The Gold Coast Community Legal Centre (GCCLC) respects clients' rights to privacy and confidentiality and complies with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (as amended).

These principles govern the collection and treatment of sensitive and personal information. In particular, the principles deal with accuracy of such recorded information, the disclosure of this information, the storage of this information and the destruction of these private information records.

In order to assist you, we need to keep certain records (client files), which typically include certain personal details about you, private information about your legal needs and our legal advice to you. We only collect information from you and about you that we need in order to provide services to you.

The only people who have any access to our confidential client information are: our staff and our volunteers, who are all asked to sign confidentiality undertakings when they commence work at our centre. The information that you provide to us is treated carefully and confidentially. It will not be given to anyone else without your consent, unless we are legally required to do this.

The centre is also committed to protecting your personal information from misuse or loss, from unauthorised access, modification and disclosure, and will take reasonable steps to do so. Your information is kept securely in our office storage and/or in our electronic database.

You need to understand that in order to run our free legal advice and related services, we must have professional indemnity insurance. If a professional negligence claim is made against us, we have to notify our insurers about the relevant case.

By speaking with us about your case, you are accepting that your rights to privacy are subject to such additional considerations. If you believe that we have incorrectly recorded information about you, you can ask us to add any corrected information to our records.

As part of our funding agreement, we are required to provide to funding bodies statistical information about our services. Our clients’ personal information and details of individual legal matters will not be provided to funding bodies; however, this information is necessary for the GCCLC’s internal records. Once your file has been closed, the GCCLC is required to keep it for a period of seven years, after which time your file will be destroyed. When you first fill out your client intake form, this information is advised to you and you are asked to sign our form consenting to this file destruction.

There are some situations where files are kept for longer than seven years: where you were under 18 years of age when you obtained advice at our centre; where you have lost capacity for some period; or where the file involves a will or enduring power of attorney matters.

Please contact the Centre’s director if you wish to make a complaint about the GCCLC’s handling of your private information. We will try to deal with your complaint as soon as possible. If you are dissatisfied with any action we then take, you can also make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Further information about privacy laws can be found here.

Disclaimer

The information provided on this site does not constitute legal advice. The information provided is general information only and is a guide only and not a full explanation of the law. When making decisions, seek further advice.

This information on the website also does not provide a full explanation of all of the Centre’s services, activities or operations. For more information please contact the Centre.

Also, while the Centre takes all reasonable precautions to ensure that its computer systems are free from viruses, we can take no responsibility for any damage to the computer systems of any user of our website and users access and use our website at their own risk.

In most instances, the Gold Coast Community Legal Centre provides advice, information and referral services only. There is no charge for the services provide but clients are asked to consider a donation towards ongoing costs for providing a free service.

The services are provided by employed solicitors and it is up to each solicitor what level of advice or assistance they are comfortable to provide. Clients are able to make further appointments for advice and assistance. Capacity for assistance other than advice and referral is very limited and is at the discretion of the Principal Solicitor.

Please call us on 07 5532 9611 if you have any queries regarding the content on this page.

Request a Callback

More

Legal Services

More

Legal Help

More

Donate

More

Volunteer

More

Contact Us

More

© Gold Coast Community Legal Centre 2024

Website created by RJ New Designs

Translate ยป