Matthews Law is committed to protecting your privacy and acting in a manner that is consistent with its obligations under the Privacy Act 2020 (Act). This Privacy Policy sets out how we collect, use, disclose and store personal information relating to our clients and users of our website (you). It should be read in conjunction with our Terms and Client Care Information.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or your personal information, please email privacy@matthewslaw.co.nz.

How we collect your personal information

1. We continually collect (or generate) and process personal information about you. This includes, as applicable:
   • your name;
   • your contact information, including address, email address and phone number;
   • your billing and payment information;
   • your employment details, including your employer’s name and your role/position;
   • information relating to your instructions and business;
   • external and internal communications with and about you; and
   • other information which we may be required to collect by law.
2. Where possible we collect personal information directly from you. We may also collect personal information about you from public sources or other third parties in accordance with the Act. We may collect information about users of our website through cookies or third party analytics.

How we use and disclose your personal information

3. We collect your personal information in order to deliver legal and related services to you, and to meet our legitimate business interests. This includes for the purposes of:
   • carrying out your instructions;
   • communicating with you and other people within your organisation;
   • managing and administering our relationship with you, including managing billing, debt collection, and other matters;
   • improving the way in which we provide services to you; and
   • sending you other relevant information, including legal updates.
4. We may need to disclose your personal information to third parties for those purposes, including to:
   • our trusted service providers and professional advisers, including our practice management providers, document management providers, accountants, insurers, and data storage, processing or analytical service providers;
   • your other professional advisers;
   • credit reporting or debt collection agencies, where we consider it necessary to manage our credit relationship or recover overdue monies;
   • government agencies, including law enforcement agencies or regulators (such as the Commerce Commission), where required by law or where necessary for compliance purposes; and
   • reputable legal ranking directories (to the minimum extent we consider reasonable, subject to confidentiality).
5. We will ensure that any such disclosure to third parties is subject to strict obligations of confidentiality and security.
6. We will never disclose any privileged communications to a third party (or otherwise waive privilege in such communications) without your prior written consent.
7. We may provide other anonymised and/or aggregated information to third parties.

How we store and keep your personal information secure

8. We store your personal information for no longer than is needed in order to meet our lawful purposes. Our file retention policy is set out in our Terms and Client Care Information.
9. We take all reasonable steps to protect your personal information from loss, unauthorised access, use, modification or disclosure. Our staff are subject to strict obligations of confidentiality and security, and we only partner with reputable third party service providers who we reasonably believe deliver an appropriate standard of security and will not use or disclose the information without our (or your) authorisation.

How you can request to access and correct your personal information

10. You have the right to request access to, or correction of, your personal information by emailing privacy@matthewslaw.co.nz. We will process any such requests as soon as possible in accordance with our obligations under the Act.

How you can raise any questions

11. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or your personal information, please email privacy@matthewslaw.co.nz in the first instance.
12. You can also contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner by following the process on its website.