These Client Onboarding Terms and Conditions (Terms) apply when you complete the Zeolla Law client onboarding and identity-verification form (Form). "Zeolla Law", "we", "us" and "our" means Zeolla Law, a legal practice based in Queensland, Australia. "You" and "your" means the person completing the Form and, where you complete it for a company, trust or other entity, that entity.
1. Purpose of this Form
1.1 The Form collects the information and documents we need to open your client file, identify and verify you (and, for an entity, the people who own, control or act for it), check for conflicts of interest and understand the nature and purpose of the work you are asking us to do.
1.2 Completing the Form does not by itself create a lawyer–client relationship, does not oblige us to act for you and does not oblige you to engage us. We will act for you only once we have confirmed in writing that we accept your instructions and you have received our costs disclosure and Disclosure and Costs Agreement for the matter, as required by the Legal Profession Act 2007 (Qld). The Form is not a costs agreement and creates no obligation to pay fees.
1.3 We may decline to act, or cease acting, if we cannot complete our identification, verification or conflict checks, or if acting would breach a law or professional rule.
2. Identity verification and anti-money laundering obligations
2.1 Australian law — including the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth) and the AML/CTF Rules made under it — requires us to identify and verify our clients before we provide certain legal services, to understand the nature and purpose of the engagement, to assess money-laundering and terrorism-financing risk, and to keep records of what we collected and how we verified it. Similar obligations apply under the laws and professional rules of New Zealand, Portugal and Brazil, and under the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) and the Code of Conduct for registered migration agents and lawyers where we act in migration matters.
2.2 You agree to provide true, complete and current information and genuine documents, and to tell us promptly if any detail changes. You confirm that the identity documents you upload are yours (or, for an entity, belong to the person they purport to identify) and have not been altered.
2.3 You consent to us verifying your identity and the identity of any beneficial owner, director or authorised representative you nominate, using reliable and independent sources. This may include comparing your photograph with your identity document; checking identity documents with the issuing authority, including through the Australian Government Document Verification Service (DVS) or an equivalent electronic verification service; searching company, trust, land-title, court and professional registers; checking sanctions lists maintained by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and other governments; and screening for politically exposed persons. Where a verification service is used, your details are disclosed to it for the purpose of the check only.
2.4 We may be required by law to report certain matters to the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) or another regulator, and may be prohibited from telling you that a report has been made. Nothing in these Terms requires us to act in breach of those obligations.
2.5 The photograph taken during the Form is used only to confirm that you are the person shown on your identity document and is stored with your identity record.
3. Companies, trusts and other entities
3.1 If you complete the Form for an entity, you warrant that you are authorised to do so and to bind the entity to these Terms, and that the information you give about the entity, its directors, trustees, partners, shareholders, beneficiaries and beneficial owners is accurate.
3.2 "Beneficial owner" means each individual who ultimately owns 25% or more of the entity, or who otherwise controls it, directly or indirectly. You agree to tell us if the ownership or control of the entity changes while we act for it.
4. Privacy and collection notice
4.1 We collect personal information in the Form — including your name, date of birth, contact details, addresses, nationality, occupation, identity-document details and images, your photograph and signature, and information about your matter — because it is required by the laws referred to in clause 2 and because we cannot open a file or advise you without it. If you do not provide it, we may be unable to act for you.
4.2 We use this information to identify and verify you, open and manage your file, provide legal services, communicate with you, comply with our legal and professional obligations and manage our practice. We may disclose it, as needed for those purposes, to: the Department of Home Affairs and other government agencies, courts and tribunals; barristers, experts, translators, agents and other professionals engaged on your matter; identity-verification, sanctions-screening and company-search providers; our practice-management, document-storage and e-mail providers (including Google Workspace, Netlify, monday.com and DocuSign, whose servers may be located outside Australia, including in the United States and the European Union); and our insurers, auditors and regulators where required.
4.3 We keep identification and verification records for at least seven years after our relationship with you ends, as the law requires, and your file for at least seven years after the matter closes. Records are stored in our secure cloud document system dedicated to Zeolla Law.
4.4 You may request access to, or correction of, your personal information by writing to contact@zeollalaw.com. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information, how to make a complaint and how we deal with it.
5. Electronic communications and electronic signature
5.1 You agree that we may communicate with you, send documents to you and receive your instructions by e-mail, WhatsApp, video conference and other electronic means at the contact details you provide, and that we may rely on instructions that appear to come from those contact details. You accept the risks inherent in unencrypted e-mail and agree to verify any change of bank account details with us by telephone before making a payment.
5.2 You agree that the signature you draw or type in the Form is your electronic signature; that it identifies you and indicates your agreement to these Terms; that the method is reliable and appropriate for the purpose; and that it has the same effect as a handwritten signature under the Electronic Transactions Act 1999 (Cth) and the Electronic Transactions (Queensland) Act 2001. We will record the date and time of signing, your internet address and the version of these Terms you accepted.
6. Confidentiality, privilege and conflicts
6.1 Information you give us is confidential and, where it is given for the purpose of obtaining legal advice, protected by legal professional privilege. We will not disclose it except as permitted by law, by our professional rules or by these Terms.
6.2 We will check for conflicts of interest before accepting your instructions. We may need to ask you for the names of other parties involved in your matter for that purpose.
7. Costs and money
7.1 Our fees, estimates and billing arrangements are set out separately in the costs disclosure and Disclosure and Costs Agreement for your matter. Zeolla Law does not operate a trust account and does not hold client money on trust; fees are invoiced when they fall due and paid into the firm's general (office) account.
7.2 We will not accept cash payments of A$10,000 or more. If someone other than you is to pay our fees, we may need to identify and verify that person as well.
8. Multi-jurisdictional practice
8.1 The Principal of Zeolla Law is admitted to practise in Australia, New Zealand, Portugal (European Union) and Brazil. Services in each jurisdiction are provided in accordance with the professional rules that apply there. Unless we tell you otherwise in writing, your engagement is with Zeolla Law in Queensland, Australia. Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.
9. Governing law and complaints
9.1 These Terms are governed by the laws of Queensland, Australia, and you submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Queensland. If you have a concern about our service you may raise it with us at contact@zeollalaw.com; you may also contact the Legal Services Commission (Queensland).
10. Your declaration
By signing the Form you declare that: (a) you have read and understood these Terms and agree to them; (b) the information and documents you have provided are true, complete and current; (c) you consent to the identity verification, screening and record-keeping described in clause 2 and to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information described in clause 4; (d) you consent to electronic communications and to the use of your electronic signature as described in clause 5; (e) you are at least 18 years of age; and (f) where you act for an entity, you are authorised to do so.