Welcome to our law firm’s Privacy Policy
The late Zelman Cowan (Boyer lecture, 1969):
“A man without privacy is a man without dignity; the fear that big brother is watching and listening threatens the freedom of the individual no less than prison bars.”
Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
“No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor attacks upon his honour and reputation.”
Welcome to Legal Consolidated Barristers & Solicitors. Because we are a law firm, as our client, you gain many additional benefits over non-law firms providing legal documents online:
1. Legal professional privilege – as a law firm, certain matters cannot be made available to any person or entity – if you deal with a non-law firm, then the courts can direct the non-law firm to hand over that type of information and documents. In Australia, legal professional privilege (also referred to as client legal privilege) is a rule of law protecting communications between lawyers and their clients from disclosure under the compulsion of court or statute. The attorney-client privilege protects your confidentiality. The privilege may be waived by the client but not by us, your law firm.
2. Our law firm is responsible for the documents you build on our law firm’s website, E.g. Legal Profession Act 2004 No 112 (New South Wales), Legal Profession Act 2004 (Victoria) and the Legal Profession Act 2006 (ACT).
3. We govern ourselves according to the rules and principles of a law firm’s professional conduct. As lawyers, we are bound by rules of ethics, which require us to use every means possible to obtain positive results for you, our client, when building documents on our website.
4. Our duty of care is to the courts and, after that, to our clients. All privacy legislation is subservient to the higher standards set for lawyers and our ethical duties.
We continually improve these Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy. You agree to be bound by such modifications and revisions. Nothing in these Terms of Service is deemed to confer any third-party rights or benefits.
User Accounts at Legal Consolidated Barristers & Solicitors
Although Legal Consolidated is not liable for any losses you suffer due to any unauthorised use of your Account, you are liable for the losses of Legal Consolidated or others due to any unauthorised use.
General Permissions & Restrictions
Legal Consolidated grants you permission to access and use the Service. This is under our Terms of Service, and this Privacy Policy provides that:
- You agree not to distribute any part of the Service or the Content in any medium without Legal Consolidated’s prior written authorisation unless Legal Consolidated makes available the means for such distribution through functionality offered by the Service (such as the Embeddable Document Portal).
- You agree not to alter or modify any part of the Service.
- You agree not to access Content through any technology other than as facilitated and contemplated by the Service itself, the Embeddable Document Portal, or other explicitly authorised means Legal Consolidated may designate.
- You agree not to use the Service for any of the following commercial uses unless you obtain Legal Consolidated’s prior written approval:
(1) The sale of access to the Service; or
(2) The sale of advertising, sponsorships, or promotions placed on or within the Service or Content.
Prohibited commercial uses do not include:
(1) Gathering data or preparing documents through the Embeddable Document Portal otherwise in accordance with these Terms of Service and Privacy Policy or
(2) Any use that Legal Consolidated expressly authorises in writing.
If you use the Embeddable Document Portal on your website, you may not modify, build upon, or block any portion or functionality of the Embeddable Document Portal, including but not limited to links back to the Legal Consolidated website.
You agree not to use or launch any automated system, including, without limitation, robots, spiders, or offline readers, that accesses the Service in a manner that sends more request messages to the Legal Consolidated servers in a given period of time than a human can reasonably produce in the same period by using a conventional web browser.
Notwithstanding the above, Legal Consolidated permits the operators of public search engines to use spiders to copy materials from the site for the sole purpose of and solely to the extent necessary for creating publicly available searchable indices of the materials, but not caches or archives of such materials. Legal Consolidated reserves the right to revoke these exceptions either generally or in specific cases.
You agree not to collect or harvest any personally identifiable information, including Account names and other personal or financial data, from the Service, nor to use the communication systems provided by the Service (e.g., comments, email) for any commercial solicitation purposes. You agree not to solicit, for commercial purposes, any users of the Service for their Content.
In your use of the Service, you comply with all applicable laws.
Legal Consolidated reserves the right to discontinue any aspect of the Service at any time.
Use of Legal Consolidated’s content
In addition to the general restrictions above, the following restrictions and conditions apply specifically to your use of Content:
The Content on the Service and the trademarks, service marks and logos (‘Marks’) on the Service are owned by or licensed to Legal Consolidated, subject to copyright and other intellectual property rights under the law.
Content is provided to you ‘as is’. You may access Content for your information and personal use solely as intended through the provided functionality of the Service and as permitted under these Terms of Service. You must not download any Content other than under the functionality within the Service for the download of Content.
You must not copy, reproduce, distribute, transmit, broadcast, display, sell, license, or otherwise exploit any Content for any other purposes without the prior written consent of Legal Consolidated. Legal Consolidated and its licensors reserve all rights not expressly granted in and to the Service and the Content. At all times we claim legal professional privilege for our users, as permitted by law.
