Disclaimer

The legal content on this website has been provided for general interest only. It does not constitute legal advice. People seeking legal advice are advised to contact a qualified professional directly. Our solicitors will be able to advise you. Although we make every effort to keep the legal information on our website accurate and up-to-date we do not guarantee this. If you make use of the information on this site it is at your own risk.

Our website contains links to other websites. These links have been established on the basis that they may be of use to people visiting our site for legal information. McKays Solicitors has no control over the information contained on these other websites. We disclaim any liability in respect of the information contained on these other websites.

We accept no liability for any loss or damage or cost incurred to you as a result of our website being infected by a computer virus or other defect.

Professional Standards and Limitation of Liability Scheme

As part of its commitment to high standards, McKays Solicitors participates in a professional standards scheme administered by the Professional Standards Council, signified by this logo:

Liability limited by a scheme approved under professional standards legislation.

As a larger firm, McKays is a class 2 member of the scheme which also varies the limitation of liability under the scheme. For more information you can contact us, and you can also contact the Professional Standards Council in your state or territory.

Email Disclaimer

Email communications (including any attachments) which contain legally privileged or confidential information are intended only for the addressee.  If you are not the intended recipient, then any storing, dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited.  You may not deal with or rely on this information in any way.  When addressed to our clients, any opinions or advice contained in the communication are subject to the terms and conditions expressed in our retainer.  If you have received  an email in error, please notify us immediately by return email and delete the original email, destroy any printed copy and do not disclose or use the information in it.  We do not warrant that an email or its attachments are error or virus free.  If the email  is a private communication it does not represent the views of McKays Solicitors. Emails are copyright. McKays Solicitors are not liable if an attachment is altered without its written consent.  Thank you.

Privacy Policy

1. Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)
From 21 December 2001 the National Privacy Principles ("NPPs") contained in Schedule 3 of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) will regulate the collection, use and disclosure of personal information by us. We are conscious of the importance of maintaining the confidentiality of your personal information. You can be assured that we only collect personal information that is necessary for us to carry out our duties. We also take all possible steps to ensure that your personal information is not disclosed to or accessed by unauthorised persons.

2. Personal Information
The personal information which we hold may include your name, residential address, postal address, telephone number, facsimile number, mobile telephone number, email address, occupation, place of work, date of birth, hobbies or interests, membership of a trade or professional association and an emergency contact being a person not residing with you. Your membership of a trade or professional association is regarded as sensitive information under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

3. Use of Personal Information
We collect personal information from you for the purpose of providing legal services, including carrying out our duties as set out in the Client Service Agreement between us. These services extend to advising you of updates in the law through our newsletter and asking you to randomly respond to surveys, to ensure we meet your requirements.

4. Organisations to which we may disclose information
We do not ordinarily contract out services that involve disclosing personal information about you to other organisations. We collect personal information directly from you, or in some cases directly from the professional or trade association that referred you to us. In some circumstances, we may be required to pass on information about you to particular third parties. The most likely entities to which we may provide information include:

4.1. Baycorp Advantage
We are a member of Baycorp Advantage, a credit reporting agency. We may give information about you, to Credit Advantage in order to obtain a consumer credit report about you, and/or allow Credit Advantage to create or maintain a credit information file containing information about you. The information however is limited to:

• identity particulars - your name, sex, address (and the previous two addresses), date of birth, name of employer, and driver's licence number;
• the fact that you have applied for credit and the amount (which will be our estimate of your total likely fees and costs);
• the fact that McKays is a current credit provider to you;
• details of any accounts which are overdue by more than 60 days, and for which debt collection action has started;
• advice that an account is no longer overdue in respect of any default that has been listed;
• dishonoured cheques - cheques drawn by you for $100.00 or more that have been dishonoured more than once.

4.2. Barristers and Experts
In matters where it is necessary for us to obtain an opinion from a barrister or an expert, we will disclose to such persons all information held by us which is relevant to your matter, in order to obtain such an opinion.

4.3. Professional or Trade Associations
If you are a member of a professional or trade association, and that association has referred you to us for the provision of legal services, we will disclose to such association the fact that we are acting for you in a matter in order to obtain any required documentation or information from the association.

5. Breaches of Privacy

If you are concerned that we may have breached your privacy:

• mention it first to the person looking after your matter, then
• if you are still unhappy (or feel you are unable to discuss the problem with the person looking after your matter) please contact one of the partners who will investigate your concerns and contact you to discuss the problem.

The person looking after your matter, and the relevant partner, can be contacted by telephone at our Brisbane Office or Mackay Office.

Brisbane Office
Level 26
239 George Street
PO Box 12275, George Street
Brisbane QLD 4003
DX 40138
Tel:(07) 3223 5900
Fax:(07) 3221 5379
Email: brisbane@mckayslaw.com

Mackay Office

McKays Law Centre
34 Wood Street
PO Box 37
Mackay QLD 4740
DX 41389
Tel: (07) 4963 0888
Fax: (07) 4963 0889
Email: mackay@mckayslaw.com

7. Requests to access personal information

Except in a few unusual circumstances provided for in the NPPs, you are able to gain access to any personal information which we may hold about you. Should you wish to obtain access to such information, please either telephone us at our Brisbane or Mackay office or provide us with a written request by writing to us at either office.

Please note that there may be a fee for supplying the information and/or documentation to you. This fee will be calculated as an estimate of the cost to reimburse us for the expense of retrieving and/or copying the information or documentation. Wherever possible, we will advise you of the amount of this fee before retrieval of the information and/or documentation. We will endeavour to espond to your request for access as soon as possible. However, our response time will depend upon the type or amount of information requested and how the information is held by us. Where you have made a written request for access, we will acknowledge the request within fourteen (14) days.

If we consider your request to be straightforward, we will endeavour to respond within fourteen (14) days. Unless exceptional circumstances apply, we will respond to your request within a maximum of thirty (30) days.

8. How we hold your personal information
Your personal information is handled by us securely, archived securely and disposed of securely. In most cases, your personal information is held by us in electronic format, and online security measures are in place, such as password protection, to ensure that only authorised employees have access to your information.

9. Thank you

Thank you for being one of our clients. You can be assured that we are ever conscious of the importance of maintaining the confidentiality of your personal information.