Privacy Policy | The Advocate Law Office

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We are committed to respecting your privacy and ensuring the security of any personal information you provide to us. Unless we expressly agree otherwise, any personal information you provide to us, whether via this website, our related social media accounts or otherwise, will be processed by us in accordance with this policy and all applicable privacy laws, including the Privacy Act 2020 (NZ) (Privacy Act).

This policy explains:

when we might collect personal information from you and how we might collect that information;

how we may use your personal information;

how we will store your personal information;

our use of cookies and analytics tools in connection with our website;

your rights to request access to and correction of your personal information;

and how you can contact us if you have any other questions regarding our processing of your personal information.

In this policy:

applicable privacy laws means the Privacy Act together with all other data privacy laws applicable to our processing of your personal information;

personal information means identifiable information about you, for example your name, email, address, telephone number and so on. If you cannot be identified (for example, when personal information has been aggregated and anonymised) then certain parts of this policy may not apply to that information;

and where we refer to processing your personal information, we mean all activities relating to our use of that personal information, from its collection through to its storage and disposal and everything in between.

In this policy, we, us, our refers to The Advocate Limited (company number 8210433). For more information about us please see the “Contact us” section below. We encourage you to read this policy carefully. If you have any questions, please contact our Privacy Officer using the details set out at the bottom of this policy. If you are an employee of The Advocate Limited, then this policy does not apply in respect of our collection and/or processing of your personal information. Please refer instead to our internal privacy policy, a copy of which can be made to you on request.

When and how we may collect your personal information

The ways we may collect your personal information can be categorised into:

Information you provide us directly;

Information which is collected automatically;

and Information we collect from third parties.

Information you provide to us directly

The information you may provide to us may include:

data allowing us to get in touch with you (contact data). This contact data may include your name, email address, telephone number, postal address, and/or communication preferences;

information contained in or relating to any communication that you send to us or that we send to you (communication data). The communication data may include the communication content and metadata associated with the communication;

information relating to transactions, including payment for fees rendered from your provision of The Advocate services, from us and/or through our website (transaction data). The transaction data may include your payment card details or other payment and transaction details;

data about your use of our website and services (usage data). The usage data may include information about how you navigate our website;

and phone call recordings. Phone calls with The Advocate personnel will generally not be recorded in order to support the provision of our services to you and to otherwise assist with the management of The Advocate’s internal operations (including risk management).

If you choose not to provide us with your personal information, then we may be unable to provide you with access to some of our services and some functions and features on our website may not be available to you.

Information collected automatically – use of cookies

This website uses cookies. A cookie is a file that stores information about you and your behaviour on the internet. Cookies are created by a web server when you browse a website and are stored on your web browser. Cookies are accessed by a webserver upon entering a website. Cookies used on this website enable some of the website's essential functionality and help us provide the best possible service to you by tailoring our services to best suit your preferences. There are two types of cookies: persistent cookies and session cookies. Persistent cookies are stored on a web browser until they expire or are deleted. Session cookies expire upon the user closing their web browser. We may use cookies from time to time on this website to:

help us analyse the use and performance of our website and services;

identify you as you navigate our website;

personalise your experience by storing your preference;

and protect our website and our services generally.

Most internet browsers give you the option to reject all cookies, accept all cookies, erase cookies stored on your device or be notified before a cookie is stored on your device. However, if you reject or erase the cookies referred to above some functionality or features of this website may not function properly or be fully available. Please refer to your internet browser instructions if you want to find out more about rejecting or blocking cookies.

Information collected from third parties

We may collect personal information about you from third parties with your consent or where otherwise permitted by law. The Advocate may use third party consultants to provide our services to you. We may collect personal information about you from these third parties where required in connection with the performance of our services to you.

Third party personal information collected from you

Where you provide us with any personal information about a third party, you must have that third party's consent to do so. By providing us any third party personal information, you warrant that you have that third party's permission to provide that information to us.

How we use your personal information

We will primarily use your personal information to provide you with any services you have requested and to support otherwise our relationship with you.

