Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

1. Introduction
IAN W BARTELS & ASSOCIATES are referred to in this Privacy Policy as we, us or our.
This Privacy Policy explains how we manage personal information. It also describes your rights to access and correct personal information we hold about you, and how you can make a complaint about our management of your personal information. This is in addition to our obligations of confidentiality to clients and other parties arising from sources other than the Privacy Act.

1.1. Application of this Policy
This Privacy Policy only applies to some of the personal information we manage. It only applies to personal information we manage for the purposes of or in connection with our obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (the AML/CTF Act)
Other personal information we manage remains excluded by applicable exemptions in the Privacy Act.

1.2. Policy Updates
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. The current version will be available on our website at www.ianbartels.com.au.

2. Personal information: what we collect

2.1. Types of personal information
We collect your contact and identity details, financial information and case related information about you and any relevant entity or person. This may include sensitive information.

2.2. Identity Verification and the AML/CTF Act
In accordance with our obligations under the AML/CTF Act, we may collect personal information from you for the purpose of conducting customer due diligence and complying with the AML/CTF requirements. This includes collecting identification documents and information about the source of funds and beneficial ownership of entities.
The personal information collected may include, but is not limited to:
• Your full name, date of birth, address, contact details, government-issued identification (e.g., passport or driver’s license), and financial information;
We are committed to protecting your privacy and will handle your personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy and applicable Australian privacy laws.
By engaging with our services, you acknowledge that we may collect and process your personal information to comply with our AML/CTF obligations.

3. How we collect personal information

3.1. Sources of information
We collect information directly from our clients, from other lawyers, government sources or public sources such as registers or the internet.

3.2. Anonymity and Pseudonymity
If you are a client, you have the option of requesting to deal with us anonymously or by using a pseudonym. However, in most cases this is not lawful nor practical for legal services. If you do not provide us with the personal information we request, we may not be able to provide you with legal services or respond to your enquiry.

4. Why we collect personal information and how we use it
1.1. Primary Purposes
This includes:
• providing legal advice and representation to you or to our client(s);
• managing client matters and files;
• conducting legal research and investigations;
• preparing and reviewing legal documents;
• communicating with you and other parties;
• billing and collecting fees, including pursuit of our rights under a Costs Agreement or retainer;
• complying with our legal, professional and insurance obligations; and
• administering and managing our firm.

1.2. Secondary Purposes
We may also use and disclose personal information for secondary purposes that are related to our primary purposes, including:
• maintaining and developing our relationship with you;
• quality assurance and improvement of our services, including training our AI models or those of our AI providers (subject to our obligations of confidentiality to you);
• training and professional development;
• ongoing Customer Due Diligence as required by the AML/CTF Act;
• training AI or automated systems including AI development by our vendors with appropriate confidentiality safeguards in place;
• enforcement of our right to payment of fees;
• internal reporting and analysis; and
• risk management and insurance purposes.

5. Disclosure of Personal Information
We may disclose personal information to third parties to facilitate the purposes of collection noted in section 4. These purposes include disclosure to parties to proceedings or transactions and their representatives, to Courts, government and regulatory agencies as may be necessary or appropriate to establish legal rights and to progress transactions in which we are instructed. We also disclose information to third parties (such as data storage or archiving companies, our regulators or our insurers) who hold or process information for us.

6. Overseas Disclosure
We will disclose information to overseas recipients where this is reasonably necessary to progress our instructions (dealing with a company with an overseas office, for example).
We may disclose personal information to recipients located outside Australia where reasonably necessary or convenient to facilitate the purposes of collection, holding, use and disclosure of information stated in sections 2 and 5 of this policy.

7. Security of Personal Information

7.1. Security Measures
We take reasonable steps to protect Personal Information from misuse, interference, loss unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
This includes:
• Secure electronic and physical storage systems;
• Access controls and confidentiality obligations;
• Regular security audits and updates;
• Cyber-security measures aligned with legal industry best practice;
However no system is completely secure and you acknowledge that data transmission over the internet involves some risk.

7.2. Retention and Destruction
Personal Information is contained in electronic and hard copy files and documents, at our office premises, on the basis that we have your permission to destroy same seven (7) years after the final bill is rendered by us on the matter. All electrical records are contained in a controlled and secure environment

8. Access and Correction

8.1. Access to and correction of your Personal Information
You have the right to request access to or correction of the personal information we hold about you. To make an access request, please contact our Privacy Officer (see Section 9).
You may request access to the Personal Information we hold about you, or request that it be corrected if inaccurate or incomplete, by writing to our Privacy Officer. We will respond within a reasonable period and in accordance with the Privacy Act.

9. Complaints and questions
If you have a question about this policy or complaint about how we have handled your personal information, or if you believe your privacy has been breached, please contact our Privacy Officer in writing at the below address

Privacy Officer
Ian W Bartels & Associates]
Address: PO Box 55, Mount Gravatt QLD 4122
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 07 3849 8000

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may escalate your complaint to:
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) or the Legal Services Commission.
Website: www.oaic.gov.au
Phone: 1300 363 992
Email: [email protected]
Post: GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001Privacy Policy