1.      Introduction

1.1  Gravity Lawyers Limited (NZBN: 9429047568600) (Gravity Lawyers) manages personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020 (Privacy Act), and the Information Privacy Principles and Codes of Practice as set out in Part 3 of the Privacy Act (IPP).

1.2  If you wish to request access to your personal information, or have questions about the information we hold about you,  then you can contact Dr Maria A. Pozza at maria.pozza@gravitylawyers.co.nz

1.3  This Privacy Policy (Privacy Policy) sets out how we collect, store, hold, disclose and protect your personal information.  It also sets out how we use your personal information through our website: https://www.gravitylawyers.co.nz, social media pages such as LinkedIn (Websites).

1.4  This Privacy Policy is effective from April 2026.

2.      Changes to this Privacy Policy

2.1  From time to time, we may need to update this policy which we reserve the right to do so at any time. You should check this Privacy Policy periodically. The changes will be effective from the time of posting the revised Privacy Policy. Your continued use of our services after we post any changes to this Privacy Policy will constitute as your acknowledgment and consent.

3.      Personal Information

3.1.  Throughout this Policy we refer to “Personal Information” which is information that can identify you, or is about you, or other information that, when used together, can identify you. 

4.      What kind of Personal Information do we collect and hold?

4.1  We will only collect and hold information about our clients, contractors or service providers, who we provide services to or who provide services to us.  We use your Personal Information to provide our business services to you in the most effective manner possible. 

4.2  Personal Information

Examples of Personal Information that we may collected and hold include:

• Your first and last name
• Date of birth
• Gender
• Company name and details
• Postal or Registered Address
• Phone number
• Email address
• Immigration status
• NZ IRD Number
• NZ Business Number
• Nationality
• Where you are currently based
• Individual preferences
• Identity documents (examples include: Passport, Birth Certificate, Relationship Certificates, Household Registrations, and Driver’s Licence).

4.3 .  We may also combine your Personal Information with other information to provide and improve our services and content to you.  You are not required to provide the Personal Information that we have requested, but, if you choose not to do so, we may not be able to provide services or respond to any queries you may have.

4.4.  It’s important to remember that we will only collect personal information that is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, our functions, services, and/or activities.  The nature and extent of personal information we collect and hold will vary depending on a our particular relationship and interaction.

5.      How do We collect Personal Information?

5.1.  We tend to only need to collect Personal Information about you directly for example where you provide us with your personal information when we are engaging with you, or when you interact on our browse our Website (such as the Contact Us page) or any relevant Application(s) such as social media that may be associated to our services.

5.2  Sometimes, and not often, we might collect information about you indirectly such as a third-party provider for example the Companies Office.

5.3  Like any service provider, your information is collected, processed and stored using third-party analytics software, such as Microsoft or WordPress or Zoom, and we use our reasonable efforts to ensure that the information is secure and confidential. Analytical data is used to gain an understanding of user behaviour, perform system critical operations, and in extraordinary circumstances, for legal reasons. Non-identifiable user data is sometimes shared between third-party services to gain insight into aggregate user behaviour.  Analytic data insights are also used to target users through marketing, geography, interests and website behaviour.

5.4  When you use our website, the use of applications or posts on Microsoft or social media posts may display personal information and the content you share may be visible to other users and can be read, collected, or used by us. For example, if your name or email address may be contained in a public post on social media, then obviously that information is then public and can be collected by us to provide and improve our services.

5.5  There is also passive collection of information analytics.  As you navigate through our Website, certain information can be passively collected (that is, information gathered without you actively providing the information) using various technologies, such as cookies, internet tags, and navigational data collection (this includes activity log files, server logs, and clickstream data).  For example, we may collect information about matters including but not limited to the date, time and duration of visits, and which pages of a Website are most commonly accessed. This information is generally not linked to the identity of website visitors however, we may be able to uniquely identify the model or type of the device used to access the website (for example, whether using a Mac OS or Android application or computer).

5.6  Where we use Personal Information for promotional, direct marketing or sending newsletter purposes,  you can ask us to cancel this at any time.  You can request this by contacting Dr Maria at Gravity Lawyers either in writing by post or by email at the contact details below. When making such a request, please include your full name, email address, and/ or telephone number and describe clearly your request. There is no fee for making such a request. We will acknowledge and action your request as soon as practicable.

6.  Cookies & Web Beacons

6.1  We use cookies on our Websites. Cookies are text files placed in your computer’s browser to collect Internet log information and visitor behaviour information, including storing your preferences or the source you accessed the website. Cookies, by themselves, do not tell us your email address or other personally identifiable information. Cookies can remain on your computer after you have exited from a website. However, once you choose to access the Website with personally identifiable information, this information may be linked to the data stored in the cookie.

6.2  We may use web beacons on the Websites from time to time. Web beacons or clear .gifs are small pieces of code placed on a web page to monitor the behaviour and collect data about the visitors viewing a web page. For example, web beacons can be used to count the users who visit a web page or to deliver a cookie to a visitor’s browser.

