Privacy Policy

1. General

   Senet Legal Pty Ltd (ABN 89 619 306 731) (Senet, we) are committed to protecting your privacy, in accordance with applicable laws.

   This Privacy Policy (Policy) details how we collect, use, disclose and otherwise handle personal information, and the steps we take to protect it. It does not cover our client confidentiality obligations, which are set out in our terms of engagement, or our privacy obligations in respect of credit reporting.

   A copy of this Policy is available on our website at https://senetlegal.com/privacy, or you can request a copy by contacting us (see item 9 below).

2. Personal information

   Personal information means information or an opinion, whether true or not and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an individual who is identified or reasonably identifiable.

   The Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) in the Privacy Act 1988 (Act) regulate the way personal information is handled, from collection to use and disclosure, storage, accessibility and disposal. We are required to comply with the APPs.

   We are also required to comply with more specific privacy legislation in some circumstances, including:

   • applicable State and Territory health privacy legislation; and
   • the Spam Act and the Do Not Call Register Act.

   We are generally exempt from the Act when we collect and handle employee records. This Policy does not apply to that information, except in relation to any employee health information which we may collect (where State or Territory health privacy legislation applies).

3. What we collect

   The type of personal information that we collect about you depends on the type of dealings you have with us.

   For example:

   • if you are a client of Senet, we will collect your name, job title, address, contact details, information about our dealings with you and information about any events that you have attended;
   • if you are involved in any matter we are working on, we may collect your name, contact details and information about the matter;
   • if you request to be placed on any of our mailing lists, we will collect your name, address and contact details;
   • if you supply goods or services to us, we will collect your name, address, contact details and financial details for payment purposes; and
   • if you have any other dealings with us, we will generally collect your name, contact details and any other relevant information.

   We may also collect sensitive information or other information in certain circumstances.

   Sensitive information is a subset of personal information that is generally afforded a higher level of privacy protection (for example, information about health, genetics, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of a political association, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, membership of a professional or trade association or trade union, sexual preferences or practices, criminal record and some types of biometric information).

   We only collect sensitive information where it is reasonably necessary for our functions or business activities and either the individual has consented, or we are required or authorised by or under law (including applicable privacy legislation) to do so.

   In relation to other information which we may collect, when you visit our website information is collected about your visit (for example, your server address, the date and time of your visit, the previous site you visited and the type of device, browser and operating system you used). This is not however personal information, given that it does not reveal your identity.

   We use and disclose this other information in an anonymous, aggregated form only for purposes including statistical analysis and to assist us to improve the functionality of our website. We reserve the right to use or disclose this information in certain circumstances including to try to locate an individual where we reasonably believe that the individual may have engaged in unlawful or inappropriate activity in connection with our website, or where we are otherwise required or authorised by law to do so.

   We use cookies to hold anonymous session information. A cookie is a string of information that a website transfers to your internet browser for identification purposes. The cookies that we use do not identify individual users, although they do identify the user’s internet browser, which is used to personalise your visit to the website. If you prefer not to receive cookies, then you can take certain steps to stop these. For example, you can adjust your internet browser to reject cookies, or to notify you when they are being used.

4. How and why we collect personal information

   We collect personal information in several ways, including:

   • in person, over the telephone or through written correspondence or forms;
   • through our website;
   • through surveillance cameras; and
   • from third parties, including credit reporting bodies, regulatory authorities and public registers.

   The main purposes for which we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information are to:

   • provide legal services to our clients;
   • provide you with information, if you are on one of our mailing lists;
   • obtain goods and services;
   • perform research and statistical analysis;
   • protect the security of our offices, employees, contractors, clients and the property held on our premises;
   • answer queries and resolve complaints;
   • recruit employees and contractors; and
   • assess credit worthiness.

   We may also collect, hold, use and disclose personal information for other purposes where you have consented to this, or which is otherwise required or authorised by or under law.

   We may use your personal information for direct marketing purposes (for example, sending you information about our products and services by mail, email, SMS, telephone or social media campaigns) where we have your express or implied consent, or where we are otherwise permitted by law to do so. Where you have consented to receiving these communications, that consent will remain current until you advise us otherwise. You can choose to opt out at any time by contacting us (details in item 9 below) or by using the unsubscribe facility on our commercial electronic messages (such as emails and SMS messages).

