Privacy Policy - Velocity Legal

Velocity Legal Pty Ltd ACN 614 742 246 (Velocity Legal) understands that privacy is important. We are committed to ensuring the privacy of your information and to complying with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), which are contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act). This policy does not cover our client confidentiality obligations.

In this privacy policy, ‘we’ and ‘us’ refers to Velocity Legal and ‘you’ refers to any individual about whom we collect personal information.

What Personal Information does Velocity Legal collect and hold?

We only collect personal information where it is reasonably necessary for us to perform our functions and activities as a legal services provider. The types of personal information that Velocity Legal collects will depend on the nature of your dealings with us. We may collect personal information from you during your dealings with us, including (without limitation) when you:

are engaged with our firm as a client;
we are working on a matter that you are involved in;
are involved in a matter with one or more of our clients;
have asked us to place you on one of our mailing lists;
supply goods or services to us;
browse our website;
send us an enquiry or provide us with feedback;
attend or participate in any seminar or function hosted by us;
apply for a job with us; and
are employed by us.

The type of personal information that we collect depends on the nature of your engagement with us. It may include:

identity: your personal details including your name, job title, address, and other contact details;
financial: including payment card details and bank account details via our third party payment platform;
technical: information about how you've used and accessed our website, including IP address, browser and device details, geo-location data, network information, statistics on website usage (including session time and views), acquisition sources, search terms used and browsing behaviour (including via cookies and other analytical tools) and other similar information;
verification of identity: information reasonably required to verify your identity;
marketing: details regarding your marketing preferences and requests; and
employment history: if you apply for a role with us, we may collect information regarding your employment history and other career related details.

The above is a non-exhaustive list; however it should provide useful context regarding the nature of information that we collect.

We endeavour to collect personal information directly from the individuals concerned. However, we may also collect personal information about individuals from third parties, or from publicly available sources, including:

your organisation, or individuals affiliated with your organisation;
government agencies;
publicly available records, including registry records, court, and tribunal records;
ratings and search agencies;
online searches; and
recruitment agencies.

If you give us personal information about other people (e.g. a member of your organisation, a supplier, customer or affiliate of your organisation, or a family member), we rely on you to inform those people that you're sharing their personal information with us. We also expect that you will have sufficient authority to provide the relevant information on their behalf, that you will provide information which is accurate and complete, and you must also let them know about this Privacy Policy and how to access it. We may collect contact information from you (e.g. your name, title and work contact details) automatically using the details in your email signature if you interact with us via email.

Sensitive information is a subset of personal information that is generally afforded a higher level of privacy protection. Velocity Legal will not ask to collect sensitive information about you (such as details of your racial or ethnic origin, political affiliation, religious beliefs, sexual preferences, criminal convictions, or health information) unless it is reasonably required in the circumstances. To the extent we do collect sensitive information about you, we will obtain your consent unless it is unreasonable or impractical to do so, or where otherwise permitted under the Privacy Act (e.g. where a child may be at risk, on the basis that it would be unreasonable to obtain the parent's consent).

How does Velocity Legal use Personal Information?

We need to collect personal information reasonably necessary to carry out our business, to assess and manage our clients’ needs, as well as to ensure that we operate with effectiveness and efficiency. We also collect personal information to communicate new legal or firm developments to our contacts and to those people who have subscribed to our mailing lists. If, at any time, you do not wish to receive these kinds of communications, please let us know using the contact details set out below.

Why does Velocity Legal collect, hold, use and disclose personal information?

The other sections of this Privacy Policy will likely provide some insight as to why we need to collect, hold, use and disclose personal information. However, here are some additional illustrative examples of why we collect, hold, use and transfer personal information:

to deliver our services to you, including providing legal advice;
to grant you access to our website and related platforms and software;
to set you up as a client in our systems and conduct required checks and verifications of identity;
to perform conflict checks for clients and counterparties for compliance purposes;
to enhance and develop the services that we provide;
to communicate and engage with you in an effective and efficient manner;
to liaise with government, regulatory or other authorities (if required).
to maintain internal records, manage administration, and handle invoicing and billing;
to gather data (including website usage data) and business development;
to help us to improve our platforms and services;
for marketing and advertising, including to promote our events, services, firm updates, news and other information;
to manage our functions and events (including those functions and events that you’ve RSVP’d to);
to evaluate job applications, perform pre-employment checks, and share future job opportunities that may suit you;
to support business activities like mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, or referrals;
to ensure a safe workplace;
to manage and comply with our insurance obligations; and
to fulfill legal and regulatory obligations.

