E C Legal
Privacy Policy
E C Legal is committed to respecting your right to privacy and protecting your personal information. In most situations, E C Legal is not required to comply with National Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth).
E C Legal trains our staff to respect your privacy in accordance with our standards, policies and procedures.
This Privacy Policy outlines how we manage information that comes into our possession about both our clients and the matters that we handle on their behalf. It also describes generally the sorts of personal information held and for what purposes, and how that information is collected, held, used and disclosed.
Terms & Conditions of Use
Please take the time to read these terms and conditions. By using Our Website and the Services and information offered on Our Website, you are agreeing to these terms and conditions.
If you wish to engage us to act on your behalf, there will be additional terms and conditions relating to our engagement. Please make sure you agree with these terms and conditions, which you will be directed to read prior to making your purchase.
Definitions
Services means all services offered by Us.
The Website means the website www.eclegal.com.au.
We / Us etc means E C Legal Pty Ltd ACN 050 271 684 and any subsidiaries, affiliates, employees, officers, agents or assigns.
Accuracy of Content
We have taken proper care and precautions to ensure that the information we provide on the Website is accurate. However, we cannot guarantee, nor do we accept any legal liability arising from or connected to, the accuracy, reliability, currency or completeness of anything contained on this Website or on any linked site.
The information contained on this Website should not take the place of professional advice. Should you wish to rely on any of the information on this Website you must engage us in writing to provide specific advice on the relevant information.
Use
The Website is made available for your use on your acceptance and compliance with these terms and conditions. By using this Website, you are agreeing to these terms and conditions.
You agree that you will use this website in accordance with all applicable local, state, national and international laws, rules and regulations.
You agree that you will not use, nor will you allow or authorise any third party to use, the Website for any purpose that is unlawful, defamatory, harassing, abusive, fraudulent or obscene way or in any other inappropriate way or in a way which conflicts with the Website or the Services.
If you contribute to our forum (if any) or make any public comments on this Website which are, in our opinion, unlawful, defamatory, harassing, abusive, fraudulent or obscene or in any other way inappropriate or which conflict with the Website or the Services offered, then we may at our discretion, refuse to publish such comments and/or remove them from the Website.
We reserve the right to refuse or terminate service to anyone at any time without notice or reason.
Incorporation of These Terms & Conditions in Authority to Act
Where you engage Us to act for you, a further Authority to Act agreement will be formed which sets out the basis upon which we will act for you. These Terms and Conditions are incorporated into the further Authority to Act agreement.
Password & Logins
You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of any passwords and login details and for all activities carried out under your password and login.
Indemnity for Loss or Damage
You agree to indemnify Us and hold Us harmless from and against any and all liabilities or expenses arising from or in any way related to your use of this Website or the Services or information offered on this Website, including any liability or expense arising from all claims, losses, damages (actual and consequential), suits, judgments, litigation costs and solicitors fees of every kind and nature incurred by you or any third parties through you.
Intellectual Property & Copyrights
eCollect Management Pty Ltd ACN 630 550 266 (incorporated in Australia) holds the copyright to the content of this Website, including all uploaded files (unless otherwise indicated), layout design, data, graphics, articles, file content, codes, news, tutorials, videos, reviews, forum posts and databases contained on the Website or in connection with the Services. You must not use or replicate our copyright material other than as permitted by law. Specifically, you must not use or replicate our copyright material for commercial purposes unless expressly agreed to by Us, in which case we may require you to sign a Licence Agreement.
If you wish to use content, images or other of our intellectual property, you should submit your request to us at the following email address: info@eclegal.com.au
Client & Matter Information
E C Legal receives information from our clients for the purpose of handling their matters.
This information is subject to the solicitors duty of confidentiality which means E C Legal cannot disclose any information which is confidential to a client and acquired by E C Legal during the client’s engagement to any person who is not a staff member or working under E C Legal’s authority on the matter except if:
- the client expressly or impliedly authorises disclosure;
- E C Legal is permitted or is compelled by law to disclose;
- E C Legal discloses the information in a confidential setting, for the sole purpose of obtaining advice in connection with the solicitor’s legal or ethical obligations;
- E C Legal discloses the information for the sole purpose of avoiding the probable commission of a serious criminal offence;
- E C Legal discloses the information for the purpose of preventing imminent serious physical harm to the client or to another person; or
- the information is disclosed to the insurer of the solicitor, law practice or associated entity.
This information is usually subject to legal professional privilege which means that there are only a very limited number of situations where E C Legal is permitted or can compelled by law to disclose private information.
Legal professional privilege is a complex area and, if you have a specific circumstance that concerns you, you should advise us in writing of the circumstances and seek advice on what protections may be available to your information via legal professional privilege before any information is provided to us.
Information About Other Parties
E C Legal receives information from our clients about other parties in their matters.
The information collected may include individual company or business names of our client’s debtors and names of their relevant staff members, postal or email address, dates of birth, financial details, tax file number, bank account information or other information that may be necessary for the effective handling of our clients matters.
As the agent of the client, E C Legal and our staff are entitled to have access to this information in the same manner as employees of our clients are entitled to have access to this information. As a starting point, there is nothing illegal or improper about E C Legal being provided personal information by our clients about other parties.
All communication with third parties, including members of the third party’s family is consistent with our policy of keeping the matter as private as possible.
Accuracy of All Information
E C Legal aims to ensure that all information we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete and up-to-date. We will take reasonable steps to make sure this is the case. If you believe that information that we have is not accurate, complete or up to date, please contact us.
Protection of Information
We store information in different ways, including in paper and electronic form. The security of your personal information is important to us and we take reasonable steps to protect it from misuse and loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
We take care to ensure that the information given to us on our websites is protected. For example, our websites have electronic security systems in place, including the use of firewalls and data encryption. User identifiers, passwords or other access codes are also used to control access to our client’s information.
We take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify personal information if it is no longer needed for any purpose for which the information may be used or disclosed under.
Retention of Documents
E C Legal will retain client files and records in accordance with current regulatory requirements. Our usual process is to keep the written files in our office for six months to 12 months after the completion of a matter before transferring those files to storage.
Written files may be destroyed after about 12-18 months where we have electronic copies of the files.
Our clients are welcome to collect their written files from our office once the matter is complete and all outstanding accounts are paid.
Payment of Monies From Trust
E C Legal is required to hold any money is received until we are certain that the funds held by us are cleared and available for payment. In the case of payments received by electronic funds transfer, this usually requires 48 hours. Where payments are received by cheque, we usually wait four days before disbursing the funds.
Our preferred method of payment is by electronic funds transfer and it assists us if our clients provide us with their bank details in advance of the proposed transfer date so that we can get our clients’ money to them at the earliest possible opportunity.
Law firms are frequently targeted by cyber criminals due to the volume of funds being transferred in our out. For this reason, always call our office to check our account numbers before transferring money.
Refund Policy
Should any person believe that they are entitled to a refund of monies paid to E C Legal for any reason, the following policy will apply.
- Applications for refunds will only be considered for three calendar months after the date of receipt by E C Legal;
- Refunds will be made to the person making the payment;
- Any refund made will incur an administrative charge of the lower of 10% of Amount of Refund requested or $22.00 inclusive of GST unless the receipt is due to an error by E C Legal in which case no charge will be applied;
- Once a refund is made, E C Legal and its client will be released from any further claims in relation to overpayments by the recipient of the refund.
Please download and complete application for refund from here: