The Client:

  1. Do hereby nominate, constitute and appoint PHH Badenhorst Inc. t/a Badenhorst Attorneys, 16 Paul Farrel Crescent, Pentagon Park, Bloemfontein, Free State Province, practicing as attorneys, (hereinafter referred to as “my attorneys”) to be my attorneys and legal agents;
  1. Confirm that it has been communicated to me/us that a deposit as stipulated shall be requested by my attorneys, to be deposited to PHH Badenhorst Inc. Trust Account, FNB, 627 1446 7174, reference my Surname or allocated file code, before the matter shall be formally taken in, accepted and proceeded with by them.
  1. AND to attend on my behalf to my claim/s in respect of theinitialmatterand any other work subsequent to this mandate, as stipulated and agreed upon in the mandate confirmation letter.
  1. AND to claim and collect all fees or monies payable to me from the debtor or any related person/entity.
  1. AND to adjust, settle, compromise and submit to arbitration all accounts, debts, claims, demands, disputes and matters which may subsist or arise between me and the debtor or any person, persons, fund/s, company/ies, corporation/s or body/ies whatsoever and for the purpose of arbitration to make the necessary appointments and sign and execute the necessary acts and instruments in that behalf.
  1. AND to commence, and prosecute and to defend, compromise and abandon all actions, suits, claims and demands and proceedings in regard to the above matters or in relation to my affairs in or before any Court or other body of person in the Republic of South Africa and in any territory or country anywhere in the world and specifically to apply for legal aid, if required, to execute this mandate.
  1. AND to diver judgment or decree to be given against me in any of such proceedings by default as my said Attorneys shall deem fit.
  1. AND to attend all meetings of any person/s, company/ies, syndicate/s on my behalf, as required.
  1. AND to sign or execute any Deed, Application, Pleading, Notice, Document or Instrument in writing as effectually as I might or could do if personally present.
  1. AND to appoint and negotiate, arrange and pay all fees including contingency or success fees of counsel, witnesses, presiding officers and to make all or any payments whatsoever which may be necessary and desirable in my attorneys’ opinion for the proper conduct of the case.
  1. AND to choose my/our domicilium citandi et executandi.
  1. AND GENERALLY, to do, execute and suffer any such act, deed, matter or thing whatsoever, as the said attorneys may deem necessary or expedient in or about my matter.
  1. HEREBY GIVING AND GRANTING to my attorneys’ power to appoint a correspondent/subcontracting attorney from other firms, a substitute or substitutes, and the same at pleasure to displace or remove and appoint another or others, hereby ratifying and agreeing to ratify whatsoever shall be done or suffered by virtue of these presents. In event that my attorneys appoint correspondents or other attorneys as subcontractors or agents, I authorize my attorneys to also negotiate and pay such attorneys or agents’ costs and to enter into fee agreements with them including contingency fee agreements. These costs and disbursements shall be deemed to be part of my attorneys’ disbursements and shall be payable in addition to my attorneys’ costs as set out herein.
  1. My/our attorneys will provide the above services on the basis that they will be entitled to charge a fee calculated on an “attorney and own client” basis against the time-based tariffs as set out in Annexure “A”.
  1. My attorney will be entitled to, apart from the fees referred to above, all monies for which expenditure has been incurred and/or indebted to on behalf of myself for example advocates’ fees, expert witnesses, medical records, sheriff fees etc.
  1. I have been advised that I have a period of 14 days calculated from the date of signing of this agreement during which I will have the right to withdraw from this agreement by giving notice in writing to my attorney to pieter@badenhorst.law.
  1. I also confirm that I have been advised that, should I feel aggrieved by any provision of this agreement of any fees chargeable in terms of this agreement, the agreement fees may be referred for review to the Free State Legal Practice Council of which my attorney is a member and if an advocate has been appointed also to the aforesaid Council or the Council in which area the advocate practices. The professional controlling body concerned may set aside any provision of this agreement or any fees claimable in terms of this agreement if, in its opinion, such provision of fees are unjust or unreasonable.
  1. I confirm that we have agreed that if I am successful, partially successful or in the event of premature termination of this agreement for any reason, that an amount shall be payable to any advocate who has been appointed in this matter by my attorney on my behalf as per the advocate’s invoice. By  his/her  signature  hereto  the  advocate  warrants  that  in  his/her  opinion  there  are reasonable prospects that I may be successful in the proceedings and that he/she accepts the brief on the understanding that he/she will be entitled to the payment of fees only if I am in successful in full or partially in the proceedings as agreed upon above or in the event of premature termination of this agreement for any reason.
  1. I also confirm that I have been advised that my attorneys’ tariffs have been calculated in relation to:
    1. the cost structure of an attorney’s office;
    2. the expertise in the field of law;
    3. Investigations regarding both the merits and quantum which includes research, perusal and review.
  1. If my attorney elects to charge a percentage of a capital amount awarded and not a fee calculated on an attorney and own client basis as set out above, my attorneys shall then be entitled to render an account for 25% of the capital amount awarded to me plus VAT and expenses/disbursements (such as counsel fees) as a success fee. The capital amount awarded will exclude any party and party cost contribution made to my attorney. This shall be communicated to me/us with the first letter accepting the mandate, if applicable.
  1. I confirm that the following have been explained to me in my language of preference and that I understand the contents hereof, alternatively, that I understand the terms as set out in English, which I/we accepted:
  1. 1 the difference between “party and party” costs and “attorney and own client” costs has been explained to me;

