How we work

From your documents to a decision

What happens once you make contact, in the order it happens: what to send, how the merits and the cost are assessed, and how you are kept informed.

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

Most people who make contact are part way into something already. A letter has arrived, an invoice has gone unpaid for months, work has stopped, or a claim has been served. This page sets out what an engagement involves, so you know what you are agreeing to before you agree to it.

My Civil Lawyer is an informational website about civil disputes in New South Wales. Much of what follows is set by the Legal Profession Uniform Law and the conduct rules for solicitors in this State, and about sets out who provides legal services through this website.

The first conversation

We start with where you are up to: what the dispute is about, who it is with, what has already been said in writing, and whether any date is running against you.

If a limitation period may be close, say so at the very start rather than waiting for an appointment. Under section 14 of the Limitation Act 1969 (NSW) most contract and tort claims must be brought within six years of the date the cause of action first accrues, and other causes of action run on different periods. A deadline changes the order in which everything else happens.

You do not need your documents organised. Bring what you have.

The agreement, quote, invoice or contract the dispute is about
The correspondence, including emails and messages, and including the parts that do not help you
Anything you have already sent the other side, and anything they have sent you
Any court or tribunal document you have been served with, and the date you received it
The dates: when it was agreed, when it went wrong, when you first complained
The other party's full legal name, and whether it is a person, a company or a trust

If you have been served with a statement of claim, the time to file a defence has already started. Say so first. See debt recovery for what that document is and what happens if it is ignored.

The conflict check

Before a law practice can act for you it has to check whether it is able to. It cannot act where its duty to you would conflict with a duty owed to another client or with its own interests. In civil disputes that comes up more often than people expect, particularly where a business, a family or a small industry is involved on both sides.

So expect to be asked who else is involved, and asked early. Usually nothing turns on it. Where a conflict does exist you should be told, and told what the options are. What you say during that check is confidential whether or not you go on to engage the firm.

Please do not send the full detail of your matter, or a bundle of documents, before the conflict check is done. A short summary is enough to start.

The merits and costs assessment

This is the part that distinguishes a civil matter that is worth running from one that is not, and it happens before anybody drafts a demand.

It works through four things: what you can actually prove from the documents, what the claim is realistically worth, whether the other side can pay a judgment, and what each step would cost. A claim that is strong on the story and thin on the evidence is a claim to know about early. A judgment against someone with no assets is an expensive piece of paper.

You get the answer even when it is no. Telling a client that a claim should not be run is part of a solicitor’s duty to advise on the best course open to you, and it is a great deal cheaper for you to hear it at this stage than after a year of costs.

Proof. Not what happened, but what can be established with documents and witnesses.
Value. A realistic range for what is recoverable, not the best possible figure.
Recoverability. Whether the other party can actually pay, and what enforcement would involve.
Proportionality. What the next step costs against what is in dispute, at each stage rather than once at the start.

Costs, in writing, before work starts

Under the Legal Profession Uniform Law a law practice must tell you in writing, at the outset, how its legal costs will be calculated and what it estimates the total will be. The disclosure has to set out your rights as well. A costs agreement is a separate document, and you do not have to sign one the day it is put in front of you.

We do not publish fees on this website. What a civil matter costs depends on what is in dispute, how the other side behaves and how far it goes, so a figure published here would tell you nothing reliable about your own matter. Our costs page explains the fee structures used and when each applies.

Costs in litigation are not only your own. A court has a discretion about costs and an unsuccessful party is often ordered to pay part of the other side’s. That risk is explained before proceedings are commenced, not after.

Trying to resolve it before proceedings

Court is one option among several, and usually the most expensive one. A well-drafted letter of demand or a negotiation resolves a great many civil disputes, and our guide to what a letter of demand should and should not say sets out what belongs in one.

Mediation is available at most stages and often works. The Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW) allows a court to refer proceedings to mediation, and many contracts require the parties to attempt resolution before commencing anything.

We start there unless there is a reason not to — usually a limitation period that is close, or an urgent need for an order from a court.

Running a matter that has to be run

Where proceedings are necessary, the work is governed by the Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW) and the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW): commencing in the right court, pleading the claim properly, serving it correctly, dealing with the defence and preparing the evidence.

Our guide to which court hears your claim explains how the Local, District and Supreme Courts divide the work and where NCAT fits. Filing in the right place the first time saves real money.

Through all of it the assessment continues. At each stage we tell you what it will cost to continue and whether continuing still makes sense. A matter that stops being worth running should be settled or discontinued, and you should hear that from us rather than work it out from the bills.

Who does the work, and how you are kept informed

Your matter is handled by a solicitor of Jameson Law. Ask who has carriage of your file and who to contact about it. You are entitled to know.

A solicitor’s duty is to keep you informed about the progress of your matter, in writing where that is practical. So expect to be told what has been filed, when, what the next step is, and what the other side has said. If you have not heard for a while, ask. A progress report needs no reason.

You can check that anyone advising you holds a current practising certificate on the Law Society of NSW’s Register of Solicitors. Do that for any lawyer you are considering, including us.

What we will not do

Three things, whatever you ask.

Guarantee an outcome. The decision belongs to the court or the tribunal. Anyone who promises you a result is telling you something they cannot know.
Keep a poor prospect to ourselves. A solicitor's duty is to advise you on the best course open to you. That includes saying when a claim has very little prospect, or when the cost of running it exceeds what is in dispute, and giving the reasons. You may still decide to proceed. What matters is that the decision is yours and informed.
Put something untrue in front of a court. Not a document, not a date, not an account of what happened. A solicitor's duty to the court comes before the duty to the client, and a claim built on something that will not survive cross-examination is worse than no claim.

If there is a weakness in your case, deal with it openly. It is better addressed by you than discovered by the other side.

If you are not happy

Tell us first. Most problems are about what was expected rather than what was done, and they are easier to fix early. Our complaints page sets out how to raise one. A complaint about a solicitor, or a dispute about a bill, can also go to the Office of the NSW Legal Services Commissioner, which is independent of the firm.

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.