Cost

How civil matters are charged

We do not publish prices, because a figure without your facts is meaningless. What we can explain is the structures used, when each applies, and what the law requires a law practice to tell you about costs.

General information, not legal advice. This page sets out how the law generally applies. It does not take account of your circumstances, and you should get advice about your own situation before acting on it. The official sources this page is written from are listed on it; where they differ from anything here, they are the authority.

Last updated: 23 September 2026

A claim that is legally sound can still be the wrong thing to run, because the cost and time of running it can come to more than what is in dispute. That is not a reason to avoid the subject; it is a reason to put it at the front.

This page explains the fee structures used, what a law practice in New South Wales must disclose to you in writing about costs, and the separate question of who pays whose costs when a matter goes to court.

Why there are no figures on this page

What a civil matter costs depends on what is in dispute, on which court or tribunal it is in, on how much documentary work is involved, and on how the other side behaves. Two matters about the same amount of money can cost very different amounts, because one settled after a letter and the other was defended to a hearing.

A published hourly rate or a headline price would tell you nothing reliable about your own matter, and a number on a website goes out of date quietly with no way for a reader to tell. So you get a figure that applies to you, in writing, at the point the law requires it — and an updated one if the estimate changes.

The structures, and when each applies

Three structures are used for civil work, and a single matter can use more than one as it moves through stages.

Fixed fee. For discrete, predictable pieces of work: a contract review, a letter of demand, an advice on prospects. You know the cost before you commit to it.
Hourly rate. For matters whose scope depends on what the other side does. A defended hearing is difficult to price in advance, because how long it takes depends on how the other side runs it.
Staged estimate. For longer matters, quoted stage by stage — advice, demand, commencement, evidence, hearing — so you decide whether to continue at each point rather than once at the beginning.

The staged approach keeps the decision about whether to continue with you, at each point where the answer might change.

What the law requires you to be told

Under the Legal Profession Uniform Law, as applied in New South Wales by the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014 (NSW), a law practice must disclose its costs to you in writing when, or as soon as practicable after, instructions are initially given — and where urgent work has to be done first, as soon as practicable after that. That disclosure must set out how the costs will be calculated and give an estimate of the total, and it must tell you about your rights. It is not required in every matter: when it applies is set by that legislation rather than by any practice, so ask if you have not been given one. The Office of the NSW Legal Services Commissioner’s factsheet on costs disclosure states the same timing in plain terms.

A costs agreement is a separate document from the disclosure. You are entitled to negotiate it, and you do not have to sign it the day it is put in front of you.

The Law Society of NSW and the Office of the NSW Legal Services Commissioner both publish material explaining what a disclosure must contain and what you can do if you disagree with a bill. Those are independent of any firm and are worth reading before you engage anyone.

Where the law requires disclosure, to have it in writing when, or as soon as practicable after, you give instructions
To negotiate the costs agreement and the billing method
To receive a bill, and to ask for it to be itemised
To be told if the estimate changes significantly as the matter develops
To have a bill assessed, and to dispute costs through the Legal Services Commissioner

The other costs risk: the other side's

In litigation your own fees are not the whole exposure. A court has a discretion about costs, and the rules start from the position that costs follow the event, so an unsuccessful party can be ordered to pay the successful party’s costs as well as its own.

Two things follow from that, and they cut in opposite directions. If you win, you may recover some of what you have spent — not necessarily all of it, and only if the other side can actually pay. If you lose, you may have to pay part of theirs on top of your own. Any assessment of whether a claim is worth running has to account for both.

Offers of settlement interact with this. Making or refusing a reasonable offer can affect what a court does about costs at the end, which is one reason a settlement offer is a decision to take advice on rather than a matter of nerve.

Never run a civil matter on the assumption that your costs will come back. An order for costs is discretionary, it does not necessarily cover everything you have spent, and it is worth only what the other side can actually pay.

Costs in the Local Court and at NCAT

Not every forum works the same way. The Local Court’s Small Claims Division is designed to be used without a lawyer, and costs recovery in smaller matters is limited by the rules. NCAT is likewise designed to be low cost, and whether you may be legally represented there depends on the proceedings: the general position is that a party needs the Tribunal’s leave, and there are exceptions where a party may be represented as of right. NCAT sets out the position on its page about representation.

That has a practical consequence worth saying plainly: for a small claim, paying a lawyer to run it can cost more than the claim is worth, and running it yourself may be the better course. It is worth asking about before you engage anyone. Our guide to which court hears your claim explains how the forums differ.

Disbursements, which are not our fees

Alongside legal fees a matter incurs payments to other people: court filing fees, hearing allocation fees, service of documents, searches, barristers’ fees where counsel is briefed, and experts’ fees where an expert report is needed.

These are set by the court or by the provider rather than by us. They form part of what a costs disclosure deals with, so ask which ones your matter is likely to need, what they are expected to come to, and how they will be charged.

If you disagree with a bill

Raise it with us first, and say which bill and which parts of it you dispute, and what you understood the arrangement to be.

If that does not resolve it, a costs dispute can be taken to the Office of the NSW Legal Services Commissioner, which is independent of the firm. A costs dispute has its own time limit, and it is a short one, so a bill you are unhappy with is worth raising straight away rather than after the matter finishes. Our complaints page sets out both paths.

How to reach us

Use the enquiry form on the contact page. Keep a first message short: what the dispute is about, who it is with, and any date that may be running against you.

Enquiries

Through the form on our contact page.

Who you are contacting

My Civil Lawyer is an informational website about civil disputes in New South Wales. About sets out who provides legal services through it and how a law practice is regulated here.