21.2 that I am entitled to other ways of financing this matter, and the implications thereof, namely –

21.2.1 to approach the Legal Aid Board in order to obtain legal aid, the implication and shall be that I must comply with the means test and it is not to say that legal aid will be awarded to me;

21.2.2 an unknown legal practitioner might become designated to me, who might not be experienced in the same field of law as my attorney in this matter;

21.2.3 To pay my attorney on a scale as between attorney and client costs for the work done as well as the expenditure incurred against the tariffs set out in Annexure “A” hereto.

  1. That I can withdraw from this agreement within 14 days from date hereof, by giving written notice to my/our attorney.
  1. My attorneys shall be entitled to any cost contribution made for expenses incurred on my behalf, in addition to the percentage or attorney and own client fee charge, which cost allocation my attorneys do not need to account to me.          In the event of circumstances warranting an increase in hourly charges or tariffs this will be communicated to me.
  1. In view of the fact that my attorneys will incur certain disbursements and fees on my behalf, I hereby irrevocably and in rem suam authorize them to recover and receive on my behalf the capital and party and party or any other costs from any institution, person or company and to deduct fees and disbursements from the capital amount before payment of the balance of it to me.        
  1. In the event that 30 days have passed since my attorneys sent an invoice to me and no objections has been made thereto, it shall be accepted that I have waived the right to object to the item contain therein and that  I find the account as being reasonable, due, owing and payable.
  1. All accounts are due and payable strictly upon presentation and if the same is not paid within 30 days, an incidental credit agreement shall be deemed to come into existence and my attorneys shall charge interest on any overdue account or portion thereof at 2% per month.
  1. It has been explained to me that my attorneys shall be at liberty to withdraw as attorneys of record in any matter due to non-payment of their account by me/us. In this event my attorney shall be entitled to keep as retention his entire file contents(inclusive of notes, pleadings, notices and any documents handed to them), until such time as payment of the full outstanding account, including interest and other fees, have been received by them.
  1. It shall not be necessary for my attorneys to present any of their bills of costs for taxation. Should this however be decided upon for whatever reason, I authorize my attorneys to appoint a cost consultant of their choice to draft such bills of cost and to attend to the taxation thereof and my attorneys shall be entitled to charge the fees of the cost consultant in addition to any other fees or expenses that might be payable by me to my attorney.
  1. I confirm that my attorney is also authorized to invest any monies recovered or deposited in a section 86 (4) account and they shall be entitled to charge an administration fee of 1% per annum on the capital, pro rata calculated. The monies shall be invested until finalisation of the matter or until reconciliation between me and my attorneys can take place.
  1. I confirm that a copy hereof was handed/received and perused by me and a copy thereof is available from my attorneys on request.
  1. The fact that the agreement has been signed and accepted by me/us constitutes a valid and binding agreement and it shall not be necessary for my attorney to sign the same.
ATTORNEY AND OWN CLIENT TARIFFS ANNEXURE A  
BASE FEE TARIFF – R1 500.00 PER HOUR 
1.OPENING OF FILE, ALLOCATING REFERENCE AND REGISTERING DATA FOR BOOKKEEPING PROGRAM R   100.00 
   