(1) You must not use any Content in connection with creating other Content;
(2) You must not use any part of any Content for any purpose except the specific purpose for which the Content was ordered;
(3) You must not copy any part of any Content for any purpose except about the transaction for which the Content was ordered;
(3) You must not interfere with, alter or attempt to copy or reproduce any part of the Service while using the Service;
(4) You must not incorporate any part of our Service or Content in any other program or system; and
(5) You must not represent that the Content or our Service was created by your resources or those of a third party.
Legal Consolidated reserves the right to remove Content without prior notice.
Your Comments & Recommendations
If you provide comments or recommendations to Legal Consolidated for our Content or the Content of other users of the Service, such comments and recommendations may be adopted by us and integrated into the Content and the Service. In consideration of your access to the Service you assign, you agree to assign all copyright and other intellectual property in the comments and recommendations to Legal Consolidated for no further consideration or attribution.
Legal Consolidated strongly recommends that before you use any Content, you obtain legal advice on your particular circumstances and the suitability of the Content to meet your particular requirements. All Content is general and may not cover every situation that might arise.
Any use of the Service or Content is at your sole risk.
Delivery Policy
If relevant, the content you order through the Service will be delivered electronically to you either when you download it or when you click to have us send it to the email address you nominated when setting up your account.
Account Termination Policy
Legal Consolidated terminates access to the Service at our sole discretion, for any reason, subject to the retainer, if you are a client of the law firm.
Legal Consolidated reserves the right to decide whether Content violates this Privacy Policy. Legal Consolidated may at any time, without prior notice and in its sole discretion, remove such Content and terminate a user’s Account for submitting such material in violation of this Privacy Policy.
Indemnity
To the extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Legal Consolidated, any parent corporation, officers, directors, employees and agents, from and against any and all claims, damages, obligations, losses, liabilities, costs or debt, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney’s fees) arising from: (i) your use of and access to the Service; (ii) your violation of any term of this Privacy Policy; (iii) your violation of any third party right, including without limitation any copyright, property, or privacy right; or (iv) any claim that your Content caused damage to a third party. This defence and indemnification obligation survives this Privacy Policy and your use of the Service.
Cookies Policy
Cookies are small text files containing a string of characters that can be placed on your computer or mobile device that uniquely identifies your browser or device. We may use technologies like cookies, pixels and local storage to deliver, secure, and understand products, services, and ads.
What are cookies used for?
Cookies and other technologies allow a site or service to know if your computer or device has visited it before. These technologies can then be used to deliver products, services, and ads, help us understand how the site or service is being used, help you navigate between pages efficiently, help you remember your preferences, and improve your experience using our services. Cookies can also help ensure marketing you see online is more relevant to you and your interests.
How secure is the information about me?
1. We work to protect the security of your information during transmission by using 256-bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate software, which encrypts the information you input.
2. It is important for you to protect against unauthorised access to your password and to your device. Be sure to log off when finished using a shared device.
Why does Legal Consolidated use cookies and similar technologies?
We use cookies, pixels, local storage, and similar technologies to show relevant content, improve your experience, and help protect Legal Consolidated and our users. We may use these technologies to deliver the service, provide you with a service that is easy to use, enables you to move around the Service and use its features, such as accessing secure areas, and store information so that Legal Consolidated responds faster.
We may use these technologies to collect information about how you use the Service, for example, which pages you go to most often and if you get error messages from certain pages. We may use these technologies to allow us to remember your choices (such as your username, language, or region) and tailor the service to provide enhanced features and content for you. These cookies can also be used to remember changes you’ve made to text size, font and other parts of pages that you can customize.
These technologies can remember that your device has visited a site or service and may also be able to track your device’s browsing activity on sites or services other than Legal Consolidated. *We may use these technologies to understand, improve, and research products and services.
How long will cookies stay on my device?
The length of time a cookie stays on your computer or mobile device depends on whether it is a “persistent” or “session” cookie. Session cookies stay on your device until you stop browsing, while persistent cookies stay on your computer or mobile device until they expire or are deleted.
First and Third-party cookies
First-party cookies belong to Legal Consolidated; third-party cookies are cookies that another party places on your device through our Service. For example, someone providing a service for Legal Consolidated may place third-party cookies on your device to help us understand how our service is being used.
How to control cookies or other collection mechanisms
Follow the instructions provided by your website or mobile browser (usually located within the “Help”, “Tools” or “Edit” facility) to modify your cookie settings. Please note that if you set your browser to disable cookies or other technologies, you may not be able to access certain parts of our Service, and other parts of our Service may not work properly.
Artificial Intelligence at Legal Consolidated: Upholding Ethical Standards
Legal Consolidated integrates proprietary advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies into offering legal documents on our website to enhance efficiency and accuracy. Our commitment to ethical practice aligns with the Legal Practice Board’s “Statement on the Use of AI in Australian Legal Practice,” ensuring that our AI usage adheres to the highest professional standards.
