Privacy Policy

G+T PRIVACY POLICY

Gilbert + Tobin (G+T) understands that privacy is important to you, and is committed to complying with the National Privacy Principles (NPPs), which are contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act). From 21 December 2001, the NPPs have governed how organisations in the private sector handle ‘personal information’ (which is basically information or an opinion which can identify you).

1. What Personal Information Does G+T Collect?

G+T is a leading Australian law firm. The types of personal information that G+T collects will depend on the nature of your dealings with us. We may collect personal information from you when you:

instruct G+T to provide you with legal advice
purchase a G+T Online product
subscribe to a practice group newsletter (e.g. TAX.BIZ or IP.BIZ)
subscribe to our website (at http://www.gtlaw.com.au) or to one of our mailing lists
attend a G+T seminar
have business dealings with us (whether as one of our suppliers, or as a regulator we deal with, or in the context of a transaction), or
apply or register your interest for employment with Gilbert + Tobin Lawyers.

If you are a client or someone who subscribes to our website or our mailing lists, the personal information we will collect from you will usually include your name, title, business address and e-mail address and contact numbers (telephone, fax, mobile). If necessary for the purposes of providing advice to you, or for providing you with other information (such as email updates) sometimes we may collect other personal information from you, such as the areas of our practice which you are interested in. However, we do not collect personal information that we do not need.

If you are one of G+T’s ‘business contacts’ (e.g. a contact person in one of our suppliers, or in a government agency or company with which we deal), we may collect basic business contact information from you (e.g. your name, title and work contact details). Generally, G+T will not ask to collect sensitive information about you (such as details of your race, political beliefs, religion or health) unless it is needed for the purposes of providing legal advice.

2. How does G+T use Personal Information?

We need to collect personal information so that we can provide our products and services, and conduct our business. We also collect personal information so that we can communicate new legal or firm developments to our clients and to our people who have subscribed to our website or mailing lists.

For example, if you are a client, or someone who has subscribed to our website, personal information about you may be used to notify you of industry developments, upcoming seminars, and to provide you with information about our compliance products. If, at any time, you do not wish to receive these kinds of communications, please let us know. Our contact details are set out at the end of this Privacy Policy. G+T’s policy is only to use personal information collected from business contacts for the business purpose for which it was collected.

3. Will Your Personal Information be Given to Anyone Else?

G+T does not sell, rent or trade personal information about you to or with third parties. Personal information may be disclosed outside of G+T in the circumstances described below:

(a) Disclosures to external service providers

G+T may disclose personal information to external service providers who help us operate our business. Examples of our external service providers include companies who provide photocopying and archiving services, and research organisations and consultants who conduct research on our behalf so that we can better meet the needs of our clients.

If G+T engages external service providers, G+T takes steps to ensure that those external service providers:

comply with the NPPs when they handle personal information about you (regardless of whether they are a small business, and would otherwise be exempt from the new privacy laws); and
are authorised only to use personal information for the limited purposes specified in our agreement with them.

(b) Disclosures to alliance firms

G+T has alliances with Chinese law firm King & Wood and Perth-based law firm Blakiston & Crabb. Sometimes, personal information of clients may be exchanged with these firms, but only for the purposes of providing legal advice.

Otherwise, G+T will only disclose personal information if this is required by law or permitted under the Privacy Act. G+T is also bound by professional obligations of confidentiality, including in relation to personal information.

4. Security of Personal Information

G+T takes reasonable steps to ensure the security of your personal information. Our premises are in a secure building with access restricted to passcard holders. Our IT systems are password protected and we conduct regular audit and data integrity checks. We frequently update our anti-virus software in order to protect our systems (and the data contained in those systems) from computer viruses. In addition, all G+T employees are required, as a condition of employment, to treat personal information held by G+T as confidential.

5. Access and Correction

Under the Privacy Act, you have the right to seek access to your personal information handled by G+T. You also have the right to ask us to update or correct your personal information when it is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date.

If you wish to access the personal information that G+T holds about you, please set out your request in writing, and forward this to our Privacy Officer, using the contact details set out at the end of this Privacy Policy.

To provide you with access to your personal information held by us on our current records, G+T can provide you with a copy of the relevant personal information (ordinarily, an electronic print-out or a photocopy). G+T will not charge you for the cost of providing this type of access to these current records.

For legal and administrative reasons, G+T may also archive non current records containing personal information, such as back up data files and off site storage. Please be aware that you only have a legal right to seek access to personal information about you collected by us prior to 21 December 2001 if we use or disclose that personal information after that date, and if providing access will not cause G+T an unreasonable administrative burden or unreasonable expense. If you do wish to seek access to personal information collected by us prior to 21 December 2001, please contact our Privacy Officer to discuss whether access may be available. Please note that if we do provide access to old records, we may charge you for the cost of providing such access.

If you are of the view that personal information about you is inaccurate or out of date, or if you have any other queries about access and correction, please contact our Privacy Officer using the contact details set out below.

6. Online Privacy Issues

As noted above, sometimes we collect personal information through our website (if you subscribe). This will be limited to your name, email address, telephone number and business contact details, such as your company name and your job title.

We also use cookies to maintain user sessions (e.g. if you subscribe to the site to gain access to a publication, we use cookies so when you next visit you do not need to re-enter your details). Like most web site providers, we generate statistics about how many people visit our site and what they look at. We use web logs and cookies to do this. This enables us to keep our site relevant and useful. However, generally this information will not identify you.

Most web browsers are set by default to accept cookies. However, if you do not wish to receive cookies you may set your browser to either prompt or refuse cookies.

Sometimes our web site contains links to other web sites, for your convenience and information. When you access a web site other than www.gtlaw.com.au, please understand that G+T is not responsible for the privacy practices of that site. We suggest that you review the privacy policies of each site you visit.

7. Additional Privacy Information and How to Contact G+T

This G+T Privacy Policy may change from time to time. The G+T Privacy Policy will be made available to anyone who requests it, whether at our offices or by use of our website.

If you have any questions or comments about the G+T Privacy policy, or if you wish to make a complaint about how G+T have handled personal information about you, please contact our Privacy Officer, using the contact details below:

Email:
GTPrivacy@gtlaw.com.au

Post:
Gilbert + Tobin
GPO Box 3810
Sydney NSW 2001

Telephone:
+ 61 2 9263 4000

Fax:
+ 61 2 9263 4111

For further information about privacy issues and the protection of privacy visit the Australian Federal Privacy Commissioner’s web site at http://www.privacy.gov.au.

This Privacy Policy applies to:

The Gilbert + Tobin partnership
The G+T Services partnership

Our Privacy Policy was last updated on 7 January 2011.