1. Purpose

This policy provides an overview of how Tarulli Lane Pty Ltd ACN 641 117 277 trading as Tarulli Lane Lawyers ABN 17 641 117 277 collects, uses, holds and discloses your personal information. In this Policy, Tarulli Lane Lawyers is referred to as we, us and our.

This policy should be read together with any terms and conditions, costs agreement, disclosure document, client engagement terms, cyber security notices governing your dealings with us or your use of our website, any location-specific legal notice and any other privacy, collection or consent notice we give you from time to time.

You consent to us collecting, holding, using and disclosing your personal information in accordance with this policy. We collect, use and disclose personal information where reasonably necessary for our functions and activities, where you would reasonably expect us to do so, or where required or authorised by law.

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2. Policy Statement

We are committed to protecting the privacy of individuals in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles.

By providing personal information to us, you consent to our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information in accordance with this policy and any other arrangements that apply between us.

We may change this policy from time to time by publishing changes to it on our website. We encourage you to check our website periodically to ensure that you are aware of our current policy.

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3. Personal Information

Personal information is any information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who can be reasonably identified from the information or opinion. Information or an opinion may be personal information regardless of whether it is true.

Sensitive information is a subset of personal information and may include information about health, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, criminal record, biometric information and membership of a professional or trade association.

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4. Personal information that we collect and hold

We collect information about you and your interactions with us.

The types of information that we collect will depend upon our dealings with you, but may include the following types of personal information:

• your name, date of birth, place of birth, nationality, citizenship or residency status, mailing address, email address, occupation, telephone number and other contact details;

• identity verification information, including copies or details of passports, driver licences, Medicare cards, birth certificates, citizenship certificates, visas, rates notices, utility bills or other documents used to verify identity or authority to act;

• information about your matter, including contract, title, property, search, council, body corporate, owners corporation, planning, finance, settlement, transfer duty, trust accounting, bank account and payment details;

• where relevant to a client, company, trust, partnership, SMSF or estate, information about directors, shareholders, partners, trustees, beneficiaries, beneficial owners, appointors, controllers, attorneys, executors, administrators, personal representatives and authorised representatives;

• information required for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing purposes, including customer due diligence information, verification results, sanctions, politically exposed person and adverse media screening information, and information about the nature and purpose of a matter, source of funds or source of wealth where required or appropriate;

• any additional information relating to you that you provide to us through our website or through other websites, platforms, applications or accounts from which you permit us to collect personal information;

• information you provide to us through surveys or social media;

• your history of enquiries, instructions and use of our legal and conveyancing services;

• testimonials and feedback; and

• details of enquiries or complaints you make.

Sensitive information

We may also collect sensitive information from you, including information about your criminal history, religious beliefs, demographic information, political affiliations, racial or cultural background, membership of a professional association or health information.

Depending on the matter, sensitive information may appear in identification documents, court documents, estate documents, family law or personal circumstances material, health or capacity information, criminal history information, biometric or liveness-check information used by identity verification providers, or information required for AML/CTF screening or reporting.

We will only collect your sensitive information with your consent, or where otherwise permitted or required by this policy or by law.

Job applicants

If you apply for employment or contractor work with us, we may collect personal information as part of our recruitment activities, such as your name, contact details, qualifications, education and work history. Generally, we will collect this information directly from you.

We may also collect personal information from third parties in ways you would reasonably expect, for example from recruitment agencies or referees you have nominated. Before you commence employment or work with us, we may collect additional details such as your tax file number, superannuation details, right-to-work information and other information necessary to determine your suitability for certain positions or to meet our legal obligations.

Use of our website

We may collect information about how you access, use and interact with our website. We do this by using a range of tools such as Google Analytics or similar tools. This information may include:

• the location from which you have come to the site and the pages you have visited;

• technical data, which may include your IP address, the types of devices you are using to access the website, device attributes, browser type, language and operating system; and

• any patterns relating to your usage of our website.

 

5. How we collect your personal information 

We will collect your personal information directly from you whenever you interact with us, including when you instruct us, request a quote, complete onboarding, verification or authority forms, provide documents, communicate with us, pay money into trust or otherwise use our services.