Will Your Personal Information be given to anyone else?

Velocity Legal does not sell, rent or trade personal information about you to or with third parties. Personal information may be disclosed outside of Velocity Legal, including:

disclosures to external service providers – we may disclose personal information to external service providers who provide services to you and help us operate our business. Some examples of our external service providers include: barristers, mediators, expert witnesses, valuation professionals, accountants, third party data storage providers, IT and other software and systems providers, companies who provide photocopying and archiving services, advertising and marketing agencies who assist us with our campaigns and programs;
disclosures overseas – where Velocity Legal engages external information technology service providers, or uses third party software, data may be stored outside of Australia; and
disclosures required or permitted by law – otherwise, Velocity Legal will only disclose personal information if this is required by law or permitted under the Privacy Act. Velocity Legal is also bound by professional obligations of confidentiality, including in relation to personal information.

Security of Personal Information

Velocity Legal takes reasonable steps to ensure the security of your personal information.

Online Privacy Issues

Cookies

We use cookies or similar digital markers to maintain user sessions and track the behaviour of website visitors. This enables us to keep our site relevant and useful. However, generally this information will not identify you unless you make an enquiry on our website contact form. If you make an enquiry via our website contact form, we may link this information back to your identity and other information that you have provided to us. This helps us to engage with you in a more efficient and effective manner and provide any services you have requested from us.

Website

While we strive to protect the personal information and privacy of users of our websites, we cannot guarantee the security of any information that you disclose online, and you disclose that information at your own risk. If you are concerned about sending your information over the internet, you can contact us by email or post.

By using our website(s), you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with the terms of this privacy policy. You may contact us at any time by using the contact details below to opt out or to make a different request.

Most web browsers are set by default to accept cookies. However, if you do not wish to receive cookies, you may set your browser to either prompt or refuse cookies. If you use your browser settings to block all cookies, you may not be able to access and / or use all or parts of our website.

We may have enabled Google Analytics Advertising features on our website. This includes remarketing features and advertising reporting features. Velocity Legal and other third parties may use first party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookie) or other first party identifiers, and third-party cookies (such as Google advertising cookies) or other third-party identifiers. You may be able to opt out of some (if not all) of these features. We encourage you to view guides provided by Google if you wish to do so, as the steps may change from time to time.

Third-party websites

We and our service providers also use cookies and other digital markers to assist us with our online marketing services and advertise to our website visitors on other third-party websites or platforms (eg. Google Ads Services or LinkedIn). Cookies placed on third party websites help us monitor the efficacy of our business relationships with third parties, improve performance, and personalise your experience when you visit our and our service providers’ websites. We may disclose the information collected via cookies on our websites to third parties for marketing purposes.

Sometimes our website contains links to other websites, for your convenience and information. When you access a website other than ‘www.velocitylegal.com.au’, please understand that Velocity Legal is not responsible for the privacy practices of that site. We suggest that you review the privacy policies of each site you visit.

Access and Correction

Under the Privacy Act, you have the right to:

seek access to your personal information handled by Velocity Legal;
ask us to update or correct your personal information when it is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date; and
opt-out of receiving direct marketing communications from us.

Please contact us using the details below if you would like to access or correct the personal information that we hold about you. We may require you to verify your identity before processing any access or correction requests to ensure that the personal information we have is adequately protected.

Making a complaint

If you wish to make a complaint about how Velocity Legal handles your personal information, please contact us setting out your complaint in writing and forward it to us using the contact details below.

We will deal with all requests for access to personal information or complaints as quickly as possible and will endeavour to get back to you within a reasonable timeframe.

Additional Privacy Information and How to Contact Velocity Legal

This privacy policy may change from time to time. The privacy policy will be made available to anyone who requests it, whether at our offices or by use of our website.

If you have any questions or comments about the privacy policy, please set out your request in writing, and forward this to us, using the contact details below:

Email: office@velocitylegal.com.au

Post: PO Box 24071, Melbourne VIC 3001

Changes to this Policy

We may amend this privacy policy from time to time. A current version will be posted on our website.

Version dated 8 January 2025.

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