Privacy Policy
1. Background/Introduction
1.1 The purpose of this policy is to provide clear guidelines on the collection, use, storage and disclosure of personal information, support relevant agencies and assist in investigation of suspected breaches of policy and/or codes of conduct and to ensure compliance with the Privacy Act 2020 (“the Act”).
1.2 The Policy will also:
(a) Provide appropriate protection for personal information held by Holland Beckett;
(b) Assist relevant personnel with investigation of incidents on site;
(c) Assist in investigation of suspected breaches of policy and/or codes of conduct; and
(d) Ensure compliance with the Privacy Act 2020.
1.3 Holland Beckett is committed to protecting the privacy of the personal information it collects and receives. This privacy policy will explain how Holland Beckett collects, uses, stores, discloses and otherwise handles personal information. It will also explain how you can access and correct any personal information that we hold about you, how to request information from us, and how to complain about any suspected privacy breach.
1.4 Tim Conder is the privacy officer for Holland Beckett. His contact details are:
HOLLAND BECKETT Privacy Officer:
Tim Conder
tim.conder@hobec.co.nz
027 361 8208
Alternate Privacy Officer:
Jemma Hollis
jemma.hollis@hobec.co.nz
020 4105 4443
Emails sent to privacy@hobec.co.nz will be received by both the Privacy Officer and the Alternate.
2. What is personal information?
2.1 The term “personal information” has the meaning given to it in the Act. Personal information is any information that can be used to personally identify you. This includes such things as your name, address, telephone number, email address and profession or occupation.
2.2 We may also collect information about you from third parties when you have authorised this or where such information is publicly available. This may include but is not limited to collecting information from the following sources:
(a) Other law firms (where you have authorised us to do so, including in the process of uplifting files you previously held with them);
(b) Police and other Government Departments (where we are required to contact them to obtain information relevant to any proceedings against you);
(c) Other parties involved in your matters;
(d) Publicly available resources such as the Companies Register;
(e) Secure AI tools including (but not limited to) CoPilot, Harvey and Vincent;
(f) Workflow and document creation tools including (but not limited to) Settify and Law Hawk;
(g) Electronic Identification Verification (EIV) providers; and
(h) Other external service providers including Process Servers.
2.3 Where appropriate, we will seek information from you directly in the first instance and/or verify information received from third parties with you before relying on it.
3. Collection of your information
3.1 Personal information will be collected only for a lawful purpose connected with and necessary for a Holland Beckett activity. Information will be collected directly from the individual concerned unless it is publicly available or the individual concerned authorises collection of the information from someone else.
3.2 We also collect your information from you when you visit our website. This can either be by you inputting your information into our website, or through the use of cookies.
3.3 We may also collect information about you from third parties when you have authorised this or where such information is publicly available.
3.4 The information that we collect may include, but is not limited to:
(a) Your name, address (postal and email), location and telephone numbers.
(b) The IP address for your computer or IT system.
(c) Any information you provide to us through our online questionnaires.
(d) Any information and documents you provide to us for the purpose of furthering any matter you have with us.
(e) Your browsing behaviour.
(f) Your Holland Beckett activity.
(g) If you are using your social sign-in.
(h) Your Facebook email address or Google email address.
3.5 If any of the information provided to us includes information about another person, this is on the basis that you have confirmed they have authorised you to provide us with that information, or the information is required in order to progress your matter with us.
4. How we collect personal information
4.1 Holland Beckett will only collect information from you in a way that is lawful and fair. If it is reasonable and practicable, we will collect personal information we require directly from you. We will collect personal information in a number of ways, including but not limited to:
(a) Through the use of cookies on our website;
(b) Through the use of your sign-in information when you enter site;
(c) Through the use of (although not limited to) any of the third parties listed above.
5. How we store your information
5.1 We take all reasonable steps to ensure that any personal information we collect about you is protected against loss, unauthorised access or disclosure. Our processes meet the requirements prescribed by both New Zealand and Australian legislation.
5.2 We store information on various platforms which are all accessible only by Holland Beckett employees and in some cases, a restricted number of employees. These platforms include but are not limited to:
(a) Infinity Law (our Practice Management software which stores core client information);
(b) iManage (a cloud based system that stores client documents);
(c) Microsoft Office 365;
(d) Crown (physical storage facility);
(e) LawFlow Limited (secure online server for storing discovery documents);and
(f) Real AML (Anti money laundering risk management and identification documents).
5.3 Where information is used or held by the providers listed above, it will be held in accordance with their privacy policies.
5.4 We may use other services from time to time, and will update this list as appropriate when services change.
5.5 We are currently trialling AI products for use in our business and may use client information on secure AI platforms as part of this process. We do not use client information or identifiable information on publicly available AI platforms.
