Privacy Policy

We take our obligations in respect of confidentiality of information and privacy seriously and therefore take every reasonable precaution to keep your personal information confidential and safe. We are bound by both legal and professional obligations as contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules.

OUR PURPOSE FOR COLLECTING, HOLDING, USING AND DISCLOSING PERSONAL INFORMATION:

Our primary purpose for collecting, holding, using and disclosing personal information is so that we can carry on our usual business of delivering high quality legal advice and services to our clients.

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

  • Verify your identity and the information you have provided to us;
  • Improve the services that we offer;
  • Provide you with material and information (including direct marketing such as newsletters) about legal and business issues and developments that may impact or interest you;
  • Advise you of services that we offer that may be of assistance to you;
  • Invite you to participate in special offers or to attend special events;
  • Carry out checks for credit-worthiness and risk assessment modelling;
  • Carry out checks for fraud, crime prevention and investigation;
  • Report any defaults in respect of payment by you of our invoices or any other amounts that are overdue and payable to us for expenses we have incurred on your behalf in relation to your matter;
  • Satisfy any legal obligations including any statutory reporting obligations;
  • Enable the efficient and effective carrying out of our daily business activities that are necessary to the provision of legal services;
  • Enable the efficient and effective carrying out of our daily business activities that are incidental to the provision of legal services including internal management purposes and to perform administrative tasks and manage business operations related to your matter, invoicing, collecting overdue payments and resolving disputes in relation to any aspect in connection with you matter; and
  • Comply with laws that may require or authorise us to obtain information about you, such as the Anti-money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 and other related legislation, the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 and other related regulatory legislation.

Where we have used your personal information to provide you with direct marketing materials such as newsletters, you may opt out at any time either directly through the “unsubscribe” function on our newsletter or by contacting our PRIVACY OFFICER.

WHEN WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION:

We will collect, hold, use and disclose personal information when you provide it us or when a third party is instructed by you to provide it to us or where we are instructed by you to do so, or where it is reasonably necessary to the identifying of a need for, or the delivery of high quality legal services and/or for effective carrying out of our daily business activities including those activities that are either necessary or incidental to the provision of legal services.

WHAT TYPES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT:

The types of personal information include:

  • Information that you provide to us directly or that you authorise a third party to provide to us;
  • Contact details such as name, address, phone numbers and email addresses;
  • Account and invoicing details such as credit card and bank account details;
  • Your occupation and business dealings and Associations;
  • Government issued identifiers such as Tax File Numbers, Australian Business Numbers, License Numbers and alike;
  • Information about your dealings with us or with our clients;
  • Those areas of law in which you are interested;
  • Information that is relevant or related to your matter which may include: information about your personal health and well-being, information about people who you relate to; and information that otherwise may be of a sensitive nature.

We will not collect personal information that is unlawful for us to collect or where it is not fair or reasonable for us to collect having regard to the circumstances and the nature of your matter and the types of legal advice and services you require.

If you wish to have access to your personal information you can contact our PRIVACY OFFICER at any time. We will make every reasonable endeavour to respond to your written request within a reasonable time of receiving it and provide you with access to your personal information in the manner you have requested.

You do not need to provide a reason for accessing your personal information but if we are not obliged by law to provide you with access then we may refuse your request. There are some cases where we may not be able to reveal the personal information (for example where to do so would interfere with legal proceedings or would be in breach of our obligations to our clients or any other professional or legal obligation that we may have). If we do deny access to your personal information we will provide you with a reason for our refusal.

If the collection, recovery or presentation of your personal information in an acceptable form requires a significant amount of time, or incurs a cost from a third party, we reserve the right to pass on the costs incurred by us and/or charge you a reasonable fee for access.

This website does not use cookies and we do not collect personal information (other than your internet address, domain name and the date and time of your visit to our website) through this website. However as we are running Google Analytics there will be some cookies that Google place on the website in order to track website browsing activity (without any identifiable personal information).You can read more about what google collects here: http://www.google.com.au/intl/en_uk/analytics/privacyoverview.html

WHO WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION ABOUT:

We may collect and hold personal information about a variety of people who are either essential to, or incidental to, the delivery of high quality legal services and/ or for the effective carrying out of our daily business activities.

The types of people include:

  • Our clients, including past, present and potential clients;
  • Our client’s employees, including their contractors and sub-contractors
  • Our client’s suppliers and clients;
  • Our client’s business partners, business advisors and business associates,
  • Our employees, including past, present and potential employees;
  • Our suppliers including contractors and sub-contractors
  • Any other persons who may come in contact with either our client or with us.

