Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy (Policy) outlines the way in which ARCHER SCOTT and its related entities (ARCHER SCOTT) collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information.

In this Policy, we, us and our means each member of ARCHER SCOTT. By using our websites, applications and services, or otherwise providing us with your information, you consent to us collecting, holding, using and disclosing your personal information as described in this Policy. If we are not able to collect, handle, use and disclose personal information about you as set out in this Policy, we may not be able to provide you with our services or with access to our websites or applications.

What personal information do we collect?

The information that we collect depends on the nature of your interactions with us. We collect both personal information and non-personal information. In this Policy, personal information has the meaning given to it in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), and includes information or an opinion, whether true or not, about an identified individual or an individual who is reasonably identifiable.

We may collect personal information about:

our clients, business associates, potential clients and their personnel;
other individuals in the course of acting for our clients;
our suppliers and their employees;
our employees, partners, contractors, former employees, former partners, former contractors or prospective employees, contractors or partners; and
other people who come into contact with a member of ARCHER SCOTT.

In general, the personal information we may collect and hold includes name, date of birth, contact details (including email addresses), occupation, company name, username and password (as applicable), personal preferences, payment details, employment history, education and qualifications, testimonials and feedback, and other information which assists us in conducting our business, providing and marketing our services and meeting our legal obligations. In some cases we may also collect 'sensitive information', such as information about an individual's membership of a professional association, criminal record or health information.

We may also collect and process non-personal information provided to us by your browser when you visit our websites or use our applications, for example, the website you came from, your location information, IP address, web browser and/or device type and the time and date of access.

How do we collect and hold personal information?

We will collect personal information:

from you directly when you provide your details to us;
from you indirectly through emails, forms, face-to-face meetings, interviews, registration and attendance at seminars, business cards, online queries and telephone conversations, and through use of the services available through our websites, applications and social media channels (including our blogs and LinkedIn channels); and
from third parties in some instances, for example, we may use third parties to analyse traffic at our website, our blogs and social media channels, which may involve the use of cookies. You are able to control your browser settings to limit the collection of cookies by us; however, if you choose to disable cookies, you may not be able to use certain features of our websites. In some circumstances we may collect personal information about an individual from a third party, for example, a report provided by a medical professional or an employment reference from another person.

How do we protect personal information?

We will take reasonable steps to protect the security of personal information. Our personnel are required to respect the confidentiality of personal information and the privacy of individuals. We take reasonable steps to protect personal information held from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure, for example by use of physical security and restricted access to electronic records. Where we no longer require your personal information we will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify it.

Why do we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information?

In general, we may collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for the primary purposes for which it was collected, including:

to conduct our business;
to provide and market our products or services;
to communicate with you to provide or promote our products or services;
to purchase goods or services;
to help us manage, develop and enhance our services, including our websites and applications;
to consider the suitability of prospective employees;
to comply with our legal obligations; and
to administer, maintain, support, and provide upgrades to, our services and applications.

We may also use and/or disclose your personal information for other purposes which you consent to or which are required or permitted by law. This may include for a secondary purpose that is related to a purpose for which we collected it, and for which you would reasonably expect us to use or disclose your personal information.

If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future content, surveys, features or other marketing information or communications, we include in all electronic messages a statement to the effect that you, as the recipient, may send an unsubscribe message to us using the contact details provided in that electronic message. Otherwise you can contact us at any time at info@archerscott.com to unsubscribe or update your preferences.

Who do we disclose your personal information to?

We may disclose your personal information (including, in certain limited circumstances, your sensitive information) for the purposes for which it was collected (as described above) to:

other members of ARCHER SCOTT, save for when we are precluded from doing so due to specific obligations in respect of confidentiality;
entities who assist us in providing our services (including hosting and data storage providers and debt collectors);
social media channels on which we have a presence; and
where we are required or authorised to do so by law.

Are we likely to disclose your personal information overseas

We may disclose your personal information to the following overseas recipients:

to other members of ARCHER SCOTT, save for when we are precluded from doing so due to specific obligations in respect of confidentiality;
to other companies or individuals who assist us in providing services or who perform functions on our behalf (such as third party service providers, specialist consultants and barristers), including those located in the USA;
to courts, tribunals and regulatory authorities;
to anyone else to whom you authorise us to disclose it; and
to anyone else where we are required or authorised by law to do so.

Links to other websites

We may provide links to other websites operated by third parties. We make no representations or warranties in relation to the privacy practices of any third party website and we are not responsible for the privacy policies or the content of any third party website. If you visit these websites, they will be governed by their own terms of use (including privacy policies).

How can you access and correct your personal information?

Subject to the exceptions set out in the Privacy Act, you may seek access to and correction of the personal information which we hold about you by contacting our Privacy Officer at info@archerscott.com.au. We will require you to verify your identity and to specify what information you require. If a fee is charged for providing access, you will be advised of the likely cost in advance.

