Privacy Policy & Confidentiality Policy

We care about your privacy…

Your privacy is very important to us at Turnbull Hill Lawyers and we are committed to protecting it.

We are bound by, and comply with the Australian Privacy Principles, the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s (OAIC) APP Guidelines.

This Privacy and Confidentiality Policy (‘the Policy’) explains how we use, disclose and collect personal information that is provided to us in the usual course of investigating potential legal claims, acting for those who retain us and conducting our overall services.

The Policy applies to all of our websites including:

Turnbull Hill Lawyers – https://www.turnbullhill.com.au;
Battle of Wills – https://www.battleofwills.com.au;
Any other website created or hosted by us from time to time on which this Policy appears.

This Policy was updated as at July 2020 and governs Turnbull Hill Lawyers (ABN 96 625 076 969) and Mall Services (Charlestown) Pty Ltd (ABN 89 420 785 909).

Changes to this Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time so please review it periodically for changes. If the changes are significant, they will be advised to you in writing or posted on our websites.

Your continued use of our websites and services, requesting our assistance or the provision of further personal information to us after this Policy has been revised, constitutes your acceptance of the revised Policy.

The type(s) of information we collect

The type of information that we collect depends upon the type of relationship we have with you.

We generally collect the following personal information:

Your name;
Your contact details (ie your address, email address and phone number);
Details regarding the matter you are involved in, including the details of any third parties;
Details about your occupation;
Details about your interests in areas of legal practice;
Other information necessary to identify you and your enquiry.

We may also need to collect sensitive information. Sensitive information is a subset of personal information, such as information concerning racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of a political organisation, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, membership of a profession or trade association, membership of a trade union, sexual orientation and practice, criminal record or health information.

We only collect sensitive information where it is reasonably necessary with your consent, or if required or authorised by or under law to do so. For example, we may collect health information or other sensitive information in the course of providing our services (for example, when advising on injury or discrimination claims, family law or criminal matters).

We usually collect the above information from you personally: via telephone, our website, or by email or written correspondence.

We may also need to collect information from other sources, such as:

Your Insurer;
A company in which you are a shareholder/officeholder;
Your employer;
Your family members, legal guardian and or anyone you have authorised to deal with us on your behalf;
Anyone seeking our services in relation to their dealings with you.

The type(s) of information collected and security provided when you visit our websites

If you visit our websites, we record your server address, the date and time of your visit, the pages you have visited and the documents you have downloaded. We use and disclose this information in anonymous form for the purpose of our statistical analysis and to improve the functionality of our websites;
If you make payment of a tax invoice on our website, all transactions processed by us meet industry security standards to ensure that your payment details are protected;
We use remarketing. Remarketing allows us to connect with users and clients based upon your previous interactions with the www.turnbullhill.com.au site. We also use Google AdWords to run remarketing campaigns. As a result, third party vendors, such as Google, may advertise Turnbull Hill Lawyers campaigns on sites you visit whilst you are browsing the internet.

If you are concerned about providing confidential information to us via our websites or any other online means, please contact us (see Our Contact Details below).

Why do we collect and how do we use your personal information?

We collect, hold and use personal information for the purposes for which it was provided to us, for related purposes or as permitted or required by law. For example:

Providing legal services and advice;
To identify and assess whether we can act on your behalf. We will not consider acting for an individual if they do not properly identify themselves, as this could lead to a conflict of interest in the future;
Improving and marketing our services;
Responding to our clients’ enquiries and providing our clients with assistance and advice as required;
Processing enquiry forms you may complete on our website and allowing you access to interactive features or secure areas of our web site;
Providing you with information about our products and services including legal updates and seminars or events which may be of interest to you;
Managing relationships with clients, businesses and third parties;
Recruiting staff;
Conducting effective management of our business.

We may contact you at any time by mail, e-mail, SMS, telephone and social media (i.e. Facebook). You can opt out of receiving these communications by using our Contact Us form on our websites, or by following the ‘unsubscribe’ directions which are attached to our e-mail transmissions.

We also comply with the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) which imposes restrictions on sending e-mails and other types of commercial electronic messages.

How secure is my personal information?

Personal information that is provided to us is stored on computer and paper based files as appropriate. We endeavour to keep all information safe by taking reasonable precautions to protect information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

Where appropriate we use secure transmission facilities. However, no transmission or information over the Internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure and we do not warrant the security of any information transmitted by or to us over the internet.

