Privacy Policy
Keypoint Law Pty Ltd , its staff, management, Consulting Principals and other team members (Keypoint) understand how important your privacy is to you. We are committed to ensuring that the personal information we collect and hold is handled in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act) as amended from time to time.
In general, personal information is information or an opinion (whether true or not) about an identified or reasonably identifiable individual. Keypoint is also committed to ensuring the protection of confidential information that we receive.
In what circumstances does Keypoint collect personal information?
Keypoint is an Australian law firm providing legal services across 25 areas of law. In the course of this work Keypoint deals with a wide range of individuals. The types of personal information we collect depends on the nature of those dealings. For example, we may collect personal information from you when you:
- enquire about our legal services or instruct us to provide you with legal advice;
- attend a Keypoint event such as a seminar;
- do business with us as the ‘contact person’ of a supplier or client organisation or otherwise deal with us as part of a transaction;
- engage with us as a regulator;
- visit our website.
A special section about online privacy issues is included below.
What personal information does Keypoint collect and hold?
Your name, title, address, email address, phone, fax and mobile numbers are usually included in the personal information we will collect from you. Sometimes Keypoint may need to collect additional information from you, for example to provide you with advice related to a particular area of law or with updates. Note that if you do not supply any further information that we may request, we may not be able to provide you with the assistance or other response that you seek. Keypoint will always seek to minimise the personal information it collects, especially where you are another organisation’s listed ‘contact person’.
Wherever possible, Keypoint will collect personal information directly from you as the individual concerned, rather than from publicly-available sources such as government registers or from other third parties. However, sometimes it will be necessary to collect personal information from third parties involved in your matter, such as your financial advisor or other legal practitioners. Occasionally Keypoint is asked to provide legal services where credit is to be provided. In this rare circumstance we may seek information about you from a credit reporting agency.
Some personal information constitutes ‘sensitive information’ under privacy legislation including the Privacy Act. This includes details of your racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs or affiliations, sexual orientation and criminal convictions. Health information together with genetic or biometric information in some circumstances is also sensitive information. Keypoint will not request sensitive information from you unless we reasonably need it for one or more of our functions or activities, such as providing advice; or collect it unless you agree, or the collection is otherwise permitted under APP3.
How does Keypoint use personal information?
Keypoint’s policy is to use personal information only for the purpose(s) for which it was collected. These purposes are to provide our services and carry out our business, including specific activities mentioned above such as responding to enquiries, providing advice and dealing with suppliers.
We also need to collect personal information for communications purposes so that we can, for example, offer new services, alert you to legal or other business developments or invite you to events. If you prefer not to receive these types of communications, please tell us via the contact details set out at the end of this policy.
Does Keypoint give your personal information to other people?
Keypoint does not trade in the personal information it has collected. However, personal information may be disclosed to others in the following circumstances:
- External service providers: Many kinds of external service providers help Keypoint to operate its legal practice and provide legal services to you. Notably these include legal practitioners such as barristers; and IT and other software and systems providers and consultants. Keypoint seeks to ensure that all its external service providers understand and comply with the APPs when handling your personal information, and in particular that they are not authorised to use it for any purpose other than as specified in our agreement with them.
- Overseas providers: On occasion, your personal information may be provided to service providers overseas, such as partners of our affiliated firm Keystone Law in the United Kingdom, for the purpose of obtaining legal advice. Keypoint uses industry-leading software and IT services provided by suppliers such as Microsoft Azure and our data is stored in servers located within Australia.
- As required or permitted by law: Outside these circumstances, Keypoint will only disclose your personal information when required to do so, for example by court order; or when permitted by the Privacy Act, for example if a threat arose posing significant danger to one or more individuals.
Online privacy issues
Our website and use of cookies
When you visit our website we may record certain information about how you use it, such as which pages you visit, and the time and date of your visit. We and our ISP also collect information such as the documents visitors download, links from other sites they visit to reach our site, and the type of browser they use. However, this information does not contain personal information and is only used for statistical and website development purposes.
By default, most web browsers accept small data files called cookies. Our website makes limited use of cookies and other similar tracking technologies to measure usage sessions and to better understand how visitors navigate our site. Google Analytics cookies are also used for ads personalisation when using Google services. We also use cookies to improve the functionality of our website. The information collected by a cookie or other such tracking file does not contain your personal information.
