Privacy & Disclaimer

DISCLAIMER

The material on this website has been produced by Smith Family Law and has been prepared as general information about our firm and services. It is not intended to provide legal advice and, as such, the content does not constitute legal advice. We do not recommend that you rely on this information without obtaining legal advice. Use of this website does not create any solicitor-client relationship between the user and Smith Family Law.

All articles, content, updates and other information available on this website is prepared so that it is current as at the date of writing. Please note that such information can become out of date quickly. You must make your own assessment of the information and rely on it at your own risk.

Smith Family Law makes no representations about the suitability, reliability, timeliness, comprehensiveness and accuracy of the information, services and other content contained on this website. We may, from time to time, change or add to this website without notice. However, we do not undertake to keep this website updated. Smith Family Law is not liable to you or anyone else if errors occur in the information on this website or if that information is not up-to-date.

Smith Family Law cannot guarantee that the content and the provision of the content of this website will always be correct or fault, error and virus free. Smith Family Law does not accept liability for incorrect content or errors and omissions in this website or its content (whether of legal, typographical, technical or other nature, but we will try to correct them as quickly as possible).

Copyright

The contents of this website (‘the Materials’) may not be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted or distributed in whole or part for any purpose other than individual viewing of the website without the express prior permission of Smith Family Law. Unless otherwise indicated, copyright of the Materials is owned by Smith Family Law. Modification of the Materials or use of the Materials for any purpose will constitute a violation of the copyrights and other rights of Smith Family Law.

Privacy

Smith Family Law is committed to protecting your privacy. In the course of our business we collect, use and disclose personal information provided to us by our clients and other users of this website. We do this in accordance with National Privacy Principles established by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). 

Jurisdiction

This website is the property of Smith Family Law. Legal content is based on laws applicable in the states and territories in Australia in which we practise. Smith Family Law does not represent that it is authorised to provide legal advice in all the jurisdictions from which this website can be viewed.

Linked Sites

Smith Family Law is not responsible for the content of any sites linked to this site. The linked sites are attached for the convenience of the user only and may be accessed by the user at the user’s own risk.

Limitation of Liability

To the extent permitted by the law, Smith Family Law will not be liable for any damage, including loss of business or profits, in relation to usage of this website.

PRIVACY POLICY

This Privacy Statement applies to the entity BTS Family Law Pty Ltd Trading as Smith Family Law. In this document the words ‘we’, ‘our’ and ‘us’ are used to refer to Smith Family Law. ‘You’ and ‘your’ refer to you as the person whose personal information we may collect and maintain.

Smith Family Law collects, uses and discloses personal information relating to various individuals in the course of providing our clients with legal advice, marketing our services and running our business.  As a legal practice, protecting the confidentiality and privacy of information is fundamental to our professional relationships.

Smith Family Law is bound by the provisions of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles in its collection, security, storage, use and disclosure of personal information.  This document describes how we will handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act and the Australian Privacy Principles.  We will review and may update this Privacy Policy from time to time.  The current version will always be available on this website.

Collection of personal information

Smith Family Law collects personal information in order to provide professional services to our clients and to operate and market our legal practice business.

We will usually collect personal information directly from you; however, we may also collect information from third parties, such as:

• Insurers
• your employer
• other service providers including health service providers, and/or
• publicly available sources.

The personal information we collect and maintain may include your:

• name
• address
• contact details
• information relating to your business, and/or
• information about other parties that you may or intend to conduct business with.

We may also collect sensitive information, including health information, about individuals.  We will only collect sensitive information if the individual has consented, or if the collection is otherwise in accordance with the Privacy Act.  For instance, where the collection of sensitive information is required by law or necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal or equitable claim.

If you do not provide us with personal information that we request, we may not be able to communicate with you or meet our professional obligations to you.

Accessing our website

When you access our website or electronic publications, we do not use your browsing information to identify you personally.  We may collect information such as the webpages you access on our site, the documents you download and the type of browser you use.  This information is anonymous and is used to assess the effectiveness of our communications.

Accessing our website may cause a small file called a “cookie” to be stored on your computer.  Cookies allow us to make the information on our website more accessible and effective and can avoid you receiving the same information from us repeatedly. Most internet browsers are initially set up to accept all cookies but you can change the settings in your browser to refuse all cookies or to notify you each time a cookie is sent to your computer, giving you the choice whether to accept it or not.

Use and disclosure of personal information

Smith Family Law uses and discloses personal information it collects for the primary purposes of:

• providing legal services to clients, ensuring our service commitment to clients is met, and to advise individuals about related matters;
• meeting our internal professional and business requirements, including marketing our legal practice business.

We may also disclose personal information to our third-party service providers in connection with the provision of ongoing or case-specific services. Where your personal information is provided to these third parties, they are required to abide by the APPs and use the personal information provided for the sole purpose of supplying their specific services.

Storage and security of personal info

Smith Family Law takes all reasonable steps to protect the personal information we hold from misuse and loss and from unauthorized access, modification or disclosure.  Most information is held in hard copy or electronic records, which may only be accessed by the principal and employees of BTS Family Law Pty Ltd in the performance of their duties.  We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that all third-party service providers which hold your personal information are bound by appropriate contractual obligations regarding the protection, disclosure and use of the information.

The principal and all employees are subject to confidentiality obligations as well as being bound by this policy.

Access to your personal information

Smith Family Law will provide you with access to your personal information held by us unless there is a reason why we are not required to do so under the Privacy Act.  Under the Privacy Act, you have a right to request access to, and correction of, your personal information.

We have processes in place to ensure our records remain accurate, complete and up to date, including by verifying the information with you each time you use our services.  We will correct any inaccurate or out-of-date information within a reasonable time of notification of error.

These records are generally retained for 7 years.  If the information is no longer required by us for any purpose for which it was collected and is no longer required by law to be retained by us, we will destroy or de-identify the information.

If we deny you access to, or we refuse to correct your personal information, we will provide you with our reasons for the decision.

Direct marketing

We distribute general information and newsletters regarding our services to our clients. If we believe it may be of interest to you we may, from time to time, supply you with specific information regarding some of our products and services. We will always provide a simple ‘opt-out’ option with this kind of correspondence. Alternatively, you may update your preferences by contacting any of our offices.

Enquiries and complaints about your personal information

Smith Family Law will endeavour to resolve any identified problems with the collection, use or disclosure of personal information.

All inquiries and complaints should be addressed to:

Principal
Smith Family Law
Level 9, 488 Bourke Street
MELBOURNE VIC 3000

Telephone: 03 8625 8957
Email: [email protected]

Any unresolved complaints should be referred to the Australian Information Commissioner. For further information on Privacy, please visit the Australian Government – Office of the Australian Information Commissioner Website at www.oaic.gov.au.