This Policy is about how Ali Family Lawyers manage personal information and comply with the Australian Privacy Principles (the APP).
Ali Family Lawyers is committed to protecting our clients’ privacy and security. We are committed to complying with both the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (“Privacy Act“) and the Australian Privacy Principles (“APP“).
1. WHAT IS PERSONAL INFORMATION?
Personal information is information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information or opinion is true or not, and whether or not the information or opinion is recorded in a material form.Due to the nature of the legal work we do for clients, we also collect and hold sensitive information about individuals including, but not limited to, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, sexual orientation or practices, criminal records, health and genetic information, religious beliefs or affiliations and membership of political, professional, trade and union associations. We may collect and hold information about clients, potential clients and business associates and their employees, suppliers and their employees, employees, prospective employees and contractors and others.
2. COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
Ali Family Lawyers collects personal information from you in a number of different ways. We may collect personal information directly from you or in the course of our dealings with you, for example when you:provide personal information to us;apply for a position of employment with us;use our website or services (including via cookies); andcontact and correspond with us, for example to ask for information.We may also, if you consent, collect personal information about you from publicly available sources of information, or in some cases, from third parties including recruitment agencies, previous employers, and third party service providers which provide criminal, bankruptcy and other checks.
3. USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
The purposes for which we collect your information may include:verifying your identity;contacting you (including via electronic messaging such as SMS and email, by mail, by phone or in any other lawful manner);providing you with legal services or legal information;undertaking conflict searches for our own purposes and the purpose of determining if we can represent a client or potential client;complying with applicable laws, insurance requirements, legal practice obligations and court orders;helping us to improve our services, matter management and financial performance using marketing data and analytics;acting for a client; anddeveloping and improving our services and obtaining feedback.If we are not able to collect personal information about you we may not be able to provide you with products, services and assistance to the extent that they require us to collect, use or disclose personal information.We may disclose information to third parties for the purposes noted above and as permitted, authorised, required or compelled by law.You agree that, where necessary for the work we are doing for you, we may disclose such information to others (for example to a court, other parties in a litigation, other lawyers, accountants, valuers, experts, barristers, witnesses).We will likely not transfer your Personal Information to someone who is outside Australia without prior notice to you. Even with your consent, the most common exception will be communications we make on your behalf with lawyers, experts and courts who are overseas all likely to be subject to laws or schemes substantially similar to the APP.
4. COOKIES
When you visit our website, a record is made of your visit. We do this by using “cookies” on our website. A cookie is a small amount of information which is transferred to the hard drive or the memory of your computer and which can identify your web browser, but not you as an individual. Information collected can include your IP address, the date and time of your visit to the site, the pages you accessed and documents downloaded and the type of browser you are using. Cookies can also record information about your visit to the site, allowing it to remember you next time you visit and provide any relevant information to you.
There are 2 types of cookies. Those that can be stored in your hard drive, known as persistent cookies, and those that are stored in your computer’s memory, known as session cookies. Persistent cookies will enable a continuous record to be kept of your visits to the website. Session cookies are transient cookies and track your visits for your website session only. We use session cookies to identify which pages of our website are being used for a website session only. Upon closing your browser the session cookie is destroyed and no personal information is maintained. We do not attempt to identify users or their browsing activities.
5. SECURITY OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
Ali Family Lawyers takes all reasonable steps to ensure the protection and safeguards of your personal information from misuse, interference and loss, unauthorised access, modifications and or disclosure. Ali Family Lawyers does not store any personal information outside Australia. Access to your personal information is limited to those who specifically need it to conduct their responsibilities. Ali Family Lawyers holds your personal information in paper and electronic files, in software programs both onsite and offsite, including in the cloud.Our staff are responsible for handling personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act and the APP. We will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify personal information when it is no longer required but having regard also to our obligation to maintain copies of files for 7 years.
6. ACCESS AND ACCURACY OF INFORMATION
Subject to certain exceptions, you have a right to access and, where necessary, seek correction of the Personal Information that we hold about you. We will not charge you for providing you with access to your Personal Information, but we reserve the right to charge you a reasonable amount for the time and expense incurred in compiling the information in response to your request. Responding to your request may involve making arrangements for you to visit our offices for the purpose of accessing your Personal Information.We will take reasonable steps to ensure that the information we hold about you is current, accurate and complete. If you believe that the information we have about you is not current, accurate and complete, we ask that you let us know.
7. IF YOU HAVE A COMPLAINT
If you have a complaint about the privacy of your personal information, we ask that you write to us. We will promptly acknowledge and investigate complaints. At all times, we will respect and protect the privacy and confidentiality of personal information. Ali Family Lawyers can be contacted in writing by electronic email at admin@alifamilylawyers.com.au.