Policy Principles

Why do we collect personal information?
  •     to provide legal services to our clients
  •     to communicate with our clients and contacts
  •     to manage and account for our services
  •     to inform our clients and contacts about legal developments
  •     to market our services
  •     to send invitations to our events
  •     to manage our employees and contractors
  •     to fulfil our legal obligations
  •     to help us plan and develop our services for the benefit of our clients
  •     to generally carry on our business.
What personal information do we collect?

We collect an individual’s name and contact details, and information about the individual’s age, gender, occupation, employers and relationship with us or our clients and potential clients and about the individual’s relationship with contacts of ours or of our clients and potential clients. We also collect the information necessary to provide the specific services our clients require.

How we collect personal information

We collect personal information direct from an individual when that individual meets with us, communicates with us by letter, telephone, email or fax, gives us a business card, subscribes to our publications, registers for or attends our events or submits information through our websites, blogs or other social media outlets.

We may also collect information about an individual from our clients, potential clients and their contacts, from the individual’s employer and from courts, tribunals, regulators, government, government agencies, publicly available records, or a third party eg an expert adviser or a provider of an employment or other reference.

Cookies

We may ask other people to analyse traffic on our websites, blogs and other social media outlets and they may use cookies to do so. Cookies are small text files that are transferred to a user’s hard drive by a website for the purpose of collecting information about the user’s identity, browser type or website visiting patterns.

Anonymity and pseudonyms

Individuals have the right not to identify themselves, or to use a pseudonym when dealing with us. However, if we request personal information and it is not provided, we may not be able to provide services to or otherwise assist the relevant individual.

General use and disclosure

We use and disclose personal information for the primary purpose for which it was collected, related purposes and other purposes authorised by the Privacy Act. In general, we use and disclose personal information for the purposes set out above.

Use and disclosure for direct marketing

We will only use an individual’s personal information to market our services or to send invitations to our events where we give that individual an opportunity to request us not to use the information for such purposes. We will not use an individual’s personal information for such purposes if the individual requests us not to do so.

To whom do we disclose personal information?

We may disclose personal information:

  •     to our clients and their employees, contractors and other advisers
  •     to our clients’ contacts and their employees and contractors
  •     to our employees, contractors and advisers
  •     to our debt collection agencies
  •     to other persons in connection with the provision of our professional services including barristers and witnesses
  •     to courts, tribunals and regulators
  •     to government and reporting agencies
  •     to anyone else whom the individual authorises us to disclose the information
  •     as otherwise authorised by the Privacy Act
Who else can access this information?

Our contractors may have access to some personal information we collect. For example, contractors may distribute some of our publications and invitations, keep our closed files in secure storage and develop and maintain our computer systems, electronic records, websites, blogs and other social media outlets.

Our auditors, insurers and other professional advisers may also access our records to protect our interests and to ensure that we comply with our obligations.

Disclosure to overseas recipients

We may disclose personal information to overseas courts, tribunals and regulators and other overseas recipients where reasonably required as part of providing our professional services in respect of a particular matter and where required or authorised by law.

We may disclose personal information about an individual to overseas recipients in other circumstances however only where consent to such disclosure is given by that individual.

We will take all steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to ensure that overseas recipients do not breach the Australian Privacy Principles which apply upon such disclosures.

How do we keep personal information secure?

We take reasonable steps to protect the personal information we hold from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We store information in access controlled premises, and electronic information on secure servers. We require all persons authorised to access electronic information to use logins and passwords to access such information.

We require all our contractors and others to whom we disclose personal information or whom may have access to personal information we collect, to keep such personal information private and to protect such personal information from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

Unless we are prevented to do so by the law, we de-identify or securely destroy all personal information we hold when no longer reasonably required by us.

Integrity of personal information

We take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we collect is accurate, up to date and complete and that the personal information we use or disclose is accurate, up to date, complete and relevant, having regard to the purpose of such use or disclosure.

To that end, we encourage you to contact us to update or correct any personal information we hold about you.

Accessing your personal information

You may request access to personal information we hold about you. We may require you to verify your identity and to specify what information you require.

We deal with all requests for access to personal information as required by the Privacy Act. We may charge a fee where we provide access and may refuse to provide access if the Privacy Act allows us to do so.

Correction of personal information

We take reasonable steps to correct all personal information we hold to ensure that, having regard to the purposes for which it is held, the information is accurate, up to date, complete, relevant and not misleading.

You may request corrections to personal information we hold about you. We deal with all requests for correction to personal information as required by the Privacy Act. We may refuse to correct personal information if the Privacy Act allows us to do so.

Complaints

If you wish to make a complaint about this Privacy Policy or our collection, use or disclosure of personal information, please contact us

in the first instance. We will investigate your complaint and try to promptly resolve your complaint directly with you.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome, then you may make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).

For information about how to make such a complaint, please refer to the OAIC website http://www.oaic.gov.au/.

Contact us

To request access to or correction of personal information, to request not to receive marketing material or invitations from us, or to make a privacy complaint to us, please contact us.

GTS group

Contact

T: 1300 001 460

E: admin@gtsgroup.com.au

Address

SYDNEY
Level 16 & 17, 1 Denison Street, North Sydney, NSW 2060

ADELAIDE
Level 21, 25 Grenfell Street, Adelaide, SA, 5000

BRISBANE
Level 22, 69 Ann Street, Brisbane QLD 4000

MELBOURNE
Level 21, 567 Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3000

DARWIN
Darwin Innovation Hub Level 1, 48-50 Smith Street, Darwin City NT 0800

SINGAPORE
Goldhill Plaza 51 Goldhill Plaza #07-10/11, Singapore 308900

We reserve the right to make changes to this Privacy Policy from time to time and without notice by publication on our website.

We recommend that you regularly review our Privacy Policy to ensure you are aware of any changes.

Refer

    Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)

    Australian Privacy Principles (APPs)