We hold all legal files for a period of seven (7) years after the conclusion of the matters unless we are instructed to the contrary. In some cases, we may be required to retain documents for a longer period of time.

We take reasonable steps to protect your information when your visit our web sites and disclose information online, including: educating our staff about the importance of client confidentiality and privacy protection, username and password protected access to all of our Information Technology and telephone systems, anti-virus protection on all Information Technology systems, release of your files will only be effected by an Authority signed by you, effective document destruction (when legally appropriate), controlled security access to our office premises and secure on-site and off-site physical storage of archived information.

Third Party Web Sites

In addition to our websites, which we control directly, we also use and provide links to other web sites which are controlled by third parties. If you use or follow a link to the following web sites, please be aware that they have their own Privacy Policies and that we cannot accept any responsibility for their use of information about you:

Use of Cloud Computing Services

We utilise cloud computing services for e-mail storage and to store information that we collect. We use Microsoft’s Office 365 for this purpose. We use data encryption (where access can only be obtained through a secure username and password system) to protect confidential information from unauthorised access and inadvertent disclosure.

See Microsoft’s general Privacy web site and links and for further information about Office 365’s Cloud Privacy.

How and when do we disclose your personal information?

Compulsory Disclosure by Law

All personal information is kept confidential unless we are required to disclose information by law: for example, in connection with a court order or statutory notice.

Third Parties

We may also need to disclose your information to the following:

Your authorised representative;
Barristers/experts and any other relevant third parties who may be involved in your matter;
Credit reporting bodies/providers;
Government regulators (ie, NSW Police, ASIC);
Other legal parties and or their advisors;
Referees whose details are provided to us by job applicants;
Parties who are involved in the re-organisation, development, expansion, transfer of or part of the assets of Turnbull Hill Lawyers or the joint venture/business projects associated with Turnbull Hill Lawyers;
Contracted service providers of Turnbull Hill Lawyers such as:
- business and litigation support service providers;
- information technology providers;
- data storage and archive providers;
- function and event organisers;
- marketing and communications agencies;
- delivery, mail and shipping agencies;
- business advisors (such as recruitment advisors, accounts, auditors and lawyers).

Some of the third parties with whom we share personal information may be located outside of Australia. While such third parties will often be subject to privacy and confidentiality obligations, you accept that where lawful, such obligations may differ from or be less stringent than the requirements of the privacy laws in Australia. In those cases, we are not responsible for imposing the laws of Australia and you may not be able to seek remedies under those laws.

How can I access my personal information?

You generally have a right to access the personal information we store about you unless it is subject to legal privilege. We will need to verify your identity before we are able to provide you with any personal information.

If the information we hold about you requires correction, please first contact the member of staff who is responsible for your legal matter so that the information can be updated accordingly.

If you wish to access the personal information we hold about you, please first contact the member of staff who is responsible for your legal matter.

You can also contact our Privacy Officer (see Our Contact Details below) for assistance with access to or updating your personal information.

We will generally provide you with access to your personal information, subject to some exceptions permitted by law. We will also generally provide access in the manner that you have requested (eg. by providing photocopies or allowing files to be viewed), provided it is reasonable and practicable for us to do so. We may however charge a fee to cover our reasonable costs of locating the information and providing it to you.

Except in the case of more complicated requests, we will endeavour to respond to access and correction requests within 30 days.

What do I need to do if I have a complaint?

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, or wish to make a written complaint about a breach of this Policy, please contact the member of staff who is handling your matter in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with their response, please contact our Privacy Officer (see Our Contact Details below).

If you make a privacy complaint, we will respond to let you know how your complaint will be handled within 7 days. We will ask you for further details, consult with other relevant parties and keep records regarding your complaint.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your enquiry you may contact us further to advise of your concerns, and if we are unable to reach a satisfactory resolution you may wish to contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (The Privacy Commissioner).

Our Contact Details

Name: The Privacy Officer – Gavin Hanrahan
Company: Turnbull Hill Lawyers
Address: Level 1, 29 Smith Street, Charlestown NSW 2290
Email: enquiries@turnbullhill.com.au
Telephone: (02) 4904 8000