7.      How do we hold your personal information?

7.1  When you provide your personal information to us, you agree that your data be collected, processed and stored using third-party software together, to the best of our knowledge, with appropriate security safeguards in place to protect your personal information.  We hold personal information electronically with the assistance of these service providers.  No hard copies will be held on our premises unless required for completing your matter.

7.2  We retain the information you provide to us. This includes your contact details to enable us to verify client details (where required) and maintain adequate records for legal and accounting purposes. This information is held securely for seven years’ which is a Gravity Lawyers legislative requirement.   We tend to delete all other personal information or data that we do not need or no longer require.

7.3  If you access our Website from outside of New Zealand, you acknowledge that you are sending information (including personal information) to the United States, United Kingdom or Europe where your data is stored (Microsoft).

8.      Security

8.1.  We have systems to ensure that information is only accessible by Dr Maria A. Pozza, Director of Gravity Lawyers.

8.2  We act to safeguard the security and privacy of your information, whether you interact with us by telephone, mail, over the internet or by other electronic means.  We strive to take reasonable steps to protect the information we hold from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access modification or disclosure, however, in this world of generative AI and advanced technology, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

8.3  We store information in soft copy electronic form (or where necessary to assist with your matter, in hard copy paper form).  Where the information is sensitive, we will take reasonable steps to secure the information.  Please note, as Gravity Lawyers does not operate a trust account and therefore no valuable documents such as original passports or birth certificates will be held or stored by Gravity Lawyers

8.4  We use third-party storage providers such as cloud storage and back-ups to hold information that is stored in soft copy electronic form.

8.5  When your personal information is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was obtained, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify your personal information.  However, most personal information is stored in client files which will be kept for a minimum of seven years as part of our legal obligations.

9.      The purpose for which We collect, hold, use and disclose Personal Information

9.1  We collect your Personal Information in various ways during the course of conducting our business with you.  We also collect information to provide and improve our services, content, and advertising to you.  We might use your Personal Information to:

• Contact you, our client or if you are a potential client
• Provide legal services to you
• Provide you with newsletters and documents by e-mail, WeChat, Whatsapp applications
• Respond to you as our client, or if are a potential client, inquiries about our services
• interact with clients who utilise our Website
• interact with inquiries who utilise our Website
• understand your needs to enable us to improve our services
• improve our Website to enhance user experiences
• promote and market our services that may be of interest to you
• monitor the effectiveness of our marketing activities
• customise our Website content according to your interests
• further terms as set out in our Letter of Engagement and Appendix A: Client Care Information and Terms of Engagement

10.      How can you control your Personal Information?

10.1  You have the right and may request to access your personal information as held by Gravity Lawyers. Such request must be made in writing via our contact details below.  We may ask you to provide us with additional identifying information to ensure that you are the person who claim to be and entitled to the personal information you are requesting. 

10.2  We will take reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the personal information we hold about you. If you believe that any personal information that we hold about you is incorrect or out of date, then you can contact us.

11.    Complaints

11.1         If you have any concerns about the way Gravity Lawyers collects, stores and uses your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer:  Dr Maria A. Pozza, PO Box 16182, Hornby, Christchurch, New Zealand 8441 or by email maria.pozza@gravitylawyers.co.nz  

11.2         An individual can contact Dr Maria about lodging a complaint about a breach of their privacy using the contact details above or below.

11.3         We will assess the complaint and will respond to you within 20 Business Days’. Any further action following this initial response will vary depending on the nature of the complaint. If necessary, the complaint may be taken to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.

11.4         You may opt-out of our direct marketing emails by clicking on the link contained in any such emails or by emailing directly to maria.pozza@gravitylawyers.co.nz

12.    Disclosure of Personal Information

12.1         Where we receive your Personal Information and we did not solicit the information, we will do our best to notify you of our receipt of your personal information within a reasonable time.  We will use our reasonable endeavours to destroy the information. We may use or disclose the information to make such a determination.

12.2         We will only use and disclose your personal information in limited circumstances, including the purpose(s) for which your personal information was collected as outlined in Section 4.  We will only retain your personal information for as long as it is required for Gravity Lawyers to fulfil the purpose that it was collected for and for us to meet our legal and regulatory obligations under New Zealand law.

Disclosure of personal information to third parties

12.3         Personal information we collect from you may be disclosed to and used by our service providers, specialist professional advisers (such as Certified Interpreters, Registered Clinical Psychologists, insurers, banking institutes, and anyone else that you have consented to receive and disclose your personal information.

12.4         We do not sell, publish, or disclose your information to any other party where the information could be linked to you.

12.5         We will not disclose personal health information to any other person, including next of kin unless you as the individual about whom the information relates has given express consent, or the disclosure is required or authorised by or under New Zealand privacy laws. 

13.    Privacy Officer Contact Details:

Dr Maria A. Pozza

Postal:                                      Email:

Gravity Lawyers                    Maria.pozza@gravitylawyers.co.nz  
PO Box 16182                        Subject: Personal Information Request
Hornby
Christchurch
New Zealand 8441