Privacy Policy

SOCIETY OF UNIVERSITY LAWYERS LTD PRIVACY POLICY

The Society of University Lawyers Ltd ABN 22 606 266 693 (“SOUL”, “we”, “us”) is committed to protecting the privacy of our members and dealing with personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). This policy explains how we manage personal information within our organisation.

Kinds of personal information we collect

The kinds personal information that we collect and hold about you may include:

identifying information, such as your name and date of birth
details of employment, such as your position title, employer and place of employment
contact information, such as your postal address, email address and telephone number and office contact details
social media handles and other social media profile information that you make available to us or to the public
financial information, such as credit card, bank account or other payment details
usernames and passwords that you create when registering for an account with us
details of any programs or services that we provide to you information about how you use the programs and services we provide
records of our communications with you, including any messages you send us
information that you voluntarily provide to us, for example the information contained within applications submitted to us for membership or responses to surveys and questionnaires that we ask you to complete
information generated when you visit our website, including URL referrals and IP addresses

Without this information we may not be able to consider you for SOUL membership, provide you with access to our programs or services (or with all of the features and functionality offered by our programs or services) or to respond to queries or requests that you submit to us.

How we collect personal information

We collect personal information about you in the following ways:

when you apply to become a member with us or apply to take on an administrative or governance role within our organisation, and through our subsequent interactions with you
where you register for or use an account on our websites
when you register for or participate in our programs, use our services, including forums and other member-only sections on our website, or attend conferences or other events we host or run
when you submit a query or request to us
when you respond to one of our surveys or questionnaires
by tracking your use of our websites and mobile applications
from public sources
from third parties who are entitled to disclose that information to us

Where we collect personal information from you, we will generally do so directly ourselves. However, in some cases we may collect personal information from a third party, such as through your representatives, contractors who provide services to us, or third parties who refer you to us because they think you may be interested in our programs or services.

Purposes for which we use personal information

We use personal information that we collect about you for the following purposes:

to verify your identity when you are dealing with us
to determine your eligibility to become a member with us, or to participate in our programs or use any of our services
to enable us to provide our programs and services, deliver conferences and events, and manage our memberships
to answer your queries and requests
to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, including to fulfil our obligations under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)
to assess applications for SOUL funding for member activities
to carry out market analysis and research and other activities conducted by our committees and working groups
to assess, maintain, upgrade and improve our programs and services and monitor how they are used, including by analysing your use of our website
to carry out education and training programs for our staff and members
to manage and resolve any legal or commercial complaints or issues
to carry out planning and forecasting activities and other internal business processes
to keep you informed about our activities, including by sending out emails

We may from time to time use your personal information in order to send you marketing materials about programs or services that we think you may be interested in (including in some cases products, programs and services that are provided by a third party). You can opt-out of receiving marketing communications from us by contacting us at admin@soul.edu.au.

We may also use and disclose your information for other purposes as authorised by you, or in accordance with your requests or instructions.

People to whom we disclose personal information

We may share personal information about you with:

to our Directors and other members who need the information for purposes contemplated in this policy
your representatives, advisers and others you have authorised to interact with us on your behalf
our business partners, agents and service providers
payment system operators and financial institutions
entities that we merge with our who succeed us
professional advisers who we engage to provide advice on our business
government authorities who ask us to disclose that information, or to other people as required by law

Cookies

We use cookies to monitor and observe your use of our websites, compile aggregate data about that use, and provide you with a more effective service (which may include customising parts of our websites based on your preferences and past activities on those websites). “Cookies” are small text files created and stored on your hard drive by your internet browser software, in order to hold relevant information about the web page you are currently viewing. Most internet browsers have a facility that will allow you to disable cookies altogether – please refer to your browser’s help menu to find out how to do this. While you will still be able to browse our websites with cookies disabled on your internet browser, some website functionality may not be available or may not function correctly.

Storage and security of personal information

We take reasonable steps to ensure that any of your personal information which we hold is accurate, complete and up-to-date. These steps include promptly updating personal information when we are advised that the information has changed, checking our contact lists for accuracy, and providing individuals with a simple means to update their personal information.

We store personal information for as long as it is needed for the purpose for which it was collected or as required by law. We generally store the personal information that we collect in electronic databases, some of which may be held on our behalf by third party data storage providers. Sometimes we also keep hard copy records of this personal information in physical storage facilities. We use a range of physical and technical security processes and procedures to protect the confidentiality and security of the information that we hold, and we update these from time to time to address new and emerging security threats.

Access and correction

If you want to access any of the personal information that we hold about you or to correct some aspect of it (e.g. because you think it is incomplete or incorrect) you can access, update and correct your information by logging into the ‘My Account’ section of our website. You can also update other privacy settings through this page, including your profile visibility, blocked members, and notification settings.

If you do not have any account with us, or you would like to contact us directly, you can also contact us using the contact details set out below. To protect the integrity and security of the information we hold, we may ask that you follow a defined access procedure, which may include steps to verify your identity. In certain cases we may charge you an administration fee for providing you with access to the information you have asked for, but we will inform you of this before proceeding. There may be cases where we are unable to provide the information you request, such as where it would interfere with the privacy of others or result in a breach of confidentiality. In these cases we will let you know why we cannot comply with your request.

Complaints

We try to meet the highest standards in order to protect your privacy. However, if you are concerned about the way in which we are managing your personal information and think we may have breached the Australian Privacy Principles, or any other relevant obligation, please contact us using the contact details set out below. Complaints must be lodged in writing. We will deal with the matter within a reasonable time, and will keep you informed of the progress of our investigation.

If we have not responded to you within a reasonable time or if you feel that your complaint has not been resolved satisfactorily, you can contact us to discuss your concerns. You are also entitled to make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). Contact details can be found at the OAIC’s website: www.oaic.gov.au.

Changes to this policy

We may make changes to this policy from time to time, to take into account changes to our standard practices and procedures or where necessary to comply with new laws and regulations. The latest version of this policy will always be available on our website.

Contact details

If you need to contact us or want any further information from us on privacy matters, please contact our privacy manager at secretary@soul.edu.au.

This Privacy Policy was last updated in November 2024.