Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy should be read in conjunction with any specific privacy collection statements that we’ve created for the collection of Personal Information from our customers and other stakeholders.

1. Our commitment to your privacy

1.1 Barristers’ Chambers Limited (BCL/we/us) has implemented this Privacy Policy to provide information about what kinds of Personal Information we may collect or hold, how we collect, hold, use and disclose that Personal Information, choices you have regarding our use of that Personal Information, and your ability to access or correct that Personal Information. If you wish to make any inquiries regarding this Privacy Policy, you should contact our Privacy Officer in any of the ways specified in paragraph 13.

1.2 BCL recognises the importance of your privacy and how important it is to protect your Personal Information. BCL is committed to protecting the Personal Information which it holds and complying with all relevant privacy laws in the jurisdictions in which it operates including the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). The APPs regulate the manner in which Personal Information is collected and handled.

1.3 This policy describes how BCL manages your Personal Information and safeguards your privacy.

1.4 By providing BCL with information about yourself, you consent to the collection, use, disclosure and transfer of information as set out in this policy.

2. Personal Information

2.1 “Personal Information” is information or an opinion, whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an identified individual or an individual who is reasonably identifiable.

2.2 In your relationship with BCL you may share Personal Information with us. Depending on the nature of your relationship with BCL, this information may include (but is not limited to):

(a) your name;

(b) date of birth;

(d) telephone numbers;

(e) email addresses;

(f) your ABN/business name;

(g) bank accounts and credit card details;

(h) financial position of some defaulting tenants;

(i) details of rent payments;

(j) details of telephone calls, charges and payments;

(k) allocation of chambers;

(l) service requests, complaints and feedback;

(m) your[GS1] server address, top level domain name (eg, .com, .gov.au, etc), statistics on page views, traffic to and from the sites, and standard other web log information;

(n) metadata from internet activity recorded by BCL’s internet security systems, including details of every website address visited. BCL also logs metadata for all electronic communications sent or received;

(o) other information arising out of use of our network and services, as set out in our Communications and Technology Terms and Conditions;

(p) any additional information relating to you that you provide to us directly through our website or indirectly through your use of our website or online presence or through other websites or accounts from which you permit us to collect information;

(q) any other Personal Information that may be required in order to facilitate your dealings with us; and

(r) other information as contemplated by this Privacy Policy.

2.3 We collect and record Personal Information about individuals such as:

(a) our customers, potential customers and their representatives;

(b) our suppliers and potential suppliers and their representatives, directors, partners, proprietors and shareholders;

(c) contractors and subcontractors and potential contractors and subcontractors and their representatives in relation to providing goods and services to us;

(d) our employees past and present, including applicants; and

(e) any other person who comes into contact with BCL.

2.4 In addition, when you apply for a job or position with us, we may collect certain information from you (including your name, contact details, working history and relevant records checks) from any recruitment consultant, recruitment websites, your previous employers and others who may be able to provide information to us to assist in our decision on whether or not to make you an offer of employment or engage you under a contract. This Privacy Policy does not apply to acts and practices in relation to employee records of our current and former employees which are exempt from the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

2.5 Sensitive information is Personal Information such as health information and information about racial or ethnic origin that is generally afforded a higher level of privacy protection. In order to comply with privacy legislation obligations, we will collect sensitive information where it is reasonably necessary to do so and you have consented, or we are otherwise permitted or required to do so by the law.

3. How and when do we collect Personal Information?

3.1 We collect your Personal Information to allow us to conduct our business functions, to provide services, and for the specified purposes set out in paragraph 5. In some circumstances the collection of Personal Information may be required by law.

3.2 We may collect your Personal Information:

(a) in the course of providing you with our products and services;

(b) when you apply to us, for use of our products and services;

(c) when you provide information to us in any way (including by completing a form, disclosing information over the phone or via email, or providing us a business card);

(d) when you request information about us, our products and our services;

(e) when you provide feedback to us;

(f) when you visit premises from which we operate;

(g) when you (or your employee/s) provide information to us in the course of conducting or administering our relationship with you, or when you are carrying out activities in connection with our business operations;

(h) when you otherwise contact us by telephone, fax, email, social media, post or in person; or

(i) where we are otherwise required or authorised by law to do so.

3.3 Generally, when providing our products and services, dealing with our personnel, or obtaining goods and services from our service providers, suppliers or contractors, we collect Personal Information directly from the relevant individual where reasonable and practicable. However, we may collect Personal Information about you from third parties and other sources such as:

(a) clients;

(b) tenants;

(d) non-members holding a Victorian barristers’ practising certificate;

(e) employees;

(f) persons seeking to use BCL service;

(g) your nominated representatives (eg spouse, accountant, power of attorney, brokers and other professional advisors); and

(h) publicly available sources of information,

but we will only collect your Personal Information in this way if it is unreasonable or impracticable to collect this information directly from you or if we are otherwise permitted to do so.

