Frequently Asked Questions

Why are you called “Symmetry Legal”?

Funnily enough, the idea for the name “Symmetry Legal” came about during a philosophical conversation with a quantum physicist, about the fundamental laws that underpin our existence.

Nature is governed by many laws. Symmetry is, metaphorically, their constitution. The law allowing a dancer to control the speed of their spinning is the conservation of angular momentum. But that, itself, is the consequence of a symmetry - the rotational symmetry of the world the dancer lives in.

Most of the phenomena we observe everyday are chaotic. They may appear under control in the short term, but small perturbations can affect the future evolution and make it unpredictable in the long term. Chaos arises when a physical system has more degrees of freedom than it has symmetries. In this sense, symmetry is the antidote to chaos.

We like the fact that our name contemplates the laws of nature, the laws of thermodynamics, or the Maxwell equations (the first of which is represented in our logo) that both explain how and why things work the way they do, and also allow us to harness the forces of nature to achieve wondrous things.

Do YOU DO FIXED FEES?

We understand our clients’ need for clarity around billing. We have fixed fees for a number of our services, including conveyancing and wills & estates.

We can also do fixed fee billing for certain commercial work and discrete advices. Just contact us for a quote.

What is a ‘Disbursement’?

This is a payment on your behalf to a third party, for services required to be obtained as part of providing a legal service to you.

We may incur disbursements from third parties such as barristers, searching agents, councils and regulatory authorities.

For example, in a conveyancing matter, there are a number of essential searches and certificates that must be obtained in order to fulfil disclosure requirements or perform adequate due diligence.

We endeavour to give you as accurate a picture as possible of the anticipated disbursements in your matter when we first advise you, and update those estimates when and if they change.