How can you make a privacy related complaint?

If you have any questions about privacy-related issues or wish to complain about a breach of your privacy or the handling of your personal information by us, please contact our Privacy Officer at info@archerscott.com.au. We may ask you to lodge your complaint in writing. Any complaint will be investigated by the Privacy Officer and you will be notified of the making of a decision in relation to your complaint as soon as is practicable after it has been made, usually within 30 days.

If we are unable to satisfactorily resolve your concerns about our handling of your personal information, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner:

GPO Box 5218
Sydney NSW 2001
Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au
Tel: 1300 363 992

www.oaic.gov.au

Application of European privacy laws

If you are an individual in a country in the European Economic Area (EEA), we may be required to comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (the GDPR) which applies to us when processing the personal information of individuals (data subjects) who are in countries in the EEA in relation to offering you our products or services or if we monitor any of your behaviour when in those countries. You can read or GDPR Collection Notice on our website. This includes additional information we are required to tell you about in relation to your privacy, including the basis on which we collect your personal information and your data subject rights under the GDPR.

ARCHER SCOTT is a data controller for our website and services provided through our website at the address shown above.

Updates to this Policy

This Policy will be reviewed regularly to take account of new laws and technology, changes to our activities and the changing environment. The most current version of this Policy is located on our website www.archerscott.com.au and can also be obtained by contacting our Privacy Officer at info@archerscott.com.au.

Last updated: May 2024

GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION NOTICE

Identity and contact details of data controller

This notice applies to the collection and processing of your personal information if you are in a country that is a member of the European Economic Area (EEA) by or on behalf of us.

This notice tells you how we collect and process your personal information (''personal data'' and ''personal information'' are used interchangeably) and the legal basis for processing it, what we use it for and who we share it with. It also explains particular rights you have in relation to the processing of your personal information and reflects some key features of our Privacy Policy available at: www.archerscott.com.au

Contact Us

Please contact us if you have any questions or comments about this notice, our Privacy Policy and procedures, or you wish to exercise the rights you have under applicable privacy laws, which are explained further below.

You can contact us by email: info@archerscott.com.au

Categories of people about whom we collect

We may collect from from the following people:

clients, business associates and potential clients and their employees;
information about individuals we collect in the course of acting for clients;
suppliers and their employees;
our employees, partners, contractors, former employees, former partners, former contractors or prospective employees, contractors or partners; and
other people who come into contact with a member of ARCHER SCOTT.

Categories of personal information collected

Personal information collected from other sources

Sometimes we collect information about you from sources other than you. We may collect information about you that is publicly available or made available by third parties.

For instance, we do this where:

we can’t get hold of you and need to update your contact details; and
we need information about individuals from third parties to help us provide our services to clients.

We may use or disclose information about you in order to combine the information that we hold with information collected from or held by external sources. We do this in order to enable us to provide our services.

Purposes of data processing

In connection with our legitimate interests carrying on our business, we may use and process your information for our legitimate interests (where we have considered these are not overridden by your rights and which you have the right to object to as explained below) in:

identifying opportunities to improve our service to you;
conducting market research to serve you better by understanding your preferences to ensure we send you appropriate promotions and campaigns;
assisting in arrangements with other organisations in relation to a product or service we make available to you;
allowing us to run our business and perform administrative and operational tasks (such as training staff, risk management; developing and marketing products and services, undertaking planning, research and statistical analysis; and systems development and testing); and
verifying identity, preventing or investigating any fraud or crime, or any suspected fraud or crime.

Where processing is necessary for the performance of a contract

We may use and process your personal information in connection with a contract to which you are a party (for example, verification of identity checks on real estate transactions).

Under a legal obligation

We may also use and process your personal information where we are authorised or required by applicable laws, regulations or codes that bind us, in particular as a law firm.

With your consent

Where required, we will only use your personal information for the purpose/s for which you have given your valid or explicit consent, which we will ensure we have obtained before we process your information.

Some information you provide us in connection with your instructions to us for providing or administering a product or service we provide you, may be more sensitive and therefore falls within a special category of personal information, such as health information. We will collect and process this information only with your explicit consent.

For direct marketing

We may communicate with you (through the preferred communication channel(s) you have selected, which may include by email, telephone, SMS, iM, mail, or any other electronic means including via social networking forums) to, amongst other things, tell you about products, services, event and offers that may be of interest to you.

If you have provided your consent to receive direct marketing, you can withdraw it at any time without detriment, we will process your request as soon as practicable.

If you no longer wish to receive these emails you can email us at: info@archerscott.com.au

Recipients of the personal information

We may share your information with other organisations consistent with the purposes for which we use and process your information as described above.

Sharing at your request

At your request, we will share your personal information with your representative or any person acting on your behalf (for example, financial advisers, lawyers, settlement agents, accountants, executors, administrators, trustees, guardians, brokers or auditors)

Sharing with third parties

We may disclose your personal information to third parties outside of ARCHER SCOTT. For instance, to:

parties who provide us with administrative or other services to assist us in providing legal advice to you; and
parties who assist us in advising you (e.g. barristers, medical professionals etc).