3.4 Where we engage with you multiple times over a short period in relation to the same matter, we may not provide you with a separate notice about privacy each time we engage with you.

3.5 In general, provision of the Personal Information we may request from you is optional, but if you choose not to provide Personal Information to us, we may not be able to fulfil your request or provide you with the product or service you require. Sometimes, however, there are situations where we are required by law to collect certain Personal Information from you. Where practical, you may interact with us anonymously. For example, providing feedback to us that does not require a response from us. However, in many cases it will not be possible to interact with us anonymously because we need your Personal Information to be able to provide the products, services or information you are requesting. For example, if you wish to subscribe to an email newsletter then we need an email address for you.

3.6 Where appropriate and practical, at the point of collection of your information we may provide you either an “opt in” or “opt-out” mechanism. An “opt-in” mechanism will provide you the opportunity to positively indicate that you would like or do not object to our sending you further communications. An “opt-out” mechanism will provide you the opportunity to indicate that you do not want us to send you further communications, and if you “opt-out” we will not send you any further communications. At any time, you may opt out of such future contact by contacting us.

4. Information collected via our Website

4.1 Personal Information may be collected by us and by our third party service providers who assist us in operating our website at https://www.bcl.net.au/, including any other website we operate from time to time (collectively the Website).

4.2 We may use various technological methods from time to time to track the visiting patterns of individuals accessing our Website, including but not limited to the methods set out in this paragraph 4.

Google Analytics and other analytics software

4.3 We use Google Analytics and other analytics software to help analyse how you use our Website, emails and network. This software generates statistical and other information about website and email use by means of cookies, which are stored on users’ computers. The information generated is used to create reports about the use of our Website, emails and networks. For Google Analytics, Google will store this information.

4.4 Our Website may use ‘cookies’ from time to time. Cookies are small text files that are transferred to a user’s computer hard drive by a website for the purpose of storing information about a user’s identity, browser type or website visiting patterns. Cookies may be used on our Website to monitor web traffic, for example the time of visit, pages visited and some system information about the type of computer being used. We use this information to enhance the content and services offered on our Website.

4.5 Cookies are sometimes also used to collect information about what pages you visit and the type of software you are using. If you access our Website or click-through to our Website from a link in an email we send you, a cookie may be downloaded onto your computer’s hard drive.

Cookies may also be used for other purposes on our Website.

4.6 You can configure your browser to accept all cookies, reject all cookies, or notify you when a cookie is sent. Each browser is different, so check the “Help” menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences.

4.7 If you disable the use of cookies on your web browser or remove or reject specific cookies from our Website or linked sites then you may not be able to gain access to all of the content and facilities in those websites.

5. How do we use your Personal Information?

5.1 We use the Personal Information we collect about you, in order to operate our business efficiently. We may collect, hold and use your Personal Information:

(a) to lawfully and ethically conduct BCL’s business;

(b) to market and provide the goods and services our clients and tenants require;

(d) to provide employment;

(e) to assist in the provision of a safe environment for BCL’s clients, tenants, suppliers and other contacts;

(f) to let clients and tenants know about other products and/or services which might interest them;

(g) to assist generally in managing transactions with BCL’s clients, tenants, suppliers and other contacts;

(h) to identify and communicate with you;

(i) to provide for your safety and security while on our premises;

(j) to help us manage our business operations;

(k) for business support purposes including maintenance, backup and audit;

(l) to process a product and service application submitted by you;

(m) to respond to any queries or complaints you may have;

(n) to investigate, review, mitigate risks associated with, and inform you of, a data or other security breach involving your Personal Information;

(o) to comply with our statutory and legal obligations;

(p) for applications to rent chambers or otherwise make arrangements to pay rent or other charges to us;

(q) for credit account application forms and supply or purchase agreements;

(r) for the provision of credit or banking related information necessary to process payment of your purchases from us or our payments to you;

(s) for information you give us when you request a product, service or information (direct or referred) from us electronically, over the phone or in person;

(t) for access and usage of our Website or postings you make on any blog or forums on any site we may operate;

(u) for subscription to our email updates or newsletters;

(v) for the provision of information to the various barristers’ directories published from time to time in hardcopy or on the internet;

(w) for the provision of information about the use of one of our products or services (direct or referred), or your opinions about that product, recorded when you respond to a survey; or

(x) for the provision of information from barrister’s clerks, personal assistants and other authorised persons operating on your behalf.

