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Privacy
- Our philosophy
- Collection of information
- Use of information
- Access to information
- If you believe the information is inaccurate
- Disclosure of the information
- Security
- How to contact us
Our philosophy
Sparke Helmore recognises the importance of protecting an individual's privacy. Our procedure for dealing with any personal information that you disclose to us is explained in this policy and complies with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and the National Privacy Principles. Sparke Helmore is also subject to the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) (Spam Act), which regulates the sending of emails and other electronic communications.
The principles set out in this privacy policy will apply to personal information you provide to us via our website or under any other agreement or arrangement with us and to information we may collect about you from other sources.
Collection of information
The types of information Sparke Helmore collects will depend upon the nature of your dealings with us.
Generally speaking, Sparke Helmore will collect personal information about you when you:
- instruct us to provide legal advice;
- you visit our website;
- subscribe to a practice group newsletter or to receive Sparke Helmore publications;
- apply for employment with Sparke Helmore;
- attend a Sparke Helmore seminar; or
- otherwise have business dealings with us.
If you are a client or a subscriber to our mailing lists or online services, the personal information we will ordinarily collect about you will include your name, business address, e-mail address and contact numbers. If we are engaged to provide legal advice, we may collect other personal information from you. We will not collect personal information we do no need for these purposes.
Information collected via our website
When you visit our website, a record of your visit is made which records the following information:
- your top level domain name;
- the date and time of your visit;
- the web pages you accessed;
- the documents you downloaded;
- the type of browser you are using; and
- your server address and IP address on a general and aggregate basis, in order to analyse the performance of our sites.
This data is used completely anonymously in order to determine the amount of people who visit our sites and the most frequently used sections of our sites. This enables us to continually update and refine our site. If you use any forms on the website to send an email to someone at Sparke Helmore, a record will also be made of your email address.
If you wish to apply for employment through the Sparke Helmore website you will need to enter certain personal information about yourself. This information includes the details of your application, covering letter, CV and academic results. You may edit any personal information entered when you apply for employment. This includes contact details, e-mail address, application form and password. However, once an application has been sent, that specific application cannot be altered.
The Sparke Helmore website may contain links to other sites and Sparke Helmore is not responsible for the privacy practices or policies of those sites.
Collection of information in the ordinary course of business
Sparke Helmore may also collect information about you in the course of our business, including your name, address, contact details and occupation. This information may be collected through meetings, face to face interviews, business cards, seminars, telephone calls and from third parties.
Sensitive information
Sparke Helmore will only collect sensitive information about you (e.g. information about your membership of a professional body) when you have consented and the collection is required by law or is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal or equitable claim.
Use of information
Sparke Helmore may use the information collected in the following manner:
- for the compilation of statistical data and to maintain our database;
- for website development/improvement;
- to respond to any email inquiries;
- to notify you of any upcoming marketing, training, or other events;
- to provide you with legal and other publications;
- for quality control;
- for systems administration;
- for legal compliance purposes;
- to provide you or your organisation with legal advice;
- to receive services from you or your employer; and
- for employment purposes or to consider suitability of employment.
If you have previously provided your name to Sparke Helmore for information about services offered by us, you are able to request that your name be removed by sending an email to webinfo@sparke.com.au advising us that you do not wish to receive further information from us.
Access to information
If you wish to obtain access to any information that Sparke Helmore has collected about you through its website, you should contact our Privacy Officer:
Ron Silvers
p: 02 9260 2656
e: ron.silvers@sparke.com.au
To provide you with access to your current personal information held by us on our current records, Sparke Helmore can provide you with a copy of the relevant personal information (ordinarily, an electronic print–out or photocopy), Sparke Helmore will not charge you the cost of providing this information for our current records.
For legal and administrative reasons, Sparke Helmore may also archive records containing personal information. You only have a legal right to access personal information collected by Sparke Helmore prior to 21 December 2001 if we use or disclose your personal information after that date and if providing access will not cause us an unreasonable administrative burden or expense. If we do access old records we may charge for retrieving them for you.
Sparke Helmore may otherwise refuse your request for access to your personal information in other circumstances outlined in the National Privacy Principles. If access is refused, Sparke Helmore will provide you with a written reason for refusal.
If you believe the information is inaccurate
Sparke Helmore will take reasonable steps to make sure that any personal information we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete and up-to-date.
If you believe that any information that Sparke Helmore holds about you is inaccurate, incomplete, or out of date, please contact our Privacy Officer:
Ron Silvers
p: 02 9260 2656
e: ron.silvers@sparke.com.au
Disclosure of the information
Unless Sparke Helmore is required to do so by law, we will not sell or pass on to third parties any personal information you have provided to us without first seeking your consent.
We may disclose your personal information in the following ways:
- on a confidential basis to external service providers so that they can provide services such as financial or administrative services in connection with the operation of our business;
- to any person (where necessary) in connection with our legal services, such as to regulatory authorities, partners or advisors;
- in the interest of our professional obligations as permitted under the NPP (National Privacy Principle) or as required by law.
If Sparke Helmore engages external service providers, we will take reasonable steps to ensure those service providers comply with their obligations under the National Privacy Principles, when they handle your personal information. We will also ensure external service providers are only authorised to use personal information for the limited purposes specified in our agreement with them.
Some examples of services provided to us by external service providers include photocopying, archiving services, research organisations and consultants who conduct research on our behalf so we can better meet the needs of clients and staff.
We may also disclose personal information to related entities of Sparke Helmore, who will use that information in accordance with this privacy policy.
Security
Sparke Helmore will take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse or unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Sparke Helmore will take reasonable steps to destroy personal information if it is no longer required.
This website uses Session Cookies only during a search query of the website. Upon closing your browser, the Session Cookie is destroyed and no personal information is maintained which might identify you, if you were to visit our website at a later date. The security of our system is very important to us however, please note that no data transmission over the internet is 100% secure.
Sparke Helmore cannot accept responsibility for the security of information you send to or receive from us over the internet.
How to contact us
This Sparke Helmore privacy policy may change from time to time. The privacy policy will be made available to anyone who requests it, whether at our offices or by use of our website.
If you would like further information, or have any queries relating to Sparke Helmore’s Privacy Policy, please contact our Privacy Officer.
Ron Silvers
p: 02 9260 2656
e: ron.silvers@sparke.com.au