Privacy
Built Environment Legal Privacy Policy
Built Environment Legal (BEL) is an Australian law firm. It is an incorporated legal practice in accordance with the Legal Profession Act 2004 and has associated entities, such as Consult Australia.

We understand that when accessing our Website, interacting with us online or under any agreement or arrangement we have with you, including the information which we collect about you from other sources, the privacy and confidentiality of this personal information is important to you. This policy describes the way in which BEL collects, holds and discloses that information. It also sets out the matters which we are required to disclose to individuals under the National Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (‘NNPs’).

Separate guidelines also apply to information held in relation to BELs’ own people.

What information do we collect?
During the course of operations, we generally collect your personal information directly from you.
For example, we may collect personal information about you when for the following purposes:
• when you deal with us over the telephone
• send us correspondence (whether by letter, fax or email)
• when you subscribe electronically to our publications
• when you have contact with us in person
• to provide a person or organisation with legal advice
• to consider making offers of employment or for employment purpose
• to receive services from you or the organisation which employs you
• to advise you of legal developments, seminars and events
• for our marketing activities.

BEL usually collects the following kinds of personal information:
• name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, occupation.
• your interests in areas of law or events
• information you give us when you instruct us to act for you or request another service from
• communications between us and you
• information about people’s dealings with us and our clients.

We may also collect sensitive information about you, such as information about membership of a professional or trade association. We will only collect sensitive information in limited circumstances including where:
• you have consented to it
• it is necessary for us to perform our functions
• the collection is required by law
• the collection is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of a claim.

If you do not give us any personal information which we ask you for, it may affect our ability to meet our obligations to you or our clients.

There may be also occasions when we need to source personal information about you from a third party. For example, we may collect personal information from a company for whom you work, other organisations with whom you have any dealings, a credit reporting agency, an information service provider or from a publicly maintained record. If we collect personal information about you in this way, we will take reasonable steps to contact you and inform you of this.

We also collect some information from you when you use our Website. Your use of the facilities and services available through our Website will determine the amount and type of information which we collect about you. Some of this information will not be personal information because it will not reveal your identity.

The only personal information which we collect about you when you use our Website is what you tell us about yourself, for example, by completing an online form when you accept an invitation to attend a seminar, or information you provide to us when you send us an email. We will record your email address if you send us an email.

Each time someone visits our site, our web server collects the following types
of information:
• the number of users who visit
• the date and time of visits
• the number of pages viewed
• how users navigate through the site.

No attempts are made to identify anyone browsing our site. The data is captured so that we can accurately evaluate the quality of our content and make improvements for you.

How we capture information from our Website?
When you visit our Website, our server attaches a small data file called a "cookie" to your computer's memory. Cookies are pieces of information that may be transferred to your computer's memory when you visit a Website for record keeping purposes. They can record information about your visit to the site, allowing it to remember you next time you visit and provide a more meaningful experience. Most Web browsers are set to accept cookies. However, if you do not wish to receive any cookies you may set your Web browser to refuse cookies. We use cookies to provide us with aggregate (anonymous) information on how people use our Website and to help us to know what they find interesting and useful on our Website. We do not link this information back to your identity or other information that you have provided to us. We do not store any information that identifies you inside cookies.

Despite common myths, the cookies we send to your PC cannot read your hard drive, obtain any information from your browser or command your computer to perform any action. They are designed so that they cannot be sent to another site or be retrieved by any site other than Built Environment Legal.

How we use or disclose your personal information?
We will use your personal information for the purposes for which we collected it. We may also use your personal information for purposes related or ancillary to the main reasons we collect it, such as invoicing, reminder notices, provision of information concerning legal developments, invitations to seminars and other events, market research, to improve our service and communications and in respect of other services offered by us.

In many cases, information which we hold will be subject to legal professional privilege and we will therefore not be obliged to disclose it We have a duty to maintain the confidentiality of our clients' affairs, including personal information. Our duty of confidentiality applies except where disclosure of a client's personal information is:
• subject to our professional obligations to any person where necessary or desirable connection with our provisions of legal services, such as to a client, regulatory authority, or other advisor
• with client's consent
• compelled by law or as permitted under the NPPs
• for the sole purpose of avoiding the probable commission or concealment of a felony
• on a confidential basis to external service providers so that they can provided services connected with our operations. service entities and contract out some of our functions (such as mailing) to external service providers.

We do not disclose personal information we collect to third parties for the purpose of allowing them to direct market their products and services. Nor do we disclose personal information in connection with a client matter unless we are required to in accordance with our professional obligations, as authorised by the client or contemplated by this policy.

Other people's information which you provide to us
If you provide personal information to us about someone else (such as one of your directors or employees or someone with whom you have dealings) you must ensure that you are entitled to disclose that information to us and that, without us taking any further steps required by privacy laws, we may collect, use and disclose such information for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.

Security of your personal information
We take reasonable steps to protect any personal information that we hold from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification and disclosure.

Your personal information may be stored either in hard copy documents or as electronic data in our information technology systems.

We maintain physical security over our paper and electronic data stores and premises, such as locks and security systems. We also maintain computer and network security; for example, we use firewalls (security measures for the Internet) and other security systems such as user identifiers and passwords to control access to our computer system.

Keeping your personal information up-to-date
We take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is accurate, complete, and up-to-date whenever we collect or use it. If any of the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date, please contact us immediately and we will take reasonable steps to correct this information or, if necessary, we will discuss alternative action with you.

Access and correction
In most cases, you can gain access to personal information that we hold about you. We will handle requests for access to your personal information in accordance with the NPPs. We encourage all requests for access to your personal information to be directed to the Privacy Officer by email privacy@belegal.com or in writing.

In some cases, consistently with the NPPs, we may refuse to give you access to personal information we hold about you. This includes circumstances where giving you access:
• Would be unlawful (for example, where a record which contains personal information about you is subject to a claim for legal professional privilege by one of our clients)
• Would have an unreasonable impact on other people's privacy
• Would prejudice negotiations we are having with you
• Would prejudice an investigation of unlawful activity
• Would prejudice activities carried out by, or for, a law enforcement agency.

If we refuse to give you access we will provide you with reasons for our refusal. Generally, if you request us to do so we will amend any personal information about you held by us which is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date. If we disagree with your view about the accuracy, completeness or currency of a record of your personal information held by us, and you ask us to associate with that record a statement that you have a contrary view; we will take reasonable steps to do so.

We will, on request, provide you with access to the personal information we hold about you unless there is an exception which applies under the Privacy Act, such as where we have a legal duty of confidentiality or non-disclosure as mentioned above.