Legal Costs in Queensland:
What to Expect

Find out what it costs to hire a lawyer in Queensland. Learn about fixed fees, hourly rates, retainers and what affects the total cost.

How much is this going to cost?

The short answer? It depends.
Legal costs vary based on what you need, how complex it is, and how things play out.

Why Legal Costs Vary

More conflict means higher costs. Clear, early instructions keep
things efficient.

The Get-It-Dunn
Process

We charge in 2 ways, depending on the type of matter and how predictable it is.

Fixed Fees

We offer fixed fees for matters where the scope is clear. This commonly occurs with Wills and estate planning or conveyancing matters. If the scope changes, we pause and re-quote before doing more work.

TIME-BASED BILLING

For matters that are unpredictable, complex or likely to escalate. This usually applies to litigation, family law, criminal law, disputes and negotiations.

Hourly rates range from $150 to $600 plus GST, billed in 6-minute units. You’ll receive an estimate based on what we know at the start. That estimate will change if new information comes to light or the scope of work shifts.

What affects
the total cost?

A few key factors influence your legal fees:

How often we need to meet, call or email

Whether material is provided promptly and clearly

Any additional work like research or searches

Changes to the law

How quickly and clearly you provide instructions

Whether documents need revising due to changing instructions

The time it takes to reach resolution

Unexpected developments along the way

Whether your instructions change over time

The behaviour of the other party

Complexity or uncertainty in the legal issues

Before we start, you’ll get a full fee disclosure and client agreement so you know exactly where you stand.

Upfront Retainers and Payment Terms

For time-based matters, we require a retainer, usually held in trust for disbursements or applied to your final bill. If invoices remain unpaid after 7 days, the retainer will be used.

Payment plans are available in limited cases with strict terms and no guarantee of approval. Some clients seek litigation funding or broker-assisted loans we can provide a panel of brokers if needed.

Explore Plans

What we need before we can act for you or provide an estimate

Lawyers can generally only act for one side only in any matter. Before we give advice, offer options, or quote a fee, we need to run a conflict check. This isn’t admin. It’s the legal and ethical baseline for acting on your behalf.

To do that,
we will ask for:

01

Your full name

02

The full names of all other parties involved

03

A short summary of what’s going on

04

Key documents (if available)

We’ll use this to
check whether:

We already act or have previously acted for the other party

Anyone at our firm has a personal or commercial conflict

If we cannot act for you, we will tell you straight away and may be able to recommend another firm. If there is no conflict, we will let you know the next steps.