Mellor Olsson Privacy Statement and Policy

Mellor Olsson is bound by the Australian Privacy Principles (the APPs) as set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (the Act).

Mellor Olsson takes its obligations under the Privacy Act seriously, and has adopted internal policies and procedures to ensure that personal information collected, stored, used and disclosed is dealt with in accordance with the APPs.

To comply with our obligations under the Act, the following is our privacy policy which sets out how we manage privacy in our organisation.

Why we need to collect personal information

Mellor Olsson may need to collect personal information about you and others including names, addresses, phone numbers and other contact details. We may also collect details of the age, sex and other personal information about you or others.

This personal information is collected so we can:

Conduct our business and provide our services in a professional and efficient manner
Provide or offer you or others services or other benefits
Identify our clients, potential clients and their representatives
Identify parties with whom our clients have dealings or who are in some way involved in proceedings involving our clients
Inform you or others of any initiatives we may think will be of interest to you or them
Inform you or others of developments in the law and relevant business markets
Develop and implement initiatives to improve our services.

If we are not provided with all the personal information we request, we may be unable to act for, or do business, with you or others.

Where possible, we will collect personal information directly from the individual concerned. An individual’s representatives may, however, hold personal information (eg financial or bank account details or a credit reference) that we may need to access for particular dealings, legal proceedings or other purposes. Where we are at liberty to do so, we will use our best endeavours to seek an individual’s consent before obtaining their personal information from third parties.

Mellor Olsson may collect personal information when:

We are contacted about our services, in person, over the phone or by the internet
We are instructed to provide legal services to you or others
During the course of a dealing or proceedings involving a client
We negotiate and enter into dealings
We respond to an enquiry where we consider personal details are required or appropriate to fulfill the query.

The personal information of our clients, or their representatives, will usually be recorded or updated on our computer database. Otherwise, personal information will be kept on the file involving the matter in which the individual concerned is involved or for whom the personal information was collected.

Any additional purpose for the collection (not included in this policy) will be identified when we collect the personal information, or as soon as practicable afterwards.

Collection of sensitive information

Under the APPs, Mellor Olsson is entitled to collect sensitive information about you, or others, for a number of reasons, including where the collection is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal or equitable claim.

Where Mellor Olsson is required to, and it is practicable to do so, we will seek your consent before collecting your sensitive information and inform you of the purpose at the same time.

Personal information

Mellor Olsson will use personal information:

To identify individuals and protect them from unauthorised access to their personal information, accounts or services
To improve our services to you or others
Where reasonably required, to provide legal services that we are obliged to provide
To inform you or others of Mellor Olsson’s marketing initiatives
To inform you or others of developments in the law and relevant business markets
To derive or aggregate anonymous information from which individuals cannot be identified
To prevent, or lessen, a threat to a person’s life or health
Where disclosure is reasonably necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal or equitable claim
For the purpose for which it was collected, or for a related purpose (or a directly related purpose in the case of sensitive information) that the individual concerned would reasonably expect from us
For other purposes permitted, required or authorised by, or under, law
For any other purpose where an individual has consented to its use for that purpose.

To whom does Mellor Olsson disclose personal information?

Except where indicated above, Mellor Olsson will not disclose personal information to a third party unless:

The disclosure is for the primary purpose for which the information was collected
The individual concerned has consented to the disclosure
The third party is our agent, or contractor, in which case we will require them to disclose, and to use, the personal information only for the purpose for which it was disclosed
The third party is a person involved in a dealing or proposed dealing (including a sale) of all, or part, of our assets and business
There are reasonable grounds to believe that disclosure is necessary to prevent, or lessen, a threat to your life or health or that of another person
The disclosure is to a related body corporate
The disclosure is reasonably necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal or equitable claim
The disclosure is permitted, required or authorised by, or under, law.

Promotional and marketing activities

Mellor Olsson may use personal information to advise the individual concerned of new services and marketing initiatives we believe may be of interest to him or her, including newsletters, invitations to seminars and business functions and general information about Mellor Olsson.

This information is sent electronically and each piece of communication will have a link at the bottom of the email which allows the recipient to automatically unsubscribe from all future emails or to update their preferences regarding what they receive.

Mellor Olsson never discloses personal information to a third party for the purpose of allowing them to direct market their products or services to an individual unless the individual has expressly consented to this disclosure.

How does Mellor Olsson interact with you via our website

You may visit our website without identifying yourself. If you identify yourself (for example, by providing your contact details in an enquiry), any personal information you provide to Mellor Olsson will be managed in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Mellor Olsson’s website uses cookies. A “cookie” is a small file stored on your computer's browser, which assists in managing customised settings of the website and delivering content. We collect certain information such as your device type, browser type, IP address, pages you have accessed on our websites and on third-party websites. You are not identifiable from such information.

You can use the settings in your browser to control how your browser deals with cookies. However, in doing so, you may be unable to access certain pages or content on our website.

Mellor Olsson’s website may contain links to third-party websites. Mellor Olsson is not responsible for the content or privacy practices of websites that are linked to from our website.

