By visiting our website, and/or engaging us to provide you with legal services (“the Legal Services”) you will provide us (Rainey Collins Lawyers) with personal information that we need in order to provide the website and/or the Legal Services to you. The extent of the personal information that we collect, store, use, and disclose from and about you will vary, depending of the level of engagement you have with us.

By accessing and using our website, or engaging us to provide you with the Legal Services, and/or otherwise providing us your personal information, you agree to us collecting, storing, using, and disclosing your personal information in accordance with this privacy policy and pursuant to the Privacy Act 2020 (“the Act”).

Collection of information

Website

When you visit our website, we do not automatically collect any personal information about you. However, we do collect information that does not identify you for the purposes of improving our service to you. This website information is collected by:

  • Using cookies;
  • Collecting website use information including user location, internet protocol (IP) addresses;
  • Analytical tools that we may operate, including but not limited to Google Ads and Google Analytics.  Google has its own privacy policy, which you are recommended to read here. 

A cookie is a small text file that our website may store on your device, which helps us improve your user experience when you use our website. Cookies will not collect identifiable information about you, but will identify your device.

We may use and share this website information with third parties, as set out below.

Our Services

If you contact us by phone, email, post, or through our online instruction pathways, we will collect and store any personal information that you submit to us (including payment details).

If you engage us to provide the Legal Services to you, we will use and disclose the personal information that we collect and hold about you to do so and to carry out directly related functions.

How do we collect personal information?

Except as otherwise permitted by law, we collect personal information:

  • Directly from the person that provides their personal information to us whether by telephone, text message, email, post, or through our website (including via registration forms, the “contact us” function, the “compliments and complaints” function and/or the “ask a question” function);
  • Indirectly from various sources, including but not limited to:
  • Business cards provided to us;
  • Your attendance at webinar/seminars (including through the registration process);
  • Newsletter subscription;
  • Referrals.
  • From third parties:
  • Website and social media analytical tools;
  • Where a third party provides reference or credit check materials relevant to the circumstances;
  • From any other source you have given permission to provide or collect from;
  • Third parties in relation to the Legal Services, including law enforcement agencies, the Courts, other law firms, and real estate agencies;
  • From publicly available sources.

If you do not want to provide us with your personal information

If you do not want us to collect, or to provide us with, your personal information, we may be unable to provide you with the Legal Services and/or provide an optimal experience of our website.

Additionally, you can modify the security settings in your internet browser to disallow the placement of Cookies on your electronic device, although this may impact your experience of our website.

Storage and Security

We take the security of your personal information seriously, and ensure that all of our staff comply with their legal obligations to protect your personal information, except in a limited number of circumstances as required by the law.

We have taken reasonable steps to ensure the safety of your personal information stored in both electronic and hard copy format, and to protect against loss, unauthorised access, use, modification, disclosure, or other misuse.  We will not divulge your personal information except in accordance with normal legal requirements and practices, including the ways that we have covered in this policy.

Use and disclosure of your personal information

We will only use and disclose collected personal information for the purposes for which it was collected, and for directly related purposes (including those required by law), including but not limited to:

  • Providing the Legal Services to you;
  • Taking payment for the Legal Services;
  • Improving the Legal Services;
  • Carrying out due diligence that we are legally required to complete and/or which is necessary in order to provide the Legal Services;
  • Ensuring compliance with health and safety obligations and legislation;
  • For internal record keeping and administrative purposes;
  • To engage third party services on your behalf;
  • Carrying out identification verification against the relevant databases and as required by law;
  • Implementing and maintaining necessary security measures;
  • Carrying out marketing;
  • To provide our website to you, and to analyse and improve our website from time to time;
  • As authorised by the New Zealand Law Society;
  • In the event of a notifiable privacy breach within the meaning in the Privacy Act 2020, including to notify you of the event and to comply with our mandatory reporting obligations under the Privacy Act.

Mandatory reporting of notifiable privacy breaches

If your personal information is involved in a privacy breach which we reasonably believe has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to you (“a Notifiable Privacy Breach”), we will inform you and recommend what steps you should take in response. We will also report a Notifiable Privacy Breach to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.  

Information sharing

We will not sell, lend, trade, or otherwise disclose your personal information to any third party except:

  • For the purposes of providing the Legal Services to you, including to arrange postage, delivery, or any other necessary contractor service;
  • When you have authorised us to do so;
  • When we reasonably believe we are required or permitted to do so by law;
  • If we believe that the disclosure is reasonably necessary to enforce any legal rights or obligations we may have;
  • To verify your identification via the APLYiD system (which has its own privacy policy, viewable here ];
  • If we want to keep you informed about the Legal Services;
  • To recover money from you when you have not paid us;
  • For health and safety and/or security purposes;
  • If we sell or transfer our business to a third party;
  • Where it is necessary to do so to resolve a complaint you make about us; and/or
  • If in an emergency situation it is necessary or desirable to share your personal information with a civil defence or government organisation, or another emergency service.

Access and correction of information

You may request access to the personal information that we hold about you. To request access to your personal information, please email privacy@raineycollins.co.nz or call us on (04) 473 6850.

You also have a right to request the correction of any personal information that we hold about you. To request a correction, please contact us as above.

It is important that the personal information we hold about you is complete, accurate, and up to date. If your details change, please let us know, so that we can amend our records accordingly.

Please note that if you contact us to either access or correct your personal information, we will first take steps to verify your identity to ensure the security of the personal information.

Overseas disclosure of personal information

If at any time we need to send your personal information outside of New Zealand to an overseas agency that may use the information for its own purposes, we will:

  • take steps to ensure that we believe on reasonable grounds that the overseas agency receiving the Personal Information is subject to privacy protections that, overall, provide comparable safeguards to those provided under the Privacy Act 2020;
  • enter into a binding contractual agreement with the overseas agency receiving the Personal Information confirming that it will protect the Personal Information in a way that, overall, provides comparable safeguards to those provided under the Privacy Act 2020; or
  • obtain your express authorisation to disclose your personal information overseas after expressly informing you that the overseas agency may not be required to protect the information in a way that, overall, provides comparable safeguards to those provided under the Privacy Act 2020.

Retention and destruction of personal information

We will only retain your personal information for as long as is required for the purpose/s for which it may be lawfully used. 

Unique identifiers

If you choose to engage us, we will assign you unique identifiers, allowing us to provide the Legal Services to you more efficiently.

Changes to our privacy policy

We may update or change our privacy policy at any time by providing you with at least 30 days’ notice, which will be displayed on our website along with reasons for any change. If you have any questions about our privacy policy, or any intended changes, please contact us.

Our contact details and address are:

Address:          Rainey Collins Lawyers

                        113 The Terrace

                        Wellington 6011

Phone:             (04) 473 6850

Email:              privacy@raineycollins.co.nz

 

Making a complaint

If you have any questions, concerns, or a complaint in relation to this privacy policy or the protection of your personal information, please direct them to the Privacy Officer at the above email address. To enable us to more easily address any questions or concerns you have, it is preferable if they are made in writing.

The Privacy Officer will investigate any complaints that are received, and respond to you as soon as possible.

If you are not satisfied with how we have handled your complaint, you can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner on 0800 803 909 or https://privacy.org.nz.