What is this policy?

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When you use our services or contact us, you trust us with your personal information. We collect and store this information about you to help us deliver the best possible legal service.

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Here we will explain what information we collect, how we collect it and what we actually do with it.

 

This policy confirms our obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles relating to the collection and management of personal information.

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Who are we?

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Hayden Stephens and Associates is an Incorporated Legal Practice.  To look us up, search for Hayden Stephens and Associates ILP Pty Ltd, ABN 65 639 289 857

 

What information do we collect?

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We collect personal information that helps us contact you, solve your legal problem and personalise our content for you. We will only ask for, use or share sensitive information with your consent and only for the reason we collected it (unless we need to by law).  For example, we will obtain your authority prior to requesting any health or financial information.    

 

We collect contact details like your name, date of birth, phone number, email and address. The information we collect to personalise content for you includes your occupation, business situation, job titles, images, opinions and, should we need it, your credit card details.

 

If we don’t need your information anymore, we will anonymise or delete it.

If you are giving us other persons’ personal information, please do so only if they consent and agree to this policy.

 

When you access any website including ours, you may be providing it with information about your location, Internet provider, computer hardware, browser type and operating system.

 

How do we collect information?

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When you reach out to us through the phone, use our website or open our emails, you are telling us about yourself.

 

This can be through online enquiry forms or questionnaires.  

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We also reserve the right use software like cookies to tell us how you use our website and how we can help you. Cookies are tiny digital identifiers that are automatically stored on your computer. These help us personalise our service to you and can be turned off or deleted at any time through your browser settings.

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We may also collect information from third parties such as insurance providers, government agencies, medical practitioners and other organisations.  

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What do we do with this information?

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Using your information:

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We use all personal information legally, fairly and transparently and on this page we explain everything that we do with it. 

 

We will only use your information to give you the best legal service, which comes down to researching your case and communicating with you. 

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We also collect, hold, use and disclose personal information to:

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• Progress your claim,

• To obtain litigation funding, 

• To meet our legal obligations.

 

Although it is your right not to provide personal information, we may not be able to provide you with relevant legal service without it.

 

We may also on occasion, use your information to market our services to you.

 

Storing your information:

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We store your information securely in confidential paper and electronic files and only our staff and businesses we work with can access it. We use physical, electronic and management processes to keep your information safe. For example:

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• Access to your information is protected by user logins and

• We limit access to your information according to the strict client confidentiality laws that apply to law firms

 

Suffice to say, we take all reasonable precautions to ensure that your personal information is not assessed by unauthorised parties or lost.

     

Sharing your information:

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We may on occasion share your information with a core few organisations that we work with to collect, process and use your information. 

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We might also share your information with other contractors and groups like, advisors, data storage and payment service providers, and only on a need-to-know basis. 

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It’s possible that these groups store some of your information overseas (including the US) under different information privacy laws and disclosure obligations to Australia. If these groups ever breach Australian privacy laws, they won’t be accountable in Australia, and you won’t have any remedy available under Australian laws like the Privacy Act.

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We will never sell your information (or give it away for free). However the government might ask for your information - for example through certain laws or a court order. This might include the police investigating a crime, or a court hearing for failure to pay. 

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Remember, when reaching out to us online, we can’t guarantee that your information hasn’t been intercepted by someone else before reaching us. That’s your responsibility!

 

What if you have a special relationship with us?

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Some relationships are ‘special’ because of the different data requirements they have. We’ve outlined some examples here.

 

If we become your lawyer, we might ask you for important documents like contracts and may legally need to keep your data for a certain length of time.

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When you apply for a job with us, we might ask for personal data like your work history.

 

If you are under 16, we can only let you use our site and submit your data to us if you have your parents’ or guardians’ permission.

 

How you may access your personal information, make a complaint or simply want to contact us?

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It is your right to access your personal information subject to limited restrictions. It is also your right to seek that your personal information be corrected. Please contact Hayden Stephens on 1300 64 48 45 or at privacy@haydenstephens.com.au to make that request.

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If you believe that we have breached our obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) please contact Hayden Stephens using the contact details above and either he or a member of our team will respond to you within 14 days. If you believe that we have not resolved your complaint within a reasonable time, you may refer your complaint to the Australian Privacy Commissioner on 1300 363 992 or www.oaic.gov.au.