Privacy Policy

Barker Evans (referred to in this document as we, us or our) is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information obtained in fulfilling its duties to the court, its clients and employees. We are committed to ensuring the privacy of your information and to complying with the Australian Privacy Principles (“APP”), which are contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (“Privacy Act”).

This Privacy Policy (the “Policy”) covers the following areas:

 • Collection of personal information (including sensitive information)

 • Use of personal information

 • Security of personal information

 • Storage of Personal Information outside of Australia

 • Disclosure of personal information

 • Web site, Marketing and Applications Privacy

 • Access to personal Information

 • Our Privacy team contacts

 • Effect of Policy

This Policy applies to all of the directors, officers and employees of Barker Evans.

Please read this policy carefully and contact us if you have any questions. Our contact details are included below.

1. Information

We collect and hold personal information about individuals in the course of our business as a law practice. Those individuals include clients, prospective clients, employees, prospective employees, suppliers of services to us or on behalf of our clients and individuals connected with the conduct of legal matters on behalf of our clients.

“Personal Information” is defined in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) as information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable:

• whether the information or opinion is true or not; and

 • whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.

The main types of personal information we collect may include:

 • Names and contact details including phone numbers, postal and/or residential addresses and email addresses;

 • Information that can identify you, including date of birth or residence status; drivers licence number, passport details, marital status and photographs;

 • any facts or opinions that are connected to an enquiry that we are conducting on behalf of a client or potential client to effectively provide legal services; and

 • any other personal information that is provided through a website belonging to Barker Evans or as otherwise requested by us or provided by you.

In some cases, you might need to give us personal information about other people – such as when you have an authorized representative. In those situations, we’re relying on you to tell those people that you’re giving us their details, and to let them know about this Policy. In addition, if you provide us with third party personal information then you warrant to us that you have the third party’s consent to do this.

Due to the nature of the legal work we do for clients, we also collect and hold sensitive information about individuals including racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, sexual orientation or practices, criminal records, health and genetic information, religious beliefs or affiliations and membership of political, professional, trade and union associations.

2. Collection, use and storage

We collect and use personal information from and to:

 • clients or prospective clients directly about themselves and other individuals in the course of the conduct or proposed conduct of their law matter;

 • third parties such as referrers, courts, tribunals, governments, professional and statutory bodies, media, accountants, financial advisors, legal practitioners, valuers, investigators, experts, medical professionals, mental health professionals and other individuals connected with the conduct of law matters on behalf of our clients; and

 • employees, prospective employees, professional organizations, and suppliers of services during the course of the conduct of our law practice.

If we hold personal information, we will only use that information for the purpose for which it was collected unless; the individual consents; we are required to by law; we are required to maintain or defend a legal claim; or to participate in an alternative dispute resolution process.

If we have received unsolicited personal information we will determine whether we could have validly collected the information ourselves under the APP. If we could not have done so under the APP we will destroy the information unless compelled otherwise by law.

We hold the information we collect variously in electronic and hard copy forms. Both are held in secure environments. All our employees and contractors that deal with personal information are subject to this Policy, a contractual confidentiality obligation to us or are otherwise subject to legal obligations similar to the APP.

3. Disclosure of personal information

We may disclose personal information:

 • for the purpose of providing information, products, services or marketing to you;

 • for the purpose of assisting you to obtain products or services from third parties in connection with the conduct of your matter, including disbursement funders and litigation funders;

 • to credit reporting agencies and courts, tribunals and regulatory authorities where you fail to pay for goods or services provided by us to you; and

 • to third parties, including agents or sub-contractors, who assist us in providing information, products, services, or direct mail or digital marketing to you. This may include parties located, or that store data, outside of Australia.

We are not likely to disclose information to an overseas recipient without your consent. Even with your consent, the most common exception will be communications we make on your behalf with lawyers, experts and courts who are overseas all likely to be subject to laws or schemes substantially similar to the APP.