How do we keep your personal information secure?

The protection of personal information is a priority for Mellor Olsson.

We are committed to maintaining:

Safeguards to protect personal information against unauthorised use, disclosure, access, alteration, destruction and accidental loss. All personal information we hold is dealt with in accordance with the APPs.
Industry standards for the security and protection of information. Personal information is stored securely and access is restricted to authorised personnel only. Our computer systems require access passwords, and these are kept secure by our personnel
Internal policies on management of personal information, and staff training to ensure compliance with these policies. All staff are required to read this policy and understand their responsibilities in relation to personal information.

How does Mellor Olsson hold information?

Mellor Olsson stores information in paper-based files or other electronic record keeping methods in secure databases (including trusted third party storage providers based in Australia). Personal information may be collected in paper-based documents and converted to electronic form for use or storage, with the original paper-based documents either archived or securely destroyed. We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure and take steps to destroy or de-identify information that we no longer require
Mellor Olsson maintains physical security over paper and electronic data stores by using locks and secure systems at our premises. We also maintain computer and network security, for example, we use firewalls (security measures for the internet) and other systems such as user identifiers and passwords to control access to our computer systems.
Our website does not necessarily use encryption or other technologies to ensure the secure transmission of information via the internet. Users of our websites are encouraged to exercise care in sending personal information via the internet.

Correcting and updating your information

Mellor Olsson asks you to tell us of any changes to the personal information we hold about you. Notification can be made at any time to update personal information, or to be told that the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete. We will take reasonable steps to correct the information in the manner requested.

If we consider the personal information we retain does not require amendment, we will annotate the request on our files.

Access to personal information

Mellor Olsson will generally allow an individual, on request, access to any personal information we hold about him or her – subject to any restrictions on access (see below). We will endeavour to give the individual concerned access in a form and manner that suits his or her needs.

To request access, please contact our Privacy Officer. Contact details for the Privacy Officer appear at the end of this policy.

Restrictions on access

Mellor Olsson is entitled to restrict access to personal information in accordance with the APPs.

You may not be allowed access to personal information we hold where access would reveal evaluative information generated by Mellor Olsson in connection with a commercially sensitive decision making process. Mellor Olsson may, instead, give you an explanation for the decision rather than direct access to the information.

If we have given you such an explanation and you believe that direct access to the evaluative information is necessary to provide a reasonable explanation of the reasons for the decision, we will, at your request review the decision. Personnel other than the original decision maker will conduct the review.

Wherever direct access by you is impractical or inappropriate we should consider together whether the use of a mutually agreed intermediary would allow sufficient access to meet both our needs and concerns.

Other instances where it may not be appropriate to provide you with access to the personal information we hold include:

Providing access that would pose a serious and imminent threat to the life or health of an individual
Providing access that would have an unreasonable impact upon the privacy of others
The request for access is frivolous or vexatious
Information relating to an anticipated, or existing, legal dispute and disclosure would compromise our position, or the position of others.

Transferring information overseas

Mellor Olsson may transfer personal information overseas, if necessary, for the conduct of a legal matter, or for a business transaction or other dealing. Otherwise, we will not transfer personal information outside Australia unless:

We reasonably believe the recipient of the information is subject to legal obligations that uphold principles for the protection and fair handling of personal information which are substantially similar to the principles contained in this policy
We are given consent by the individual concerned to do so expressly or by implication
We are contractually required to do so

The transfer is for the benefit of the individual concerned and it is not practicable for Mellor Olsson to obtain their consent and if they were able to grant consent they would be likely to give it. In this instance, Mellor Olsson will advise, as soon as practicable, the individual concerned to whom their information has been disclosed.

Changes to our policy

Mellor Olsson may update or change this policy. When this occurs, you will have access to it, and it will be updated on our website. Should you have any suggestions, or concerns, that are not addressed in this privacy policy, please contact our Privacy Officer. The contact details of the Privacy Officer are listed at the end of this policy.

Complaint resolution

Mellor Olsson is committed to constantly improving our procedures so that personal information is treated appropriately. If you feel that we have failed to deal with your personal information in accordance with the APPs, or this policy, please speak with us so we have an opportunity to resolve the issue to your satisfaction.

The person to contact regarding this is our Privacy officer. Contact details of the Privacy Officer appear at the end of this policy.

Our Privacy Officer will manage the following processes for us:

Listen to your concerns and grievances regarding our handling of personal information
Discuss with you the ways in which we can remedy the situation
Put in place an action plan to resolve your complaint and improve our information handling procedures if appropriate.

If this process does not result in an outcome that is satisfactory to you, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner on 1300 363 992. Mellor Olsson will work together with the Australian Information Commissioner’s Office to resolve the issues between us.

Further information relating to privacy and your rights can be obtained from the website of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, http://www.oaic.gov.au.

Contact person at Mellor Olsson

If you wish to access any personal information we hold about you, or have a query about this policy, please contact our Privacy Officer.

Paul Anderson