Stumbles | Business Law & Mediation

This is the Privacy Policy of Stumbles & Co Pty Ltd ACN 609 057 123 trading as Stumbles Business Law and also as Stumbles & Co ("we", "us" and when relating to us, "our").

 

We are committed to protecting the privacy of our contacts, clients, prospective clients, suppliers, employees and contractors ("you" and when relating to you, "your") and handling it in line with o

ur obligations in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act).

 

In this policy we describe how we collect, use, store, disclose and protect personal information we collect, including information used to verify your identity.

 

A current version of this Policy can be found on our website at www.stumbleslegal.com.

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The kinds of personal information we collect

 

The kinds of personal information that we collect about you may include:

 

• contact details such as name, role or position, address (business and/or residential), email address, mobile number, landline number and fax number;

• information relevant to legal services you would or might like us to provide to you, such as information about your personal and business affairs, your legal interests and requirements and related transactions, and information relating to your circumstances and affairs;

• information we collect for the purposes of complying with our obligations, including date and place of birth, Government-issued identification details (such as driver licence, passport, Medicare card or other ID document numbers), and other details obtained for the purposes of identity verification (such as biometric information including a facial image or short video used to verify your identity);

• any other information you choose to provide to us;

• information regarding our communications with you and your attendance at seminars and promotional events held by us;

• if you are an employee or prospective employee, information about your qualifications, skills, work experience and remuneration;

• if you are a supplier or prospective supplier, information about your business skills, experience, services, products and prices/rates;

• information you send to us by posting to a forum or blog or through a contact or other form; and

• information about pages you view on our website. 

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We only collect personal information that is reasonably necessary to carry out our business activities. 

 

How we collect personal information

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We collect personal information by various means including when:

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• you contact us with a question, inquiry or comment;

• you instruct us to act for you and we open a file and conduct a conflict and or identity check;

• our clients or prospective clients provide us with information relating to or in connection with a matter on which they have engaged us, or might engage us;

• our clients provide information regarding related and adverse parties relevant to the advice or services we are providing;

• we undertake a search or investigation;

• you subscribe to our newsletter or legal or other updates service;

• you attend a seminar or event where we are hosting or presenting;

• you visit our website. 

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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.

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We are required to collect the full name and address of our clients by the Solicitors Rules made under the Legal Profession Act 2004 (Vic).  Accurate name and address information must also be collected in order to comply with the trust account record keeping requirements in the Legal Profession Regulations 2005 (Vic) and to comply with our duty to the courts.

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If you are a client and do not provide us with your name and address we cannot act for you. 

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If you do not provide us with full and accurate personal information we may not be able to carry out our instructions or achieve the purpose for which the information has been sought.

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The purposes for which we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information

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

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• respond to your enquiries;

• provide and manage our services to you;

• monitor or improve the use of and satisfaction with our legal services;

• improve our services;

• manage our relationship with you;

• let you know about legal and other developments, our expertise and services that may be of interest to you;

• assist us to employ and engage personnel and suppliers;

• communicate with you about your account with us;

• meet our legal and regulatory obligations, including anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) requirements;

• verify your identity;

• detect and prevent fraud against our business, and keep our systems secure.

 

Identity Verification and Government Data Matching (DVS)

 

To verify your identity, we may use electronic identity verification services, including the Australian Government's Document Verification Service (DVS).

 

Where you have consented, your name, date of birth and identity document details will be securely sent to the relevant Commonwealth or State authority that issued your document. This may include passport offices, driver licence authorities, the Department of Home Affairs, Births Deaths and Marriages, or other authorised record holders.

 

These authorities check whether the details you have provided match the records they hold.

 

We do not receive a copy of your government records. The authority returns a match result only, confirming whether your details match (yes or no).

 

This process may be carried out through accredited identity verification providers, including APLYiD (APLYiD Pty Ltd, ABN 36 632 866 794) and its sub-providers (e.g. Infotrack).

