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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 1 JANUARY 2010 |