5.2 In some cases, we may use your Personal Information to prevent and detect fraud, in order to protect the security[GS2] of our customers, BCL, the Victorian Bar, and others, or otherwise as required by law. We may also use your Personal Information in order to protect all users of BCL’s network and consumers of BCL services, via monitoring the BCL network as contemplated in the Communications and Technology Terms and Conditions such as monitoring metadata from internet activity recorded by BCL’s internet security systems, including details of every website address visited and metadata logs for all electronic communications sent or received. This also includes testing the BCL network including content and personal information passing through it to assess its security, performance and integrity. We may use information collected via our Website for statistical, reporting and website administration, maintenance and analytical purposes.

5.3 We may keep and file Personal Information you provide when dealing with us to assist us in providing you with our services and/or information of interest in respect of your business or your interest as a consumer. For example, we may send publications or other information on our products and services to you or follow up on your interest in particular products and services, unless you tell us not to. We may also, in certain circumstances, share your Personal Information with our advisers/partners who need to know that information to assist us in providing you with our range of products and services.

5.4 At times we may retain third parties to process and analyse data we collect on our Website, including your Personal Information, primarily to help us improve our products and services and our Website. We may also disclose information to affiliates and other third parties necessary to process your transactions or service your account (including print service providers, call centres and mail houses and our accountants, auditors and lawyers).

5.5 We may also disclose your Personal Information in corporate transactions involving the transfer of all or part of our business or its assets or in a corporate restructure. If we do this, we generally require these parties to protect your information in the same way we do.

5.6 We reserve the right at all times to monitor, review, retain, and/or disclose any information as necessary to satisfy any applicable law.

5.7 You consent to us using your Personal Information as set out in this Privacy Policy.

5.8 We may otherwise collect, use or disclose your Personal Information where the collection, use or disclosure is:

(a) in accordance with this Privacy Policy or any agreement you enter into with us; or

(b) required or authorised by law, including without limitation the Australian Privacy Principles under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

6. When do we disclose your Personal Information?

6.1 BCL may disclose, or provide access to, your Personal Information to third parties in connection with the purposes described in paragraph 5.

6.2 We may also disclose your Personal Information to:

(a) any of BCL’s internal divisions, business units or departments;

(b) your nominated representatives;

(d) professional service providers and advisors who perform functions on our behalf, such as lawyers;

(e) medical providers including medical and rehabilitation practitioners for assessing insurance claims;

(f) representatives, agents or contractors who are appointed by us in the ordinary operation of our business to assist us in providing goods or services or administering our business (such as for data storage or processing, printing, mailing, marketing, planning and product or service development);

(g) banks, lenders, valuers, insurers, brokers, auditors, business consultants and IT service providers who provide us products or services or who perform functions on our behalf; and

(h) government, regulatory authorities and other organisations as required or authorised by law (such as Centrelink or the police).

6.3 We may also disclose your Personal Information to our Website host or software application providers in certain limited circumstances, for example when our Website experiences a technical problem or to ensure that it operates in an effective and secure manner.

6.4 As we continue to develop our business, we may buy, merge or partner with other companies or organisations, and in so doing, acquire customer Personal Information. In such transactions, Personal Information may be among the transferred assets. Similarly, in the event that a portion or substantially all of our business or assets are sold or transferred to a third party, we may also disclose certain information including your Personal Information to a purchaser or potential purchaser in connection with the sale or potential sale of us, our business or any of our assets, including in insolvency.

7. Interstate and Overseas disclosures

7.1 We may also disclose your personal information to other recipients that are located outside Australia from time to time, including to service providers and business partners located outside of Australia.

7.2 You consent to the collection, use, storage, and processing of your Personal Information outside of Australia as set out in this Privacy Policy.

7.3 In particular, your Personal Information may be disclosed to third parties in USA, EU, UK and Singapore and such other countries in which those parties or their, or our, computer systems may be located from time to time, where it may be used for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. In these circumstances, you consent to the collection, use, storage and processing of your Personal Information in those countries, without us being responsible under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) for such use (or for any breach). Where such parties are located overseas, you may have rights to enforce such parties’ compliance with applicable data protection laws, but you might not have recourse against those parties under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) in relation to how those parties treat your personal information.

8. Other uses and disclosures

We may collect, use and disclose your Personal Information for other purposes not listed in this Privacy Policy. If we do so, we will generally seek to take reasonable steps to make it known to you at the time we collect or use your Personal Information, unless otherwise permitted by law.

