Privacy Policy

This policy outlines our obligations to manage the personal information we hold about our clients, prospective clients and staff, contractors and others. We respect and value the information you share with us and we are bound by both the Privacy Act 1993 and the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006, and the privacy principles set out within them.

In this policy, information refers to any information which relates to an individual that can be used as a means of identification of that individual.

We collect personal information to:

• Respond to any issues regarding any of our services;
• Process your instructions for our services;
• Verify your identity;
• Provide you with relevant information and updates on legal issues which we think may be of interest to you;
• Market our services which may be of interest to you;
• Meet our legal obligations and facilitate our internal business operations; and
• Assess whether or not to engage you as an employee or supplier.

We will take reasonable steps in the circumstances to check that the personal information we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete, relevant, not misleading and up to date.

We collect personal information about:

• Clients, business associates and potential clients and their employees;
• Suppliers and their employees;
• Employees, prospective employees and contractors, and
• Others who come into contact with us.

Generally, when you interact with us face-to-face, through our website or social media, we collect and hold information from you that includes (but is not limited to) the following:

• Name;
• Address;
• Date of birth;
• Identification/photograph;
• Contact details;
• Occupation;
• Device information (e.g. operating system version);
• Location information;
• Log information (e.g. IP address), and
• Any other information which assists us in conducting our business, meeting our legal obligations and providing our services.

You are not required to provide us with your information. However, if you do not provide us with your personal information, we may not be able to supply you with the relevant service, we may not be able to provide you with information about our services, and we may be obligated to refuse to act for you. For potential employees or suppliers, we may not be able to consider you for employment opportunities or supply agreements.

We will usually collect personal information through forms completed by you, face-to-face interactions, interviews, telephone conversations and from third parties. We may also obtain your information through our website www.cflaw.co.nz which may include the use of ‘cookies’.

*Our website may include links to other websites, for which we make no representations or warranties as to the third parties’ privacy policies, and are not responsible for the privacy policies of any such sites.

We may use and disclose your information for the primary purpose it is collected, for reasonably expected secondary reasons in relation to primary purpose and any reason which the Privacy Act requires us to.

Generally, we use and disclose your information for the following purposes:

• To carry out our business;
• To provide, market and enhance our services;
• To enable clear lines of communication with you, and
• To meet our legal obligations.

Under the Privacy Act, we are obligated to protect the security of your information. We are also required to respect the confidentiality of your information and your personal privacy.

We take necessary steps to protect your information from misuse, unauthorised access/alteration, loss and modification though means such as restricted electronic access and physical security.

In line with our policy, when we no longer require your information for the permitted purposes, and in accordance with the Privacy Act, we will take reasonable steps to destroy your information.

We may disclose your information to:

• Companies or individuals who assist us in providing services;
• Courts and tribunals, regulatory authorities, government departments, other authoritative organisations;
• Any other organisation who may require this information for us to meet our legal obligations, and
• Anyone you may authorise us to disclose it to.

We also collect information relating to these entities and individuals, and do so in accordance with this policy.

We will never sell your information to another party. We will only share it with others when required to do so in terms of this policy.

You are entitled to request your personal information that we hold and, if necessary, request correction of that information. If you wish to access your personal information that we hold, please forward your request, in writing, to our Privacy Officer at PO Box 13001, Christchurch, or through email at info@cflaw.co.nz

This policy is subject to review at any time, to reflect any changes in law, technology and our operations, by uploading a reviewed policy to our website.  Any changes will apply from the date of the upload.  The most current version of this policy can be found at www.cflaw.co.nz or can be obtained through contact with our Privacy Officer.  If you have any questions or queries about privacy-related issues, please contact us directly.