AI and Maintaining Client Confidentiality
We understand and nurture the paramount importance of client confidentiality. Our AI systems are designed to process data securely, protecting sensitive information. We do not input confidential client data into public AI platforms. Instead, we utilise proprietary AI tools with robust security measures to safeguard your information.
Providing Independent Legal Advice and AI
While AI assists in streamlining our online document-building processes and logic flows, it does not replace the nuanced judgment of our experienced lawyers. Our legal team thoroughly reviews all AI-generated outputs. This approach guarantees that our online legal documents are accurate and tailored to your circumstances.
Ensuring Competence and Diligence and AI
At Legal Consolidated, we embrace the symbiotic relationship between AI and our lawyers. AI tools, like humans (even lawyers), are not infallible and can produce inaccuracies.
To ensure the highest standards of competence and diligence, we implement a dual-check system:
- AI Validates Our Work: AI analyses vast datasets, identifies patterns, and highlights potential oversights in the logic flow of our online documents. This ensures our lawyers’ positions are rigorously tested and validated.
- We Verify AI Outputs: Our lawyers review AI-assisted output. We ensure the AI’s recommendations and analyses are accurate, relevant, and aligned with our clients’ legal needs.
This collaborative approach ensures that human expertise and advanced technology work harmoniously, reinforcing our commitment to providing reliable, accurate, and cutting-edge legal documents. By maintaining this balance, we safeguard the integrity of our work and deliver exceptional outcomes for our clients.
Charging Fair and Proportionate Costs when using AI
Our use of AI is intended to enhance service efficiency without imposing unnecessary costs on our clients. We ensure our billing practices reflect the actual legal work performed, maintaining fairness and transparency in our fees. Where AI reduces our costs, we pass on those savings to our clients.
Legal Consolidated believes that lawyers who do not adopt AI to reduce costs and increase accuracy may be breaching ethical guidelines and may not be acting in the client’s best interest.
Implementing Clear, Risk-Based Policies when using AI
We have established comprehensive policies governing the use of AI within our practice. These policies define the AI tools we employ, their specific applications, and the types of information processed. We actively supervise the use of AI by our team, ensuring that all AI-generated content is reviewed for accuracy before finalisation.
To ensure our AI systems uphold principles of fairness and inclusivity, we also take active measures to identify and mitigate any potential bias in AI outputs. This includes:
- Addressing Bias Against Minority or Religious Groups: We rigorously test our AI systems to prevent bias that could negatively impact individuals or groups based on ethnicity, religion, gender, or other protected attributes.
- Regular Audits: Our AI tools undergo continuous evaluation to identify and eliminate patterns of unfairness or discrimination in their processes and outputs.
- Training Data Oversight: We carefully curate and review training datasets to ensure they reflect diverse and representative perspectives and minimise the risk of bias.
- Ethical Standards Enforcement: All AI applications are aligned with our commitment to upholding human rights and anti-discrimination principles in accordance with Australian laws and regulations.
By implementing these measures, we ensure that our AI systems enhance efficiency and operate with integrity and respect for all individuals, reinforcing our commitment to fairness and equality.
Implementing Clear, Risk-Based Policies When Using AI
We have established comprehensive policies governing the use of AI within our practice. These policies define the AI tools we employ, their specific applications, and the types of information processed. We actively supervise the use of AI by our team, ensuring that all AI-generated content is reviewed for accuracy before finalisation.
Our AI systems are employed in the most complex situations to test and validate our lawyers’ positions in constructing the logic flow of our online legal documents. By analysing intricate legal scenarios, our AI provides supplementary insights, identifies potential weaknesses, and ensures the robustness of our legal strategies. This rigorous testing process enhances our lawyers’ ability to deliver accurate and reliable advice tailored to each client’s unique circumstances.
We acknowledge that AI can sometimes deliver results that surpass even the most experienced lawyers. Its ability to process vast amounts of data, identify patterns, and analyse legal precedents with unparalleled speed and precision enables us to achieve insights that might otherwise be overlooked. By integrating AI into our practice, we elevate the quality of our legal services while ensuring every result aligns with the high standards expected of a professional law firm.
By harnessing AI’s extraordinary potential while maintaining strict ethical oversight, we provide clients with innovative, reliable, and cutting-edge legal online documents.
General
You affirm that you are either more than 18 years of age, or an emancipated minor, or possess legal parental or guardian consent and are fully able and competent to enter into the terms, conditions, obligations, affirmations, representations, and warranties outlined in this Privacy Policy, and to abide by and comply with this Privacy Policy.
Contact Details
A reference to ‘Legal Consolidated’ refers to the Australian law firm Legal Consolidated Barristers and Solicitors (ABN 94936003432). Please contact us anytime. We welcome your feedback:
National: 1800 141 612 Sydney: 02 8000 9192 Melbourne: 03 9067 7797 Brisbane: 07 2111 0869 Perth: 08 6389 0100
