Privacy Policy

Application

This policy applies to personal information collected through this website and in the course of providing legal services through the practice. The practice handles personal information consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles set out in Schedule 1 of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

What we collect

The kinds of personal information collected depend on the matter, and typically include:

• Identity information — name, date of birth, residential address and contact details;
• Verification-of-identity information — documents that we are required by law and by the requirements of Land Use Victoria (formerly the Registrar of Titles) to sight and record for property transactions;
• Financial information — bank details for settlement, and other financial information necessary for a particular matter;
• Matter information — documents, records and correspondence relating to the legal work we are engaged to perform;
• Enquiry information — information you submit through an enquiry form on this website or send by email.

How we collect it

Personal information is collected directly from you wherever reasonably possible — for example when you make an enquiry, instruct the practice, sign a costs agreement or provide documents for a matter. In some cases it is collected from third parties in the ordinary course of a matter (for example, from a real-estate agent conducting a sale, from another firm on the other side of a transaction, or from government registers such as Land Use Victoria).

Why we collect it

Personal information is collected and used to:

• respond to enquiries and provide the requested legal services;
• verify identity where required by law or industry regulation (for example under the electronic conveyancing regime);
• administer and account for costs, trust monies and disbursements;
• meet legal, regulatory and professional obligations, including recordkeeping obligations that apply to legal practices; and
• improve our services and the operation of this website.

Disclosure

Personal information is disclosed only where reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected. That may include disclosure to:

• other parties, and their lawyers, involved in a matter;
• courts, tribunals, government agencies and regulators;
• banks and other financial institutions in the course of a settlement;
• service providers who assist the practice (for example the electronic settlement platform (PEXA), IT and document-management providers, and secure archival storage providers); and
• professional advisers, insurers and auditors of the practice.

Personal information is not sold, and is not disclosed for marketing purposes.

Storage and security

Personal information is held in secure electronic file-management systems, in secure physical files where appropriate, and (for closed matters) in secure archival storage. Reasonable steps are taken to protect information from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

Retention

The practice is subject to professional and regulatory obligations that require legal files to be retained for specified minimum periods after a matter is closed. Personal information is retained for at least the applicable minimum period and is destroyed or de-identified in accordance with those obligations when it is no longer needed.

Access and correction

You may request access to the personal information the practice holds about you, and may ask for corrections where you consider the information is inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date. Requests should be made in writing to the practice's Privacy Officer at the postal address on our Contact page, or by telephone on 134 134. Some access requests may be refused where the law permits or requires that (for example, where the information relates to another person or to a matter subject to legal professional privilege).

Complaints

Concerns about the way personal information has been handled should be raised in writing with the practice's Privacy Officer at the postal address on our Contact page. If a complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction, you may refer the matter to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.

This website

This website uses cookies and standard web-server logs to record aggregate information about site usage (for example the browser and operating system in use, the pages viewed, and the time spent on the site). This information is used to maintain and improve the site. Where an enquiry form is submitted, the information you provide is transmitted to the practice via a secure enquiry-management platform.

Updates

This policy may be updated from time to time. The current version is the version published on this page.