Privacy Policy

Date updated: 18 September 2026

1. About This Policy

Writ & Folio Pty Ltd (ABN 29 697 008 110) (“Writ & Folio”, “we”, “us”, “our”) is an Australian transcription business. We transcribe proceedings of courts and tribunals, and recorded material for private clients. We are committed to protecting the personal information of the people we deal with and the people whose information passes through our work, and to handling it responsibly and in accordance with the law.

This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, how we hold, use and disclose it, how you can ask to see or correct it, and how you can make a complaint.

Our coverage under the Privacy Act. As a small business, Writ & Folio would ordinarily be exempt from most of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). We have chosen to be treated as an organisation under that Act, by registering with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). This means we are bound by the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), and you may complain to the OAIC about how we handle your personal information.

This Policy covers two groups of people:

(a)    people who deal with us directly, including website visitors, people who make enquiries, clients and their representatives, candidates, contractors and employees (section 3); and

(b)   people whose personal information is contained in material our clients give us to transcribe, such as parties, witnesses, interviewees and others named in a recording or document (section 4).

Stricter requirements. Material we transcribe is covered by this Policy. Where a client, a court or tribunal, or a contract imposes its own information security or information handling requirements, that material may be dealt with in accordance with this Policy and those stricter requirements. Those requirements apply in addition to this Policy, and in place of it where they are stricter.

2. Who We Are

Writ & Folio Pty Ltd is a proprietary limited company registered in New South Wales, Australia. Our registered office is Suite 10, 10-12 Flushcombe Road, Blacktown NSW 2148.

Our privacy contact details are in section 14.

3. Personal Information About People Who Deal With Us

We will from time to time collect, receive and store personal information that is reasonably necessary for us to carry on our business. The kinds of personal information we collect depend on our relationship with you.

3.1 Website Visitors and Enquirers

If you visit our website, contact us or make an enquiry, we may collect:

•         your name and address;

•         your email address and phone number;

•         the name of your organisation, if you give it; and

•         the content of any message or enquiry you send us.

Our website also uses necessary cookies and records some technical information (section 5).

3.2 Clients and Business Contacts

If you are a client, a client’s representative, or another business contact, we may collect:

•         your name, business name and contact details;

•         correspondence and records of our business dealings; and

•         invoicing and payment records.

3.3 Contractors and Transcriptionists

If you work with us, or apply to work with us, as an independent contractor, we may collect:

•         your name, address and contact details;

•         information about your skills, qualifications and relevant experience;

•         evidence of your right to work in Australia;

•         your national criminal history check;

•         your Australian Business Number (ABN);

•         your bank account details, for payment of fees;

•         details of your professional indemnity insurance;

•         signed agreements, correspondence, and records of work performed, including the delivery and quality measures used to calculate fees; and

•         records of your use of the accounts and systems we provide to you, such as sign-in and audit records.

3.4 Employees

If you work with us, or apply to work with us, as an employee, we may collect:

  • your name, address and contact details;

  • information about your skills, qualifications and relevant experience;

  • evidence of your right to work in Australia;

  • your national criminal history check;

  • your tax file number and superannuation fund details;

  • your bank account details, for payroll;

  • emergency contact details;

  • employment records, timesheets and payroll information;

  • signed agreements, correspondence, and records of work performed, including the delivery and quality measures used to calculate pay; and

  • records of your use of the accounts and systems we provide to you, such as sign-in and audit records.

We collect tax file numbers only for tax and superannuation purposes, and handle them in accordance with the Privacy (Tax File Number) Rule 2015. Some records about employees are exempt from the Privacy Act. We apply this Policy to them anyway.

3.5 Sensitive Information

Generally, we do not collect sensitive information (as defined in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), including information about racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or practices, criminal record, membership of a professional or trade association or a trade union, health, and biometric information) unless it is reasonably necessary and we have your consent, or we are required or authorised by law to collect it.

The exception is criminal history. Every person we engage must provide a current national criminal history check before they receive any client material.

Material our clients give us to transcribe can also contain sensitive information about other people. Section 4 deals with it.

4. Personal Information in Material Our Clients Give Us

Recordings, documents and other material that clients give us to transcribe, and the transcripts and working files we produce from them, often contain personal information about people who have never dealt with us: parties, witnesses, interviewees, legal representatives, judicial officers and others. This material can include sensitive information, such as health information or allegations of criminal conduct.

4.1 How We Use It

We hold this information for our client. We use it only to do the work the client has engaged us to do, and only on the client’s instructions. We do not use it for any other purpose, and we do not use it to contact the people named in it.

Because this information comes to us from our clients rather than from you, it is usually not practicable for us to notify you when we receive it. The client, court or tribunal that collected it is usually the right place to ask about it.

