Final settlement template between a law office and its client
A final settlement is signed by the law office and the client when a case or fee agreement ends. It records the account settled in Qatari riyals, the client’s originals returned and the file’s status on signing, and each party releases the other from financial claims under that agreement alone.
The settlement is written at the end of the relationship: when judgment is given in the case and the last instalment is paid, when the client decides to move the file to another lawyer, or when the parties agree to end the agreement before it is completed. The accountant prepares it from the client’s statement of account, the lawyer in charge reviews the parts on the case’s status and the documents, and the client then signs it at a meeting where they receive their originals. Three things matter most in it: figures that close the account at zero, a list of the documents handed over, and the client’s acknowledgement of the status of their case and of its remaining deadlines, so that the office is not later held to account for a deadline missed after the file has left its hands.
When do you need this template?
- When the case ends and the last instalment of its fees is paid.
- When the client moves the file to another lawyer before the case ends.
- When both parties agree to end the fee agreement before it is completed and settle what is between them.
- When a monthly retainer with a company ends without being renewed.
What must it include?
- The parties’ details, the fee agreement’s number and date, and the case or service being settled.
- Why the relationship ended, and when.
- The settlement table: total fees and expenses, the amount paid, the settlement amount and which way it goes, and the balance after it at zero.
- The number of the voucher by which the settlement amount was paid or refunded, and the payment method.
- A list of the original documents handed back to the client.
- The case’s status on the day of signing and its remaining deadlines, with the client’s acknowledgement that they know them.
- A mutual release limited to the agreement named, with anything excluded from it.
- Both parties’ signatures on two copies, with the statement of account attached.
Final Settlement and Release
This settlement is made on the date stated above between:
First Party: [Office name] Advocates and Legal Consultants, address: Building No. [Building number], Street No. [Street number], Zone No. [Zone number], Doha, State of Qatar; represented by Advocate [Lawyer name], Registration No. [Lawyer registration number].
Second Party: [Client name], Qatar ID No. [Qatar ID number] (or Commercial Registration No. [CR number], represented by [Authorised signatory]); client file number with the office: [File number].
Clause 1: Subject of the Settlement
This settlement relates to Fee Agreement No. [Agreement number] dated [Agreement date], concerning [Subject of the agreement: the case number and court, or a description of the legal service]. The relationship under it ended on [End date] by reason of [Reason: completion of the agreed work / the parties’ agreement to terminate / transfer of the file to another lawyer].
Clause 2: Financial Settlement
The parties acknowledge that the account between them under the said agreement has been finally settled as shown in the following table and in the statement of account attached to this settlement:
| Description | Amount (QAR) |
|---|---|
| Total agreed fees, after any written amendment to them | [Amount in figures] |
| Expenses paid by the office on the client’s behalf | [Amount in figures] |
| Total due to the office | [Amount in figures] |
| Total paid by the client under the receipt vouchers listed in the statement of account | [Amount in figures] |
| Settlement amount: [paid by the client to the office / refunded by the office to the client] | [Amount in figures] |
| Balance after settlement | Zero |
The settlement amount of QAR [Amount in figures] ([Amount in words] Qatari riyals only) has been paid [in cash / by cheque / by bank transfer] No. [Cheque number or transfer reference], under [Receipt / Payment] Voucher No. [Voucher number] dated [Voucher date].
Clause 3: Return of Documents
The Second Party acknowledges that it has received from the First Party the original documents it had previously handed to it, and copies of what was issued in the [case / service], namely: [List of the documents handed over, with their names and dates]. The First Party keeps copies of them in the file’s archive.
Clause 4: Status of the File at Settlement
The Second Party acknowledges that it knows the status of the [case / service] on the date of this settlement, namely: [The latest step: a judgment given and its date, or the next hearing, its date and what is required at it], and that following up the deadlines and steps that come after it, including any deadlines for appeal, rests with it or with whomever it instructs, unless it agrees otherwise with the First Party under a new agreement.
Clause 5: Power of Attorney
From the date of this settlement, the First Party shall take no new step under Power of Attorney No. [POA number] in respect of the subject of this settlement, and the Second Party shall revoke or amend the power of attorney with the authority that issued it whenever it wishes.
Clause 6: Release
By this settlement, each party finally releases the other from any financial claim arising from the fee agreement named in Clause 1. This release does not cover [the exclusions, such as other fee agreements between the parties or ongoing work in other files, or “None”].
Clause 7: Confidentiality
The First Party’s obligation to keep the Second Party’s information and documents confidential continues after this settlement.
Clause 8: Copies and Attachments
This settlement is made in two original copies, one held by each party. The Second Party’s statement of account up to the date of this settlement is attached to it and forms part of it.
If the office and the client have more than one agreement, write a settlement for each agreement that has ended, or name all the agreements in Clause 1 and in the settlement table.
How to fill in the template
Start from the statement of account
Produce the client’s statement of account up to the settlement date, and check that every receipt and payment voucher in it is correct and that cancelled vouchers are left out. The figures in the settlement table are copied from the statement, not worked out from memory.
Settle which way the settlement amount goes
If the client still owes an amount, collect it with a receipt voucher before or at signing; if the client is in credit, pay it out with a payment voucher, and write the voucher number in the settlement. A final settlement is not signed until the balance has reached zero.
Write the file’s status precisely
Write the latest step in the case: the judgment and its date, or the next hearing and what is required at it. If an appeal deadline is running, state it expressly, so the client acknowledges that they know it and that following it up is their responsibility after signing.
Hand over the originals against a list
Go through the case file and take out every original the office received from the client, write each one in Clause 3 with its name and date, and hand them over at the same meeting. Keep copies of them in the office’s archive.
Define the scope of the release
Limit the release to the fee agreement named, and write what is excluded from it, such as a fee agreement for another case that is still ongoing, so the settlement is not read as ending all dealings between the parties.
Common mistakes
- Signing the settlement before the last cheque has cleared, then the cheque bounces after the office has acknowledged that the account is settled.
- A general release in sweeping terms that waives rights under other agreements or cases the parties never had in mind.
- Leaving out the case’s status and its upcoming deadlines when the file moves to another lawyer.
- Handing over originals without a signed list, then disagreeing later over a missing document.
- Relying on the settlement alone, with no receipt or payment voucher for the settlement amount itself.
Issue this document from your office’s data
In Murafe, the figures for the settlement table come from the “Client statement of account” for a period ending on the date of signing: it shows what fell due from the client and what they paid, the closing balance and a summary of their agreements, and it prints on the office’s letterhead or saves as a PDF to attach to the settlement. The settlement amount is collected with a receipt voucher in which the agreement and the instalment are chosen; a cancelled voucher is never deleted but stays visible, stamped “Cancelled” with the reason, so it is not confused with what was actually paid. The lawyer then changes the case status to “Closed” or “Archived”, with a note recorded in the case updates, and the signed copy of the settlement is uploaded to the documents of the case or service.