Privacy Policy
Scope of this Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) outlines the obligations Prime Legal has in managing the personal information it holds about its clients, potential clients and others. Prime Legal is bound by the Privacy Act 2020 (“Privacy Act”) and the privacy principles set out in the Privacy Act.
In this Policy, “you” and “your” means the individual providing personal information to Prime Legal or whose personal information has been collected by Prime Legal; and ‘personal information’ has the meaning given to it in the Privacy Act. Essentially, it is information relating to an individual or which can be used to identify that individual.
This Policy covers the basis on which Prime Legal collects, stores, uses and discloses your personal information. It sets out general information relating to these situations. It also sets out specific information that applies in relation to our marketing communications and cookies and references where you can find specific information on our anti-money laundering processes. The specific information should be read in conjunction with the general information.
Situations in which this Privacy Policy applies
This Policy applies to your use of Prime Legal’s websites www.primelegal.co.nz and where Prime Legal tells you or you are otherwise made aware that this Policy applies. This Policy also applies to personal information provided to Prime Legal in the course of Prime Legal’s relationship with its clients.
However, this Policy does not apply to personal information that is provided to Prime Legal by or on behalf of a client solely for processing on behalf of that client. All such personal information is governed by the agreement between Prime Legal and that client.
By accessing Prime Legal’s websites or obtaining its services you agree to the terms of this Policy.
The type of information Prime Legal may collect and hold includes (but is not limited to) personal information about:
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clients and potential clients that are individuals, and where clients and potential clients are not individuals their directors, trustees, board members, owners and personnel;
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third party individuals and individuals at third party organisations that Prime Legal engages with in connection with a client;
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business associates that are individuals, and where business associates are not individuals their directors and personnel; and
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prospective employees.
In general, the type of personal information Prime Legal collects and holds includes (but is not limited to): names, addresses, contact details, occupations, organisation details, and other information which assist it in conducting its business, providing and marketing its services and meeting its legal obligations. Prime Legal also collects personal information contained in the content of your communications with Prime Legal or provided to Prime Legal in the course of a meeting. Bank account details are collected if you provide them to us so we can pay money we hold to you.
Prime Legal also collects a range of other information from its clients where required as part of the services that it is providing, and this may include identity information (e.g. driver’s licence and passport details) and financial information (e.g. bank account details). The information required is advised to you at the time it is required. For some transactions, Prime Legal is required by the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 and associated regulations (“AML/CFT”) and the procedures for electronic registration of land transactions to take a copy of documents verifying your identity, including in the case of an organisation, as to its ownership and control. If these documents are not provided Prime Legal will not be able to undertake the transaction for you. In addition, if information we require to meet our obligations under the AML/CFT regime is not provided we will not be able to act for you or your organisation.
If you are applying for employment with Prime Legal, then Prime Legal collects information concerning your previous employment, your qualifications and other information to enable Prime Legal to assess your suitability for the position for which you have applied.
This Policy also sets out in other types of information collected in relation to specific purposes.
In most cases, if personal information that Prime Legal requests is not provided, or it is incorrect, Prime Legal may not be able to provide its services, respond to an enquiry, engage with you, or contact you.
Prime Legal will generally collect personal information directly from you. However, in some cases your personal information will be collected from third parties. Set out below are the typical ways in which Prime Legal collects your personal information.
This Policy and Prime Legal’s websites may also state other ways in which Prime Legal collects your personal information.
Collection from you
Prime Legal collects personal information from you by way of electronic or paper forms which you complete, face-to-face meetings, interviews, business cards, telephone conversations, email communications.
Collection from your organisation and other third parties
Your personal information may also be collected from your organisation or other third parties, where it is authorised by you to provide it or your organisation or that other third party reasonably believes it is able to provide it to Prime Legal, or as otherwise permitted by the Privacy Act. By way of example, this includes where Prime Legal is provided with a report by a medical professional, or a reference from another person.
If you provide Prime Legal with personal information relating to someone else you warrant that you are authorised to do so. If that personal information is held by an organisation that is subject to the Privacy Act and the individual concerned is not already aware of this Policy, you must ensure that the individual is aware of the information in this Policy at the time you provide that personal information to Prime Legal
If you provide Prime Legal with personal information about others, or if others give Prime Legal your personal information, Prime Legal will only use that personal information for the specific reason for which it was provided to Prime Legal, or as otherwise permitted by the Privacy Act.
Prime Legal may use and disclose your personal information for the primary purpose for which it is collected, for reasonably expected secondary purposes which are related to the primary purpose and in other circumstances authorised by the Privacy Act or in any other manner with your consent.