WHAT SOURCES WE USE TO COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION:

We generally collect personal information from:

  • you personally;
  • your agent(s), attorney(s) or guardian(s);
  • third parties (for example people, advisors, agencies or organisations with whom you deal with)
  • credit reporting bodies, financial institutions, government agencies and related bodies;
  • publicly available sources such as government agency searches, press reports, court documents and other published mediums; and
  • via our website and direct newsletter campaigns.

Our preference is to collect your personal information directly from you whenever possible. If this is unreasonable or impracticable for us to do so, we may also collect personal information about you from other sources such as those listed above. We make every effort to ensure that our methods of collecting personal information are not intrusive and that the information we collect and use is accurate, complete and current. If you believe that some of the information we hold is not accurate, complete and current, please contact our PRIVACY OFFICER and we will take all reasonable steps to respond to your request within a reasonable time and to make the requested corrections or amendments. We will not charge you to make corrections or amendments.

There may be times when we cannot make the corrections or amendments to your personal information that you have requested. If this happens we will let you know that we have been unable to attend to your request and where possible provide you with the reason why.

HOW WE HOLD PERSONAL INFORMATION:

We generally hold personal information in the following forms:

  • physical records
  • electronic records

We take all reasonable steps to protect the personal information we hold from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We are obliged to keep the information that we hold confidential. We also destroy or permanently de-identify personal information in the event that we no longer need it, or where by law, we are no longer required to keep it.

WHERE WE HOLD PERSONAL INFORMATION:

We generally hold physical records containing personal information on location at our Offices. We generally hold electronic records containing personal information on our server and on third party servers which are located in Australia and in some instances overseas. When entering into any arrangements with third parties we take all reasonable steps to ensure that they are bound by similar obligations to keep all personal information confidential and protected from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION AND DISCLOSURE:

Our primary purpose for collecting, holding, using and disclosing personal information is so that we can carry on our usual business of delivering high quality legal advice and services to you.

We may use and disclose your personal information where you have given either your express or implied consent or for any purpose authorised by you or in the course of providing legal services. This may include disclosure to third parties such as other parties involved in your matter; other law firms, barristers; conveyancers, government instrumentalities and/or regulatory authorities; courts and tribunals.

We may also disclose your information:

  • internally to our staff;
  • to debt collection agents or agencies for the purposes of recovering any amounts you owe to us;
  • to financial institutions, government bodies, credit reporting bodies and credit providers;
  • to our professional advisers including accountants, auditors, lawyers, barristers and other Counsel; or
  • where otherwise required or authorised by law.

Specifically we may use and disclose your personal information to credit reporting bodies if you fail to meet your obligations in relation to the payment of our invoices or any other amounts payable to us for expenses we have incurred on your behalf in relation to your matter that are more than $150 and overdue by at least 60 days.

The credit reporting bodies that we, or our debt collection agents and agencies on our behalf, may exchange information with about you, are listed below. Each has its own privacy policy which sets out how they manage credit-related personal information.

HOW CREDIT REPORTING BODIES CAN USE INFORMATION HELD ABOUT YOU:

The information that we, or our debt collection agents and agencies on our behalf, disclose to credit reporting bodies about you and your payment history may be included in the reports they give to other credit providers. This information may impact on your capacity to obtain credit from other credit providers in the future. You have a right to ask the credit reporting bodies to not use or disclose your credit reporting information if you believe that you have reasonable grounds to. For example, if you have been or are likely to be a victim of fraud.

PRIVACY PRACTICES OF OTHERS

While we adhere to the Australian Privacy Principles we are not responsible for the practices of other organisations including any hyperlinks to third party websites that are contained on our website.

AMENDMENTS

This Privacy Policy reflects our obligations as at 12 March 2014. From time to time we may make amendments to our Privacy Policy which will then be updated and posted on our website.

FURTHER INFORMATION, QUERIES, CONCERNS AND COMPLAINTS

You can access further information about the Australian Privacy Principles from The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, 1300 363 992 or www.oaic.gov.au.

If you have any queries or concerns about our Privacy Policy please contact our PRIVACY OFFICER.

If you believe that we have breached the Australian Privacy Principles, or you have any complaints about the way we have collected your personal information or responded to a written request in relation to your personal information, we invite you to make a written complaint to our PRIVACY OFFICER.

By mail to:
Attention: The Privacy Officer,
Tri-meridian Corporate and Commercial Law,
Level 4/185 Victoria Square
ADELAIDE SA 5000

By facsimile to: 08 7120 9099
By email to: radams@tri-meridian.com

We will make every reasonable endeavour to investigate and respond to your complaint within a reasonable time of receiving your complaint.

If at any time you are not satisfied with our response you may lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

By mail to:
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
SYDNEY NSW 2001

By phone: 1300 363 992
By email to: enquiries@oaic.gov.au

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