 

More information about the DVS is available at idmatch.gov.au.

 

Biometric Information

 

As part of identity verification, we may collect biometric information, such as a facial image or a short video of you holding your ID.

 

Biometric information may be used to:

 

• confirm that you are a real person and physically present;

• match your image to the photograph on your identification document;

• reduce the risk of fraud and identity theft.

 

Biometric information is treated as sensitive information under the Privacy Act. We only use it for identity verification and related compliance purposes, and only with your consent.

 

Consent to Collection and Identity Verification

 

By providing your personal information and completing the identity verification process, you consent to:

 

• the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information for identity verification, AML/CTF and related compliance purposes;

• the collection and use of biometric information, such as a facial image or video, for identity verification;

• your information being checked against records held by Commonwealth and State authorities through the DVS; and

• your information being shared with our authorised identity verification providers, including APLYiD.

 

Your consent is voluntary. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us using the contact details below.

 

If you do not consent, or do not provide the information we need, we may not be able to verify your identity electronically.  In that case, we may need to verify your identity in another way, or we may not be able to provide our services to you.

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Disclosure of Personal Information

 

We may disclose your personal information to:

 

• our employees and authorised representatives, on a need-to-know basis;

• our professional advisers, such as lawyers, accountants and auditors;

• parties related to a matter you have with us, government authorities and service providers as reasonably required to carry out your instructions;

• regulators, law enforcement or other third parties where required or authorised by law;

• identity verification providers, including APLYiD and its authorised sub-providers;

• commonwealth and State authorities and official record holders, through the DVS;

• our e-mail marketing provider for the purposes of providing you our newsletter, invitations and legal updates; and

• third party service providers who that help us operate our business, for example assist us with archival, auditing, accounting, legal, business consulting, website or technology services.

 

We also will disclose your information if required by law to do so or in circumstances permitted or required by legislation – for example, where we have reasonable grounds to suspect unlawful activity, or misconduct of a serious nature has been, is being or may be engaged in and that our services, functions or activities are being used to assist with that activity or conduct, or in response to a subpoena, discovery request or a court order.

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We do not sell your personal information.

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Disclosure of information outside the jurisdiction of collection

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Some of the third parties described above including our service providers and related bodies corporate may be based outside Australia, including in the United States of America (USA). 

 

Where this happens, we take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is handled in line with our obligations under the Privacy Act, and that contractual protections are in place with with our providers.

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Opting out of marketing communications

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We may, from time to time, use your contact details to 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 any "unsubscribe" option that may appear at the bottom of any marketing e-mail received from us.

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Security

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We take reasonable physical, technical and administrative safeguards to protect your personal information from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification and disclosure.  We only provide access to personal information to individuals and organisations with a need to know.

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Access/correction/updating personal information

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You have the right to ask for access to the personal information we hold about you (unless restrictions apply), and to ask us to correct it if it is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date. To make a request, please contact us using the contact details below.  We will respond within a reasonable time.

Examples of circumstances where we may refuse to give you access to your personal information include where:

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• giving access would be unlawful;

• 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;

• giving access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others;

• the information could reveal the intentions of a party in negotiations;

• giving access could prejudice the taking of appropriate action in relation to unlawful activity; or

• giving access could reveal evaluative information in a commercially sensitive decision making process.

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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. 

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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.

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Changes to Privacy Policy

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We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time.  If we change our Privacy Policy, we will post the updated policy on our website at www.stumbleslegal.com.  A link to our current Privacy Policy is usually contained in our letters of engagement.  Each time they enter into a new retainer or engagement letter with us, clients and prospective clients should check the latest version of our Privacy Policy on our website. 

Complaints / Contact us

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If a breach of this Privacy Policy occurs, a complaint may be made to us by sending it to:

 

                   Attention:  The Privacy Officer, admin@stumbleslegal.com

 

or by calling +613 8692 7255  

 

We will acknowledge your complaint, investigate it, endeavour to respond to your complaint within a reasonable time.  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.