Privacy Policy

Van Dan Wattle (ABN 84 972 276 710) (“we”, “us”, or the “Company”) is committed to protecting your privacy. At https://www.vdwltd.com.au/ (“this site”), we recognize the importance of safeguarding your personal information. This Privacy Policy outlines how we manage and protect your personal information. For further details, please do not hesitate to contact us.

This Privacy Policy is part of, and subject to, our Website Terms of Use.

Our Commitment to Your Privacy

We prioritize your privacy and adhere to the following principles:

  • We will never rent, trade, or sell your email address to anyone.
  • We will never publicly display your email address or other personal details that identify you.

The Australian Privacy Principles

We handle all personal information in compliance with the obligations set forth under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (“Privacy Act”). The Privacy Act establishes 13 key principles, known as the Australian Privacy Principles, which govern the collection and treatment of personal information.

What is “Personal Information”?

Personal information held by the Company may include:

  • Contact details such as name, role or position, address, email address, mobile number, landline number, and fax number.
  • Information related to your circumstances and affairs relevant to the matters in which we are instructed.
  • Details about your legal interests, requirements, and the legal services you may wish to purchase.
  • Records of our communications with you and your attendance at seminars or promotional events hosted by us.
  • If you are an employee or prospective employee, information about your qualifications, skills, and work experience.
  • If you are a supplier or prospective supplier, details about your business skills, services, products, and prices.

How We May Collect Your Personal Information

At this site, we only collect personal information necessary for conducting our business as a law firm. This may include:

Information You Provide to Us
We may collect personal information when you:

  • Use this site, including (but not limited to) creating a user account, updating your profile, posting reviews or comments, registering for premium content, or completing an online contact form.
  • Subscribe to our newsletter or legal updates.
  • Attend a seminar or event where we are hosting or presenting.
  • Instruct us to act on your behalf, prompting a file opening and conflict check.
  • Provide information via telephone, marketing forms, or email.

Where practicable, we collect information directly from you. However, we may also obtain it from third parties, such as clients, third-party information providers, courts, or individuals responding to our inquiries.

  • We are legally required to collect the full name and address of our clients under the Solicitors Rules made under the Legal Profession Act 2004 (NSW). Accurate details are also necessary for trust account record-keeping under the Legal Profession Regulation 2005 (NSW) and our duty to the courts.
  • If you are a client and do not provide this information, we cannot act for you. Inaccurate data may hinder our ability to fulfill your instructions.

IP Addresses
This site may collect Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to uniquely identify computers on the network. We use IP addresses for session management, security, and to prevent misuse or fraudulent activities.

Cookies and Trackers
This site uses “cookies” and “trackers” to enhance your experience:

  • Cookies: Text files placed on your device to personalize your visit. Persistent cookies remain after closing your browser, while session cookies are temporary. Cookies are unique to you and only read by the issuing server.
  • Trackers: Used for statistical and analytical purposes, collecting data on website activity (e.g., visit duration, pages viewed) to improve our services. Web beacons may also monitor visitor behavior.
  • We extend the same privacy protection to data collected via cookies or trackers as from other sources and do not use this technology to access your personal information.
  • You can configure your browser to accept, reject, or notify you of cookies/trackers. Declining them may limit interactive features.

Why We Use Cookies
Cookies help us:

  • Remember your preferences.
  • Manage account signups and logins.
  • Display relevant notifications.
  • Retain data you submit (e.g., via forms or comments).

Third-Party Cookies
Third parties, such as Google Analytics, Google AdSense, and social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Twitter), may use cookies for analytics, advertising, and social plugins.

How We May Use Your Personal Information

Your personal information may be used to:

  • Verify your identity and manage your account.
  • Respond to queries or feedback.
  • Conduct credit and fraud checks.
  • Improve our services through research and development.
  • Maintain and upgrade our business systems.
  • Provide legal services and employ competent staff.
  • Market products and services (opt-out available).

When We May Disclose Your Personal Information

We may share your information with external organizations for purposes like customer support, billing, IT services, marketing, or legal compliance. Disclosures may also occur to:

  • Third-party service providers (e.g., archival, auditing, legal).
  • Your authorized representatives or legal advisers.
  • Credit agencies, professional advisers, or regulatory authorities.
  • Police, if illegal activity is suspected.