5.6 Some electronic data is retained indefinitely, such as Trust Account Transactions and Client Database details, where it is not practical to delete this information for a particular client. Legislation requires that most client data/files are retained for a period of between five and ten years depending on the nature of the work we have undertaken for you. In accordance with the recommendation of the New Zealand Law Society, our electronic files are stored in our system for a period of at least seven years and in some cases indefinitely. Where you advise that our relationship with you is at an end, we will endeavour to destroy information, provided we are no longer legally required to hold this information. Our current guidelines are:
(a) Electronic Identity Verification documents must be held for a minimum of five years;
(b) Physical Documents will be held for a minimum of ten years;
(c) Electronic Documents will be held for a minimum of ten years;
(d) Client database information will be marked as “closed” and is less visible in day to day use, although the record may still exist for the purposes of identifying conflicts of interest; and
(e) Physical documents and files will be retained off site at a Crown storage facility for at least 10 years after which all physical documents and files will be destroyed.
6. Your rights to access and correct your information
6.1 You can ask us to provide you with information we hold about you and request corrections to it at any time. There may be a charge for providing this information, but we will let you know if this is the case before we provide you the information.
6.2 Holland Beckett will take all reasonable steps to ensure that the information it holds is accurate, up to date, complete and not misleading.
6.3 If you would like to see the information we hold about you or request a correction, please fill out the complaints form at appendix 1 and/or contact us at privacy@hobec.co.nz.
7. Disclosure of your information
7.1 Holland Beckett will generally only disclose your personal information in circumstances where it is being disclosed for the purposes it was collected, or you have authorised the disclosure. There may be some circumstances (eg. to lessen a threat to public or individual health and safety or to assist with law enforcement) where we may also disclose information. Where reasonably practicable, information disclosed will be anonymous.
7.2 Any disclosure will be in accordance with the relevant legislation. We may disclose your information to the following third parties:
(a) Anyone that provides us services that relate to a purpose listed above (including third parties in New Zealand and overseas);
(b) Other members of Holland Beckett which must handle your information in accordance with this policy;
(c) Any Court or Registrar of the Court where the matter we are assisting you with proceeds to a Court;
(d) Any lawyer who is involved in your matter on behalf of another party, and where we are acting for you;
(e) Government agencies and other third parties where required or permitted by law or any Court;
(f) Anyone that can help us if your use of our site is causing us technical issues (including an attack on our site, systems or networks);
(g) Any member of personnel conducting an investigation into our organisation;
(h) Any other party we consider to require your information to whom we can disclose your information in accordance with this policy and the Privacy Act 2020.
7.3 We may also disclose your information to anyone you authorise us to disclose that information to.
7.4 Disclosures will also be made in a manner consistent with and where directed by our obligations as lawyers under the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006 (Conduct and Client Care) Rules.
8. Cookies
8.1 Our website is able to place a cookie on your computer or IT system.
8.2 We may use this information to help us identify you, to personalize your experience when you visit our site and to provide you advertisements for our services when you visit ours or third party websites.
8.3 You can stop Cookies being placed on your computer or IT system by changing the settings for your internet browser. Please note that some of our site’s features will not work without Cookies.
8.4 In addition, our site may use a third party Cookie such as Google Analytics for display advertisers which are subject to the policies of these providers.
9. Complaints
9.1 We take compliance seriously. To report a breach you will need to complete a privacy complaint form, and send it to the privacy officer. The privacy officer will meet with you to discuss the process for dealing with your complaint.
9.2 Any suspected or known breaches of the privacy will be investigated by the privacy officer, who will take appropriate action to prevent any further breach and minimise impact.
9.3 Where any breach of personal privacy has the potential to cause embarrassment or harm, the affected individual will be advised of the breach and supported to minimise impact, and Holland Beckett will seek to agree a remedy acceptable to the individual.
9.4 Should there be a deliberate breach of the privacy of a person, the person in breach will be considered to have committed serious misconduct and may be subject to disciplinary procedures up to and including dismissal. They may also be subject to the terms of the Act.
9.5 You can also make a complaint directly to the Privacy Commissioner. The Commissioner will either investigate the complaint or decide to take no action, following the rules set out in the Act. The privacy officer will assist the Privacy Commissioner in any investigation.
10. Changing this policy
10.1 We may change this policy at any time by changing or removing existing terms or adding new ones. Changes may take the form of a completely new policy. Any amendments will be notified on our website. Any changes we make apply from the date we post it on the website.
10.2 If you have any questions about our privacy policy, email us at privacy@hobec.co.nz.
This privacy policy was updated 16 February 2026.