Essia Pty Ltd (ABN 74 657 814 901) trading as Essia Law ("Essia Law", "we", "us" or "our") is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information in accordance with applicable law, including the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles.
This Privacy Policy explains how Essia Law collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information. It also explains how individuals may seek access to or correction of personal information held by Essia Law, and how privacy complaints may be made.
This policy applies to Essia Law’s legal services, website, communications, client intake processes, consultations and related business activities.
Privacy statements relating to calls, meetings and digital communications form part of this policy.
What is personal information?
"Personal information" means information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether true or not and whether recorded in a material form or not.
Some personal information is also sensitive information, such as health information and other information of a sensitive nature as defined by law.
Why does Essia Law collect personal information?
Essia Law collects and holds personal information to carry out its business functions and activities, including to:
- provide legal services and legal advice;
- respond to enquiries and assess whether Essia Law can assist;
- open, maintain and administer client matters;
- verify identity and conduct compliance checks;
- communicate with clients and other persons involved in a matter;
- prepare, review and manage documents and information relevant to a matter;
- issue accounts, receive payment and administer billing;
- engage barristers, experts, consultants and other service providers where necessary;
- maintain records and manage risk;
- improve systems, processes and service delivery;
- comply with legal, regulatory and professional obligations; and
- otherwise as required or permitted by law.
Essia Law may also collect and use personal information in connection with:
- information submitted through the Website or client intake forms;
- communications by email, telephone, video conference, client portal or otherwise;
- transactions carried out through the Website or other service platforms;
- use of the Website, including pages visited and time spent on those pages; and
- informing clients and contacts about Essia Law’s services, updates or events, where permitted by law.
What personal information does Essia Law collect and hold?
The types of personal information Essia Law collects and holds depend on the nature of the person’s dealings with Essia Law. This may include:
- name, address and contact details;
- date of birth and gender, where relevant;
- identification and verification information;
- business name and authorised representative details, where relevant;
- service preferences and transaction history;
- information provided through forms, enquiries, telephone calls, emails, client portals, meetings and consultations;
- matter-related information and documents, including correspondence, court documents, financial records, expert reports, medical or health information, and other materials relevant to a legal matter;
- notes, recordings and transcripts of telephone calls, video conferences and meetings where applicable;
- information about use of Essia Law’s Website or digital systems; and
- any other personal information reasonably necessary for Essia Law to provide legal services or operate its business.
In family law and related matters, Essia Law may also collect and hold sensitive information, including health information and other information of a sensitive nature, where reasonably necessary for the provision of legal services and otherwise permitted by law.
If an individual does not provide personal information reasonably required by Essia Law, Essia Law may be unable to provide the information, goods or services requested.
How does Essia Law collect personal information?
Essia Law generally seeks to collect personal information directly from the individual concerned. That collection may occur when a person:
- submits information through the Website or a client intake form;
- contacts Essia Law by telephone, email, client portal, video conference or other electronic means;
- attends a meeting or consultation with Essia Law;
- provides documents or information in connection with a legal matter;
- requests information from, or otherwise deals directly with, Essia Law; or
- uses Essia Law’s Website or digital systems.
In some circumstances, Essia Law may also collect personal information from third parties, including courts, tribunals, other legal practitioners, barristers, experts, service providers, referrers, government agencies, other parties to a matter, or related entities, where lawful and appropriate.
Where reasonable in the circumstances, Essia Law will take steps to ensure that the individual is aware of the purpose for which personal information is collected.
How does Essia Law use personal information?
Essia Law uses personal information for the purpose for which it was collected and for related purposes permitted by law, including:
- providing legal advice and legal services;
- opening, maintaining and administering client files;
- communicating with clients and other persons involved in a matter;
- preparing, reviewing and managing documents and information relevant to a matter;
- conducting conflict checks, verification and compliance processes;
- issuing invoices, collecting payment and administering accounts;
- engaging barristers, experts, consultants and other service providers where necessary;
- improving Essia Law’s systems, services and operational processes;
- conducting internal training, quality assurance and risk management;
- informing clients and contacts about Essia Law’s services, updates or events, where permitted by law; and
- complying with legal, regulatory and professional obligations.
Essia Law may also use personal information for other purposes which are related to those listed above and which are made clear at the time of collection, or for such purposes as may otherwise be required or permitted by law.
If Essia Law uses personal information for direct marketing purposes, communications sent by Essia Law will provide an opportunity to opt out of receiving further direct marketing communications.
If requested, and where required by law, Essia Law will provide details of the source of personal information used for direct marketing, unless it is unreasonable or impracticable to do so.
Use of legal technology and AI tools
Essia Law may use legal technology tools, including practice-management systems, document automation tools, legal research tools, communications platforms and AI-enabled tools, to assist in providing legal and related services to clients.
These tools may be used to assist with tasks such as:
- organising, storing and searching file material;
- summarising information and documents;
- preparing chronologies and issue lists;
- drafting assistance;
- document review;
- internal legal research support;
- note-taking, transcription and file administration; and
- other functions reasonably connected with the delivery of legal services.
