Privacy Policy

This is the Privacy Policy of Leanne White Solicitor (ABN 79 795 490 337) (“we”, “us” and when relating to us, “our”).

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. The kinds of personal information we collect

The kinds of personal information that we collect include:

• contact details such as name, role or position, address, email address and phone numbers;
• information relating to your circumstances and affairs relevant to the matter(s) in which we are instructed;
• information about your legal interests and requirements and the legal services that you may wish to purchase;
• information regarding our communications with you;
• if you are an employee or prospective employee, information about your qualifications, skills and work experience;
• 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:

• you contact us with a question or inquiry;
• you instruct us to act for you and we open a file and conduct a conflict check;
• our clients provide information relating to related and adverse parties relevant to the advice or services we are providing;
• we undertake a search or investigation;
• you visit our website.

2.2 Where practicable we collect personal information about you directly from you. However, we may collect 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.

We are required to collect the full name and address of our clients under the legal profession legislation and rules applying in NSW. Accurate name and address information must also be collected in order to comply with trust account record-keeping requirements and our duty to the courts. If you are a client and do not provide us with name and address information we cannot act for you. 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

We collect, hold, use and disclose personal information in order to:

• respond to your enquiries;
• provide legal services;
• employ competent and diligent personnel;
• monitor or improve the use of and satisfaction with our legal services; and
• let you know about legal developments, our expertise and legal services that may be of interest to you.

We disclose personal information:

• in order to carry out the instructions of our clients; and
• subject to our confidentiality obligations, when using services in support of our legal practice.

4. The parties to whom your personal information is disclosed

Subject to our confidentiality obligations, we may share some relevant personal information with:

• parties related to a matter you have with us, government authorities and service providers as reasonably required to carry out your instructions;
• third party service providers who assist us with archival, auditing, accounting, legal, business consulting, website or technology services.

We will also 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, or in response to a subpoena, discovery request or a court order.

5. Disclosure of information outside Australia

We do not disclose personal information to overseas recipients.

6. Opting out of marketing communications

We may, from time to time, send you 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 email received from us.

7. Security

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 offices and limit access to personal information to individuals with a need to know.

8. Access, correction and updating personal information

You can contact us to access, correct or update your personal information. Unless we are subject to a 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. If you request to correct your personal information, we will correct it or, if we consider more appropriate, note your request for amendment on your record. 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.

9. Notification of changes

If we decide to change our Privacy Policy, we will send you a copy of our revised policy or 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 reception@leannewhite.com.au, Attention: Leanne White, Privacy Officer, or by calling (02) 6554 8373. We will endeavour to respond to any complaint within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may seek a review by contacting the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.