2.CONSULTATIONS, COURT ATTENDANCES AND RELEVANT WORK 
a.Consultations per hour Base Fee 
b.Preparation per hour Base Fee 
c.Court attendances and waiting per hour Base Fee 
d.Travelling time per hour 50% of Base Fee 
e.Telephone attendances made or received : 
 Minimum duration of a call = 5 minutes per the tariff per hour Base Fee  
f.Day fee / Day Reservation fee 10 x Base Fee 
   
3.           DRAFTING OF DOCUMENTS / NOTICES, etc  
 (A page refers to 250 words or portion thereof except where it is specified to be an A4 page) 
   
a.Formal documents/notices time based per minute Base Fee 
b.Pleadings time based per minute Base Fee 
c.Affidavits time based per minute Base Fee 
d.Correspondence per page R                   50,00
e.Instructions to advocate/expert per hour Base Fee 
   
4.            READING OF DOCUMENTS  
a.Documentation per page R 50.00 
b.Notices per page R 50.00 
 (or a. and b. above per hour calculated by the base fee) 
 
 
c.Research per hour Base Fee 
d.Pleadings/affidavits/important documentation for the specific case per hour Base Fee 
e.Pages/correspondence per A4 page or 200 words R 50.00 
   
5. FORMAL AND/OR OTHER ATTENDANCES  
a.Serving and filing of court documents per hour Base Fee 
b.Delivering of documents to sheriff or collecting per hour Base Fee 
c.Attendance at Post Office/couriers/docex per hour Base Fee 
d.Attendance in making of copies / copies per hour Base Fee 
e.Indexing and paginating per hour Base Fee 
f.Arranging for payment of counsel/correspondence/direct expenses Base Fee 
 per payment Base Fee 
g.Commissioning of documents per hour Base Fee 
h.Attendance to send documents/letters by fax or e-mail Base Fee 
i.Receipt of documents/notices/pleadings per document Base Fee 
j.CIPC searches – per search Base Fee 
k.Deposit Fees (Cash, cheque or otherwise) Charged by Bank 
   
6. EXPENSES / DISBURSEMENTS  
 a. TELEPHONE CALLS PER MINUTE OR PORTION THEREOF   
   
 (i)  Local  R                     1,50
 (ii)  Gauteng  R                     2,50
 (iii)  Outside Gauteng  R                     4,00
 (iv)  Outside South Africa  R                   25,00
   
 b.  Travelling expenses per kilometer  R                     5,50
 c.     Registered mail subject to Post Office tariff   
 d  Copies per page  R                     3,50
 e  Printing of e-mails or receipt of faxes per page  R                     3,50
   
 7. OTHER EXPENSES   
 a.  Ring binders per unit  Actual Cost 
 b.  File covers per unit  Actual Cost 
 c.  File dividers per page  Actual Cost 
 d.  Envelopes (a)  Actual Cost 
 e.  Sub-files  Actual Cost 
   
8. POST AND PETTIES CHARGED AS AND WHEN INCURRED
 
9. TAXATION OF BILLS OF COSTS PER CLIENT’S REQUEST / PER COURT ORDER
(i)            DRAFTING FEE :
12,5% of total amount fees and disbursements
 
(ii)           TAXATION FEE :
12% on the first R100 000.00
6% on the following R100 000.00 3% on the balance