We may also use your personal information:

communications – to monitor, respond to and/or keep records of our e–mail communications and other correspondence with you;

transactions – to provide our services, provide you with information in respect of our services, generate invoices and other payment–related documentation;

operations – to operate, improve and enhance the website and our services. We may analyse the use of our website or services to ensure our website and services are provided in the most effective manner for you;

marketing – if you opt–in to receive information about our promotional offers and/or newsletters from us, we may use your personal information to contact you by email and/or post with the information you have opted–in to receive;

customer support – to support your use of our services, this may include assisting with the resolution of service issues or other issues relating to the website, whether by email or otherwise;

record keeping and reporting – to create and maintain our databases, back–up copies of our databases and business records generally. We may also use your personal information to produce aggregated and anonymised analytics and reports, which we may share publicly or with third parties;

security – in order to detect and/or prevent any illegal activity that may threaten us, or any of our services;

risk management – where necessary for the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims. We may also use your personal information where necessary for the purposes of obtaining or maintaining insurance, managing risks and/or obtaining professional advice; and

compliance – in order to comply with any applicable laws and/or regulations or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.

How we may share your personal information

We may disclose your personal information:

to our related companies to the extent required to support the provision of services to you or to otherwise create and maintain our databases and business records generally;

to third parties who assist and enable us to use your personal information to support delivery of our services to you, these third party service providers include:

payment service providers: we currently use Stripe to process payments on our behalf. Stripe provides software and services to accept payments and manage businesses online. Stripe also uses cookies to make the customer browsing experience better by allowing their website to remember your actions and preferences. Stripe's privacy policy available at https://stripe.com/nz/privacy explains how Stripe will handle your personal information;

providers of practice management support: we currently use practice management software provided by Actionstep to securely store and process client information in connection with the provision of our services to you. Actionstep's privacy policy available at https://www.actionstep.com/privacy/;

web development and hosting service providers: we may also use other third party service providers to support, host and otherwise help with the operation of this website and our related social media accounts; and

providers of mailing services;

an actual or potential buyer (and its agents and advisers) in connection with an actual or proposed purchase, merger, or acquisition of any part of our business;

to our insurers and/or insurance brokers where necessary for the purposes of obtaining or maintaining insurance, managing risks and/or obtaining professional advice;

to regulators, law enforcement bodies, government agencies, courts or other third parties where it is necessary to comply with any applicable law or regulation, or to exercise, establish or defend our legal rights, including to the extent required to exercise our legal rights in respect of any dispute which may arise in respect of our services; or

where the disclosure is otherwise required by law or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.

The third parties to whom we disclose your personal information may be located within or outside New Zealand. Where any disclosure is to an overseas third party we will only make that disclosure in accordance with the requirements for overseas transfers of personal information as set out in the applicable privacy law. You may request more information about the safeguards that we have put in place in respect of overseas transfers of your personal information by contacting our privacy officer using the details below.

How do we hold and protect your information?

We will not keep your personal information for longer than is reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes outlined in this policy, including perform our contractual obligations or to comply with our legal obligations. We continuously implement and update our administrative, technical, and physical security measures to help protect your personal information against unauthorised access, loss, destruction, or alteration. Wherever your personal information is stored, we take reasonable steps to ensure that it is protected, including for example:

access to the personal information we store is limited to those staff members who have a legitimate business requirement to use it;

The Advocate’s IT systems are password protected, and access is monitored and audited;

all employees are required to adhere to BERL internal policies with respect to the use of The Advocate’s IT systems;

we have a data breach management procedure in place; and

information stored within The Advocate IT systems is backed up regularly, and backups are encrypted and held in secure storage facilities.

Your Rights

Under the Privacy Act, you have certain rights in connection with your personal information, including rights to request access to, and correction of, your personal information. These rights are subject to certain limitations and exceptions as set out in the Privacy Act. If you wish to exercise any of the rights described above, please contact our privacy officer using the details below. If you are unsatisfied with the handling of your request, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner in New Zealand for review of our handling of your request.

Changes to this policy

We may need to update this policy from time to time, including when necessary to reflect changes to this website, updates to our services or to reflect any change in law. When we update this policy, we will revise the “Last updated” at the top of this policy. Where the changes are material, we will use reasonable endeavours to notify you – usually by prominently posting a notice of those changes on our website or by sending you an email.

Contacting Us

We are The Advocate Limited (Company number: 8210433) a company incorporated in New Zealand with its registered address at: BAKER TILLY STAPLES RODWAY CHRISTCHURCH LIMITED Level 2, 329 Durham Street, Christchurch, 8013, New Zealand This website is owned and operated by The Advocate Limited. If you have any questions or concerns about this policy or our processing of your personal information, you can contact our Privacy Officer by: Email: privacy@theadvocate.co.nz Phone: +64 21 201 7240

In this policy:

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