Where such tools are used, Essia Law applies human oversight to legal work and does not rely solely on automated systems to provide legal advice or to make substantive decisions affecting client matters.
Essia Law takes all reasonable steps to ensure that client matter data is handled within controlled environments and is not used to train public or external AI models, subject to the terms, settings and infrastructure of the relevant service providers.
Recording and transcription of calls and meetings
Essia Law may, with notice and where appropriate consent, record or transcribe telephone calls, video conferences and meetings for file management, accuracy, note-taking, verification, quality assurance, training and service delivery purposes.
Where Essia Law proposes to record or transcribe a call or meeting, Essia Law will ordinarily notify participants at or before the commencement of the relevant interaction.
If a participant does not wish a call or meeting to be recorded or transcribed, Essia Law may offer an alternative process where practicable, such as manual note-taking.
Any recordings or transcripts created by or for Essia Law are handled in accordance with this Privacy Policy and Essia Law’s confidentiality, security and record-management practices.
Will Essia Law disclose personal information to anyone else?
In providing legal services and operating its business, Essia Law may disclose personal information to third parties where reasonably necessary, including to:
- barristers, experts, consultants and other professional advisers;
- courts, tribunals, mediators, arbitrators and other dispute resolution providers;
- other legal practitioners and parties involved in a matter, where appropriate;
- contractors and service providers, including providers of:
- practice-management software;
- cloud hosting and data storage;
- document management and document automation;
- communications and videoconferencing platforms;
- transcription and note-taking services;
- cybersecurity and IT support;
- legal research tools;
- AI-enabled legal technology tools;
- accounting, payment processing and administrative services; and
- other third parties where disclosure is required or permitted by law.
Those service providers may operate in, or hold data in, Australia or overseas, including through related entities, cloud infrastructure providers or subprocessors. The countries in which data may be stored or processed will depend on the service providers engaged from time to time.
Where Essia Law discloses personal information to third-party service providers, Essia Law takes reasonable steps to ensure that the provider is subject to appropriate privacy, confidentiality and security obligations.
Essia Law may also disclose personal information where required or authorised by law.
Automated processing and human oversight
Essia Law may use technology tools that assist with sorting, searching, summarising, drafting, transcribing or analysing information. These tools are used to support legal work and administrative processes.
Essia Law does not make substantive legal decisions affecting client rights or interests solely by automated means without appropriate human involvement.
Is personal information secure?
Essia Law takes reasonable steps to protect the personal information it holds from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
Those steps may include physical, administrative and technical safeguards, such as access controls, password protection, user permissions, staff training, confidentiality obligations, secure systems, vendor due diligence and other security measures appropriate to the nature of the information held.
Where Essia Law uses third-party technology providers, including cloud-based or AI-enabled systems, Essia Law takes reasonable steps to assess and manage privacy, confidentiality and security risks associated with those providers.
No data transmission over the internet is completely secure. As a result, any personal information sent to Essia Law over the internet, including by email, is sent at the sender’s own risk.
Access to and correction of personal information
Essia Law takes reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information it holds is accurate, complete, up to date, relevant and not misleading.
An individual may request access to personal information held by Essia Law by contacting:
- Email: admin@essialaw.com.au
- Phone: +61 2 8006 0990
Essia Law may refuse access in some circumstances permitted by law. If Essia Law refuses access, it will provide written reasons unless it is not required to do so.
While there is no fee for requesting access, Essia Law reserves the right to charge a reasonable fee for the preparation and provision of access where permitted by law.
An individual may also request correction of personal information held by Essia Law by contacting:
- Email: admin@essialaw.com.au
- Phone: +61 2 8006 0990
Essia Law may refuse to correct personal information in some circumstances permitted by law. If Essia Law refuses a correction request, it will provide written reasons and, where required, will take reasonable steps to associate a statement with the information.
Essia Law does not charge a fee for making a correction request, correcting personal information or associating a statement with personal information.
If a person has a question or concern about Essia Law’s use of legal technology tools in connection with their personal information, that concern may also be raised using the contact details above.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
Essia Law may update this Privacy Policy from time to time.
If this policy is changed, the updated version will be published on Essia Law’s Website. Continued use of the Website or continued dealings with Essia Law after publication of an updated policy will constitute acceptance of the updated policy to the extent permitted by law.
How to obtain more information or make a privacy complaint
If an individual:
- considers that Essia Law may have breached applicable privacy law or the Australian Privacy Principles;
- has a question, concern or complaint about Essia Law’s privacy practices or its handling of personal information; or
- requires further information about this Privacy Policy or Essia Law’s privacy practices,
the individual may contact Essia Law at:
- Email: admin@essialaw.com.au
- Phone: +61 2 8006 0990
Essia Law will consider privacy queries and complaints concerning the use of legal technology, AI-enabled tools, recordings and transcripts in the same manner as other privacy complaints.
Essia Law takes privacy queries and complaints seriously and will endeavour to respond within 20 business days.
If a person is not satisfied with Essia Law’s response, they may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner using the contact details available at: http://www.oaic.gov.au/about-us/contact-us-page
Last updated: 31 March 2026