5. Who we may share your personal information with

   We may share your personal information with third parties where appropriate for the purposes set out in item 4 above, including:

   • barristers, experts or other third parties in relation to your matter;
   • overseas law firms where required to seek advice on foreign laws;
   • external lawyers who we contract to assist us in providing legal services to you;
   • our related bodies corporate;
   • credit reporting bodies and credit providers;
   • government regulators;
   • financial institutions for payment processing;
   • investigators;
   • referees whose details are provided to us by persons applying for positions with us; and
   • our contracted service providers.

   In each case, we may disclose personal information to the service provider and the service provider may in turn provide us with personal information collected from you, in the course of providing the relevant products or services.

   We may also disclose personal information to third parties located overseas in the following circumstances:

   • where we engage third party providers of business support services (including litigation support), located in certain countries;
   • where we engage external lawyers based in New Zealand; or
   • where we engage an overseas law firm to provide advice on foreign laws or where we are required or authorised to disclose personal information to a third party located overseas in the context of a particular matter (in which case the country will depend on the particular matter).

   In each case, we will comply with the requirements of the Act that apply to cross-border disclosures of personal information.

6. Data quality and security

   We hold personal information in various ways including hard copy documents, paper and electronic files and electronic databases. This information may be stored at our business premises or securely stored offsite.

   We take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information that we collect, use and disclose is accurate, up to date and complete and (in the case of use and disclosure) relevant. You can assist us in keeping your information up to date by informing us of any changes to your personal information.

   We take reasonable steps to protect the personal information that we hold from:

   • misuse, interference and loss; and
   • unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

   The various steps we take to secure the personal information we hold include:

   • website protection, including firewalls and anti-virus software;
   • security restrictions on access to our technology systems (such as login and password protection on our computers and other mobile devices);
   • restricted access to our premises;
   • policies on document storage;
   • policies on security;
   • staff training and workplace policies; and
   • secure EFTPOS and credit card payment processing facilities.

   Where personal information is no longer needed for any purpose that is permitted by the APPs, we take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify that information.

   Whilst we take steps to protect the personal information and privacy of users of our websites, we cannot guarantee the security of any information that you disclose online, and you disclose that information at your own risk. If you are concerned about sending your information over the internet, please contact us directly.

   We occasionally provide links to third party websites that are not operated or controlled by us. This is provided for convenience only and we are not liable or responsible for the privacy or security practices of those websites, which are not covered by this Policy.

7. Access to your personal information and corrections

   Please contact us (see item 9 below) if you would like access to any personal information that we hold about you, or if you would like us to make any corrections to such information. We may require you to verify your identity before we process your request.

   We will generally provide you with access to your personal information, subject to some exceptions permitted by law.

   We will also generally provide access in the manner that you have requested, provided it is reasonable and practicable for us to do so. We may however charge a fee to cover our reasonable costs of providing it to you.

   If you ask us to correct personal information that we hold about you, or if we are satisfied that the personal information we hold is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, we will take reasonable steps to correct that information. Such correction will be made to ensure that, having regard to the purpose for which it is held, the information is accurate, up-to-date, complete, relevant and not misleading.

   We will endeavour to respond to access and correction requests within 30 days.

8. Complaints

   If you have a complaint about how we have collected or handled your personal information, please contact us (see item 9 below).

   We will endeavour to deal with your complaint at the first instance and take any steps necessary to resolve the matter within 7 days.

   If your complaint cannot be resolved at the first instance, we will ask you to send us a letter or email explaining the circumstances of the matter, how you believe your privacy has been interfered with and how you believe your complaint should be resolved. We will formally acknowledge receipt of your complaint, then investigate it and respond to you in a timely manner. Subject to the complexity of the matter, this response should be sent to you within 30 days from the date of receipt by us of your written communications.

   If you are not satisfied with our response, you can refer your complaint to:

   • the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner; or
   • in some instances, other regulatory bodies, such as the Victorian Health Services Commissioner or the Australian Communications and Media Authority (as applicable).

9. Contact details

   If you have any queries about this Policy, personal information that we hold about you or the way we handle that personal information, please contact us as follows:

   Attention: Julian Hoskins (Privacy Officer)
   Mail: PO Box 24294, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 3001
   Email: privacy@senetlegal.com
   Telephone: +61 3 9670 7774
   

   General information about privacy is available from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.oaic.gov.au or by calling the OAIC’s enquiry line at 1300 363 992.

10. Changes to this Policy

    We may amend this Policy from time to time.

    A current version of our Policy will be posted on our website. A copy may also be obtained by contacting us (see item 9 above).

Version 1.01 (December 2017)