We may also be compelled to disclose personal information by law, for example, under court orders or statutory notices to produce documents under laws relating to social security, taxation, bankruptcy, anti-money laundering, counterterrorism and the management of incorporated entities. Where we disclose your personal information to third parties for these purposes, we will request that the third party follow this Policy in relation to their handling of your personal information.

If there is a change of control of our business or a sale or transfer of business assets, we reserve the right to transfer, to the extent permissible by law, our user databases together with any personal information and non-personal information contained in those databases. This information may be disclosed to a potential purchaser during the due diligence investigations and on a confidential basis. We would seek to only disclose information in good faith.

4. Access to personal information

Information may be accessed by personnel within Barker Evans. All personnel within Barker Evans are bound by confidentiality laws and standards that govern the legal profession within Australia and to comply with the Australian Privacy Principles.

In the course of providing legal services and conducting the effective management of our business, disclosure to third party professionals and service providers may occur (e.g. barristers, document reproduction service providers, disbursement funders and debt recovery agents). Third party service providers may also come into contact with personal information when we outsource certain functions, such as: bulk mailing, direct mail or digital marketing, client experience research, company audits and information technology support. We have contractual arrangements in place with all of our third party professionals and service providers to protect personal information from unauthorised use or disclosure.

If you wish to access your personal information, you should make a request in writing to the Privacy Officer.

5. Website, Marketing and Applications Privacy

This Policy also applies to any personal information we collect via our website, including www.barkerevans.com.au and applications including mobile applications, in addition to personal information you provide directly – such as where you make a request or complete an intake form.

For statistical purposes we collect information on website activity (such as the number of users who visit our website, the date and time of visits, the number of pages viewed and location). We do not use this information to identify individuals but it does provide us with statistics that can be used to analyse and improve our website and services. Occasionally we analyse the traffic through our website, which may involve the use of cookies for marketing and market research more generally.

We may also use web beacons on Barker Evans’ websites from time to time. Web beacons or clear .gifs are small pieces of code placed on a web page to monitor the visitors’ behaviour and collect data about the visitors viewing a web page. For example, web beacons can be used to count the users who visit a web page or to deliver a cookie to the browser of a visitor viewing that page.

We do not use this technology to access your personal information.

Because we want your user experience to be as informative and helpful as possible, Barker Evans’ website may contain links to other websites of interest. We do not have any control over those third party websites. We are not responsible for or liable for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such third party websites, and such third party websites are not governed by this policy.

6. Access, correction and complaints

If you wish to access your personal information held by us you should make a request in writing to the Principal Director. We will endeavour to provide a response to the request in writing within 30 days. To the extent we are required to provide access pursuant to the APP we will. There are situations that are set out in the APP in which we will not be required to provide access.

If we hold personal information that we believe is incorrect we will take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to correct that information. In doing so we will have regard to the purpose for which the information is held and make attempts to ensure the information is accurate, up to date, complete, relevant and not misleading.

If you are aware of any personal information that is held by us which is incorrect you may make a request for a correction in writing to the Principal Director. We will endeavour to provide a response to the request in writing within 30 days in compliance with the APP. If we agree with your request and we have previously provided the information to be corrected to other third parties we will, at your request, inform those third parties about the correction. If we do not agree to make the correction you seek, our written response to you will give reasons, set out a mechanism to complain about our decision and provide you with the option, if reasonable in the circumstances, to have us attach a statement of your assertion with our record.

If you believe we have breached the APP you may make a complaint in writing to the Principal Director. We will endeavour to provide a response to the complaint in writing within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

7. Amendments

This Policy may be amended, including with changes, additions and deletions, from time to time in our sole discretion and any such amendments will be notified to you by posting an updated version of the Policy on our website. If at any point we decide to use personal information in a manner materially different from that stated at the time it was collected we will notify relevant persons by email or via a prominent notice on our website, and where necessary, we will seek the prior consent of the relevant persons.

8. Our Privacy Team Contacts

For privacy related matters please contact our firm by email at nevans@barkerevans.com.au or by telephone on (02) 8379 1892 between 9:00am and 5:00pm AEST Monday to Friday.