Privacy Policy
This policy
This is the Privacy Policy of Integrate Legal Pty Ltd, ABN 11 614 065 691 trading as Integrate Legal ("we", "us" and when relating to us, "our"). As Data Controller we are committed to protecting the personal data (“personal information”) of our contacts, clients, suppliers and employees ("you" and when relating to you, "your") and complying with the Australian Privacy Principles set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (“Privacy Act”).
This policy outlines the following:
how we collect, manage, process and use your personal information;
the legal basis upon which we rely on to process your personal information; and
the rights you have in relation your personal information.
What is Personal Information
Personal information includes any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include anonymous information (that is, data where the identity has been removed).
Data Protection Legislation
Data protection laws vary across the different jurisdictions. In Australia, (subject to some exemptions), organisations must not collect and process personal information unless the information is reasonably necessary for one or more of the organisation’s functions or activities.
Under data protection legislation, there are various grounds on which an organisation may lawfully collect and process personal information. We have outlined these grounds below and you can contact us if you require details of the specific legal ground we are relying on to collect and process your personal information.
1 Consent
We can collect and process your personal information with your consent. This includes when we collect and process sensitive information such as information on your health or religious beliefs. When personal information is provided to and processed by us with your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.
2 Contractual Obligations
We are required to collect the full name and address of our clients under the Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW), (“Uniform Law”).
Accurate name and address information must also be collected to comply with law firm trust account record keeping requirements under the Uniform Law and to comply with our duty to the courts.
If you are a client and do not provide us with name and address information we cannot act for you. If you do not provide us with accurate personal information we may not be able to carry out our instructions or achieve the purpose for which the information has been sought.
3 Legal Compliance
We may require your personal information to comply with certain laws including anti-money laundering legislation or laws relating to the provision of legal services.
4 Legitimate Interests
In some situations, we require your personal information to pursue our legitimate interests in a way which might reasonably be expected as part of running our business and which does not materially impact on your rights, freedoms or interests.
An example, would be collecting your personal information for marketing purposes, such as your name, email address and organisation name when you subscribe to our newsletters.
The Kinds of Personal Information We Collect
The kinds of personal information that we collect and process includes but is not limited to:
Contact details such as name, role or position, residential and/or postal address, email address, telephone numbers;
Identification and background information provided by you or collected as part of our business acceptance processes, including your full name, photographic identification and gender;
Financial information, such as bank account and payment card details;
Information relating to your circumstances and affairs relevant to the matter/s in which we are instructed;
Information about your legal interests and requirements and the legal services that you may wish to purchase;
Information regarding our communications with you and your attendance at seminars and promotional events held by us;
If you are an employee or prospective employee, information about your qualifications, skills and work experience;
If you are a supplier or prospective supplier, information about your business skills, services, products and prices; and/or
If you are a visa applicant, information on your qualifications, employment history, marital status, family composition, character, health, nationality and immigration status in Australia and overseas.
How We Collect Personal Information
We collect personal information by various means including, but not limited to, when:
you contact us (in person, my phone, email or through our website) with a question, inquiry and/or to request information;
you subscribe to our newsletter or legal updates service;
you attend a seminar or event where we are hosting or presenting;
you instruct us to act for you and we open a file and conduct a conflict check;
you complete visa application forms or questionnaires required for your visa application or immigration matter;
you provide us with your business card at a meeting or event; and/or
from publicly available sources.
Where practicable we collect personal information about you directly from you. However, we may collect information about you from a third party such as your employer, a client, the Department of Home Affairs, tribunals, courts or a person responding to our questions or inquiries.
The purposes for which we collect, hold, process, use and disclose personal information
We collect, hold, process use and disclose personal information to:
respond to your enquiries;
provide legal services;
comply with any applicable law;
recruit and employ personnel;
monitor or improve the use of and satisfaction with our legal services;
enforce our agreements with you; and
let you know about legal developments, our expertise and legal services and information that may be of interest to you.
We disclose and share personal information:
to carry out the instructions of our clients; and
subject to our confidentiality obligations, when using services in support of our legal practice.