We may also collect your personal information:

• from your authorised representatives, attorneys, guardians, executors, administrators, family members or other persons acting for or with you;

• from other parties to a matter and their representatives, including real estate agents, buyer’s agents, mortgage brokers, lenders, banks, accountants, financial advisers, settlement agents, other solicitors, barristers, valuers, surveyors, building and pest inspectors, body corporate or owners corporation managers and strata managers;

• from government, statutory and regulatory bodies, including land registries, revenue offices, courts, tribunals, local councils, water authorities, titles offices, ASIC, AFSA, AUSTRAC and law enforcement agencies;

• from third-party platforms and service providers we use to provide legal and conveyancing services, including InfoTrack, settleIT, PEXA, electronic signing providers, identity verification and AML/CTF screening providers, search providers, practice management systems, trust accounting systems, payment providers, cloud hosting, email and document storage providers;

• indirectly, through the conduct of our business. We may obtain and make use of data or information, which may include personal information and sensitive information, generated or accessed through your use of our technology, your attendance at our premises or otherwise through the conduct of our business. This may include, but is not limited to, CCTV footage, data, files, emails, telephone records, file notes, document metadata, electronic workspaces, electronic signatures, client portals and matter-management systems;

• indirectly through third parties. We may obtain and make use of information collected from publicly available sources, social media, from your referees if you apply for a position with us, or from our suppliers and contractors who assist us to operate our business; and

• from publicly available registers and databases, including title searches, ASIC searches, bankruptcy searches, court lists, planning portals, council records, sanctions lists and other sources relevant to your matter or our legal obligations.

 

6. Why we collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information

We will use and disclose your personal information for the purposes for which we collected it, including in relation to enquiries, client onboarding, legal services, conveyancing services, recruitment and business administration, with your consent, and/or for other related purposes that you would reasonably expect depending on the nature of our interaction with you.

We may collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for purposes including the following:

• to provide legal, conveyancing and related services, including opening and managing files, conducting conflict checks, taking instructions, giving advice, preparing documents, conducting searches, liaising with other parties, arranging settlement and completing post-settlement steps;

• to provide you with products and services, and manage our relationship with you;

• to verify your identity, authority to act, capacity, source of instructions and source of funds, and to carry out customer due diligence, ongoing due diligence and other checks required or appropriate under AML/CTF laws, professional obligations, lender requirements, e-conveyancing rules or platform requirements;

• to comply with the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth), AML/CTF Rules and related guidance or obligations, including enrolment, record-keeping, risk assessment, customer due diligence, reporting and responding to notices or requests from AUSTRAC or other authorities;

• to conduct conveyancing and property transactions, including through third-party platforms and providers such as InfoTrack, settleIT, PEXA, electronic signing platforms, search providers, councils, water authorities, land registries, revenue offices, lenders and settlement agents;

• to manage trust money, issue invoices, recover debts, process payments and meet accounting, audit, insurance and taxation requirements;

• to conduct our business, and to help us enhance our services and applications;

• to contact you, for example, to respond to your queries or complaints, or if we need to tell you something important;

• to purchase goods or services;

• to comply with our legal obligations and assist government and law enforcement agencies or regulators;

• to protect our rights, your rights or the rights of others, including by preventing fraud, cybercrime, identity theft, money laundering, terrorism financing, sanctions breaches or other unlawful activity; and

• to send you promotional messages and tell you about other products or services that we think may be of interest to you.

If you do not provide us with your personal information, we may not be able to provide you with our services, communicate with you or respond to your enquiries.

In some cases, if you do not provide information or documents required for identity verification, AML/CTF compliance, trust accounting, lender requirements, e-conveyancing, settlement or transfer duty purposes, we may be unable to act for you, may need to stop acting, or may be unable to complete a transaction.

 

7. AML/CTF and identity verification

From 1 July 2026, or otherwise when the relevant obligations apply to us, certain legal and conveyancing services may be regulated under Australian AML/CTF laws. To meet those obligations, we may collect, verify, use, hold and disclose personal information about clients, prospective clients, agents, beneficial owners, controllers, representatives and other relevant individuals.

