This is the Privacy Policy of Gillard Consulting Lawyers (“we”, “us” and when relating to us, “our”).
We are committed to protecting the privacy of our contacts, customers, suppliers and employees (“you” and when relating to you, “your”) and complying with the Australian Privacy Principles set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act).
In this policy we describe how we manage your personal information.
The kinds of personal information we collect
The kinds of personal information that we collect include:
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- contact details (ie name, position, address, email address and mobile number);
- relevant information relating to your business and personal circumstances; and
- if you are an employee or prospective employee, information about your qualifications, skills and work experience.
How we collect personal information
We collect personal information by various means including when:
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- you contact us with a question or inquiry;
- you provide us with instructions;
- we correspond with others (including adverse parties) relevant to a matter; and
- we undertake a search or investigation.
Where practicable, we collect personal information about you directly from you but may collect information from a third party such as another client, an information provider, the courts or a person responding to our questions or inquiries.
We are required to collect the full name, address and other details of our clients (as per the Solicitors Rules made under the Legal Profession Act 2004 (NSW) and the Legal Profession Regulation 2005 (NSW) and to comply with our duty to the courts). If you are a client and do not provide us with that information, we cannot act for you.
We also need accurate personal information in order to carry out your instructions and meet our duty to the courts and others.
The purposes for which we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information
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- We collect, hold, use and personal information in order to:
- respond to your enquiries and otherwise provide legal services;
- employ and inform competent and diligent personnel;
- monitor or improve the use of and satisfaction with our legal services; and
- inform you about legal developments and legal our services.
We disclose personal information in order to:
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- carry out your instructions; and
- use outside services in support of our legal work.
The parties to whom your personal information is disclosed
Subject to our confidentiality obligations, we may share some relevant personal information with:
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- parties related to a matter you have with us, including government authorities and service providers, as reasonably required to carry out instructions; and
- third party service providers who assist us with archival, auditing, accounting, legal, business consulting, website or technology services.
We also will disclose your information if required by law to do so or in circumstances permitted by the Privacy Act – for example, in response to a subpoena or where we reasonably suspect unlawful activity which we are obliged to report.
Disclosure of information outside the jurisdiction of collection
We may transfer information about you between countries if required for a relevant purpose as described above. These may include countries which do not provide the same level of protection as the laws in Australia (ie legal professional privilege or Australian Privacy Principles). Where practicable, we will require those with which we communicate to ensure a similar level of protection is given to your personal information.
Security
We take reasonable physical, technical and administrative safeguards to protect your personal information from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. For example, we maintain our files in secure offices and limit access to personal information to individuals with a need to know.
Access/correction/updating personal information
You can contact us to access, correct or update your personal information. Unless we are subject to confidentiality obligation or some other restriction on giving access to the information and we are permitted to refuse you access under the Privacy Act, we will endeavour to make your information available to you within 30 days. We may be obliged to refuse to give you access to your personal information including where:
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- giving access would be unlawful;
- we reasonably believe it would pose a serious threat to the life, health or safety of another;
- giving access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others;
- the information could reveal the intentions of a party in negotiations;
- giving access could prejudice the taking of appropriate action in relation to unlawful activity; and
- giving access could reveal evaluative information in a commercially sensitive decision making process.
If you request to correct your personal information, we will correct, or, if we consider more appropriate, note your request for amendment of the information on your record.
We will not charge you when you make a request but we may charge you in providing access if it is onerous.
Notification of Changes
If we decide to change our Privacy Policy, we will post a copy on our website.
Complaints / Contact us
If a breach of this Privacy Policy occurs, a complaint may be made to us by sending it to our Practice Manager by email (email@gillard.com.au), by post (GPO Box 3250 SYDNEY NSW 1043) or by telephone (02 9222 1212). We will endeavour to respond to any complaint within 30 days.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you may seek a review by contacting the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner using the information available at http://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-complaints.