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ACE LEGAL LIMITED

PRIVACY STATEMENT

1. Our commitment

Ace Legal Limited is committed to protecting your personal information and complying with the Privacy Act 2020, including the information privacy principles.

This Privacy Statement explains how we collect, hold, use, disclose and protect personal information.

2. What is personal information?

Personal information is information about an identifiable individual.

Depending on the nature of your relationship with us and the legal services we provide, we may collect:

  • your name, date of birth, address and contact details;

  • identification documents and identity-verification information;

  • your occupation and employment information;

  • information about your personal, family, business or trust relationships;

  • financial, banking and payment information;

  • tax information;

  • information about your assets and liabilities;

  • evidence of your source of funds or source of wealth;

  • information concerning property, lending, security interests and transactions;

  • communications between you and Ace Legal;

  • information required to provide legal services or comply with our professional and legal obligations; and

  • any other information you provide to us or that is relevant to the matter on which we are instructed.

3. Why we collect personal information

We collect personal information where it is reasonably necessary to:

  • consider whether we can act for you;

  • establish and manage our professional relationship with you;

  • provide legal services;

  • communicate with you and other people involved in your matter;

  • verify your identity;

  • undertake customer due diligence and other compliance checks;

  • comply with our legal and professional obligations;

  • receive and make payments;

  • maintain our business and client records;

  • administer and improve our services;

  • respond to enquiries, complaints and legal claims; and

  • provide information about our services where permitted by law.

4. How we collect personal information directly

We will usually collect personal information directly from you. This may occur:

  • in person;

  • by telephone, email or audiovisual meeting;

  • through forms, questionnaires and identification documents;

  • through our website;

  • through electronic signing or identity-verification systems; or

  • through other communications with us.

Our third-party service providers may collect personal information directly from you on our behalf, including when undertaking identity verification or customer due diligence.

If you do not provide information requested by us, we may be unable to act for you or continue providing legal services.

5. Information collected from other sources

Where permitted by law, we may also collect personal information about you from someone other than you. Those sources may include:

  • your authorised representative;

  • your spouse, partner, family member, trustee, director, shareholder, employee or business associate;

  • another lawyer, accountant, real estate agent, mortgage adviser, lender, insurer, valuer, surveyor or other professional adviser;

  • banks, lenders and financial institutions;

  • government departments and regulatory authorities;

  • Land Information New Zealand;

  • local authorities;

  • the Companies Office and other public registers;

  • credit-reporting, electronic identity-verification and customer due diligence providers;

  • courts and tribunals;

  • counterparties and other people involved in a transaction or legal matter; and

  • publicly available sources.

Before collecting personal information from another source, we will consider whether that collection is permitted under the Privacy Act 2020 or another applicable law.

If we collect your personal information from another source, we will take reasonable steps to ensure you are aware of:

  • the fact that we have collected the information;

  • the purpose for which it was collected;

  • the people or organisations who may receive the information;

  • the name and address of the agency that collected the information;

  • the name and address of the agency holding the information;

  • the particular law under which collection is authorised or required, where applicable; and

  • your right to access and request correction of the information.

We will provide that notification before collecting the information or, if that is not practicable, as soon as reasonably practicable after collection, unless an exception under the Privacy Act 2020 applies.

An exception may apply, for example, where you have already been made aware of the relevant matters, notification would not prejudice your interests, the information will not be used in a form that identifies you, notification would prejudice the purpose of collection, or notification is not reasonably practicable.

6. Anti-money laundering information

We may collect, use and disclose personal information to comply with the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 and associated regulations.

This may include obtaining and verifying information about your identity, address, beneficial ownership, source of funds and source of wealth.

We may use third-party providers to undertake electronic identity verification, customer due diligence, sanctions screening and related checks on our behalf.

7. How we use personal information

We will use personal information for the purposes for which it was collected, for a directly related purpose, where you authorise its use, or where use is otherwise permitted or required by law.

We will take reasonable steps to ensure personal information is accurate, complete, relevant, up to date and not misleading before using it.

8. Disclosure of personal information

Where necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Statement, we may disclose personal information to:

  • our employees, contractors and service providers;

  • barristers and other professional advisers;

  • banks, lenders and financial institutions;

  • real estate agents, accountants, valuers, surveyors and other people involved in your matter;

  • Land Information New Zealand;

  • local authorities;

  • government departments and regulatory authorities;

  • courts and tribunals;

  • electronic identity-verification and customer due diligence providers;

  • document management, electronic signing, information technology, data storage and cloud-service providers;

  • insurers and professional indemnity advisers;

  • any person you authorise us to disclose information to; and

  • any other person where disclosure is permitted or required by law.

We do not sell personal information.

9. Overseas disclosure and storage

Some technology, cloud-storage, identity-verification or other service providers used by us may store or process personal information outside New Zealand.

Where personal information is disclosed to an overseas person or organisation, we will take reasonable steps to ensure the disclosure complies with the Privacy Act 2020.

10. Security and retention

We take reasonable safeguards to protect personal information against loss, unauthorised access, use, modification, disclosure and other misuse.

Personal information may be held electronically or physically. Access is restricted to authorised persons and protected through appropriate physical, technical and organisational safeguards.

We retain personal information only for as long as it is required for the purposes for which it was collected or as required by our legal, regulatory and professional obligations. When information is no longer required, we may securely destroy or anonymise it.

11. Privacy breaches

If a privacy breach occurs, we will assess the breach and take reasonable steps to limit any harm.

Where required by the Privacy Act 2020, we will notify the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and affected individuals.

12. Website information and cookies

When you visit our website, we or our service providers may collect technical information such as:

  • your IP address;

  • browser and device information;

  • the pages you visit;

  • the date and time of your visit; and

  • information about how you use the website.

Our website may use cookies or analytics services to operate the website, understand how it is used and improve our services.

You can usually control cookies through your browser settings. Disabling cookies may affect some website functionality.

13. Access and correction

You may request access to personal information we hold about you and ask us to correct information that you believe is inaccurate.

Access may be refused or restricted where the Privacy Act 2020 permits this.

If we do not make a correction you have requested, you may ask us to attach a statement of correction to the information.

14. Privacy enquiries and complaints

If you wish to access or correct your personal information, make a complaint, or ask a question about this Privacy Statement, please contact:

Privacy Officer
Melissa Cowan
Ace Legal Limited
19A Clyde Road
Christchurch, New Zealand
Email: melissa@acelegal.nz
Phone: 3668818

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may make a complaint to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.

15. Changes to this Privacy Statement

We may update this Privacy Statement from time to time. The current version will be published on our website.

Last updated: 2 September 2026

© 2017 Ace Legal

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