Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers and our related entities (collectively Carroll & O’Dea, we, us or our) understand and respect the importance of privacy to our clients and the people and organisations we engage with and / or who visit our website (collectively you and your).
We are committed to complying with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Act) and the accompanying Australian Privacy Principles as set out in Schedule 1 of the Act.
This policy sets out how we collect, use, maintain and store personal information, including how you can update of access personal information we have about you, and how you can make a complaint.
Definition of personal information
Personal information includes information or opinions that could identify you. This will vary depending on whether you can be identified or are reasonably identifiable in the circumstances.
Sensitive information is personal information that includes information or opinions about your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions or associations, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, sexual orientation or practices, criminal record, health or genetic information, and some aspects of biometric information.
Collection of personal information
We only collect personal information where it is necessary for business or practice purposes or if there is a legal requirement for us to do so. The types of personal information we collect will vary depending on the reasons you are engaging with us.
We will take reasonable steps to tell you why we need to collect your personal information, what we use it for, who we may disclose it to (including third party organisations), and how you can access it to ensure it is accurate and up to date.
Where we collect personal information
We are likely to collect personal information about you from a variety of sources, such as when you:
- Talk to or correspond with us (including by email, phone, online and in person)
- Use our website, online portals, artificial intelligence models or other resources
- Complete our online questionnaires
- Accept invitations to our events
- Subscribe to our newsletters or other publications
- Engage with our social media channels
- Apply for employment with us
- Complete a survey about, or provide feedback on, your experience or interaction with us (including when visiting our website), or
- Pay for our services electronically, by phone, or in person.
We will not record or electronically transcribe phone calls or online meetings with you unless we ask you and you consent.
When you receive our newsletters and other email publications you may opt out of receiving these from us at any time by clicking the “unsubscribe” link on the message.
We will endeavour to collect all information directly from you. From time to time, it might be necessary to collect information from other sources, such as from your nominated representative or attorney, your advisers or specialists, or from other third parties such as:
- Government departments
- Recruitment agencies
- Previous employers or referees
- Search providers for property, bankruptcy and company enquiries, and
- Artificial intelligence
If you choose not to provide us with requested information, we may be unable to provide you with the information or services that you may need or have requested.
Personal and other information collected through digital engagement
When you visit our website or engage with our social media channels, some of the information we may receive or collect from or about you may be personal information. We may also receive or collect information which does not identify you personally, for example general demographic data such as age, gender and location, and data about your activity on our website or social media channels such as areas of interest.
The information, which may include personal information, that we receive when you visit our website or engage with our social media channels, can include information that is inferred, artificially generated or produced by or using artificial intelligence models.
We use third-party tracking pixels and scripts on our website and outlook programs from time to time to collect de-identified insight data and user activity data to allow us to improve how we interact with you (and people more generally), including the content we share with you, and to improve the overall user experience.
What personal information we may collect
The personal information we request or collect from you may include, but is not limited to, the following:
- Your full name, any other or former names or aliases, gender, and date of birth
- Your contact details including home or mailing address, phone number(s) and email address
- Your financial, banking and tax information, including tax file number, for billing purposes, payment of wages and salaries, or accounts
- Your occupation and work history
- Details of your family’s and your assets and liabilities
- Copies of your identification or requesting to sight your identification
- Device identification information and usage details when you use a computer, mobile phone, smart phone, tablet, or other device to access our guest wifi service or interact with us through our website (www.codea.com.au), portals or applications. This information may include session cookies, your device name, device IMEI number, device type, IP address or MAC address and other information as outlined in the Cookies section of this policy
- Information collected from you by our secure payment processing systems when you pay for our services via these systems including transaction details (such as payment method), noting that information is passed onto a third party (ie bank) for this purpose
- Information you provide to us through our website, applications, or directly to our employees in relation to our legal services
- Feedback on our legal services and / or your experience with us.
Sensitive information
We may collect sensitive information (such as information relating to your health, medical treatment, ethnicity and / or sexual orientation) where this is necessary to identify you and also in relation to the establish, exercise or defend a legal or equitable claim.
It is often not possible or legally necessary to obtain your consent in circumstances where we are acting in a legal matter. If we need to collect sensitive information in other circumstances, we will obtain your consent.
Use and disclosure of personal information
How we use personal information
We use the personal information we collect to provide legal services and to operate our practice and business. This includes, but is not limited to, using the information to:
- Provide legal services
- Contact and lawfully liaise with the courts, other lawyers, consultants, accountants, financial advisers, medical providers and other specialists or advisers
- Provide data to government agencies as required by state, territory and national law
- Undertake employee selection, recruitment and management activities
- Conduct quality assurance activities and practice effective risk management
- Resolve concerns and address queries and complaints
- Create transaction records including accounts, tax invoices or receipts
- Market our legal services and evaluate and enhance the performance of our marketing initiatives
- Improve the layout, content and overall user experience of our website and assist in diagnosing and resolving technical issues.
Our use of personal information may include inputting it to technology, systems and / or platforms (including AI and Generative AI) as part of providing legal services or for our practice and business operations. We have processes in place which govern the selection and use of AI systems and platforms, including in relation to their data security and protection of privacy and legal professional privilege.
