Privacy Policy — New Zealand

1. Who we are

Lawvoo ("we", "us") runs a directory of law firms and lawyers in New Zealand. We are based in the United Kingdom. Because we offer this service to people in New Zealand, we follow New Zealand's Privacy Act 2020 and its information privacy principles when we handle your personal information.

• Our privacy officer is responsible for this policy and can be reached at lawvoo12@gmail.com.

2. What we collect

Our enquiry form is not open in New Zealand at the moment, so we are not collecting enquiries from the New Zealand pages. The points about enquiries below describe what will happen once it opens.

If you send an enquiry through our form, we collect:

• your name, email address and phone number;
• your city or town, and your postcode if you choose to give it;
• the area of law, a short title and a description of your legal matter, and how urgent it is;
• the lawyer you asked about, if you came from a "Request a callback" button;
• the date and time you sent it, and that it came from the New Zealand pages.

If you just browse the site, we don't ask for any personal information. While the enquiry form is closed, we count clicks on "Request a callback" and "Find a lawyer" — this records only the time, which button was used and which listing it was for. It does not record your name, IP address or any cookie.

Our hosting provider automatically handles technical data such as your IP address and browser type so that pages can be delivered and protected against attacks.

3. Why we collect it, and your consent

We collect your information only for these purposes, which we tell you about before you send the form:

• to pass your enquiry to a law firm so it can contact you about your legal matter;
• to contact you about your enquiry — for example, to tell you which firm will receive it;
• to stop spam and misuse of the form, and to keep the site secure.

We ask for your consent, which you give by ticking the box on the form. We collect only what is needed for these purposes, we don't use your enquiry for marketing, and we don't make automated decisions about you. You can withdraw your consent at any time (see section 8).

4. Sensitive information

A description of a legal matter can include sensitive information — for example about your health, your immigration status, your finances or your family. We use it only to pass your enquiry to a law firm, and only with your express consent. Please include only what a lawyer needs to understand your situation. We don't take ACC or injury enquiries through the New Zealand pages.

5. Who we share it with

• One law firm. If you chose a firm ("Request a callback"), we send your enquiry to that firm only. If you didn't choose one, we email you first with the name of a listed firm that covers your matter, and only pass your enquiry on if you agree. The firm is then responsible for your information under its own privacy policy and the Law Society's rules.
• Service providers that work for us: Google (enquiries are stored in a Google Sheet and our email runs on Gmail), Vercel (website hosting), Cloudflare (its Turnstile check helps stop automated spam) and Resend (if switched on, an email alert to us when an enquiry arrives). They may use your information only to provide their service to us.
• Courts, police or regulators, only where the law requires it.

We do not sell your personal information, and we never share it for marketing.

6. Your information is stored outside New Zealand

We are based in the United Kingdom, and our service providers store and process information in the United States and other countries. This means your information is handled outside New Zealand and is subject to the laws of those countries, where courts, law enforcement and national security authorities may be able to obtain access to it. We remain responsible for your information wherever it is processed, and our providers are bound by contract to protect it. You can ask our privacy officer about this at any time.

7. How long we keep it

• Enquiries: 12 months from when you send them, then deleted — sooner if you ask.
• Emails you send us: up to 2 years, so we can deal with any follow-up.
• Click counts: kept as long as useful; they contain no personal information.

A firm that receives your enquiry keeps its own copy for as long as its own rules require.

8. Your rights

Under the Privacy Act 2020 you can:

• ask whether we hold personal information about you and get access to it;
• ask which organisations it has been shared with;
• have it corrected if it is inaccurate or incomplete;
• withdraw your consent, and ask us to delete your enquiry.

Email lawvoo12@gmail.com to make a request. We reply within 20 working days, at no cost. Withdrawing consent stops any further use but doesn't undo what was done before, and a firm that already has your enquiry must be asked separately (we'll tell you which firm it is).

If you're unhappy with how we handle your information, please tell our privacy officer first. You can also complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.

9. Emails, texts and calls

We contact you only about an enquiry you sent us. We don't send newsletters, promotions or other marketing messages, and we don't add you to a mailing list. If we ever want to send commercial electronic messages, we will ask for your consent first, and every message will say who we are and include a way to unsubscribe.

10. Cookies

We don't use advertising or analytics cookies. Cloudflare Turnstile may use strictly necessary technical data to check the form isn't being sent by a bot. If we ever add optional cookies, we will ask first and update this policy.

11. Security

The site is served over HTTPS, access to enquiries is limited to us, and our accounts use strong passwords and two-step verification. If a privacy breach is likely to cause you serious harm, we will report it to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and tell you, as the Privacy Act requires.

12. Children

The enquiry form is for adults. We don't knowingly collect information from children.

13. Lawyers listed on this site

Our New Zealand listings use business and professional information that firms and lawyers publish on their own websites, and we check each lawyer on the New Zealand Law Society's register. We don't publish ratings or reviews. Lawyers can ask us to correct or remove a listing at any time — see update or remove a listing.

If a lawyer or firm contacts us about a listing — by email or through the listing request form — we use what they send (name, firm, contact details and the request) only to deal with the request and keep the listing accurate, and keep it for up to 2 years.

14. Changes to this policy

We'll update this page if anything changes, and change the "last updated" date above.

15. Contact us

Privacy officer, Lawvoo — lawvoo12@gmail.com