If you do not wish to receive cookies, you may be able to change the settings of your browser to refuse all cookies or to notify you each time a cookie is sent to your computer, so that you can choose whether to accept it or not. If you block all cookies, you may not be able to access or use some or all pages of our website.
Though Keypoint does not use your browsing information to identify you personally, in some circumstances the IP address assigned to your device may mean that you are identifiable. If you elect to use the Pay Online facility on Keypoint’s website, your personal information may be collected.
Links to other websites
Keypoint’s website contains some links to other websites, which are provided for your convenience and to supply you with more information. Please note that Keypoint is not responsible for the handling of your personal information at these sites. We recommend that you review the privacy policies of any other sites you visit.
Is your personal information secure?
Keypoint takes reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information, whether in hard copy or digital form, is held securely. All Keypoint staff, management, Consulting Principals and other team members are contractually required to treat personal information held by Keypoint as confidential and maintain its security. Keypoint regularly provides its team with privacy and data protection training, including cybersecurity awareness.
Keypoint’s offices are located in secure premises accessed by pass cards. Passwords and, in certain applications, , multi-factor authentication protect our IT systems, and our anti-virus software is regularly updated to protect our systems and the data held there. We also regularly conduct system audits and integrity checks to protect your personal information against unauthorised access, misuse, loss or other data breaches. Keypoint does not retain your personal information any longer than is needed for the purpose for which we collected it, or for the duration we are required by law to keep it for.
Despite these measures, it is not possible for Keypoint to guarantee the security of your personal information. You should recognise in particular that the internet is not a secure environment. Accordingly, if you do use the internet to send us any information, including your email address, please be aware of potential risks to the information both in transit and upon receipt, and adopt protective practices wherever possible.
What are your access and correction rights?
Under the Privacy Act, if Keypoint holds your personal information you have the right to:
- seek access to it;
- request that we update or correct it when it is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date;
- opt-out of receiving any marketing communications from us.
If you would like to access the personal information Keypoint holds about you, please set out your request in writing and send it to Keypoint’s General Counsel, using the contact details provided at the end of this policy.
For personal information held in current records, we generally provide a copy as an electronic printout or photocopy, at no cost, though you can request access in other formats if preferred. If your personal information is stored in archived non-current records held for legal or administrative purposes, including in offsite storage or as backup data files, we may need to charge you for the cost of access provision.
If you consider that the personal information we hold about you is not accurate or is out of date, or you have queries about it, please contact Keypoint’s General Counsel, using the contact details set out at the end of this policy.
How can you make a complaint?
If you think Keypoint has breached the Privacy Act, or you wish to make a complaint about the way we have handled your personal information, you can contact us using the details set out at the end of this policy. Please include your name, email address and/or telephone number and clearly describe your complaint.
Any complaint will be investigated by the firm’s General Counsel and any other relevant member of the firm’s management team, and the outcome of that investigation communicated to you (please allow at least 30 days for us to do so).
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of any internal investigation that we conduct, you may lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at enquiries@oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992. More information is available on the OAIC’s website at https://www.oaic.gov.au/.
Contact us
General Counsel | Keypoint Law
Mail: L22, Australia Square, 264 George St, Sydney NSW 2000
Email: general.counsel@keypointlaw.com.au
Phone: +61 2 8035 5200
Fax: +61 2 8035 5201
Our Privacy Policy was last updated on 1 February 2023.
Cookies
Our Site uses cookies to collect information about you. Cookies are small data files which may be placed on your computer or other device by our Site and which collect certain personal information about you. To find out more about cookies, including what they are, how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and block them, please visit www.allaboutcookies.org.
How we use cookies
We use cookies in conjunction with the Google Analytics service to provide us with statistical data about our users’ browsing actions and patterns, so as to understand how visitors use our Site. We use the information to help us improve the Site and to deliver a better and more personalised service. The cookies collect information such as the number of visitors to our Site, where visitors have come from and the pages on our Site they visit. The information we collect does not identify any individual visitor to our Site.
We may also collect details of your visits to our Site including, but not limited to, traffic data, location data, weblogs and other communication data, whether this is required for our own billing purposes or otherwise and the resources that you access.
How can you block cookies?
You may change your website browser settings to reject cookies, although please note that if you do this it may affect your use of our Site.
You can block cookies by activating the setting on your browser which allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system may issue cookies as soon you visit our Site.
How do I opt out of Google Analytics?
To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.