Privacy Policy

GPNLAW Privacy Policy

GPNLAW’s (we also use this practice or the practice), Privacy Policy (referred to as this policy) deals with information privacy in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (referred to as the Privacy Act) and the Australian Privacy Principles (referred to as APPs) set out in the Privacy Act. We also comply with the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) which imposes restrictions on sending emails and other types of commercial electronic messages.

This policy sets out this practice’s policies in relation to management of personal information.

What kinds of personal information do we collect and hold?

We collect and hold:

your contact details, such as office address, home address, telephone numbers and email address;
your personal details, such as date and place of birth, gender, qualifications, titles, whether or not you are Aboriginal or a Torres Strait Islander, the languages you speak;
your business details, such as your business history, information relating to any complaints received and any disciplinary investigations or other legal action;
your browsing history on this practice’s website and Apps;
any criminal record or medical information to the extent that it is relevant to this practice’s role and responsibilities under, and authorised by you the client and the Legal Profession Act (referred to as the Legal Profession Act); and
records of your communications and other interactions with this practice.

In this policy we refer to this as your personal information.

How do we collect and hold your personal information?

We generally collect your personal information directly from you or when you use the GPNLAW website or a GPNLAW application such as FaceBook or Twitter. However, in some cases, we may receive your personal information from a third party (for instance if we receive information from your accountant or other service providers or regulators or government entities who have dealt with you.

What would happen if we did not collect your personal information?

Without your personal information we may not be able to properly advise you and or act on your instructions, perform our professional functions or provide you with some or all of our services.

What are the purposes for which we collect and hold your personal information?

We collect and hold your personal information to:

fulfil our functions and responsibilities to the administration of justice, our clients and facilitate compliance with, the Legal Profession Act 2004 (NSW), Professional Standards Legislation, the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and associated regulations (which require and authorise us to collect certain information) including:
- maintaining regulatory and corporate records;
- providing information to Australian regulators and government entities (such as the Law Society of NSW, Office of the Legal Services Commissioner) and to overseas regulators.
fulfil our role as a professional business including:
- maintaining client records;
- providing contact and general practising information to the public;
- providing other legal practitioners with information relevant to the proper administration of justice;
- providing information on programs, services and benefits available to past present and future clients, other legal practitioners and the public;
- communicating regarding an enquiry, request for information or use of our services;
- conducting research and providing public or private representation relevant to clients, other legal practitioners or the provision of our legal services;
- providing information to subsidiaries of the Law Society, the College of Law, our professional advisors and contractors, this practice’s professional indemnity insurers and practising certificate funder;
- allowing use of personal information in a controlled manner by entities distributing information relevant to clients or service providers and other legal practitioners; and
- providing information to organisations that represent the legal profession such as the NSW Law Society, Law Council of Australia and Regional Law Societies; and
analyse your interaction with our personal and electronic services. The information collected from you may be analysed individually and/or aggregated with the information relating to other clients to produce statistical information. Insights from this process is used to select and optimise the information, services and advertising we provide to you; and
provide information to third parties as authorised or required by law.

Use and Disclosure of your personal information

We do not use your personal information or disclose it to another entity unless:

it is reasonably necessary for one of the purposes described above;
having regard to the nature of the information or the circumstances of collection we believe you would expect us to use the information or make the disclosure;
required or authorised by a law, a court or a tribunal;
it is necessary to protect the rights, property, health or personal safety of a legal practitioner, client, the public or our proper interests, and it is unreasonable or impracticable to obtain your prior consent;
the disclosure is necessary to assist any entity, body or person to locate a person who has been reported missing;
we have reason 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, and we believe that the collection, use or disclosure is necessary in order for us to take appropriate action;
the assets and operations of our business are transferred to another party as a going concern;
it is to obtain third party services, for example to instruct barrister’s, carry out data analysis or provide information to processing services. The use of your information by third parties is strictly controlled; or
you have provided your consent.

Disclosure overseas

If you carry on business in a foreign country (or apply to do so) or your matter involves an element of overseas interaction we may send your personal information overseas in response to an inquiry from the relevant authority in that place.

Storage and security of personal information

This practice takes reasonable precautions to protect the personal information we hold from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. For example, electronic security system, lockable drawers, cupboards and fire proof safe.

Where practicable the practice implements measures to require organisations to whom disclosure is made to comply with the Privacy Act. If a third party, such as, barrister’s or process servers are given access to personal information we take reasonable steps to ensure that the information is held securely and used only for the purpose of providing the relevant service or activity.

We collect personal information through software such as cookies. A cookie is a text-only string of information that a website transfers to the cookie file of the browser on the hard disk of a user's computer so that the website can remember that user. Without cookies, websites and their servers have no memory. This means that every time a user opens a new webpage on a website, the server where that webpage is stored will treat the user as new and require logon and password. In short, a cookie facilitates a user's passage through a website.

Linked websites

This policy does not apply to linked websites.

Rights to access and correction of your personal information

You have the right to access your personal information unless we are permitted by law to withhold that information. Any requests for access to your personal information should be made to the Principal Solicitor (see below) in writing. You also have the right to request the correction of any of your personal information which is inaccurate. Any corrections should be advised to the Principal Solicitor in writing.

In some circumstances it may be appropriate and lawful for us to deny access, including if:

we reasonably believe that giving access would pose a serious threat to the life, health or safety of any individual, or to public health or public safety;
providing access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of another individual;
the request is frivolous or vexatious;
the information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings between you and us and the information would not be accessible by the process of legal discovery in those proceedings;
giving access would reveal our intentions in relation to negotiations with you and prejudice those negotiations;
providing access would be unlawful or if denying access is required or authorised under Australian law or a court/tribunal order;
giving access would be likely to prejudice one or more enforcement related activities conducted by, or on behalf of, an enforcement body; or

Further information and complaints

If you require any further information about our management of personal information or have a complaint about our handling of your personal information, you should initially write to the Principal Solicitor, who will respond to you within a reasonable time, usually 14 days.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint you may contact us further to advise of your concerns and, if we are unable to reach a satisfactory resolution you may write to the Office of the NSW Legal Services Commissioner at http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/olsc.