Privacy policy

Alexander Hone Lawyers (ABN 74 241 106 398) handles personal information in line with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles. This policy explains what we collect, why, who we share it with and how you can access or correct it.

In this policy, “we”, “us” and “our” mean Alexander Hone Lawyers. “You” means anyone who uses this website, makes an enquiry or becomes a client.

What we collect

When you enquire online, we collect what you enter in the form:

• your name, email address and phone number
• whether you are a landlord, tenant, business owner or other
• the service you need and your state
• your message, and anything else you choose to tell us

When you become a client, we collect the information we need to act for you. This usually includes your lease and related documents, details of your business, the other party, guarantors and the property, and identity details where the law or our professional rules require them.

When you use this website, we keep a short record of the pages you view, so that if you enquire we can see what you were looking for. See Your visit and enquiry history below.

We usually collect personal information directly from you. Sometimes we receive it from someone else, such as the other party to a lease, their lawyer or agent, or a person who refers you to us.

You can contact us without giving your full name, but we need a way to reply and enough information to check for conflicts of interest before we can act for you.

Your visit and enquiry history

To understand how people find us, this website keeps a record in your own browser of:

• the pages you view on this site and when
• the website that referred you, if you came from another site
• the first page you landed on
• campaign tags in the link you followed, such as utm_source or an advertising click ID

This record is kept in your browser’s local storage, or in a first-party cookie called ah_journey if local storage is unavailable. It is kept for up to 180 days. It stays on your device and is not sent to us unless you submit an enquiry, in which case it is sent with your enquiry.

We do not use this record to identify you across other websites, and we do not use device fingerprinting. You can delete it at any time by clearing this site’s data in your browser settings.

Why we collect it

We use personal information to:

• respond to your enquiry and confirm a fixed fee
• check for conflicts of interest before we act
• provide legal services and manage your matter
• communicate with you, the other party and others involved in your matter
• meet our legal and professional obligations, including record keeping
• understand how people find and use our website, and improve it

We do not sell personal information. We do not use your information to send you marketing unless you agree to it.

Who we share it with

We share personal information only as needed for the purposes above, including with:

• service providers who help us run our practice and this website: Cloudflare, which hosts this website and receives the enquiries sent through it, and Google (see Google Maps and Website analytics)
• others involved in your matter, such as the other party, their lawyer or agent, a mortgagee, a land titles office, a small business commissioner or a tribunal, when acting for you requires it
• anyone we are required or authorised by law to disclose it to

Our service providers may only use personal information to provide their services to us.

Information held overseas

Some of our service providers store or process information outside Australia:

• Cloudflare (Cloudflare, Inc., United States) hosts this website and receives enquiries sent through the form. It processes information in data centres around the world, including in the United States.
• Google (Google LLC, United States) provides Google Maps and, if we use it, Google Analytics. It processes information in the United States and other countries.

We take reasonable steps to make sure overseas providers handle personal information in a way that is consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles.

Google Maps

Some pages show our location on an embedded Google Map. When a page with a map loads, Google may collect information such as your IP address and set its own cookies. Google handles that information under its own privacy policy.

Website analytics

We may use Google Analytics to understand how people use this website, such as which pages are viewed and how visitors arrive. Google Analytics uses cookies and collects information such as your device, browser, approximate location and the pages you view. We do not use it to identify you. Google handles that information under its own privacy policy. You can opt out with Google’s browser add-on.

How we store and protect it

This website uses HTTPS, so information you send through it is encrypted in transit. Enquiries are stored with our service providers and in our practice systems, which are protected by access controls.

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, change or disclosure. We keep client files for as long as the law and our professional obligations require, then destroy or de-identify them securely.

Confidentiality and legal professional privilege

As lawyers, we have a duty of confidentiality to our clients. Information you give us about your legal matter is kept confidential and may be protected by legal professional privilege. This policy does not reduce those protections. If you are not yet our client, please send us only a brief outline until we confirm we can act for you.

Accessing and correcting your information

You can ask for access to the personal information we hold about you, or ask us to correct it. Email us at legal@alexanderhone.com.au. We will respond within a reasonable time, usually within 30 days.

We may need to confirm your identity first. In some cases the law allows us to refuse access, for example where giving it would breach legal professional privilege or another person’s privacy. If we refuse, we will tell you why.

Complaints

If you think we have mishandled your personal information, email us at legal@alexanderhone.com.au with the details. We will look into it and respond within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The current version is always on this page, with the date it was last updated.

Contact us

Alexander Hone Lawyers
Level 3, 98–100 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
legal@alexanderhone.com.au