Transferring your information overseas

We may send and process your personal information within ARCHER SCOTT. We may also need to share some of the information we collect about you from the EEA with organisations both inside and outside Australia, sometimes we may need to ask you before this happens.

We may store your information in cloud or other types of networked or electronic storage. As electronic or networked storage can be accessed from various countries via an internet connection, it’s not always practicable to know in which country your information may be accessed or held.

If we or our service providers transfer any of your personal information we collect from you out of the EEA, it will only be done with relevant protections in place. We will take steps to ensure that your personal information will be afforded the level of protection required of us under and in accordance with our Privacy Policy and applicable data protection laws and in accordance with current legally recognised data transfer mechanisms, such as where the country has been deemed adequate by the European Commission, where a valid Privacy Shield certification exists (in the case of a data transfer to a Privacy Shield certified US recipient - https://www.privacy shield.gov/welcome or by adopting appropriate EC approved standard contractual clauses (see https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection_en)

If you wish to know whether or not the country to which the overseas disclosure is intended to be made has been deemed adequate by the European Commission, please refer to this link:

https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/data-transfers-outside-eu/adequacy-protection-personal-data-non-eu-countries_en#dataprotectionincountriesoustedetheeu

Overseas organisations may be required to disclose information we share with them under an applicable foreign law.

What happens when we no longer need your information?

We’ll only keep your information for as long as we require it for our purposes. We’re required to keep some of your information for certain periods of time under applicable law. When we no longer require your information, we’ll ensure that your information is destroyed or de-identified.

In relation to the provision of legal services, we are required to keep your information for at least 7 years or otherwise as required for our business operations or by applicable laws.

We may need to retain certain personal information after we cease providing you with products or services to enforce our terms, for fraud prevention, for audit or insurance purposes, to identify, issue or resolve legal claims and/or for proper record keeping.

We may also retain a record of any stated objection by you to receiving marketing for the purpose of ensuring we can continue to respect your wishes and not contact you further.

Your personal information rights

How to access your information

Subject to applicable laws, you have the right to access your personal information and to receive a copy of that information.

You can ask us to access your personal information that we hold by writing to us at: info@archerscott.com.au.You can also ask that personal information provided by you to us is transmitted to another party.

We may need to verify your identity to respond to your request. We will respond to any request within a reasonable period permitted under applicable privacy laws and will generally give access unless an exemption applies to certain information.

We will give you access to your information in the form you want it where it’s reasonable and practical. We may charge you a small fee under certain circumstances to cover our costs when giving you access but we’ll always confirm this with you first.

If we can’t give you access, we will tell you why in writing and how you can make a complaint about our decision.

If you have concerns, you can complain: info@archerscott.com.au

How to correct your personal information

You have the right to correction (rectification) of personal information and can contact us if you think there is something wrong with the information we hold about you.

If you are worried that we have given incorrect information to others, we will tell them about the correction. If we can’t, then we’ll let you know in writing.

Your right to erasure of your information

You also have in certain circumstances the right to request that the personal information that we collect from you is erased. If we refuse any request you make in relation to this right, we will tell you why in writing and how you can make a complaint about our decision.

Your right to object to or restrict processing of your information

You may also request that further processing of your personal information is restricted in certain circumstances, including while we investigate your concerns with this information.

If we can’t give you access, we will tell you why in writing and how you can make a complaint about our decision. If you have concerns, you can complain to the Australian Information Commissioner or the relevant data protection authority such as the Office of the UK Information Commissioner.

Right to object to data processing and right to data portability

You also have in certain circumstances the right to request that the further processing of your information is restricted or to object to its processing and the right to data portability (to receive and have transferred the information you provided). If we refuse any request you make in relation to this right, we will write to you to explain why and how you can make a complaint about our decision.

Right to withdraw consent

You can let us know at any time if you no longer wish to receive direct marketing offers from us . We will process your request as soon as practicable. Where you have subscribed to something specific (like to hear from one of our sponsored organisations) then these subscriptions will be managed separately.

You may also withdraw your consent where provided or object to the further processing of your personal information under certain circumstances. If we refuse any request you make in relation to this right, we will write to you to explain why and how you can make a complaint about our decision.

The withdrawal of your consent will not affect the processing of your information that you had consented to.

How do you make a complaint?

If you have a complaint about how we handle your personal information, we want to hear from you. Please email us at: info@archerscott.com.au.

You have the right to make a complaint to the relevant data protection authority (for example in the place you reside or where you believe we breached your rights).

Need more help?

Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Online: www.oaic.gov.au/privacy
Phone: 1300 363 992
Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au

Office of the UK Information Commissioner
Online: www.ico.gov.uk
Phone: 0303 123 1113
Live chat: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/live-chat