How we disclose personal information
We will only disclose personal information in order to provide legal services and to operate our practice or business. As such, we may disclose information to third parties, including but not limited to:
- Advisers, consultants, specialists or others acting on your behalf
- Other parties involved in a matter for which we provide legal services to you, and their legal representatives (for example, counterparties to transactions or litigation, and insurers)
- Courts, Tribunals, Commissions and other judiciary bodies in relation to a matter for which we provide legal services to you
- Service providers, suppliers, contractors and consultants engaged by us or who we have commercial relationships with (including secure payment processing systems providers, data entry service providers and third party providers whose cookies may be present on our website from time to time)
- State and Federal government regulatory bodies
- Any authority, agency or individual, where disclosure is permitted or required by law.
We engage and use service providers, suppliers and others to act on our behalf and / or to provide services to us (either directly or through a related entity) from time to time. In these cases, we take reasonable steps to protect the privacy of all information disclosed and require such parties to comply with any relevant privacy laws. You have the right to ask these organisations for access to information that they hold about you.
If we need to disclose your personal information for any other purpose, we will obtain consent from you.
Disclosure of personal information outside Australia
If we disclose, send or store your personal information outside Australia, we require the recipient of the information to comply with privacy laws equivalent to, or more stringent than, the laws that apply in Australia.
Data quality
We will take reasonable steps to ensure the personal information we collect, use and disclose is accurate and current. We do this through our own internal quality systems and risk management procedures.
If you believe any information that we hold about you is incorrect, incomplete or out-of-date, please contact us. We will respond to your request within a reasonable period and will take reasonable steps to amend your records.
Data security
We hold personal information in a combination of secure electronic and hard copy formats.
We take all reasonable steps to ensure that personal information held by us is protected from misuse, loss and unauthorised modification or disclosure. Such steps include network and communications security, secure physical storage of documents, office premises security, and quality system procedures.
Data retention
We keep information for as long as it is required to be able to provide legal services or by law.
We will take reasonable steps to permanently de-identify or securely destroy personal information that is no longer needed, or upon request from you for any purpose except in limited permitted circumstances.
Cookies
Cookies are small text files which may be placed on your device when you access our website. The type of information collected by cookies includes:
- Your IP address
- The date, time and duration of your visit to our website
- The type of browser used to access our website
- The pages of our website you visited and any links you select and documents you download
- Your navigation of our website, including usage patterns, scrolling activity and mouse interactions
- Details of any referring website or advertisement that directed you to our website, and
- Your general browsing behaviour on our website.
We might use this information to make decisions about maintaining and improving our website and online services including to enable analytical and marketing activities. Cookies may be set by us (first-party cookies) or by third parties whose services we use (third-party cookies).
Third party providers whose cookies may be present on our website include Meta, Google, Microsoft Clarity, and other analytics, advertising or website developer partners engaged by us or on our behalf from time to time.
Third parties which process data collected through their cookies on our website do so in accordance with their own privacy policies which are publicly available for you to review.
Although the information collected by the third-party providers through their cookies may be anonymous on collection, the providers may combine this information with other data they hold to deliver personalised advertising or analytics services.
Control of cookies
Through your browser settings you may be able to block all cookies from being stored on your device, permit only certain types of cookies to be stored, or receive a prompt before a cookie is stored on your device. If you choose to disable cookies, some features of our website may not function as intended.
You can find more information on cookies from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
Use of links to third party websites on our website and data protection warning
Our website provides links to relevant information on other websites. While we have confidence in these websites, these linked sites are not under our control. We do not accept responsibility for the conduct of the organisations or people which operate those websites, including whose domain is linked to our website or whose domain links you to our website.
Before disclosing your personal information on any other website, we advise you to examine the terms and conditions of using that website and its privacy statement.
Access to personal information
You have a right to reasonable access to any personal information that we hold about you.
To request access to your information, please contact our General Manager, John Willey, by email jwilley@codea.com.au. We may ask you to provide a written request detailing the information you are seeking to access and, if you are an authorised representative, to provide documented evidence that lawfully authorises you to act on the individual or company’s behalf.
We reserve the right to charge for providing access to certain information, as permitted by law and will inform you of this after we receive your request.
We will respond to your request for access within a reasonable timeframe and in the manner you request if it is reasonable to do so. Please note that we may decline a request for access to information if we no longer hold the information or where denying access is permitted or required by law.
If we are unable to give you access to the information you have requested, we will give you written reasons for this decision when we respond to your request.
There might be circumstances where it is not reasonable or practicable for us to let you know this information. For example, it is our practice not to disclose such information to an individual if doing so would breach our legal and professional obligations to our client, undermine the purpose for which the information is being collected (where collection is for a legitimate business practice), or where we collect information from public records.
Contacting us/complaints
If you have any questions, feedback or concerns about this policy or how we collect, use, store or secure your personal information, please contact our General Manager, John Willey, as follows:
Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers / Carodea Secretarial Pty Ltd
Address: Level 18, 111 Elizabeth Street, Sydney NSW 2000
Post: GPO Box 7105, Sydney NSW 2001
Phone: 02 9291 7100
Email: jwilley@codea.com.au
We will respond to your query or complaint within a reasonable timeframe. If you have a complaint, or if you have made a complaint and are not satisfied with our response, and / or consider that the complaint has not been adequately resolved, you should make a formal written complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.