In general, Prime Legal uses and discloses your personal information for the following purposes:
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to verify your identity where you or your organisation are a client or a prospective client;
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to conduct its business, which may include managing, reviewing, analysing and improving its services and processes;
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to maintain Prime Legal’s relationship with you or your organisation;
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to meet its obligations in, exercise its rights under, or enforce, its terms and conditions or the contract with you or your organisation;
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to take any action in order to recover any amount you owe Prime Legal;
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to consider your application for a role at Prime Legal (where you are applying for employment with Prime Legal) and if you are accepted for a role your personal information will be subject to Prime Legal’s staff privacy policy
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to communicate with you, which includes responding to any message or enquiry you send to Prime Legal and identifying you when you want to communicate with Prime Legal;
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to investigate any incident on Prime Legal premises
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to take any action in any case of dispute, or legal proceeding of any kind between you and Prime Legal, or between you and any other person with respect to Prime Legal’s business;
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to otherwise protect Prime Legal’s interests in its property, its legal rights, or those of others, including to detect, investigate, prevent or address fraud, security or technical issues, or if Prime Legal have good reason to believe there is an imminent threat of death or injury or a serious threat to health and safety;
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to comply with its legal obligations, and
any other purpose made known to you when collecting the personal information.
Prime legal may also merge your personal information with other people’s personal information to create an overview for the firm or for analysis purposes, but will first remove all details that could identify you.
Other sections of this Policy also set out or reference other specific situations in which your information is used and disclosed, such as in relation to our anti-money laundering processes.
To avoid doubt, all disclosure of client information is subject to Prime Legal’s obligations under the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006 and the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act (Lawyers: Conduct and Client Care) Rules 2008.
There are some specific situations in which Prime Legal may disclose your personal information to other parties.
Other parties to whom Prime Legal may disclose your personal information
Prime Legal may disclose your personal information to:
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Prime Legal trustee companies, where they act as a trustee for any of your assets (and those trustee companies will comply with this Policy in relation to the personal information provided to them);
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a client or a third party in connection with the services Prime Legal is providing to that client, where Prime Legal is dealing with you or your organisation in connection with the services being provided to that client;
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debt collection agencies
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referees that you provide to Prime Legal to contact;
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third party providers to Prime Legal as stated in other sections of this Policy; and
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anyone else to whom you authorise Prime Legal to disclose it.
If the services that Prime Legal is providing to you or your organisation involve dealing with third parties (e.g. courts, tribunals, regulatory authorities, specialist consultants, barristers, trustees, financial institutions, insurers, brokers, real estate agents, translation agencies and other members of a group of companies to which your organisation is a member), Prime Legal may disclose your personal information to those third parties on your behalf where you instruct Prime Legal to do so, or otherwise where it is required as a part of the process of providing Prime Legal’s services to you or your organisation. The personal information provided would only be what is required by those third parties or what you have instructed Prime Legal to provide to them.
Prime Legal also collects personal information from these third parties and deals with that information in accordance with this Policy.
Except as otherwise stated in this Policy, your personal information Prime Legal collects is held by it. Prime Legal’s address is set out below.
In addition to the situations in which Prime Legal provides personal information to third parties as expressly stated in this Policy, Prime Legal may transfer personal information to third party providers (including technology providers, payment service providers, providers of business and marketing services and providers of software tools used by Prime Legal in its business) to perform services on Prime Legal’s behalf, to process the information for Prime Legal, or hold it on Prime Legal’s behalf. These third parties may be offshore, but Prime Legal will not authorise them to use such information for their own purposes.
The Privacy Act requires Prime Legal to take reasonable steps to protect the security of personal information it holds. By way of example, Prime Legal protects personal information by use of physical security and restricted access to electronic records. Prime Legal’s personnel are required to respect the confidentiality of personal information and the privacy of individuals.
Prime Legal will retain your information for as long as needed to provide you or your organisation its services, to manage backups of your personal information in accordance with Prime Legal’s security practices, to be able to address any claim that might be made after Prime Legal stops providing services to you or your organisation, or to meet any legal obligations Prime Legal has to retain such information, including managing its obligations to you in respect of these services. Where Prime Legal no longer requires your personal information for a permitted purpose under the Privacy Act, Prime Legal will take reasonable steps to return, delete or destroy it.
Prime Legal endeavours to ensure that the personal information it holds is accurate, complete and up-to-date. Prime Legal encourages you to contact it to update any personal information held about you.
You have the right to request access to, and seek correction of, your personal information. Subject to the exceptions set out in the Privacy Act, you may exercise these rights by contacting Prime Legal in accordance with the contact details set out below.
Prime Legal will require you to verify your identity and specify what information you require. A reasonable fee may be charged for providing access to your personal information. Prime Legal will advise you of the likely cost in advance.
This Policy will be reviewed from time to time to take account of new laws and technology, changes to Prime Legal’s operations and practices and the changing business environment. Should Prime Legal decide to change this Policy Prime Legal will post all changes on its websites so that you are always kept up to date. The most current version of this Policy can also be obtained by contacting Prime Legal in accordance with the details set out below.
Use and disclosure of personal information collected from you is subject to the Policy in effect at the time such personal information is collected, unless otherwise agreed.
If you have any questions about privacy-related issues please contact Prime Legal’s Privacy Officer, Miranda Rout.
Prime Legal’s address and contact details are:
Physical Address:
54 Oxford Terrace
Christchurch Central
Christchurch 8011
Postal Address:
PO Box 991
Christchurch Central
Christchurch 8140