Contacting Us About Privacy

For questions or concerns, contact our Privacy Officer within three (3) business days:

  • Privacy Officer Van Dan Wattle 15 Merlin Street Neutral Bay, NSW 2089 Australia
    Email: info@vdwltd.com.au

If you believe your privacy has been breached, we will respond within five (5) business days. You may also contact the Office of the Australian Privacy Commissioner at www.oaic.gov.au.

Access to Your Personal Information

You may request access to your personal information, which we will handle per the Australian Privacy Principles. Contact the Privacy Officer by email or post. We may charge a fee for retrieval costs but not for the request itself. Access may be refused in cases like legal privilege or safety concerns, with reasons provided.

Correcting Your Personal Information

We will amend inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated information upon your request. If we disagree, we will associate your contrary view with the record.

Storage and Security

We store personal information electronically (e.g., cloud storage) and in hard-copy form, protected by firewalls, anti-virus software, passwords, and physical security measures. As a legal practice, we retain data for seven years as required by law.

Third-Party Websites

Links to third-party sites are not covered by this policy. Review their privacy statements.

Re-Marketing

We use Google AdWords and Facebook re-marketing with cookies/pixel tags for targeted ads. Data is managed per their privacy policies. Opt-out via Google Ads Settings or Facebook AdChoices.

GDPR

The Company welcomes the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) of the European Union (“EU”) as an important step forward in streamlining data protection globally.  Although we do not operate an establishment within the EU and do not target any offering of services towards clients in the EU specifically, we intend to comply with the data handling regime laid out in the GDPR in respect of any personal information of data subjects in the EU that we may obtain.

The requirements of the GDPR are broadly similar to those set out in the Privacy Act and include the following rights:

  • you are entitled to request details of the information that we hold about you and how we process it.  For EU residents, we will provide this information for no fee;
  • you may also have a right to:
    • have that information rectified or deleted;
    • restrict our processing of that information;
    • stop unauthorised transfers of your personal information to a third party;
    • in some circumstances, have that information transferred to another organisation; and
    • lodge a complaint in relation to our processing of your personal information with a local supervisory authority; and
  • where we rely upon your consent as our legal basis for collecting and processing your data, you may withdraw that consent at any time.

If you object to the processing of your personal information, or if you have provided your consent to processing and you later choose to withdraw it, we will respect that choice in accordance with our legal obligations.  However, please be aware that:

  • such objection or withdrawal of consent could mean that we are unable to provide our services to you, and could unduly prevent us from legitimately providing our services to other clients subject to appropriate confidentiality protections; and
  • even after you have chosen to withdraw your consent, we may be able to continue to keep and process your personal information to the extent required or otherwise permitted by law, in particular:
    • to pursue our legitimate interests in a way that might reasonably be expected as part of running our business and which does not materially impact on your rights, freedoms or interests; and
    • in exercising and defending our legal rights and meeting our legal and regulatory obligations.

Storage and Processing by Third Parties

Data that we collect about you may be stored or otherwise processed by third party services with data centres based outside the EU, such as Google Analytics, Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, Apple, etc and online relationship management tools.  We consider that the collection and such processing of this information is necessary to pursue our legitimate interests in a way that might reasonably be expected (eg, to analyse how our clients use our services, develop our services and grow our business) and which does not materially impact your rights, freedom or interests.
The Company requires that all third parties that act as “data processors” for us provide sufficient guarantees and implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to secure your data, only process personal data for specified purposes and have committed themselves to confidentiality.

Duration of Retention

We will only keep your data for as long as is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, subject to satisfying any legal, accounting or reporting requirements.  At the end of any retention period, your data will either be deleted completely or anonymised (for example, by aggregation with other data so that it can be used in a non-identifiable way for statistical analysis and business planning).  In some circumstances, you can ask us to delete your data.

Keeping Your Information Up-to-Date

To ensure that your personal information is accurate and up to date, please promptly advise us of any changes to your information by contacting our data protection officer by email at info@vdwltd.com.au or by post.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

Updates will be posted on this site, complying with the Privacy Act and Australian Privacy Principles. Visit www.privacy.gov.au for more information.

From time to time, it may be necessary for us to revise this Privacy Policy. Any changes will be in accordance with any applicable requirements under the Privacy Act and the Australian Privacy Principles. We may notify you about changes to this Privacy Policy by posting an updated version on this site.

If you require any further information about the Privacy Act and the Australian Privacy Principles, you can visit the Federal Privacy Commissioner’s website (see www.privacy.gov.au).