This may include using third-party identity verification, document verification, sanctions screening, politically exposed person screening, adverse media screening and source of funds/source of wealth assessment tools. These providers may collect or process identity documents, biometric or liveness-check data, verification outcomes and related personal information on our behalf or as separate service providers.

We may disclose information to AUSTRAC, law enforcement agencies, regulators, courts, tribunals, government authorities or other persons where required or authorised by law. In some circumstances, the law may limit what we can tell you about AML/CTF checks, reports or enquiries.

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8. How we store and hold personal information

We store most information about you in computer systems and databases operated by either us or our external service providers. Some information about you may be recorded in paper files that we store securely.

We may hold information in legal practice management systems, conveyancing platforms, e-conveyancing workspaces, search platforms, identity verification and AML/CTF screening tools, trust accounting systems, email systems, cloud storage, document management systems, backup systems and hard copy files.

We implement and maintain processes and security measures to protect personal information which we hold from misuse, interference or loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

We will also take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify personal information once we no longer require it for the purposes for which it was collected or for any secondary purpose permitted under the Australian Privacy Principles. This is subject to any legal, professional, insurance, audit, AML/CTF, trust accounting, taxation, limitation period, dispute-management or record-keeping requirement that requires or permits us to retain information for longer.

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9. Who we disclose your personal information to and why

We may transfer or disclose your personal information for the purposes described in this policy to:

• our employees, related bodies corporate, contractors, consultants and agents;

• third-party suppliers and service providers, including service providers for the operation of our website and/or our business in connection with providing our legal, conveyancing and related services to you, professional advisers and payment systems operators;

• legal and conveyancing service providers and platforms, including InfoTrack, settleIT, PEXA, electronic signing providers, search providers, settlement agents, identity verification providers, AML/CTF screening providers, trust accounting providers, payment providers, IT providers, cloud hosting providers and document storage providers;

• other parties involved in your matter, including other solicitors, conveyancers, barristers, real estate agents, buyer’s agents, mortgage brokers, lenders, banks, accountants, financial advisers, valuers, surveyors, building and pest inspectors, body corporate managers, owners corporation managers and strata managers;

• government, statutory and regulatory bodies, including land registries, titles offices, revenue offices, councils, courts, tribunals, ASIC, AFSA, AUSTRAC, law enforcement agencies and professional regulators;

• our professional advisers, insurers, auditors, bookkeepers, accountants, debt collectors and dispute resolution providers;

• our existing or potential agents or business partners;

• anyone to whom our assets or business, or any part of them, are transferred;

• specific third parties authorised by you to receive information held by us; and/or

• other persons, including any Commonwealth, State or Territory government department or authorised agency, regulatory bodies and law enforcement agencies.

Apart from the above instances, we may also use and disclose your personal information where:

• we are required or authorised by law to do so;

• you have expressly consented to the disclosure, or the consent may be reasonably inferred from the circumstances; or

• we are otherwise permitted to disclose the information under the Privacy Act.

 

10. Disclosure of personal information to overseas recipients

We do not generally disclose your personal information to recipients located outside Australia. However, some technology, cloud storage, email, verification, support, analytics, security or business systems may store, process or allow access to information from locations outside Australia.

In limited circumstances, we may disclose your personal information to overseas recipients including:

• companies or individuals who assist us in providing our services or who we engage to perform specialist functions;

• third-party technology, verification, AML/CTF screening, cloud, support, analytics or security providers and their related entities or subprocessors; and

• anyone to whom we are legally required or authorised to disclose your information.

Where we disclose personal information overseas, we will take reasonable steps to do so consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles, unless an exception applies.

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11. Government related identifiers

We may collect and use government related identifiers, such as passport numbers, driver licence numbers, Medicare numbers, tax file numbers, Australian business numbers and title reference details, where reasonably necessary for identity verification, AML/CTF compliance, trust accounting, taxation, conveyancing, transfer duty, settlement, registry or other legal purposes.