9. Storage and security of Personal Information held by us

9.1 We aim to keep your Personal Information secure. Any Personal Information that is collected via our Website or which is held on our computer systems is protected by technical and organisational measures such as:

(a) Firewalls;

(b) Mail filtering;

(d) Anti-virus/malware measures;

(e) Backup solutions;

(f) Domain security groups and certificate based authentication;

(g) Multifactor authentication;

(h) Server update tools (WSUS);

(i) 24x7x365 monitoring and alerting;

(j) Geographical policies (offshore restrictions);

(k) Security processes and testing such as:

· Annual external penetration testing;

· Annual segmentation review/internal penetration testing;

· Wifi reviews; and

· Biannual disaster recovery testing; and

(l) Security tools and monitoring such as:

· Firewall reports and monitoring;

· Cloud audit tools; and

· Domain auditing.

9.2 If we find that we no longer require or have no further need for your Personal Information we may de-identify it or remove it from our systems and destroy all record of it.

9.3 When transmitting Personal Information from a computer to us, you should keep in mind that the transmission of information by email or over the Internet is not completely secure or error-free and you should take special care in deciding what information to send to us via email.

9.4 We take all reasonable steps to protect your Personal Information from loss, misuse, modification, or unauthorised access and disclosure. These steps include the above measures as well as access control for our buildings, confidentiality obligations imposed on our employees and use of security measures for computer system access. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all liability and responsibility for any damages you may suffer due to any loss, unauthorised access, misuse or alteration of your Personal Information during transmission of that information to us.

9.5 Some of the content on our Website may include access to external websites and applications made available by third parties, such as social media buttons or links that allow you to share content or links to our Website through the relevant third party platforms. These third party websites and applications themselves may facilitate collection of information by those third parties, through your interaction with the websites and applications and sometimes even if you do not interact directly with them. We are not responsible for the technical operation of these websites and applications or the collection and use practices of the relevant third parties. Please visit the relevant third party websites to understand their privacy practices and options they may make available to you in relation to their collection of your Personal Information.

10. You can access and update your Personal Information

10.1 You are generally entitled to access Personal Information that we hold about you. If you request access to your Personal Information, in ordinary circumstances we will give you full access to your Personal Information. Depending on the nature of the request, BCL may charge for providing access to this information, however such charge will not be excessive. However, there may be some legal or administrative reasons to deny access. If we refuse your request to access your Personal Information, we will provide you with reasons for the refusal where we are required by law to give those reasons.

10.2 We take all reasonable steps to ensure that any Personal Information we collect and use is accurate, complete and up-to-date. To assist us in this, you need to provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself as requested, and properly update the information provided to us to keep it true, accurate, current and complete.

10.3 Please contact us in any of the ways specified in paragraph 13 if you believe that the Personal Information we hold is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date, and we will use all reasonable efforts to correct the information.

10.4 It would assist us to ensure we properly understand your request, and allow us to respond more promptly, if requests are made in writing and include as much detail as possible.

11. How do we deal with complaints about privacy?

11.1 If you feel that we have not respected your privacy or that we have conducted ourselves inconsistently with this Privacy Policy, please contact our Privacy Officer in any of the ways specified in paragraph 13 and advise us as soon as possible. We will investigate your queries and privacy complaints within a reasonable period of time depending on the complexity of the query or complaint.

11.2 It would assist us to respond to your query or complaint promptly if it is made in writing. Please detail information relevant to your complaint.

11.3 We will notify you of the outcome of our investigation.

12. Updates to this Privacy Policy

We may, from time to time, review and update this Privacy Policy, including to take into account new laws, regulations, practices and technology. All Personal Information held by us will be governed by our most recent Privacy Policy, posted on our Website where the Privacy Policy will be located. Any changes to this Privacy Policy may be advised to you by updating our Website. We will aim to provide reasonable advance notice of such changes though this may not always be possible depending on the circumstances. We encourage you to check the Website from time to time for any changes.

13. What to do if you have a question, problem or complaint, or want to contact us about our use of your Personal Information or this Privacy Policy

If you:

(a) have a query or concern about this Privacy Policy or our Personal Information handling processes;

(b) wish to make a complaint in relation to a breach of your privacy;

(d) would like to update or correct your Personal Information held by us,

then, please contact our Privacy Officer in any of the following ways:

Address: Attn: Paul Clark

Barristers’ Chambers Limited

Level 13

200 Queen Street

Melbourne VIC 3000
Email: paul.clark@vicbar.com.au
Phone: 03 9225 7962

To download a PDF version of this Privacy Policy, please click here.

Effective 1 May 2023.

Barristers’ Chambers Limited Privacy Policy