We safeguard your privacy
We respect privacy and the confidentiality of personal information. This policy states how we safeguard privacy and manage personal information.
In handling personal information, we are subject to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and comply with the ten National Privacy Principles. Those principles form part of this policy. They can be read on the website of the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner at www.privacy.gov.au.
We are also bound by professional obligations of confidentiality and legal professional privilege. We treat all the information we receive from you (including personal information) with respect for its security and your privacy.
How and why we collect personal information
We collect and hold personal information when we provide our services to you or a client requires us to collect information on their behalf. We also collect and hold personal information about potential clients, our business associates and suppliers, their employees and our prospective employees.
We only collect and hold personal information necessary to conduct our business to meet our legal obligations. Generally, we collect personal information for the purposes of providing or promoting our legal services. If appropriate we will tell you why we are collecting personal information and how we plan to use it or these things will be obvious when we collect the information.
We collect personal information such as names, addresses, contact details, family details, job titles, memberships, professional associations, expertise and interests. We collect personal information from you in meetings, interviews, telephone conversations, from letters, business cards and other communications with you. Some personal information is provided to us by other people. For example, we obtain personal information from public registers and from court authorities. Sometimes we obtain personal information in the form of references and medical reports.
Collecting your information using the website
We generally only collect personal information from this website when it is provided voluntarily by you.
When you visit this website or download information from it, our Internet Service Provider makes a record of your visit and records the following information:
- the Internet address of the computer you use to access our site; and
- your domain name, if applicable.
This information does not identify you as a person.
Our Provider also collects information such as the pages visitors to our site access, the documents they download, links from other sites they follow to reach our site, and the type of browser they use and the date and time of the visit to the website. However, this information is anonymous and is only used for statistical and website development purposes.
Use and disclosure of personal information
As noted above, we have a duty to maintain the confidentiality of our clients’ affairs including their personal information. Our duty of confidentiality applies except where disclosure of your personal information is with your consent or required by law.
We do not disclose personal information to external organisations for direct marketing to you.
We only use and disclose personal information for the purposes of conducting our business, that is, providing, promoting and enhancing our legal services, purchasing from our suppliers or complying with our legal obligations. We may disclose personal information to organisations or individuals who assist us in providing legal services or who undertake work for us for clients (such as barristers or specialist consultants). Sometimes we disclose personal information to courts, tribunals and regulatory authorities.
We handle personal information relying on the employer and related bodies corporate exemptions in the Privacy Act where those exemptions are relevant.
Security
We ensure the security and integrity of personal information in a variety of ways. Only authorised persons are permitted access to personal information for our approved business purposes. Security systems are in place to maintain physical and electronic security over our premises, our computer system and data.
The internet is not a secure environment. If you use the internet to send us any information, including your email address, it is sent at your own risk.
Accuracy
It is important that the personal information we hold is accurate and complete. Please contact us if you think any information we hold about you is inaccurate. We will take all reasonable steps to correct it.
Access
You have a right to access most personal information we hold about you. Please contact us to ask for access to your personal information or if you have a complaint about the way we handle privacy at Whiting Lawyers. We may deny your request in some circumstances but, if we do, we will tell you why. Accessing your personal information may involve a charge for any professional time involved.