Acceptance of our Terms and Conditions
By using this Website, you confirm that you understand and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy. If you do not accept the terms of this Privacy Policy, you are directed to discontinue accessing or otherwise using our Website.
We, at McKENZIE DIXON, recognise the importance of client privacy and the sensitivity of the personal information that we may have on file concerning any individual.
As legal practitioners, we have a professional and ethical obligation to keep all information we receive within an attorney-client relationship confidential, subject to the client’s instructions to provide legal services.
Further, we are committed to safeguarding the personal information we have concerning any individual, and this includes our employee, clients, service providers, and anyone who is protected under the Protection of Personal Information Act (“POPIA”), save where we are obliged to disclose such personal information in the course of legal proceedings.
We are regulated and authorized to practice as a law firm in Durban, Republic of South Africa. We manage your personal information in compliance with POPIA and will comply with any other laws of the Republic of South Africa, that promote the security and protection of personal information, as required.
Why do we collect personal information?
We collect personal information for the purposes of serving the legal and related needs of our clients, as well as in compliance with other legislation of the Republic of South Africa, such as the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (“FICA”).
We require information to –
• understand and assist our clients with their ongoing legal needs for the purposes of providing legal services to clients,
• ensure information is accurate and up-to-date,
• maintain employee personal information in compliance with labor legislation,
What personal information do we collect?
Personal information is any information that identifies an individual. We follow reasonable and prudent business practices to collect, use and disclose your personal information for the purposes of providing legal services.
How do we collect your information?
•when you visit our website, we may collect and store certain information about you;
• when you apply for a job with us;
• when you sign up for newsletters, updates, events, and other marketing communications;
We may also collect information about you from:
• search services;
• when you interact with us on social media;
• when information is publicly available.
We will only collect special personal information (which includes information about your religion or philosophical beliefs, race or ethnic origin, trade union membership, political persuasion, health or sex life, biometric information, or criminal behavior) where necessary and only if we are legally permitted to do so.
We will take extra measures to protect your special personal information, save when we are obliged to disclose such information as part of a legal process.
How do we collect personal information?
We collect information only by lawful means. When we make directed individual requests for relevant sensitive personal information from a particular organization or business, such as medical professionals or financial institutions, we will obtain your written consent.
Wherever possible we collect personal information directly from the owner. We may ask you for consent, before or during the first consultation or whilst we are representing you in a matter. Consent may be in writing, verbal or implied as necessary to further a client’s legal needs and/or the course of business.
Our privacy policy is a notice of the purposes for which we collect, use or disclose your personal information or business contact information.
Dependent on the legal services provided, with consent, we may obtain this relevant information from:
• Clients, employees & service providers
• Medical professionals
• Public registries such the Deeds Office or the Master’s Office
• Financial institutions
• Employers
• Motor vehicle and driver licensing authorities
• Law enforcement,
• The discovery process
• documents provided to us to represent you.
How long do we keep your personal information?
We will only keep your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it was collected or processed. We may be required to keep your personal information for some time after our attorney–client relationship has ended. This may be so that we can fulfill certain legal, accounting, reporting, or other requirements.
Where do we store your personal information?
Itis stored by us on secure servers and physical filing systems in the Republic of South Africa.
How do we obtain Consent?
• Our practice is to request either written or express oral consent, which may be given in person or over the telephone if the owner’s identity is authenticated.
• If the owner volunteers to provide relevant personal information verbally or in writing, we assume that you are consenting to the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information as described in our Privacy Policy, or
• When you initiate contact with us, we may determine that consent has been implied for us to collect, use, and disclose personal information in a reasonable manner.
• In some situations, we will require express consent in writing, by the provision of a letter, application form, electronic signature, or other document authorizing certain activities.
• There are certain circumstances where we are required or permitted by law, to collect, use and disclose personal information without consent.
We will handle all personal information confidentially and will substantiate the legal authority to collect, use and disclose personal information in these circumstances. Under certain circumstances, we will disclose personal information without your consent:
• when we are required or authorized by law to do so, for example, if a court issues a subpoena during the discovery of documents, and FICA requirements.
• when the use of the information is necessary to respond to an emergency that threatens the life, health or security of an individual or the public.
• when it is necessary to establish or collect our fees or disbursements incurred on your behalf; or
• if the information is already publicly known.
What do we use the information for?
We use personal information to provide legal advice and services to clients and to administer our legal practice incidental to providing legal services, such as client billing. With the owner’s permission, we may send you information about our other legal services, or about new developments in the law. An owner may, at any time, withdraw his/her consent by notifying us, and we will not send you any such material.
We do not disclose or sell personal information or business contact information to any third party to enable them to market their products and services.
Who do we release information to?
When we release information about the owner, it is done to serve specific needs, while providing legal services. With the owner’s consent, we may provide information to:
• Our staff and agents use the information for the reasonable business purpose of providing legal services.
• To a third party we contract with to provide administrative services to the law firm (like computer back-up services or archival file storage) and the third party agrees to comply with our privacy policy and privacy laws.
• Professionals working with us such as investigators, paralegals, and experts.
• Financial institutions.
The need for accurate information
The owners of the personal information have the right to request a correction of the personal information that we hold about them.
We rely on the owner to provide us with accurate and up-to-date personal and business contact information for the purposes of providing legal services and maintaining contact with them.
If during the course of our professional relationship, any information changes, the client/employee/service provider must inform us so that we can make any necessary changes.
How do we protect your personal information?
In order to protect your personal information, we will:
• Not collect, use or disclose personal information for any purpose, other than that which we require to identify clients/employees/service providers, or which is required in the course of litigation or dispute resolution processes;
• Only disclose personal information to those persons who have a need to know, for the purposes stated in this Privacy Policy;
• Keep personal information only for as long as needed to fulfill the stated purpose or as required by law;
• Maintain personal information in as accurate, complete, and up-to-date a form as possible;
• Keep personal information physically secure, for example, in locked or secure offices, rooms, and/or filing cabinets;
• maintain technological safeguards such as passwords or encryption for sensitive personal information.
Access to personal information.
A client/employee/service provider may request access to the personal information we have about them.
The request must be in writing and directed to our Director. We will charge a reasonable fee for the retrieval and copying of personal information.
If the retrieval or copying of your request is extensive, we will notify the client of the fee prior to retrieval and copying.
Denial of access, by a client/employee/service provider, to their personal information
There are exceptions to the rights of access to personal information. By law, we must deny access when:
• the file contains personal information on a third-party and the information cannot be removed to maintain the privacy of the third-party information;
• we are required or authorized by law (for example, when a record containing personal information about you is subject to a claim of legal professional privilege by one of our clients).
We have the right to deny access to information and may deny access when:
• the information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings against a client/employee/service provider, including unpaid accounts for professional legal services rendered or disbursements due to us.
If we deny a request for access to or refuse a request to correct information, we shall explain why. In all cases, we will attempt to mediate a resolution if possible.
Changes to this Privacy policy
We may review and change our Privacy Policy from time to time in order to update our privacy commitment to you in keeping with current privacy laws.
This amended Policy will be posted on the website. Unless otherwise stated the current version will apply each time you access our website