At Russell McVeagh, we ensure we meet our legal obligations when it comes to your information. We respect your privacy and we are committed to protecting your information. This policy sets out our obligations to you, including how we collect, use and safeguard your information however you engage with us.

What information do we collect about you?

When you engage with us as a client, potential client (or as an employee of one) or a potential employee, the personal information we may collect includes:

• your general information, such as your name, contact details (including email and phone number), billing address and billing information;

• email communications with us, and your written and verbal interactions with us, including instructions, meeting notes and voicemail files;

• any details you provide to us as part of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 due diligence process;

• where relevant, information about your health, accessibility requirements or dietary needs (for example, if you attend an event, or we need this to provide you with legal advice);

• your attendance at any of our events;

• your business interests and areas of interest and expertise (if you provide these to us or they are publicly available);

• preferences for any email or marketing communications that you wish to receive from us, such as our Russell McVeagh Insights communications;

• your credit history; and

• ​if you are applying for a job with us, we may collect information about you relating to recruitment, for example, your work history, academic record and any relevant records or information such as criminal records, visa information, and practising certificates. We may collect such information from third parties such as your previous employer, referees, recruitment agencies, government departments or educational institutions.

How do we use your information?

We may use your personal information:

• to provide you with our services and information and to maintain and develop our business relationship with you;

• for employment purposes, such as considering you for a role, clerkship or scholarship;

• to carry out conflict checks and client due diligence and monitor our relationship with you for compliance with applicable laws. This includes any CDD and financial information collected as part of our identity checks, sanction screening and verification of address;

• for promotional and marketing purposes, including for providing client testimonials where you have given us your consent to do so;

• to improve or update our services or business;

• for internal purposes (such as staff training);

• to contact you in relation to any enquiries you make;

• to confirm or update your contact details; and

• we may publish images of CPD sessions or other events held at our offices and it is possible your image may be shown in such publications.

We may also send you newsletters or other information we think you may be interested in. These could include information that markets our people or services. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Who do we disclose your information to?

We will only disclose your personal information to a third party:

• where you have authorised us to do so;

• where those third parties help us provide our services to you (for example, another consultancy firm, law firm, expert witness or barrister you have engaged, or your bank during the process of billing);

• on a confidential basis and only to the extent required in the case of promoting the firm's and our people's expertise in publications and directories;

• where your personal information is not identifiable or in aggregate form, for example, for the purposes of reporting or responding to surveys;

• if we are required to or permitted by law to disclose such information; or

• if we are required to or permitted to by the Law Society's Rules of Professional Conduct.

Where any third-party disclosure is to an overseas entity, we take reasonable steps to ensure that your information is treated securely and the means of transfer provides adequate safeguards, in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020.

What happens when you visit our website?

Russell McVeagh's website uses cookies. Cookies are small text files placed on your computer's hard drive to allow Russell McVeagh and/or the host of its website to record how many times a user or computers within a user's network of computers visit the website, the number of times various pages of the website have been accessed and other similar information. You may disable receipt of cookies using features of your web browser that disable or turn off cookies. Russell McVeagh does not use cookies to retrieve information that is unrelated to your visit or your interaction with the website.

Russell McVeagh also collects your IP address. An IP address is a number that is assigned to your computer when you use the internet. The IP address data that we collect does not contain any personally identifiable information about you and is used to administer our site, to determine the numbers of different visitors to the site and to gather broad demographic data.

We do not presently provide any personal information collected via its public website or the non-public areas maintained on its website to any third parties without the consent of those who provided the information.

For certain functions of our website, such as the Insights section, we collect your personal information in order to provide you with information relating to those functions and Russell McVeagh. When you visit the public areas of our website, you remain anonymous, however, if you use email links via the website, access password protected areas, or otherwise provide us with personally identifiable information on the website, you will not remain anonymous.

Other things you should know

We take all reasonable steps to protect your personal information from unauthorised access, use, disclosure, alteration or destruction. Further, we will only retain your personal information for as long as it is required for the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy.

Under the Privacy Act 2020, you have the right to request to obtain, or have corrected, any personal information that we hold about you. If you want to make a request, please contact us at [email protected].

From time to time, Russell McVeagh will update this Privacy Policy. All revisions will be made available on the Russell McVeagh website and will take effect from the date that the revision is made available. This Policy was last updated on 28 March 2023.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, or how Russell McVeagh protects your information, please contact the firm's Privacy Officer at [email protected]. You can also find more information on the Privacy Commissioner's website at https://www.privacy.org.nz.