Privacy Policy

Privacy policy

Buddle Findlay (referred to in this privacy policy as "we", "our" or "us") is one of New Zealand's leading law firms, with offices in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.  We acknowledge that personal information about you is given in trust and confidence, and as such, the privacy and protection of your information is of absolute importance to us.

We comply with the Privacy Act 2020 when handing personal information.  Our principal address is Aon Centre, 1 Willis Street, PO Box 2694, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.

This policy explains how we collect, hold, use, disclose, and protect your personal information.  This policy also informs you of your rights in relation to your personal information.  If you have any questions about this policy, please contact our Privacy Officer.

We may amend this policy at any time and for any reason, so we encourage you to make sure that you are using the current version of our policy.

What is personal information?

Personal information is information about you that identifies you, or by which your identity can reasonably be ascertained.

How do we collect and hold your personal information?

If you choose to interact with us (for example, by engaging our services, applying to work for Buddle Findlay, or accessing or registering on our website) we will collect information directly from you or any person you have authorised to provide information to us, and hold that information.  The information we collect and hold may include any of the following:

• Information to enable us to verify your identity (such as your name, date of birth)

• Information to enable us to comply with our obligations under anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism laws, including verifying your identity, and the identity of relevant persons in your organisation (see our Anti-Money Laundering policy for more information about what information we might need, and how we collect and hold it)

• Your contact information (such as your phone number, email address, or physical address)

• Your job title and employer

• Any interactions you have with us (this includes time and date of contact, and relevant emails and documents)

• Other personal information we require from, or about, you to provide the advice that has been requested. This may be in the context of advice you have asked for, or that a third party has asked for (for example, your employer, if we are acting for your employer)

• If you apply for a job, information about your qualifications and experience.

We may also collect your personal information from publicly available sources to carry out customer due diligence or as part of the provision of our services to you.

How will we use and disclose your personal information?

We use your personal information to enable us to effectively provide legal services, and to keep you updated with changes to the law.  For example, we may use your personal information to:

• Reply to your queries or to provide legal services to you (or your employer)

• Provide legal services to our clients in relation to matters in which you are involved

• Verify your identity or perform customer due diligence

• Engage or provide information to third parties on your behalf

• Check for and manage commercial or legal conflicts of interest

• Comply with our legal and professional obligations under the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006, the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009, and under any court orders

• Send you Buddle Findlay publications (with your consent) and invite you to seminars and functions

• Help us improve and better market the services we provide

• Recruit staff

• Enable us to undertake our business processes (such as invoicing).

To carry out the activities or to achieve the purposes specified above, we may disclose your personal information to:

• People and organisations to whom you have authorised us to disclose your personal information

• Parties involved in a matter for which you (or your employer) have engaged our services

• Service providers that enable us to store, manage, audit, and analyse the information we hold

• Third party service providers that we engage to help us provide services to you

• Courts or tribunals, or government or regulatory agencies if required by law to do so.

Security of personal information

Security of personal information is important to us, and we take all reasonable precautions to protect personal information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

Some of the ways we protect personal information include:

• External and internal premises security

• Storing your information in access-controlled systems

• Providing training on the Privacy Act to staff.

Statistical information

We collect non-identifying statistical information about all visits to our website and publications.  Those statistics allow us to assess the number of visitors to different sections of the website and publications, identify what information is of interest, monitor system performance, and help us make the website and publications more useful to visitors.

Cookies

We use a technology commonly referred to as ’cookies’.  A cookie is a token that is stored on your computer.  When you access buddlefindlay.com the token acts as a record-keeping device.  The aggregate data is collected and stored on our internal servers only, and only accessed by authorised staff.  Cookies help us provide additional functionality to you and help us analyse site usage more accurately.

Most web browsers are set to accept cookies.  If you do not wish to receive cookies from buddlefindlay.com, you can set your browser to refuse them or to warn you when you are about to receive one.  Turning off cookies will not affect your ability to use this site.

Access and correction

You have the right to request access to any personal information we hold about you, and to ask for it to be corrected if you think that it is wrong.  If you’d like to exercise that right, or ask us anything else in relation to your privacy, please ask the person you are dealing with, send us an email to privacy@buddlefindlay.com, or send a letter to:

The Privacy Officer
Buddle Findlay
PO Box 2694
Wellington 6140