Avant Legal Pty Ltd T/A Apres Legal
15 July 2021
Avant Legal Pty Ltd T/A Apres Legal (Apres Legal) is an Australian business which provides legal and other related services. The Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (“APPs”) govern the way in which our firm handles your personal information (being information or an opinion about an individual which is capable of identifying that individual). This privacy policy sets out how we handle and protect the personal information of our clients, contractors and suppliers (or potential clients, employees, contractors and suppliers), users of our website, and other individuals we deal with (on our own or on our clients’ behalf) in the course of providing our services, in accordance with the APPs.
This policy does not address our client confidentiality obligations, which are described in our terms of engagement.
All references to ‘us,’ ‘we’ and ‘our’ in this policy are references to Apres Legal. All references to ‘you’ and ‘your’ in this policy are references to our clients, contractors, suppliers (or potential clients, employees, contractors and suppliers), users of our website, and other individuals we deal with (on our own or on our clients’ behalf) in the course of providing our services.
We may update this policy from time to time and without notice. You should review this policy periodically for changes.
We understand that privacy is important to you. If you have any questions regarding this policy, please contact us using the details provided below in the ‘Contact us’ section of this policy.
THE KIND OF PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT AND HOLD
We collect and hold personal information about you which enables us to provide you with our professional services, act on our clients’ behalf, or otherwise do business with you.
The type of personal information we collect and hold about you may include: •your name and contact details (such as your phone number, postal address, email address and business contact details); •your age and gender; •your occupation, position description and professional background (such as your expertise and professional qualifications); •a record of any correspondence or communication we have with you;
If you are a client or potential client, any additional information which relates to you that you have either: •provided to us directly; or •instructed us to obtain;
If you are a contractor or supplier (or potential contractor, supplier or employee), any other information which we believe is reasonably necessary to enable us to make an assessment as to whether to do business with or employ you; and
If you use our website, we may collect the following information about you: •details of your visit to the website, including traffic data, location data, blogs and resources accessed by you; and •any information you provide in registering for an event, service or other communication.
Often, such personal information is collected when it is provided by you directly. However, personal information will sometimes be provided to us by a third party. In those circumstances, we will, if reasonable, notify you of that fact and advise the purpose for which we will use that information.
In addition to the above, and if you provide it to us directly, we may also collect some sensitive information about you, such as information about your racial or ethnic origin, political opinion or religious belief, membership of political association or trade union, sexual orientation or criminal record. We will only collect sensitive information about you which is disclosed to us by a third party if we are authorised to do so under the Privacy Act.
If you provide us with personal information (including sensitive information) about another individual, you must first obtain their consent to do so, based on this privacy policy.
USE AND DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We may use your personal information in the course of providing our legal and related services and otherwise conducting our business. This might include using your information to formally engage you as a client; to provide you with legal advice; to send you invoices; to enable us to act on our clients’ behalf or provide them with legal services; to send you communications which relate to publications, information on legal or industry-based updates, events or seminars; to market or improve our service; or to engage you as a contractor or supplier.
The circumstances and ways in which we may disclose your personal information to third parties include: •disclosures to our service providers who we engage from time to time to operate our business (for example, our information technology, administrative and accounting service providers); •disclosures to service providers engaged by you who we may be working alongside on a particular project or matter; •disclosures to other persons and bodies, where such disclosures relate to the provision of our services to our clients, (for example, to courts and tribunals, government and regulatory agencies or law enforcement agencies); •any other disclosures to which you provide your consent; or •any other disclosures which are permitted or required under the Privacy Act or any other law.
The disclosures described above may involve your personal information being sent to overseas recipients in some contexts (for example, to any of our service providers who are located overseas). Countries in which such third parties may reside include India, though this may change from time to time. You agree that we may disclose your personal information in this manner, notwithstanding that privacy laws in such countries may differ. We will take reasonable steps to ensure that any overseas recipients of your personal information will abide by the Australian Privacy Principles.
USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION FOR MARKETING PURPOSES
We may also use your personal information to promote and market our services and business to you, including through electronic methods such as email and SMS.
If you do not want us to promote and market our services to you, please let us know using the details provided below in the ‘Contact us’ section of this policy.
SECURITY OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We understand the importance of maintaining the security of your personal information which is held by us. Accordingly, we use what we believe to be reasonable security measures to prevent unauthorised use of, or access to, personal information which is stored by us within our physical premises and our electronic file management systems or other IT programs which are stored offsite.
Notwithstanding the above, the Internet is not a completely secure environment. You should be aware that personal information which is sent by you via the Internet can be accessed, tampered with or used in an unauthorised manner by third parties.
ACCESSING OR CORRECTING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
Under the APPs, you have a right to request access to, and correction of, your personal information.
If you would like to make a request to access or correct your personal information which is held by us, please contact us using the details provided below in the ‘Contact us’ section of this policy.
In most circumstances, we will provide you with access to, or correct, your personal information. A fee may be charged for such access.
If we deny you access to, or we refuse to correct, your personal information, we will provide you with our reasons for this decision.
PRIVACY COMPLAINTS
If you have any concerns or complaints about the way in which we handle your personal information, please contact us using the details provided below in the ‘Contact us’ section of this policy. We will investigate your complaint and notify you of the outcome.
If you are not satisfied with our response to your concern or complaint, you may also lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner:
by phone: 1300 363 992; or online at: www.oaic.gov.au
CONTACT US
If you have any queries regarding this privacy policy or the way in which we handle your personal information, or you like to seek access to or correction of your personal information, or lodge a complaint, you can contact us using the following contact details: by phone: +61 3 8567 7501; or by email: [email protected]