Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Stephan & Co Lawyers ("we", "us" or "our") respects your right to privacy and is committed to safeguarding the privacy of our clients and website visitors. We adhere to the Australian Privacy Principles as set out in Schedule 1 of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). This policy sets out how we collect, maintain, use and store your personal information.

"Personal information" is information we hold which is identifiable as being about you. Examples of personal information may include your name, phone number, address, email address, date of birth, financial information, and IP address.

By engaging with Stephan & Co Lawyers, utilizing our website or contacting us, you accept the terms of this Privacy Policy and consent to the collection, disclosure and use of your personal information in accordance with this policy.

Collection of Personal Information

We only collect personal information where it is necessary for our business purposes or if there is a legal requirement for us to do so. The types of personal information that Stephan & Co Lawyers collects will depend on the nature of your dealings with us. We will take reasonable steps to ensure that you know why we are collecting your personal information, what we use it for, to whom we may disclose it and how you can access it to ensure it is accurate and up to date.

How We Collect Your Personal Information

Stephan & Co Lawyers collects personal information from you in a variety of ways, including when you:

• Correspond with us electronically, via telephone, or in person

• Use our website or other online resources

• Complete our online questionnaires or contact forms

• Accept invitations to our events

• Subscribe to our newsletters or other publications

• Apply for a position of employment with us

• Engage us to provide legal services

We may also collect information from other sources, such as from your nominated representative or attorney, third parties including government departments, courts and tribunals, other legal professionals, recruitment agencies, previous employers, and search providers in relation to property, bankruptcy and companies enquiries.

We reserve the right to record telephone calls and keep them on file in the same way that we store emails and other correspondence.

When you receive our newsletters and other publications, you will be given the ability to opt out of receiving these from us at any time by clicking the "unsubscribe" link on the publication.

If you choose not to provide us with information we request, we may be unable to provide you with the information and legal services that you require.

Types of Information We May Collect

We may request information from you, including but not limited to:

• Your full name, any aliases, gender, address, phone number(s) and other contact information

• Your date of birth

• Your email address

• Details of your financial institution and tax information for billing purposes or payment of wages and salaries

• Your occupation and work history

• Details of your family's and your assets and liabilities

• Information about your legal matter and related parties

• Feedback on our legal services

• Any other information you provide while interacting with us

Sensitive Information

We may collect sensitive information (such as information relating to your health, medical treatment, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, or criminal record) where collection is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal or equitable claim or where you have provided consent. As confidentiality is important for the due process of the law, it is often not possible or legally necessary to obtain your consent in such circumstances. However, if we need to collect sensitive information in other circumstances, we will obtain your consent.

Use and Disclosure of Personal Information

Stephan & Co Lawyers uses the personal information it collects for the purposes of providing legal services and for the effective operation of our business. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Providing and marketing our legal services

• Enabling contact and lawfully liaising with courts and tribunals, other lawyers, barristers, consultants, accountants, financial advisers and similar professionals

• Providing data to government agencies as required by state and federal law

• Undertaking employee selection, recruitment and management activities

• Sharing information in confidence to third parties to improve our legal services and obtain feedback

• Undertaking quality assurance activities

• Practicing effective risk management

• Resolving concerns and complaints

• Understanding how people use our services to troubleshoot and identify areas for improvement

Stephan & Co Lawyers may contact you by a variety of methods including, but not limited to, telephone, email, SMS, MMS, WhatsApp, social media or mail.

Disclosure to Third Parties

Stephan & Co Lawyers will only disclose personal information in order to provide legal services and to operate an efficient and sustainable business. We may disclose information to third parties, including but not limited to:

• Any persons acting on your behalf including advisers, consultants and attorneys

• Service providers and suppliers engaged by us (either directly or through a related entity)

• Courts and tribunals

• State and federal government regulatory bodies

• Barristers, expert witnesses and other legal professionals

• Financial institutions for payment processing

• Any authority, agency or individual, where disclosure is permitted or required by law

  
  

Stephan & Co Lawyers from time to time engages and uses service providers, suppliers or consultants to act on our behalf and/or to provide services to the firm, including technical assistance, consulting services, and marketing support. In these cases, we will 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 organizations for access to information that they hold about you.

If we send your personal information outside of Australia, we will require that the recipient of the information complies with Australian privacy laws and contractual obligations to maintain the security of the data.

If there is a change of control in our business or a sale or transfer of business assets, we reserve the right to transfer to the extent permissible at law our databases, together with any personal information contained in those databases. This information may be disclosed to a potential purchaser under an agreement to maintain confidentiality. We would seek to only disclose information in good faith and where required by such circumstances.

If we need to disclose your personal information for any other purpose not covered by this policy, we will obtain consent from you.

