrators decision is binding on the parties, and only is limited circumstances can it is appealed against.
It is of course more expensive, however it can save 9-18 months sitting in a Court list waiting for a matter to be listed through the normal Court process.
Sometimes an Arbitrator can be appointed to determine one part of a case that is extremely protracted or technical.
Again a great time and cost saving initiative.
AGREED EXPERTS
The parties can agree on an expert and to accept that experts opinion .
This saves time and money.
For example appointing an Orthopaedic Surgeon in a Workers Compensation, Work Injury Claim , Motor Accidents, Slip and Fall Civil Injury Claims and so on .
If the parties cannot agree ,then the Workers compensation Commission or the Motor Accidents Authority will appoint a Medical expert.
COURT APPOINTED EXPERTS
Again another Court initiative, saving costs and the Court an enormous amount of time determining which expert’s evidence will be preferred over another.
The potential list of Experts in unlimited and from all the professions,including Lawyers, Architects, Builders, Doctors, Forensic Accountant, Financial Advisers, Engineers and so on.
Again a great time and cost saving initiative.
WORKERS COMPENSATION & VICTIM OF CRIME COMPENSATION CLAIMS.
In many instances Lyons Lawyer is not able to charge clients one cent as it is prohibited by particular Legislation.
Many clients are blown away to find Lyons Lawyers is not allowed to charge for Workers Compensation and Victims of Crime Compensation matters.
Any award under the Workers Compensation Act or Victims of Crime must be paid directly to the client without deduction of costs.
Lyons Lawyers legal fees are paid not by the client ,but a prescribed fee is paid by Workers Compensation Insurer or the Victims of Crime Tribunal if successful.
The unfortunate aspect for Lyons Lawyers is if the Workers Compensation or Victim of Crime Compensation claim fails, Lyons Lawyers are not paid one cent for all the time and effort we have put into the matter.
Colloquially our cost and expensing for agitating a clients Workers compensation or Victim of Crimes Compensation claim is simply flushed down the toilet.
WE PROMISE NOT TO BITE
Many people are nervous about engaging the services of a solicitor, or even making that first phone call as they perceive legal advice as costly. At Lawyer Lyons we understand your concerns. All of our clients are completely informed about legal costs and our legal team are trained to ensure these costs are kept to a minimum.
At the beginning of most matters Lyons Lawyers will provide you with a written costs agreement which estimates the cost of your matter. For some matters we can provide a flat fee estimate.
Such matters include:
- Wills;
- Testamentary Trusts:
- Conveyancing – Sale or purchase of land;
- Refinance
- Power of Attorneys and Guardianship Documents
- Workers Compensation ;
- Victims of Crime;
- Motor Vehicle Accidents;
- Court matters;
- Court Pleas;
- Driving Offences;
- Criminal matters;
Lyons Lawyers will advise you on the legal options you have and what costs would be involved. If there is an expected ‘blow out’ in fees Lyons Lawyers will advise you of this as soon as possible so you can choose whether it is financially viable to pursue your matter.
Lyons Lawyers send our clients an invoice at the end of each month to keep them informed of the costs of their matter,
As a client focused firm Lyons Lawyers are efficient and cost-effective in delivering quality legal services. Lyons Lawyers are committed to keeping your legal fees to a minimum without compromising the service you receive or the result you obtain.
Please contact us on (02) 8383 3115 to speak with one of our lawyers today. Alternatively send an email enquiry to jwlyons@lyonsandlyons.com.au now and we will contact you shortly.
We promise not to bite.
Lyons & Lyons
Jim Lyons
Level 2, 35 Spring Street
Bondi Junction
NSW 2022
P: 8383 3115
F: 9389 5192