We will not adopt a government related identifier as our own identifier of you unless permitted by law.

 

12. Cookies

We may use cookies on our website. A cookie is a small text file that the website may place on your device to store information. We may use persistent cookies, which remain on your computer even after you close your browser, to store information that may speed up your use of our website on future visits. We may also use session cookies, which no longer remain after you end your browsing session, to help manage the display and presentation of information on the website.

You may refuse to use cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser. However, please note that if you do this, you may not be able to use the full functionality of the website.

 

13. Links

Our website may contain links to websites operated by third parties. Those links are provided for convenience and may not remain current or be maintained.

Unless expressly stated otherwise, we are not responsible for, and make no representations or warranties about, the privacy practices of, or any content on, those linked websites. We have no control over those linked websites.

If you access a link on our website, those other websites will be governed by their own privacy policies and terms of use. The privacy policies that apply to those other websites may differ substantially from our Privacy Policy, so we encourage individuals to read them before using those websites.

 

14. Direct marketing

We may use or disclose your personal information for the purpose of informing you about our services, promotions and events, or other opportunities that may interest you.

If you do not want to receive direct marketing communications, you can opt out at any time by using the unsubscribe facility in emails we send to you, or by contacting us via the details below.

If you opt out of receiving marketing material from us, we may still contact you in relation to services you have engaged us to provide.

We may occasionally engage other companies to provide marketing or advertising services on our behalf. Those companies will be permitted to obtain only the personal information they need to deliver the service. If we provide those companies with any of your personal information, it is to provide you with a better or more relevant and personalised experience and to improve the quality of those services.

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15. Security, storage and data breaches

We may hold your personal information in either electronic or hard copy form. We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, interference and loss, as well as unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We use a number of physical, administrative, personnel and technical measures to protect your personal information. However, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information.

Your personal information will be securely destroyed or permanently de-identified when we no longer require it for any purpose for which it was collected.

We may retain your personal information for as long as necessary to comply with any applicable law, for legal, insurance and corporate governance purposes, for the prevention of fraud and to resolve disputes. Your personal information may also be retained in our IT system back-up records. We may also retain personal information to comply with professional file-retention requirements, trust accounting requirements, AML/CTF record-keeping obligations and limitation period or insurance requirements.

 

16. Access to and correction of your personal information

You may request access to or correction of the personal information that we hold about you by contacting us. Our contact details are set out below.

There are some circumstances in which we are not required to give you access to your personal information. Where this is the case, we will tell you why. We may also need to verify your identity when you request your personal information.

There is no charge for requesting access to your personal information, but we may require you to meet our reasonable costs in providing you with access, such as photocopying costs or costs for time spent collating large amounts of material.

We will respond to your requests to access or correct personal information within a reasonable time and will take all reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we hold about you remains accurate, up to date, complete, relevant and not misleading.

 

17. Complaints

If you have a complaint about the way in which we have handled any privacy issue, including your request for access to or correction of your personal information, you should contact us. Our contact details are set out below.

We will consider your complaint and determine whether it requires further investigation. We will notify you of the outcome of this investigation and any subsequent internal investigation.

If you remain unsatisfied with the way in which we have handled a privacy issue, you may approach an independent adviser or contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner for guidance on alternative courses of action which may be available.

Office of the Australian Information Commissioner contact details:

• Address: GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001

• Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au

• Phone: 1300 363 992

• Website: www.oaic.gov.au

 

18. Contact details

If you would like further information about the way we manage your personal information, or if you have a privacy-related complaint or request, please contact us at the following details:

• Phone: 0438 623 389

• Email: shona@tarullilane.com.au

• Post: PO Box 1491, Kingscliff, NSW 2487

We will endeavour to respond to all requests within a reasonable time.

More information about your rights and our obligations in connection with your personal information is available from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at www.oaic.gov.au.

 

19. Changes to this policy

From time to time, we may change our policy on how we handle personal information or the types of personal information which we hold. Any changes to our policy will be published on our website.

You may obtain a copy of our current policy from our website or by contacting us at the contact details above.