Privacy Policy
Brief Summary
We will not sell or give your information to marketers.
We will not spam you with unwanted communications.
We will not disclose any personal information in breach of the requirements of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) or our duty of confidentiality as solicitors to our clients.
We utilise and use electronic file management systems (such as email, cloud computing and data storage/retrieval). Some computers providing those services (and hence your personal information) may be overseas.
We utilise and use contractors from time to time (which may include overseas contractors), and in certain circumstances your personal information may become accessible by those contractors. Those contractors as prohibited from using that information except in providing services to us, and they are legally bound to keep personal information confidential.
General
The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) requires that certain organisations implement procedures that cover the collection, us and information of personal information that an organisation may hold about you. The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) also establishes the Australian Privacy Principals that govern standards, rights and obligations concerning:
The collection, use and disclosure of personal information;
Governance and accountability;
Integrity and correction of personal information; and
The rights of individuals to access their personal information.
The above matters are supplementary to our duties and professional obligations as solicitors (i.e. solicitor-client confidentiality) that govern the manner in which we deal with any personal information we may hold about our clients or any personal information that comes into our possession during the conduct of legal practise.
Why do we Collect Your Personal Information?
We collect personal information about you when that information is necessary or desirable in the conduct of our legal practise and incidental activities in fulfilment of associated functions or activities. For example, this includes:
Identifying you when you communicate with us;
Providing legal services to our clients;
Compliance with any law, other legal or professional obligation (for example, disclosure of documents in legal proceedings);
Providing you and others with information concerning our services and products reasonably complementary to our provision of legal services; and
For the efficient operation and management of our business.
The level of information we might require or ask for from you may depend on the type of services you require. For example, a brief enquiry may require only general contact particulars and information; however if we were to act on your behalf in a litigation matter, then we might require more extensive personal information such as dates of birth, health, and other financial details.
Collection of Your Personal Information
Ordinarily we will collect your personal information from you directly. This may include, for example:
Obtaining information and details from you directly, which may be collected in person, by telephone, by email or other written communications);
When authorised, obtaining information about you from third-parties and organisations that provide services to or hold information about you;
When you enter data into our website; or
From other parties during our representing you in legal proceedings or transactions.
After collecting any of your personal information, we may store that information either physically (such as on documents and records at our office or storage providers) or electronically (such as on computer hard drives, servers or using third-party data storage provides [in which case access to personal information will be restricted to authorised persons only via secure login access]).
If you do not provide us with any personal information requested from you, the we may be unable to properly provide legal services. For example, this might mean that we are unable to provide you with legal services, or we may be unable to provide you with information, assistance or associated legal services that might be relevant to you. In some instances, we may be unable to act for you if you refuse to provide or authorise disclosure of relevant or necessary information and we may be unable to provide you with (or continue to provide you with) legal services.
Use of Your Personal Information
We may use your personal information as required in the course of providing legal services to clients, including for matters such as supplying legal services to you or clients, conducting conflict of interest searches, safe custody storage and retrieval of documents on behalf of you or clients, for billing and invoicing purposes, to enable your access to website services, sending you relevant communications concerning news, legal updates, marketing matters or service updates, or in seeking your feedback in relation to our services.
Sometimes we may be compelled by law to disclose personal information to other parties. For example, disclosure laws applicable in the course of litigation may require that we or our clients collect and provide documentation (which may include personal information) to other parties to litigation matters, courts, tribunals or government departments. In litigation matters, personal information disclosed to other parties in the course of litigation proceedings cannot be used (except with leave of the court) for any purpose other than that which for which it was disclosed, unless it is received into evidence in the proceedings. Additionally, we may also be required to disclose personal information under other laws not directly relating to litigation, such as Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing legislation.
If our legal practice is sold, or becomes controlled by a new entity that will carry on the business, then any personal information we hold will be transferred to the new owner or new entity, however that entity will be required to store, protect and use the personal information as if it had been collected by the new entity under this privacy policy.
Access to, and Correction of, Your Personal Information
At your request, we will provide you with access to/a copy of your personal information that we hold. In doing so, we will endeavour to do so as promptly as the circumstances permit, and we will only permit your access to/a copy of your own personal information; you will not be provided with access to/a copy of the personal information of another person. In doing so, we may charge you fees for facilitating access to/a copy of your personal information held by us, which will be advised to you as soon as practicable after your request to us, and payment in full of any such fees is required prior to our providing the access to/a copy of the information.
Despite the preceding paragraph, we will not provide you with access to/a copy of your personal information unless we are required to do so under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), or where provision is excepted under the terms of the Australian Privacy Principles. Additionally, we reserve the right to not provide you with access to/a copy of personal information where it relates to existing or reasonably anticipated legal proceedings between you (including any other entity you are associated with, such as a company, partnership, trust or other legal entity) and us. If you request for access is denied, we will notify you in writing as soon as reasonably practicable including the grounds for our refusal.
Compliance
If you have any concerns or grievances in relation to our Privacy Policy, or our use of your personal information, then you can address your grievance (providing reply contact particulars, and outlining details of the Australian Privacy Principal that you consider we have breached) to us at:
The Privacy Officer, Ashton Estate Lawyers
PO Box 8220
WOOLLOONGABBA QLD 4102
Upon receipt, we will respond to you in writing within a reasonable time, acknowledging receipt of your grievance. We will then investigate your grievance and if required, we will contact you to discuss or respond to the issues raised by you. If you remain dissatisfied, then you may address and make a complaint to the Australian Information Commissioner.
Variation
We may alter the terms of our Privacy Policy from time to time. The current version of our Privacy Policy will be published on and be accessible from this webpage.