Introduction
As an entity that collects and handles personal information about clients, employees and members of the public, we are bound by the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) as set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act). The APPs regulate the way organisations collect, use, hold and disclose personal information.
This Privacy Policy explains how KPA Lawyers handles your personal information, including:
- How we collect and store your personal information
- What personal information we collect regarding you and your business
- How you can access any personal information we hold about you
- When and how we will disclose any personal information
- Ensuring the quality and accuracy of personal information.
Our practices and internal policies are consistent with this privacy policy, and our staff are required to ensure compliance as a condition of their employment. In any third-party contracts we enter into there is a duty to maintain personal information following this privacy policy and, in a manner, consistent with the Privacy Act.
From time to time, we will update this privacy policy. If we do so, we will update the version number. Any changes to this privacy policy will be consistent with our legal obligations.
How and When We Collect Your Personal Information
For clients and potential clients, we aim to only collect information that is necessary to provide you with any service you have requested.
There are several ways we may collect information about you. These are listed below.
When you call us:
You may provide us with a variety of personal information including your name, date of birth, your email address, your postal address, and your contact telephone number(s).
When you visit our website:
You are free to visit our website without identifying yourself, however you may leave a trace in the form of your IP address, which we will be able to see. Unless we combine the IP address with other identifying information, it will not be personal information. If you submit an enquiry on our website, we will collect your personal information which will typically include your full name, phone number, email address, company name, position in the company and postal address.
From a third party
We may collect information about you from a third party, including a contractor, agent, your other professional advisors or other parties such as credit collection agencies, government agencies or financial institutions.
Types of Information We Collect
We may collect and hold personal information about you or your business. Personal information is the kind of information that can identify you, which includes details such as name, address, date of birth, age, contact details like phone numbers and email addresses, as well as electronic information from your use of our website. We are also required, as part of identification of you for property transactions,to sight and hold personal identification documents including your driver licence, passport, birth certificate, Medicare card, financial institution cards or other identified documentation. We may, as part of the conduct of a matter, necessarily hold your financial account details to facilitate payment of monies. We may also, on occasions, be required to hold your Tax File Number (TFN) and/or Australian Business Number (ABN).
How We Use the Personal Information We Collect
We will use personal information only for the purpose it was collected, and/or for one of the reasons stipulated below:
- to respond to any queries, complaints or other matters raised by you or on your behalf (for example, by your authorised agent);
- to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;
- in the course of the conduct of your matter.
We may disclose your personal information to the following people or companies:
Law enforcement or government bodies
There are exceptions under the Privacy Act with regard to the provision of personal information to law enforcement or government bodies. When a legitimate request is sent to us by a law enforcement or government body we will comply with that request and may provide personal information about you without first seeking your consent.
Companies related to us
In providing personal information to us you will need to be aware that we will share this information with associated entities of our company so that we can provide a better service for you.
Other third parties
Where you have given your consent for us to do so, we may disclose information to third parties such as financial institutions, insurance companies, legal representatives and advisors acting for third parties in the matter that we are acting for you.
International disclosure
Most of the IT infrastructure we use is based in Australia; however, occasionally a service or platform we use may use IT infrastructure that is based or involves hosting in countries other than Australia, including the United Kingdom, Canada, India and the United States. Where we have a relationship with such providers, we ensure that we complete a privacy due diligence on their own practices and procedures to ensure that they are of a high quality.
Third party websites
Our website may contain links to third party websites for an individual’s convenience and information. Individuals should be aware that when they access a third-party website, we are not responsible for the privacy practices or policies of that third party and will not be liable for any use or disclosure of your personal information by any third party to whom your information is sent. We suggest that you review the privacy policy of each website you visit.
Direct marketing
If you are a client or have otherwise expressed interest and provided us with your contact details, we may send emails to you with information about legal developments (such as publications, alerts and newsletters) and marketing our services (such as seminar invitations).
We may use an “email management system” to automate the management and dispatch of these emails. The system operates by inserting tracking codes in the emails that we send to you. The tracking code allows us to collect personal information about you, such as whether you received and opened an email, and whether you clicked through to any links to our website. The personal information that the email management system collects and holds about you is used by us to:
- Ensure that you only receive correspondence that you have informed us that you wish to receive;
- Insert your personal information into our communications with you;
- Determine whether the information that we send to you is suitable for your interests, information needs and profile;
- Ensure that the email address that you have provided us is still operational;
- Determine whether emails that we send to you are received by you;
- Update a request that you make to us to unsubscribe from a publication that we send to you;
- Review the effectiveness and relevance of our emails to you by collecting other statistical information.
If you do not wish for us to send you such emails, please let us know by contacting our Privacy Officer at the details below. You can also unsubscribe from our email notifications by clicking on the “Unsubscribe” button at the bottom of our email notifications and following the prompts, or by emailing us by clicking the ‘Contact Us’ button.
How We Keep Your Information Secure
Any information we collect about you will be kept securely by us unless an event beyond our control disrupts the measures we have in place. We use up-to-date security, firewall, anti-virus software and encryption technology and Secure Socket Layers (SSL) while processing any personal information you supply to ensure the security of the data we keep. We have procedures in place with regard to staff access to personal information and ensure that only those staff who need to know have access to your information.
We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that all third-party service providers which hold your personal information are bound by the appropriate contractual obligations regarding the protection, disclosure and use of the information with regard to the APPs and the Privacy Act.
Retention of personal information to comply with the Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth)
We retain certain personal information in order to comply with our obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth) (the AML/CTF Act). For full details of how this information is collected, used and stored, please read our AML/CTF Requirements Page
We will retain records of:
- The type and content of data collected (e.g. names, date of birth, residential address, date of expiry, passport number);
- What we did to identify the customer and the identifying information the customer presented;
- The outcome of verification and analysis; and
- Any analysis, identification or assessment of ML/TF risk.
These records must be kept for 7 years after the end of the business relationship, or 7 years after the end of the last matter we acted on for the relevant client.
Accessing, updating and correcting your information
You can request access to the personal information that we hold about you by contacting us. We will endeavour to provide a written response to you within 5 business days. If any changes are required, we take reasonable steps to correct the information so that it is accurate, complete and up to date.
How to ask a question or lodge a complaint
If you are concerned about how we have dealt with your personal information you should first contact us. We will endeavour to send you a written response within 4 business days. Your complaint will be managed by our privacy officer who will review it and provide you with a response as soon as possible.
If you are not satisfied with the way we have dealt with your complaint, you may then complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner: