This policy applies to Baker & McKenzie ("Baker & McKenzie") in relation to its operations in Australia and explains how Baker & McKenzie handles personal information and complies with the requirements of the Australian Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
Should you have further questions relating to this policy please contact our Australian Privacy Officer at .
1. Collecting information about you
This policy relates to Baker & McKenzie's collection of personal information that is covered by the Australian Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). It is not intended to cover categories of personal information that are not covered by the Privacy Act.
The main types of personal information Baker & McKenzie collects relate to the contact details and organisational roles of clients, suppliers and other business contacts. Typically, this information includes name, address, telephone number, email address and job title. We collect most of this information directly from individuals when we deal with them. If you contact us, we may keep a record of that contact.
In the course of providing legal services to our clients we also collect personal information for purposes such as legal proceedings and advising clients. Our handling of this information is subject to professional ethical standards.
2. Using and disclosing your personal information
Our main purposes in collecting information about individuals are:
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to provide legal services
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to maintain contact with clients
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to keep clients and other contacts informed of the services we offer and of legal developments that may be of interest to them, and to notify them of seminars and other events that we are holding
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for general management and reporting purposes, such as invoicing and account management.
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Baker & McKenzie does not routinely disclose personal information to other organisations unless:
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required by law
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we believe it necessary to provide you with a product or service which you have requested
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to protect the rights, property or personal safety of any member of the public or the interests of Baker & McKenzie
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the assets and operations of the firm or a part of the firm are transferred to another party as a going concern
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you give your consent.
3. Service providers
Like many businesses, Baker & McKenzie uses a range of service providers to help us maximise the quality and efficiency of our services and our business operations. This means that individuals and organisations outside of Baker & McKenzie, such as mail houses, will sometimes have access to personal information held by Baker & McKenzie and may collect or use it on behalf of Baker & McKenzie.
We require our service providers to adhere to our privacy guidelines and not to keep this information or use it for any unauthorised purposes.
4. Transfer of information outside of Australia
Please note that as a global firm Baker & McKenzie exchanges information, including personal information, between our offices, and backs up the content of computer files on different servers located outside of Australia. As a result, we may transfer personal information outside of Australia to countries whose privacy laws do not provide the same level of protection as Australia's. However, this does not change any of our commitments to safeguard your privacy and the information remains subject to existing confidentiality obligations.
5. Baker & McKenzie marketing practices
We may contact you by mail, phone, fax or email, in order to provide you with updated information about our services, seminars that we are running or publications that we have produced.
If you are receiving promotional information from Baker & McKenzie and do not wish to receive this information any longer, you may remove your name from our list by contacting our Privacy Officer at privacy.australia@bakernet.com and asking to be removed from our mailing list. Please allow 28 days for this request to be processed.
6. Our website privacy practices
We sometimes use cookie technology on our website to provide information and services to website visitors. Cookies are pieces of information that a website transfers to your computer's hard disk for record keeping purposes and are a necessary part of facilitating online transactions. Most web browsers are set to accept cookies. Cookies are useful to estimate our number of members and determine overall traffic patterns through our website.
7. You can access and correct the information we keep about you
Should at any time you want to know exactly what personal information we hold about you, you are welcome to request access to your record by contacting our Privacy Officer at privacy.australia@bakernet.com. We will usually respond to your application within 14 days.
Should at any time you wish to change personal information that is inaccurate or out of date, please contact us and we can amend this record. Should you wish to have your personal information deleted, please let us know and we will take reasonable steps to delete it unless we need to keep it for legal or auditing reasons.
8. Storage and security of your personal information
Baker & McKenzie will endeavour to take all reasonable steps to keep secure any information which we hold about you, and to keep this information accurate and up to date. We also require our employees and data processors to respect the confidentiality of any personal information held by Baker & McKenzie.
9. What to do if you have a problem or question
Should Baker & McKenzie become aware of any ongoing concerns or problems concerning our privacy practices, we will take these issues seriously and work to address these concerns. Should you have any further queries relating to our Privacy Policy, or you have a problem or complaint, please contact our Privacy Officer at .
10. Future changes to this policy
Baker & McKenzie operates in a dynamic business environment. Over time, aspects of our business may change as we respond to changing market conditions. This may require our policies to be reviewed and revised. Baker & McKenzie reserves the right to change its Privacy Policy at any time and notify you by posting an updated version of the policy on its website.
The amended Privacy Policy will apply between us whether or not we have given you specific notice of any change.