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MONAHAN
+ ROWELL RESPECTS YOUR PRIVACY
We at
Monahan + Rowell are committed to protecting the privacy and
confidentiality of information we collect from you, whether you are
a client, service provider or contractor. Apart from our legal and
ethical commitment to compliance with the law, we value and respect
our professional relationships with our clients, staff and other
individuals with whom we deal and we respect their desire for
privacy. Further, in the conduct of this practice, we are bound by
the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and therefore must comply with
the National Privacy Principles which govern the collection, use
and disclosure, data quality, security of and access to personal
and/or sensitive information.
This
Policy does not extend to employment records which we may hold in
respect of our staff, as these records are not covered by the Act
or the Principles.
Collection
of Information
We will
not collect personal information about you as a client unless it is
necessary for one or more of our functions or activities. The
information will be collected lawfully and fairly, and not in an
unreasonably intrusive way. We will take reasonable steps to
ensure that when collecting personal information about you, you are
aware of:
(a) our identity
(Monahan + Rowell);
(b) the purpose for
which we are collecting the information;
(c) the fact that
you are able to gain access to the information
collected;
(d) the
organisations to which that information may be
disclosed;
(e) any
law that requires the information to be collected; and
(f) the
consequences (if any) for you if the information is not
provided.
We will,
insofar as is reasonably possible, collect the information directly
from you. If this is not possible, and the information is collected
from someone else, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that you
are made aware of the details listed above, unless specific
exemptions apply. If you are engaged by us as a service
provider, contractor or agent, the only information we will collect
is your name, contact details and any relevant information which
concerns your dealings with us.
With respect to
the collection of Sensitive information, we can only do this
with your consent. (For the purposes of this Policy, sensitive
information relates to details of your racial or ethnic origins,
religious beliefs and political opinions, trade union, association
or professional memberships, sexual preferences and/or criminal
record. It also covers information about your health.)
However,
there are exceptions to the requirements listed above, for instance
when we are required to collect information by law; for the
establishment, exercise or defence of a legal or equitable claim;
or where it is necessary for the prevention of or to lessen a
serious threat to the life or health of an individual. In these
situations we are not required to advise you that we are collecting
information about you.
Use and
disclosure of information
Monahan +
Rowell only uses the information collected for the relevant
client’s needs or its internal professional or business needs.
These business needs may include using information we have about
you in order to send you details about our wider activities or
publications about recent developments in law that we believe may
be of interest to you.
Sometimes
we are required by law to disclose your personal information. For
example we may disclose your personal information to a Court in
response to a subpoena.
We may
also disclose information about our clients to our service
providers where we contract out certain management functions in
connection with the conduct of our clients’ legal affairs, for
example courier deliveries and file storage. As a general rule, all
such providers must comply with the same National Privacy
Principles to which we are bound.
An
exemption applies to the above in that we may sometimes be required
by law to disclose information about you to Government departments,
regulatory authorities, courts or other parties and advisers. We do
not need to seek your consent before we make such disclosure,
neither do we need to do so in a situation where there could be a
serious threat to the life or health of any individual.
Accuracy
and security of information held about you
We make
every effort to ensure that the information we hold about anyone
with whom we have dealings is accurate and up to date. For that
reason, it is very important that the personal information we
collect from you is also accurate, complete and up to
date.
We may
hold information about you in a variety of media, be it paper,
scanned documents, disks, hard drives or other day to day
electronic records (eg stored e-mails). The National Privacy
Principles require us to take reasonable steps to protect that
information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, modification
or disclosure.
To comply
with those Principles we employ a number of means to protect your
personal information including:
•
Strictly limited and controlled access to information by
staff;
• A
permanent block on storage of information about those who access
our website;
• General
privacy disclaimer on all e-mail correspondence; and
• All our
personnel being bound by the common law duty of
confidentiality.
Access
to information
You may
request access to any of the personal information we hold about
you.
All
requests for access will be handled as quickly as possible but may
depend upon whether such information is located in
archives.
However,
there may be situations in which we are prevented from allowing you
access, such as when to do so would be unlawful; where there could
be a serious threat to the life or health of an individual; or to
provide access might have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of
another individual.
In the
event that we do deny you access, we are obliged to provide you
with the reasons for that denial.
Sending
information overseas
Monahan +
Rowell will generally only send personal information overseas if it
is authorised by law or at your specific request.
General
Amendments
to this Policy
Monahan +
Rowell has the right to make changes to this Policy from time to
time. Any such changes will be published on our website
<www.mrlaw.com.au> by means of posting an updated version.
This will also indicate the date of that update.
Privacy
Officer
Monahan +
Rowell has appointed an independent Privacy Officer who is
responsible for overseeing all matters relating to Privacy
compliance, including the processing of any requests and complaint
resolution. The Privacy Officer is ultimately answerable to
the firm’s management committee.
Contacting
Us
If you
have any queries, concerns or complaints regarding any aspect of
this Policy, please contact our Privacy Officer by email
at privacy@mrlaw.com.au, by writing to
Monahan + Rowell Privacy Officer, GPO Box 4542, Melbourne, Vic,
3001; or by telephoning 61-3 8624 2000.
LAST
UPDATED ON 7 JUNE 2006 | 