Privacy Policy
CleverMinds Legal Centre (“CleverMinds”, “we”, “us” or “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting the personal information entrusted to us.
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information when you visit our website, communicate with us or use our legal services.
We handle personal information in accordance with applicable Australian privacy laws, including the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), where those laws apply to us.
1. Personal Information We Collect
The personal information we collect depends on your dealings with us and may include:
- your name, address, telephone number and email address;
- date of birth and other identification information;
- information submitted through our website, enquiry forms or appointment booking forms;
- information you provide when requesting legal advice or engaging us to provide legal services;
- information relating to your legal matter, including information about other individuals;
- documents and correspondence you provide to us;
- billing, payment and transaction information;
- information required for identity verification, regulatory or legal compliance;
- records of communications between you and our firm; and
- technical information relating to your use of our website, such as IP address, browser type, device information and website usage information.
Depending on the nature of your legal matter, we may also need to collect sensitive information where it is reasonably necessary and permitted by law.
2. How We Collect Personal Information
We generally collect personal information directly from you when you:
- contact us by telephone, email or through our website;
- submit an online enquiry;
- book an appointment or consultation;
- become a client of the firm;
- provide documents or information relating to a legal matter;
- use online services provided through our website; or
- otherwise communicate with us.
Where appropriate and permitted by law, we may also collect information from third parties such as government agencies, courts, other legal practitioners, financial institutions, professional advisers, property professionals, publicly available sources or other parties involved in your legal matter.
3. Why We Collect and Use Personal Information
We may collect, hold and use personal information for purposes including:
- responding to enquiries;
- assessing whether we can assist with a legal matter;
- conducting conflict checks;
- providing legal advice and legal services;
- preparing legal documents;
- communicating with clients and other parties;
- managing appointments;
- processing payments and maintaining financial records;
- managing our client relationships and files;
- complying with our professional, regulatory and legal obligations;
- maintaining and improving our website and services;
- protecting the security of our systems and services; and
- communicating information about our services where permitted by law.
We will generally only use personal information for the purpose for which it was collected or for a related purpose that would reasonably be expected, unless you consent to another use or the use is otherwise authorised or required by law.
4. Legal Enquiries and Confidential Information
Information submitted through this website may relate to actual or potential legal matters.
You should avoid sending highly sensitive or confidential documents through general website enquiry forms unless requested to do so.
Submitting an enquiry through the website does not, by itself, create a solicitor-client relationship. A solicitor-client relationship will generally arise only after we have agreed to act for you and any required engagement process has been completed.
Where we act for you, information relating to your matter will also be handled in accordance with our professional obligations, including obligations concerning confidentiality and legal professional privilege where applicable.
5. Disclosure of Personal Information
We may disclose personal information where reasonably necessary to provide our services or operate our business, including to:
- barristers, solicitors and other legal service providers;
- courts, tribunals and government authorities;
- experts, consultants and professional advisers;
- banks and financial institutions;
- property, conveyancing and settlement service providers;
- accountants and auditors;
- technology, hosting, cloud storage and IT service providers;
- payment processing providers;
- document management and electronic signing providers;
- contractors and service providers assisting our business; and
- other persons where you have authorised us to disclose the information.
We may also disclose information where required or authorised by law.
We do not sell personal information to third parties.
6. Overseas Disclosure
Some technology, cloud, communications or other service providers used by us may store or process information outside Australia.
Where personal information is disclosed to overseas recipients, we will take reasonable steps as required by applicable privacy laws.
Where practicable, information about the countries in which overseas recipients are located will be made available upon request.
7. Website Analytics and Cookies
Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to operate the website, understand how visitors use it and improve our services.
Cookies are small files stored on your device. Depending on the services used on our website, information such as your IP address, browser, device, pages visited and time spent on the website may be collected.
You can configure your browser to refuse or delete cookies. Disabling some cookies may affect the operation of certain website features.
Third-party services used by the website may also use cookies or similar technologies in accordance with their own privacy policies.
8. Security of Personal Information
We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
Our security measures may include physical, administrative and technical safeguards appropriate to the information we hold.
However, no transmission or storage of information over the internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure.
9. Retention of Information
We retain personal information for as long as reasonably necessary to provide our services, manage our legal and professional obligations and comply with applicable record-keeping requirements.
When information is no longer required to be retained, we may securely destroy or de-identify it, subject to our legal and professional obligations.
10. Accessing and Correcting Your Personal Information
You may request access to personal information we hold about you or ask us to correct information that you believe is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date.
We may need to verify your identity before processing a request.
There may be circumstances in which we are permitted or required by law to refuse access. If this occurs, we will provide an explanation where required.
11. Privacy Complaints
If you have a concern about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us using the details below.
We will consider your complaint and endeavour to respond within a reasonable period.
If you are not satisfied with our response and the Privacy Act applies to the matter, you may be entitled to make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).
12. Third-Party Websites
Our website may contain links to websites operated by third parties.
We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of third-party websites. We recommend reviewing the privacy policy of any external website before providing personal information.
13. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our practices, services, technology or legal obligations.
The current version will be published on our website together with its last updated date.
14. Contact Us
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, wish to access or correct your personal information, or wish to make a privacy complaint, please contact.