The parties to whom your personal information is shared
Subject to our confidentiality obligations, we may share some relevant personal information with:
parties related to a matter you have with us, government authorities and service providers as reasonably required to carry out your instructions;
our e-mail marketing provider for the purpose of providing you our newsletter, invitations and legal updates; and
third party service providers (who may act as “data processors” or “joint data controllers”). These providers, who include professional experts such as translators, recruiters, barristers, accountants and tax advisers who assist us with providing services including, but not limited to, document management and archiving, auditing, accounting, legal and business consulting, website design and hosting, social media activities and implementation and management of information technology.
We also will disclose your information if required by law to do so or in circumstances permitted by the Privacy Act – for example, where we have reasonable grounds to suspect that unlawful activity, or misconduct of a serious nature, that relates to our functions or activities has been is being or may be engaged in, in response to a subpoena, discovery request or a court order.
Disclosure of information outside the jurisdiction of collection
Some of the third parties described above or their related bodies corporate may be located outside of Australia.
Opting out of marketing communications
We may, from time to time, send you newsletters, invitations and legal updates and information about our services. You can opt out of receiving further such communications by notifying us using our contact details in the “Contact Us” section of this policy or by clicking the "unsubscribe" option at the bottom of any marketing email received from us.
How we protect your personal information
We take reasonable physical, technical and administrative safeguards to protect your personal information from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. We securely maintain our files and limit access to personal information to employees, agents, contractors, government bodies and other third parties on a “need to know” basis.
We have procedures in place to identify and respond to data security breaches. We will notify you and any data protection authority of a breach where we are legally required to do so.
How long will we keep your personal information
Whenever we collect or process your personal data, we’ll only keep it for as long as is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, subject to satisfying any legal, accounting or reporting requirements.
Your rights over your personal information
You have certain rights over your personal information as outlined below. These actions can usually be taken by contacting us using our contact details in the "Contact Us" section of this policy.
1 Right to request access
Unless we are subject to confidentiality obligation or some other restriction on giving access to the information and we are permitted to refuse you access under the Privacy Act, we will endeavour to make your information available to you within 30 days. Examples of circumstances where we may refuse to give you access to your personal information include where:
giving access would be unlawful;
we reasonably believe that giving you access would pose a serious threat to the life, health or safety of any individual or to public health or public safety;
giving access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others;
the information could reveal the intentions of a party in negotiations;
giving access could prejudice the taking of appropriate action in relation to unlawful activity; and/or
giving access could reveal evaluative information in a commercially sensitive decision-making process.
We will not charge you to make a request to access your record but we may charge you to provide access depending on the costs associated with obtaining and providing the material.
For EU residents, we will do this free of charge, in accordance with applicable legislation.
2 Right to rectification
If you make a request to correct your personal information, we will correct, or, if we consider more appropriate, note your request for amendment of the information on your record.
3 Right to erasure or right to be forgotten
Except where we are subject to legal or regulatory obligations you can ask us to delete or remove your personal information.
4 Right to withdraw consent
For EU residents, whenever you have given us your consent to use your personal data, you have the right to change your mind at any time and withdraw that consent.
5 Right to object
You can ask us to stop processing your personal information for reasons connected to your individual situation. We must then do so unless we believe we have a legitimate overriding reason to continue processing your personal information.
Where personal information is being processed for direct marketing purposes, you have a right to object at any time.
Notification of Changes
This Privacy Policy was last updated on 29 June 2018. Should any substantive or material change be made to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you.
It is important that the personal information that we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if any of the personal information you have provided us with changes during your relationship with us.
Complaints / Contact us
If a breach of this Privacy Policy occurs, a complaint may be made to us by sending it to our Privacy Officer who can be contacted as follows:
Rita Chowdhury, Principal of Integrate Legal Pty Ltd
Email: rita@integratelegal.com
Telephone: +61 2 9051 1630
We will endeavour to respond to any complaint within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint you may seek a review by contacting the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner using the information available at: http://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-complaints