Privacy Policy & Terms of Use
We are committed to protecting the privacy of our contacts, customers, suppliers and employees ("you" and when relating to you, "your") and complying with the Australian Privacy Principles set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act). In this policy we describe how we manage your personal information.
1. Personal information we collect
The type of personal information that we collect includes:
(a) contact details such as name, role or position, address, email address, mobile number, landline number and fax number;
(b) information relating to your circumstances and affairs relevant to the matter/s in which we are instructed;
(c) information about your legal interests and requirements and the legal services that you may wish to purchase;
(d) information regarding our communications with you and your attendance at seminars and promotional events held by us;
(e) if you are an employee or prospective employee, information about your qualifications, skills and work experience;
(f) if you are a supplier or prospective supplier, information about your business skills, services, products and prices;
2. How we collect personal information
2.1 We collect personal information by various means including when:
(a) you contact us with a question or inquiry;
(b) you subscribe to our newsletter or blog updates;
(c) you attend a seminar or event where we are hosting or presenting;
(d) you instruct us to act for you and we open a file and conduct a conflict check;
(e) our clients provide information relating to related and adverse parties relevant to the advice or services we are providing;
(f) we undertake a search or investigation;
(g) you visit our website.
2.2 Where practicable we collect personal information about you directly from you. However, we may have collected information about you from a third party such as a client, a third party information provider, the courts or a person responding to our questions or inquiries.
2.3 We are required to collect the full name and address of our clients by the Solicitors Rules made under the Legal Profession Act 2004 (NSW). Accurate name and address information must also be collected in order to comply with the trust account record keeping requirements in the Legal Profession Regulation 2005 (NSW) and to comply with our duty to the courts.
2.4 If you are a client and do not provide us with name and address information we cannot act for you.
2.5 If you do not provide us with accurate personal information we may not be able to carry out our instructions or achieve the purpose for which the information has been sought.
3. The purposes for which we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information
3.1 We collect, hold, use and personal information in order to:
(a) respond to your enquiries;
(b) provide legal or related services;
(c) employ competent and diligent personnel;
(d) monitor or improve the use of and satisfaction with our legal services; and
(e) let you know about legal developments, our expertise and legal services that may be of interest to you.
3.2 We disclose personal information:
(a) in order to carry out the instructions of our clients; and
(b) subject to our confidentiality obligations, when using services in support of our legal practice.
4. The parties to whom your personal information is disclosed
4.1 Subject to our confidentiality obligations, we may share some relevant personal information with:
(a) parties related to a matter you have with us, government authorities and service providers as reasonably required to carry out your instructions;
(b) our e-mail marketing provider for the purposes of providing you our newsletter, invitations and legal updates; and
(c) third party service providers who assist us with archival, auditing, accounting, legal, business consulting, website or technology services.
4.2 We also will disclose your information if required by law to do so or in circumstances permitted by the Privacy Act – for example, where we have reasonable grounds 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, in response to a subpoena, discovery request or a court order.
5. Disclosure of information outside the jurisdiction of collection
5.1 Some of the third parties described above including our service providers may be in other countries including the United States, the United Kingdom or service providers in Asia.
6. Opting out of marketing communications
6.1 We may, from time to time, send you newsletters, invitations and legal updates about our services. You can opt out of receiving further such communications by notifying us using our contact details below or by clicking the "unsubscribe" option at the bottom of any marketing e-mail received from us.
7. Security
7.1 We take reasonable physical, technical and administrative safeguards to protect your personal information from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. For example, we maintain our files in secure online storage and limit access to personal information to individuals with a need to know.
8. Access/correction/updating personal information
8.1 You can contact us to access, correct or update your personal information. Unless we are subject to confidentiality obligation or some other restriction on giving access to the information and we are permitted to refuse you access under the Privacy Act, we will endeavour to make your information available to you within 30 days. Examples of circumstances where we may refuse to give you access to your personal information include where:
(a) giving access would be unlawful;
(b) we reasonably believe that giving you access would pose a serious threat to the life, health or safety of any individual or to public health or public safety;
(c) giving access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others;
(d) the information could reveal the intentions of a party in negotiations;
(e) giving access could prejudice the taking of appropriate action in relation to unlawful activity;
(f) giving access could reveal evaluative information in a commercially sensitive decision making process.
8.2 If you request to correct your personal information, we will correct, or, if we consider more appropriate, note your request for amendment of the information on your record.
8.3 We will not charge you to make a request to access your record but we may charge you to actually provide access depending on the costs associated with obtaining and providing the material.
8.4 These actions can usually be taken by contacting us using the contact information on the "Contact Us" section below.
9. Notification of Changes
9.1 If we decide to change our Privacy Policy, we will post a copy on our website.
10. Complaints / Contact us
If a breach of this Privacy Policy occurs, a complaint may be made to us by sending it to:
Attention: Privacy Complaint
We will endeavour to respond to any complaint within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint you may seek a review by contacting the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner using the information available at http://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-complaints.
Acknowledgement & Acceptance of Terms of Use
This site: www.blackfordadvisory.com (Site) is owned and operated by Blackford Advisory Pty Ltd (Blackford Advisory). Your access to this Site is conditional upon your acceptance and compliance with the terms, conditions, notices and disclaimers set out below (Terms of Use).
Your use of, and/or access to, this Site constitutes your agreement to be bound by these Terms of Use.
Blackford Advisory reserves the right to amend these Terms of Use at anytime.
Ownership of content
The materials displayed on this site, including without limitation all information, text, materials, graphics, software, advertisements, names, logos and trademarks (if any) on this Site (Content) are protected by copyright, trademark and other intellectual property laws unless expressly indicated otherwise.
You must not modify, copy, reproduce, republish, frame, upload to a third party, post, transmit or distribute this content in any way except as expressly authorised in writing by Blackford Advisory.
You may view this Site using your web browser and save an electronic copy, or print out a copy, of parts of this web site solely for your own information, research or study, but only if you keep all Content intact and in the same form as presented on this site (including without limitation all copyright, trademark and other proprietary notices and all advertisements).
You must not use this Site or the information on this site in any manner or for any purpose which is unlawful or in any manner which violates any right of Blackford Advisory or which is prohibited by the Terms of Use.
Advertising and links to other websites
This site contains links to third party sites. These linked websites are not under the control of Blackford Advisory, and Blackford Advisory is not responsible for the content of any linked web site or any hyperlink contained in a link website. Blackford Advisory provides these hyperlinks to you as convenience only, and the inclusion of any link does not imply any endorsement of the linked website by Blackford Advisory. You link to any such website entirely at your own risk. Before disclosing your personal information on any other website, we advise you to examine the terms and conditions of using that Websites and its privacy statement. Disclosure of your personal information through any third party website or any hyperlink contained in a third party website which we provide a link to is not subject to our Privacy Policy and Blackford Advisory is not liable to you for your disclosure of your personal information through these third party websites.
Disclaimer and limitation of liability
The information contained on this site is provided by Blackford Advisory in good faith. The information is derived from sources believed to be accurate and current as at the date indicated in the respective sections of this site. Neither Blackford Advisory nor any of its directors or employees give any representation or warranty as to the reliability, accuracy or completeness of the information, nor do they accept any responsibility arising in any way (including by negligence) for errors in, or omissions from, the information.
Governing Law
These Terms of Use are governed by the law of New South Wales, Australia. Disputes arising from these Terms of Use are in the first instance exclusively subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of New South Wales, Australia.