Privacy Policy

McBURNEY LAW (ABN 21 262 668 712) is committed to providing you with quality legal services including the protection of your privacy. We respect the confidentiality of your personal information and adhere to both the Australian National Privacy Principles and to the Solicitor Conduct Rules.   

Information We Collect?

We collect and hold personal information so that we can provide professional legal services to our clients. The type of information will vary in accordance with the types of legal matters and can include any or all of the following:-

• Contact information including residential and postal addresses, mobile or telephone numbers and email addresses,

• Payment and billing information, such as bank or credit card details, 

• Occupation or employment information,

• Education and qualification information, 

• Health information, 

• Family information,

• Government issued identifiers, such as Passport, Driver’s Licence, and Tax File Numbers,

• Centrelink information,

• Criminal and traffic records.

• Other personal information relevant to legal matter.

We only collect personal information that is required and relevant for us to provide you with legal services. You do not have to provide us with any personal information, however our ability to provide you with legal services may be impacted if personal information requested is not disclosed to us.

How We Collect Information

Generally, we collect personal information directly from you during attendances and communications with you. When relevant and necessary we may need to collect personal information about you from a third party. Where necessary and practical, we will take reasonable action, within the scope of Solicitor Conduct Rules and Duties, to notify you or make you aware that we hold your personal information from third parties, how we will use and/or disclose this information and that you may gain access to it and if necessary correct or update it. 

Why we Collect, Hold, Use and Disclosure Personal Information

We are bound by professional obligations of confidentiality and legal professional privilege including as prescribed by the Australia Solicitors’ Conduct Rules. Where these obligations apply, we treat information that we receive and hold (including personal information) in accordance with our obligations.

We collect, hold, use and disclose personal information to provide or offer legal services to you and to comply with relevant laws and regulations. Other reasons include the following purposes:

• to establish and maintain your relationship with us,

• to provide the products or services you have requested from us,

• to answer any inquiry you make, and

• to send notifications, reminders and relevant documentation. 

 

We may also use and disclose personal information about you:

• for purposes necessary or incidental to the provision of legal services

• to send you direct marketing material, client updates or event invitations

• where the use or disclosure is required or authorised by law

• where you have given us your consent (express or implied)

• to avoid, lessen or prevent a serious emergency or crime

If we use or disclose personal information about you in those circumstances we will make a written record of such use or disclosure.

We aim to keep all personal information strictly confidential. There may be times when providing legal services to you that we need to disclose personal information to other third parties, such as law firms involved in your matter, barristers and mediators, valuers and conveyancers, government departments and courts. The personal information we provide to such parties will depend on the circumstances requiring disclosure of that personal information and will not always be the same because of this.

How We Maintain Personal Information and its Security

We maintain personal information in physical records (both at our office and at our storage facility) and as electronic records on a cloud based storage facility.

We take reasonable action to hold all hard copy and electronic records of your personal information in a secure way to ensure that it is protected from misuse, loss and interference and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Where your personal information is no longer required by us for a valid purpose or needed to be kept by law, we will destroy or de-identify your personal information.

How you can Access your Personal Information

You may request to access or correct your personal information if you think that it is erroneous, incomplete, out-of-date, unrelated or misleading. A reason is not needed when you make a request.

We do not charge a fee for a request to update or correct your personal information but a small fee may be charged by us for providing access to your personal information if it involves a substantial amount of time to collect or locate it or to present it in a suitable form.

The Privacy Act 1988 allows us to deny you access in some situations. This may include circumstances where providing the personal information would constitute a breach of our obligations of confidence or legal professional privilege. If we do not allow you access to your personal information or we are not able to make your requested amendments, a reasonable explanation for doing so will be provided to you.

Information Integrity

You must notify us of any change to your personal information to ensure it is up to date, accurate, complete, relevant and not misleading.

We endeavour to update your personal information promptly after you notify us that it requires correction to keep it up to date, complete, relevant and not misleading.

How to Contact us or Make a Complaint

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, if you wish to update information we hold about you or if you wish to make a complaint about our collection, use or disclosure of your personal information under this Privacy Policy, please contact:

 

Greg McBurney

0467 536 851

PO Box 3157 WOLLONGBAR NSW 2477

greg@mcburneylaw.com.au

We will take reasonable steps to remedy any issues resulting from our failure to comply with our privacy obligations.