The purpose of this document is to set out the firm’s policies in relation to the collection, holding, use and disclosure by Mornington Legal Pty Ltd (ABN 38 112 575 345) (Mornington Legal) of personal information relating to an individual.
Mornington Legal collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information relating to various individuals, representatives and entities in the course of providing our clients with legal advice, when marketing our services and running our business. As a legal practice, protecting confidentiality and privacy of personal information is fundamental to maintaining our professional relationships.
Mornington Legal is bound by the provisions of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and the Australian Privacy Principles, in its collection, security, protection, storage, use and disclosure of personal information. This document describes how we will handle and use your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act and the Australian Privacy Principles.
Collection of your personal information
Mornington Legal collects and holds personal information in order to provide our professional services to our clients and to operate and market our legal practice business.
Personal information we collect and hold includes, but is not limited to, details such as an individual’s name, contact information, occupation, role, gender, qualification, areas of a person interest in relation to our legal services provided or upcoming events. We may also collect and hold sensitive information, including health information, about individuals. We will only collect and hold sensitive information if the individual has consented, or if it is otherwise held and used in accordance with the Privacy Act. We may also collect and hold sensitive information if it is required by law or a court or tribunal order or if necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal or equitable claim. If you do not provide us with personal information when requested then we may not be able to communicate with you.
How information is collected
We may collect information from you when, for example, you:
- are seeking legal advice from us;
- when providing you with professional services and advice;
- when you are using our website, attend our offices, have retained our services or have provided instructions to us, makes enquiries of us;
- submit an enquiry through our ‘Contact us’ on our webpage;
- attend a seminar or other event provided by us;
- make an enquiry about our services;
- subscribe to any of our publications; and
- apply for employment with us, and your personal information may be collected from you personally or from any employment agency you or we employ, or any referee whose details you provide.
We will not collect sensitive information (for instance about your religious beliefs, your professional or trade association memberships or your health information) unless you volunteer the information and consent to its collection.
We do not ordinarily disclose your personal information to third parties, and if for some unlikely reason this does occur, we will do so in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles.
You may request access to any of your personal information we hold in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
Mornington Legal will collect personal information about an individual only from that individual when possible to do so however, in some circumstances, we may also collect an individual’s personal information provided from a third party source. Mornington Legal may also need to acquire information about an individual from other sources, such as the financier, accountant or other advisers of that individual, from other parties to a matter (or their advisers) or from publicly available records, including social media.
Use and disclosure of personal information
Mornington Legal uses and discloses personal information it collects for the primary purposes of:
- providing legal services to our clients, ensuring our service commitment to clients is met, to advise individuals about related matters; and
- meeting our internal professional and business requirements, including marketing our legal practice business.
We do not usually disclose personal information outside of Australia. Whenever personal information is used or disclosed, it will be in accordance with this Privacy Policy, legal professional privilege and the Law.
Storage and security of personal information
Mornington Legal takes all reasonable steps to protect the personal information we hold from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Most information is held in hard copy or electronic records, which may only be accessed by partners and employees of Mornington Legal in the performance of their duties.
All partners and employees are subject to confidentiality obligations and are bound by this policy.
Access and correction of personal information
Mornington Legal will provide you with access to your personal information held by us, unless there is a reason why we are not required to do so under the Privacy Act. Under the Privacy Act, you have a right to request access to, and correction of, your personal information. We will correct any inaccurate or out-of-date information within a reasonable time of notification of error by you.
You may make a request to access and correct your personal information by contacting our Privacy Officer by telephone, email or otherwise in writing. Details about how to contact our Privacy Officer are provided in this Privacy Policy. If we deny you access to, or we refuse to correct, your personal information, we will provide you with our reasons for the decision.
Mornington Legal website
When transmitting personal information from a computer to Mornington Legal website, an individual must keep in mind that the transmission of information over the Internet is not completely secure or error-free. In particular, e-mails sent to or from the site may not be secure, and an individual should take special care in deciding what information to send to Mornington Legal via e-mail. Other than liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, Mornington Legal will not be liable in any way in relation to any breach of security or any unintended loss or disclosure of that information.
The Mornington Legal website may provide links to other websites directly or indirectly to users of the website. Linked sites are not under the control of Mornington Legal and the firm does not accept any responsibility or liability that may stem from any linked website.
Inquiries and complaints about personal information
You may make a complaint about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles. Mornington Legal will investigate and endeavour to resolve any complaints.
All inquiries and complaints should be addressed to:
Privacy Officer
Mornington Legal
342 Main Street
MORNINGTON VIC 3931
Telephone: 03 5975 7611
Facsimile: 03 5975 7765
Email: info@morningtonlegal.com.au
If we are unable to resolve your complaint or you are unhappy with the outcome, you can contact the Office of Australian Information Commissioner via its enquiries line 1300 363 992 or website http://www.oaic.gov.au/ to lodge a complaint.
Last updated: April 2019