Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy lets you know how we at Phillips Family Law ABN 85 1632 811 14 (we, us or our) collect and use your information. It applies to information collected offline and through our website, www.phillipsfamilylaw.com.au (Site) and other related third party platforms we use such as social media platforms or other platforms like Stripe and the like.

The types of personal information we may collect about you include your:

• name, images and complete contact details;
• age and/or date of birth;
• credit card or payment details and bank account details; and
• personal details related to your legal matter(s) and any other personal information provided to us.

We may also collect, at our discretion, data such as your access to and use of our Site, including information via a third party such as Google Analytics or our third party payment processer.

We may collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for a number of reasons, including to:

• contact you and communicate with you about your legal matters or to provide legal information or general business information to you;
• provide you with our legal services;
• allow us to keep our internal records and administration up to date;
• use it for advertising, marketing, analytics, market research and business development;
• comply with our legal obligations and resolve any disputes that we may have; and
• to consider an employment application you have made to us.

Subject to the confidentiality obligations set out below and in our client relationship with you pursuant to our professional obligations, we nevertheless may disclose personal information to:

• third party service providers for the purpose of enabling them to provide their services;
• our employees and contractors;
• our existing or potential agents or business partners;
• anyone to whom our business or assets (or any part of them) are, or may (in good faith) be, transferred;
• credit reporting agencies, courts, tribunals and regulatory authorities, in the event you fail to pay for our services;
• courts, tribunals, regulatory authorities and law enforcement officers, as required by law, in connection with any actual or prospective legal proceedings, or in order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights; and
• third parties to collect and process data, such as Google Analytics or other relevant businesses. This may include parties that store data outside of Australia.

Confidentiality Obligations and Legal Privilege

As a law firm, we take very seriously our obligation of confidentiality to you and especially in relation to your legal matters. We understand the sensitive nature of any personal information that is disclosed to us. Any personal or sensitive information disclosed to us with the dominant purpose of obtaining legal advice or services will be kept confidential and protected by Legal Professional Privilege. Subject to any exceptions under the law, Legal Professional Privilege is a protection of any legal advice we provide to you and any communications between us that relates to your legal matter. 

The Australian Privacy Law

By providing us with personal information, you consent to the disclosure of your information outside of Australia and acknowledge that we are not required to ensure that overseas recipients handle that personal information in compliance with the Privacy Act (Act) and the Australian Privacy principles (APPs). In that regard, the Act and the APPs may not regulate third parties overseas. If any third party engages in any act or practice that contravenes the APPs, it would not be accountable under the Act.

We treat personal information that is also sensitive information with a higher level of protection under the APPs. Sensitive information is classified as information relating to your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religion, trade union or other professional associations or memberships, philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation or practices, criminal records, health information or biometric information.

Provided you consent, your sensitive information (if we hold any) may only be used and disclosed for purposes relating to the primary purpose for which the sensitive information was collected. Sensitive information may also be used or disclosed if required or authorised by law.

Your rights and controlling your personal information

Choice and consent: By providing personal information to us, you consent to us collecting, holding, using and disclosing your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. You do not have to provide personal information to us, however, if you do not, it may affect your use of this Site or our services offered on or through the Site or any other third party platform we use to deliver our services.

Information from third parties: If we receive personal information about you from a third party, we will protect it as set out in this Privacy Policy. If you are a third party providing personal information about somebody else, you represent and warrant that you have such person’s consent to provide the personal information to us.

Restrict: If you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by contacting us using the details below.

Access: You may request details of the personal information that we hold about you. An administrative fee may be payable for the provision of such information.

Correction: If you believe that any information we hold about you is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, please contact us using the details below. We will take reasonable steps to correct any information found to be inaccurate, incomplete, misleading or out of date.

Complaints: If you wish to make a complaint about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us using the details below and provide us with full details of the complaint. We will promptly investigate your complaint and respond to you, in writing, setting out the outcome of our investigation and the steps we will take to deal with your complaint.

Unsubscribe: To unsubscribe from our e-mail database or opt-out of communications (including marketing communications), please contact us using the details below or opt-out using the opt-out facilities provided in the communication.

Deletion: You can request for the erasure or deletion of your personal information by contacting us using the details below. The deletion of personal information will only be carried out subject to applicable laws. The deletion of personal information will only apply to personal information being held by us at the time your request is received.

Overseas transfer

Your personal information may be transferred to an overseas jurisdiction with substantially similar data protection laws such as the United States of America, the United Kingdom or countries within the European Union (EU). These countries have data protection laws, which protect personal information in a way that is at least substantially similar to APPs and there will be mechanisms available to you to enforce protection of your personal information under that overseas law. We do not require overseas recipients to comply with the APP and we will not be liable for a breach of the APP if your personal information is mishandled.

GDPR

In some circumstances, the European Union General Data Protection (GDPR) provides additional protection to individuals located in Europe. Where this is the case, there may be additional rights and remedies available to you under the GDPR if your personal information is handled in a manner inconsistent with that law.

Storage and security

We are committed to ensuring that the personal information we collect is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the personal information and protect it from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification and disclosure.

We cannot guarantee the security of any information that is transmitted to or by us over the Internet. The transmission and exchange of information is carried out at your own risk. Although we take measures to safeguard against unauthorised disclosures of information, we cannot assure you that the personal information we collect will not be disclosed in a manner that is inconsistent with this Privacy Policy.

Cookies, web beacons and Google analytics

We may use cookies and web beacons on our Site from time to time. While cookies don’t tell us your email address, they do allow third parties, like Google and Facebook, to track you as part of our retargeting campaigns or for analytics purposes. If and when you choose to provide our Site with personal information, this information may be linked to the data stored in the cookie. Web beacons monitor your behaviour on our Site and collect data about your web page viewing.

We also use Google Analytics to collect and process data from time to time.

Links to other websites

We do not have any control over Third Party Websites and we are not responsible for the protection and privacy of any personal information that you provide whilst visiting them. Third Party Websites are not governed by this Privacy Policy, even if you followed a link from our website to the Third Party Website.

Amendments

We may, at any time and at our discretion, vary this Privacy Policy by it on our Site. Check back to find the current Privacy Policy.

For any questions or notices, please contact our Privacy Officer at:

Phillips Family Law ABN 85 1632 811 14

Email: enquiry@pflaw.com.au

Last update: 21 December 2023