Data Quality

Stephan & Co Lawyers will take reasonable steps to ensure that personal information it collects, uses and discloses is accurate, current and complete. We do so via our own internal quality systems and auditing procedures.

If you believe any information that we hold about you is incorrect, incomplete or out-of-date, please contact us. Stephan & Co Lawyers will respond to your request within a reasonable period and will take reasonable steps to amend your records.

Data Security

Stephan & Co Lawyers is committed to ensuring that the information you provide to us is secure. We hold personal information in a combination of secure electronic and hard copy formats. We take all reasonable steps to ensure that any personal information held by us is protected from misuse, loss, unauthorized access, modification or disclosure. Such steps include:

• Secure physical storage of documents in our strongroom

• Office premises security measures

• Network and communications security measures

• Encryption and password protection where appropriate

• Quality system procedures and staff training

• Regular security reviews and updates

  
  

The transmission and exchange of information is carried out at your own risk. We cannot guarantee the security of any information that you transmit to us or receive from us. Although we take measures to safeguard against unauthorized disclosures of information, we cannot assure you that personal information that we collect will not be disclosed in a manner that is inconsistent with this Privacy Policy.

Retention and Destruction of Information

Stephan & Co Lawyers will keep information for as long as it is required to provide legal services or as required by law. Legal professional obligations may require us to retain information for extended periods. Stephan & Co Lawyers will take reasonable steps to permanently de-identify or securely destroy personal information that it no longer requires, or upon your request, except in limited circumstances permitted by law.

There are some circumstances where it is not reasonable or practicable for us to provide certain information. For example, it is our practice not to disclose 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.

Use of the Website and Data Protection

When you access our website or any of our newsletters and publications, anonymous technical information (cookies) may be collected about user activities on the website. This may include information such as:

• The date and time you accessed the website

• The type of browser and device used to access the website

• The pages of the website you visited

• Any documents that you downloaded

• Your IP address and location data

This information is used by us to make decisions about maintaining and improving our website and online services.

Cookies

We may from time to time use cookies on our website. Cookies are small files which a website uses to identify you when you return to the site and to store details about your use of the site. Cookies are not malicious programs that access or damage your computer. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can choose to reject cookies by changing your browser settings. However, this may prevent you from taking full advantage of our website.

Our website may use cookies to analyze website traffic and help us provide a better website visitor experience. In addition, cookies may be used to serve relevant advertisements to website visitors through third-party services such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads and similar platforms. These ads may appear on our website or other websites you visit.

Third-Party Websites

We provide links to useful websites on our website. While we have confidence in these websites, these linked sites are not under our control, and we cannot accept responsibility for the conduct of companies 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 information that Stephan & Co Lawyers holds about you in accordance with the provisions of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). To request access to your information, please contact Mary Stephan, Principal Solicitor, by email at mary@stephancolawyers.com.au.

At the time you make your request, we may ask you to provide a written request detailing the information you are seeking to access. If you are an authorized representative, we may require you to provide documented evidence that lawfully authorizes you to act on the individual or company's behalf.

We reserve the right to charge a reasonable administrative fee for providing access to certain information, as permitted by law, and you will be informed of any charges at the time of your request. We will always endeavor to meet your request for access within a reasonable timeframe and in the manner requested by you if it is reasonable to do so.

However, in some circumstances we may decline a request for access to information, such as where:

• We no longer hold the information

• Providing access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others

• Providing access would reveal our confidential commercial information

• Providing access would be unlawful or prejudice enforcement activities

• Denying access is otherwise permitted or required by law

If we are unable to give you access to the information you have requested, we will provide you with written reasons for this decision when we respond to your request.

Complaints About Privacy

If you have any complaints about our privacy policy or privacy practices, please contact us in writing. We request that complaints be made in writing to ensure we understand the complaint clearly. We take complaints very seriously and will respond within a reasonable timeframe after receiving written notice of your complaint.

If you have made a complaint and you are not satisfied with our response or consider that the complaint has not been adequately resolved, you may make a formal written complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).

Contacting Us

If you have any questions, feedback or concerns about our Privacy Policy or how your personal information is handled by our firm, please contact Mary Stephan, Principal Solicitor, as follows:

Stephan & Co Lawyers

Address: 222 Pitt St, Sydney

Phone: 0409 359 939

Email: mary@stephancolawyers.com.au

Changes to Privacy Policy

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. We may modify this policy at any time, in our sole discretion, and all modifications will be effective immediately upon our posting of the modifications on our website. Please check back from time to time to review our Privacy Policy. If you have any objections to the Privacy Policy at any time, you should not utilize our services or website.

The most current version of this Privacy Policy is available on our website.

Consent

By providing us with personal information, you consent to the terms of this Privacy Policy and the types of disclosure covered by this policy. Where we disclose your personal information to third parties, we will request that the third party follow this policy regarding the handling of your personal information.