Introduction

JRT Partnership values the protection and safeguarding of your personal information.

This privacy policy sets out how we may collect, use, store and disclose personal information, as well as how you can access and correct your personal information held by us.  

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Personal Information  

Personal information is defined under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (‘the Act’) to simply mean any information or opinion that can reasonably identify you, regardless of whether the information is true or not or whether the information is recorded in a material form or not.

The types of personal information that we may collect includes but are not limited to:

• General,  personal or business details such as your name, job title, contact number,  address, email address, or date of birth;
• Business  registration details such as ABN or ACNs;
• Credit,  billing, bank account and payment information;
• Personal  documents and forms for safe keeping;
• Photos  you provide to us (including copies of drivers licence and passports required  for verification of identity);
• Any  communications between you and us;
• Any  other information relevant to providing our legal services.

In certain circumstances, we may also collect personal information considered to be “sensitive information” as defined by the Act, which includes information about your health, nationality and place of birth. We may collect such sensitive information where it is reasonably necessary in the provision of our legal services.  

If you do not wish to provide your personal information to us, or wish to interact with us anonymously or via a pseudonym we may not be able to provide our legal services to you. For example we cannot provide advice or services to you if we do not know your name and address.  Other legal services may require us to verify your identity and retain your personal details such as date of birth, your nationality and bank details for payments made to you.  

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Consent

By providing personal information, you consent to us collecting, using, storing and disclosing your personal information in accordance with this policy or as required or permitted by law.

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How we collect your personal information

In most instances, we collect your personal information directly from you. However, in some circumstances we may collect your information from third parties, such as:

• Your  employer or contacting agency;
• Your  business contacts or other organisations that you deal with, such as in the  case of a referral;  
• Regulatory  or credit reporting agencies such as ASIC;
• Your  adviser or other service providers
• Publicly  available records or public registries or databases; or
• A  family member or associate where they nominate you as an attorney under power  or beneficiary of their Will or Superannuation Fund.

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Why we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information  

We collect, hold, use and disclose personal information for various purposes, including without limitation:

• To  provide legal services;
• To  manage our professional relationships and interact with our clients,  employees, advisers and suppliers;
• To  complete or process conveyancing transactions  
• To  complete or process probate matters
• To  perform administrative and operational functions such as accounting and  billing tasks;  
• To  comply with any applicable legal or other regulatory, accounting,  professional requirements, including any purpose authorized or required by  law, courts or tribunals;  
• To  facilitate interactions in the ordinary course of operating our business; and  
• For any other purpose in connection with  the provision of legal services or conduct of our business..

We are also bound to our clients by professional obligations of confidentiality and legal professional privilege. We treat and protect all client information we receive (including any personal information) in accordance with these obligations.

We may use or disclose PersonalInformation for secondary purposes where it would be reasonable to expect us todo so, and that secondary purpose is related (or directly related in the case of Sensitive Information) to the primary purpose.

Unless you inform us that you opt out, we may use your Personal Information to send you direct marketing publications, including emails about legal developments, newsletters or event invitations. However, we will not disclose your PersonalInformation for the purposes of third-party direct marketing.

Subject to our professional obligations, we may disclose your personal information to:  

• Our employees or consultants including IT support providers;
• Other parties involved in your legal matter, including other law firms, our agents, barristers, legal consultants, courts, tribunals, regulatory authorities or government bodies;
• Our auditors, regulatory bodies, or as otherwise required for compliance purposes; and
• Any third parties authorized by you to receive information held by us.

In a conveyancing transaction your personal information may be collected, stored, and used by and disclosed to stored and used by: the Duty Authority; the ELNO, the Land Registry, theRegistrar, the Representative; Subscribers; and third parties (who may be located overseas)

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Storage of Personal information

We may hold personal information in physical documents or in electronic form. Physical files are kept securely inside our access controlled premises. Electronic files are only accessible through our secure network.

We cannot guarantee the security of information transmitted via the internet. As such, transmission of PersonalInformation via the internet is at your own risk.

We take the risk of cyber fraud seriously and so should you. We encourage you to actively protect your personal information. It is important you take the extra step to verify any bank account details you receive in an email from our firm by speaking to us before transferring money. Use a search engine to find our website and verify our phone number and call us. Do not reply to any emails asking for your personal details or payment before verifying its authenticity with us.

We will update, retain and delete your personal information in accordance with our policies and procedures, applicable laws and where relevant, your instructions, subject to any obligations we have at law to retain that personal information.

All of our employees and consultants understand their obligations to keep your personal information secure and treat it with the utmost confidentiality and professionalism.  

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Accessing or updating your personal information

You may contact us to request access to or to correct or update the personal information we hold about you by mail, email (admin@jrtpartnership.com.au) or phone +61 3 8601 4774.  

If you make such a request, we may need to verify your identity. In some circumstances, we may have a valid reason to deny your request to access or correct your information, in which case we will explain the reasons for the denial.  

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Complaints or requests

If you have any concerns about the way we have handled your personal information or if you want to access or correct your personal information, you can contact us at admin@jrtpartnership.com.au.  

Upon receiving a complaint, request, or question in accordance with the above, we may ask that you provide us further information. We investigate your complaint and work with you to implement a solution or resolve any issues.

If you are not satisfied with the way we have handled your complaint or request, you may lodge a complaint withOffice of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). For more information, see the OAIC website at https://www.oaic.gov.au/.