Privacy Policy

We are also bound by and comply with the Australian Privacy Principles derived from the Privacy Act 1988. This privacy policy is to explain how we collect and use information that is provided to us through a website belonging to the usual course of investigating potential legal claims, acting for those who later retain us and conducting our legal services. This Policy applies to all information that we collect. Please read this Policy carefully and contact us if you have any questions. The type of information that we collect includes personal information concerning clients, potential clients who contact us, as well as suppliers, consultants, employees and applicants for employment. We may also need to collect sensitive information. Sensitive information is a subset of personal information that is given a higher level of protection under the Australian Privacy Principles. If you do not provide us with the Information we request, we may not be able to fulfil the applicable purpose of collection, such as to supply products or services to you. If we receive your Information from third parties, we will protect it as set out in this Policy and take reasonable steps to ensure you are aware that we have collected the Information about you and the circumstances of the collection. If you provide us with third party personal information then you warrant to us that you have the third party’s consent to do this. We may also contact you to voluntarily respond to questionnaires, surveys or market research to seek your opinion and feedback. We collect Information from individuals at the pre-client stage when a legal enquiry is made so that we can identify and assess whether we are able to act on that individual’s behalf. We will not consider acting for any individual who does not properly identify themselves as this could lead to a conflict of interest developing between our clients in the future. In some instances, we may also need to collect Information at the initial stage of an enquiry if it is directly relevant to the advice being sought. For our internal business purposes, we retain and safely store the Information that is provided to us at the pre-client stage as this enables us to respond more efficiently and to inform such persons of our other legal services or developments that may be of interest to them at a later stage. We also collect the Information provided to us by our clients who have commenced instructing us to act in their matter. We collect all Information that is necessary to effectively conduct legal matters. Such Information is stored on our computer systems and within paper based files as appropriate. At the conclusion of legal matters, we are required to keep legal files for a minimum period of 7 years from the closure of a legal file unless we are instructed to the contrary. In some cases, we may be required to retain documents for a longer period of time (e.g. documents that inform the making of a Will). We believe that it is essential that all Information is kept confidential. We will not disclose Information to third parties, other than as set out in this Policy or without your consent, unless it becomes necessary to lessen or prevent a serious and imminent threat to life, health or safety or unless we are otherwise compelled by law. We may also be compelled to disclose Information by law, for example, under court orders or statutory notices to produce documents under laws relating to social security, taxation, bankruptcy, anti-money laundering, counterterrorism and the management of incorporated entities. Where we disclose your personal information to third parties for these purposes, we will request that the third party follow this Policy regarding handling of your Information. If there is a change of control of our business or a sale or transfer of business assets, we reserve the right to transfer to the extent permissible by law our user databases, together with any personal information and non-personal information contained in those databases. This information may be disclosed to a potential purchaser. We would seek to only disclose information in good faith.