Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy sets out the Stephen Wawn & Associates (ABN 75 529 844 878) (“we“, “us” and when relating to us, “our”) policies in relation to the management of personal information.

We are committed to protecting the privacy of our contracts, customers, suppliers and employees (“you” and when relating to you, “your“) and complying with the Australian Privacy Principles set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act).

We collect and hold:

• your contact details, such as office address, home address, telephone numbers and email address;
• your personal details, such as name, date and place of birth, gender, qualifications, titles, whether or not you are Aboriginal or a Torres Strait Islander, the languages you speak;
• information relating to your circumstances and affairs relevant to the matter/s in which we are instructed;
• information about your legal interests and requirements and the legal services that you may wish to purchase;
• 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 and work experience;
• if you are a supplier or prospective supplier, information about your business skills, services, products and prices;
• statistical information regarding your viewing, access and use of our website and other software; and
• records of your communications and other interactions with us.

In this Privacy Policy, we refer to this as your personal information.

We generally collect your personal information directly from you, including when you use our website or send us an email. However, in some cases, we may receive your personal information from a third party (for instance, from another solicitor). We may collect personal information when:

• you contact us with a question or inquiry;
• you subscribe to our newsletter or legal updates services;
• you attend a seminar or event when we are hosting or presenting;
• you instruct us to act for you and we open a file and conduct a conflict check;
• you complete 
• our clients providing information relating to related and adverse parties relevant to the advice or services we are providing;
• we undertake a search or investigation;
• your visit our website.

For more information, please see our Personal Information Collection Notice.

Without your personal information, we may not be able to provide you with some or all of our products and services.

We collect and hold your personal information to:

• provide legal services to you
• communicate with you to offer products, services and events;
• analyse your interaction with our personal and electronic services. The information collected from you may be analysed individually and/or aggregated with the information relating to other members to produce statistical information. Insights from this process are used to select and optimise the information, services and advertising we provide to you; and
• use information and/or provide information to third parties as authorised or required by law.

We do not use your personal information or disclose it to another organisation unless:

• it is reasonably necessary for one of the purposes described above;
• having regard to the nature of the information or the circumstances of collection we believe you would expect us to use the information or make the disclosure;
• required or authorised by law or court or tribunal;
• it is necessary to protect the rights, property, health or personal safety of a member of the public, the public or our interests, and it is unreasonable or impracticable to obtain your consent;
• the disclosure is necessary to assist any entity, body or person to locate a person who has been reported missing;
• we have reason to suspect that unlawful activity, or misconduct of a serious nature, that relates to our functions or activities has been, is being or may be engaged in, and we believe that the collection, use or disclosure is necessary in order for us to take appropriate action;
• the assets and operations of our business are transferred to another party as a going concern;
• it is necessary to obtain third party services, for example to carry out data analysis or provide information processing services. The use of your information by third parties is strictly controlled;
• it is for one of the purposes expressly permitted under the Privacy Act; or
• you have provided your consent.

Stephen Wawn & Associates uses the services of certain third party service providers which may have offices or other operations outside of Australia. As a result, your personal information may be disclosed to overseas recipients. All service providers that have access to personal information held by the Law Society are required to keep the information confidential and not to make use of it for any purpose other than to provide services in accordance with their engagement.

If you do not want your personal information to be disclosed (for instance, you want to have your name excluded from commercial mailing lists) you should advise us in writing. We will accommodate your request provided that the disclosure is not required by law.

We take reasonable precautions to protect the personal information we hold from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

If a third party is given access to personal information we take reasonable steps to ensure that the information is held securely and used only for the purpose of providing the relevant service or activity.

Cookies

We collect personal information through software such as cookies. A cookie is a text-only string of information that a website transfers to the cookie file of the browser on the hard disk of a user’s computer so that the website can remember that user. Without cookies, websites and their servers have no memory. This means that every time a user opens a new webpage on a website, the server where that webpage is stored will treat the user as new. In short, a cookie facilitates a user’s passage through a website.

You can control your Cookies Settings here: Cookie Consent Settings

reCAPTCHA

We use reCAPTCHA v3 to protect our site and its users from spam. The Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Linked websites

This Privacy Policy does not apply to linked websites.

You have the right to access your personal information unless we are permitted by law to withhold that information. Any requests for access to your personal information should be made to us in writing. You also have the right to request the correction of any of your personal information which is inaccurate.

In some circumstances it may be appropriate and lawful for us to deny access, including if:

• we reasonably believe that giving access would pose a serious threat to the life, health or safety of any individual, or to public health or public safety;
• providing access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of another individual;
• the request is frivolous or vexatious;
• the information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings between you and us and the information would not be accessible by the process of legal discovery in those proceedings;
• giving access would reveal our intentions in relation to negotiations with you and prejudice those negotiations;
• we have reason to suspect that unlawful activity, or misconduct of a serious nature, relating to our functions or activities has been, is being or may be engaged in; and giving access would be likely to prejudice the taking of appropriate action in relation to the matter;
• providing access would be unlawful or if denying access is required or authorised under Australian law or a court/tribunal order;
• giving access would be likely to prejudice one or more enforcement related activities conducted by, or on behalf of, an enforcement body; or
• giving access would reveal evaluative information generated within the Law Society in connection with a commercially sensitive decision-making process.

If you require any further information about our management of personal information or have a complaint about our handling of your personal information, you should write to us, and we will respond to you within a reasonable time, usually 30 days.

Contact Details

Phone: (02) 9328 1000
Email: office@stephenwawn.com.au
Post:
Suite 202/203 New South Head Road
Edgecliff NSW Australia

For more information, please see our Personal Information Collection Notice.