The Newcastle Law Society (NLS or we, us or our) deals with information privacy in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) set out in the Privacy Act. We also comply with the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) which imposes restrictions on sending emails and other types of commercial electronic messages.
This document sets out our policies in relation to management of personal information.
What kinds of personal information do we collect and hold?
We collect and hold:
- your contact details, such as office address, telephone numbers and email address;
- your membership information, such as your membership history and activities;
- records of your communications and other interactions with us;
- records of the Continuing Professional Development seminars run by us that you attend.
In this Privacy Policy we refer to this as your personal information.
How do we collect and hold your personal information?
We generally collect your personal information directly from you, including when you use the NLS website.
What would happen if we did not collect your personal information?
Without your personal information we may not be able to efficiently process your application or request, perform our functions or provide you with some or all of our products and services.
What are the purposes for which we collect and hold your personal information?
We collect and hold your personal information to:
- fulfil our role as a professional association including:
- maintaining membership records;
- providing contact and general practising information to the public regarding legal practitioners including those with specialist accreditation;
- providing legal practitioners, law students and graduates with information relevant to the legal profession;
- providing information on programs, products, services, employment opportunities, courses and benefits available to members, legal practitioners, law students and graduates, and the public;
- communicating regarding an enquiry, request for information or use of our services;
- analyse your interaction with our personal and electronic services – the information collected from you may be analysed individually and/or aggregated with the information relating to other members to produce statistical information – insights from this process are used to select and optimise the information, services and advertising we provide to you;
- use information and/or provide information to third parties as authorised or required by law.
Use and Disclosure of your personal information
We do not use your personal information or disclose it to another organisation unless:
- it is reasonably necessary for one of the purposes described above;
- having regard to the nature of the information or the circumstances of collection we believe you would expect us to use the information or make the disclosure;
- required or authorised by law or a Court or tribunal;
- it is necessary to protect the rights, property, health or personal safety of a legal practitioner or member, the public, or our interests, and it is unreasonable or impracticable to obtain your consent;
- the disclosure is necessary to assist any entity, body or person to locate a person who has been reported missing;
- we have reason to suspect that unlawful activity, or misconduct of a serious nature, that relates to our functions or activities has been, is being or may be engaged in, and we believe that the use or disclosure is necessary in order for us to take appropriate action;
- it is necessary to obtain third party services, for example to carry out data analysis or provide information processing services – if so then the use of your information by third parties will be carefully managed;
- it is for one of the purposes expressly permitted under the Privacy Act; or
- you have provided your consent.
If you do not want your personal information to be disclosed
If you do not want your personal information to be disclosed (for instance, you want to have your name excluded from our mailing lists) you should manage your subscriptions via the NLS website or advise the secretariat by email to secretariat@newcastlelawsociety.asn.au. We will accommodate your request provided that the disclosure is not required by law.
Storage and security of personal information
We take reasonable precautions to protect the personal information we hold from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
Where practicable we implement measures to require organisations to whom disclosure is made to comply with the Privacy Act. If a third party is given access to personal information we take reasonable steps to ensure that the information is held securely and used only for the purpose of providing the relevant service or activity.
NLS website user accounts
You can also assist us in keeping your personal information secure by maintaining the confidentiality of your account passwords and notifying us immediately if there is any unauthorised use of your account by another Internet user or any other breach of security relating to your account.
Privacy Policy application to the Sites
Cookies
We collect personal information through software such as cookies. A cookie is a text-only string of information that a website transfers to the cookie file of the browser on the hard disk of a user’s computer so that the website can remember that user. Without cookies, websites and their servers have no memory. This means that every time a user opens a new webpage on a website, the server where that webpage is stored will treat the user as new and require logon and password. In short, a cookie facilitates a user’s passage through a website.
Linked websites
This Privacy Policy does not apply to linked websites.
Rights to access and correction of your personal information
You have the right to access your personal information unless we are permitted by law to withhold that information. Any requests for access to your personal information should be made to the NLS Secretariat by email to secretariat@newcastlelawsociety.asn.au. You also have the right to request the correction of any of your personal information which is inaccurate. You are able to change, update or clear your profile and account settings at any time by logging into your account. If you wish to access personal information about you that is not available on or accessible from your profile or account settings, please contact the NLS Secretariat by email.
Further information and complaints
If you require any further information about our management of personal information or have a complaint about our handling of your personal information, you should initially write to the NLS Secretariat, who will respond to you within a reasonable time, usually 30 days. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint you may contact us further to advise of your concerns and, if we are unable to reach a satisfactory resolution you may write to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner using the form available at this link http://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/making-a-privacy-complaint for further review of your complaint.