4.2 Asking to See or Correct It

If you ask us for access to, or correction of, personal information in client material, we will usually refer you to the client, court or tribunal concerned, because the content of a recording or transcript is that client’s record. We will consider every request under the APPs, and may decline where the APPs permit it, for example where access would be unlawful, would unreasonably affect another person’s privacy, or is prevented by a law or by an order of a court or tribunal. Recordings and transcripts of proceedings may also be subject to rules of the court or tribunal concerned about access to its records.

4.3 How Long We Keep It

We keep client material only for as long as the engagement requires, and destroy it at the end of the period set for that engagement, or earlier if the client requires it. Where more than one period applies, the shorter one governs. Where a court direction, subpoena, suppression order or notified dispute requires us to keep material, we keep it for as long as that requirement lasts.

4.4 Where It Is Held

Recordings and transcripts we hold for clients are stored in Australia. The records we use to coordinate work, such as the name of a matter, the court or tribunal, dates and delivery times, may be stored or processed outside Australia (section 9).

5. How We Collect Personal Information

We collect personal information directly from you wherever it is practicable to do so. We may collect personal information:

  • when you contact us by email, telephone, or through our website;

  • when you submit an expression of interest or an application to work with us;

  • when you sign agreements or other documents;

  • in the course of our ongoing working relationship with you; and

  • when you correspond with us by any means.

We may also collect personal information from third parties where this is reasonably necessary and permitted by law, for example from referees you have nominated, from a check you have authorised, or from publicly available sources. Personal information in client material comes to us from our clients (section 4).

We do not collect personal information by unlawful or unfair means.

Our website and cookies. Our website is hosted by a website platform provider. If you use a form on our website, what you enter is received and stored by that provider and sent to us by email. The provider may also record technical information, such as your IP address and browser type, to keep the site secure and running.

We use cookies on our website. A cookie is a small text file that a website places on your device. Cookies are standard on most websites. We use only the cookies that are necessary for the site to work. We have switched off analytics and marketing cookies, and we do not use advertising or tracking tools. You may refuse or delete cookies by selecting the appropriate settings in your browser, although some parts of the site may not work without them.

If you do not give us information. If you withhold personal information we ask for, we may not be able to respond to your enquiry, engage you, or provide our services.

6. Why We Collect, Hold, Use and Disclose Personal Information

We use personal information for the purposes for which we collected it. These include to:

  • provide our services during the usual course of our business;

  • respond to enquiries, and communicate with you by a variety of means including telephone, email, SMS text message or mail;

  • assess, engage and manage contractors and employees, including checking eligibility and calculating fees and pay;

  • administer our business, including invoicing, payments, and financial and tax records;

  • manage, review and improve our services;

  • comply with our legal obligations; and

  • investigate and resolve complaints.

We will only use your personal information for a secondary purpose (a purpose other than the one for which it was collected) if that secondary purpose is related to the primary purpose and you would reasonably expect us to use it in that way, or if you have given your consent, or if we are required or authorised by law.

We may disclose your personal information to comply with a legal requirement, such as a law, regulation, court order, subpoena, warrant or legal proceedings, or in response to a request from a law enforcement agency.

If there is a change of control in our business, or a sale or transfer of business assets, we reserve the right to transfer, to the extent permitted by law, our databases together with any personal information and non-personal information they contain.

Decisions assisted by computer programs. We use spreadsheet formulas to calculate some fees, pay loadings and quality measures for contractors and employees. The formulas use records of work performed, such as volumes, delivery times and quality assessments. A person checks each result before any fee or pay amount is set. We do not make decisions about you solely by computer program.

7. Disclosure of Personal Information

We may disclose your personal information to any of our employees, officers, subcontractors, insurers, professional advisers, agents or suppliers, insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes set out in this Policy. We may also disclose it to our clients, to the extent necessary to deliver and account for our services.

We will not sell, rent or trade personal information to any third party for marketing or any other commercial purpose.

We will not disclose personal information to any person or organisation if doing so would breach our confidentiality obligations or any applicable law.

If we do disclose your personal information to a third party, we will protect it in accordance with this Policy.

8. Direct Marketing

We do not use personal information for direct marketing. If this changes, we will update this Policy and make sure you have a clear opportunity to opt out.

9. Hosting and Cross-Border Disclosure

Information that we collect may from time to time be stored, processed in or transferred between parties or sites located in countries outside Australia.

At the date of this Policy, the countries outside Australia in which personal information we hold is likely to be stored or processed are the United States and New Zealand. This applies to:

  • our business email and documents, including records about contractors and employees, and the records we use to coordinate work, such as the name of a matter, the court or tribunal, dates and delivery times;

  • enquiries and form submissions made through our website; and

  • sign-in verification data for the accounts we provide to the people who work with us; and

  • our accounting and payroll records, which our accounting platform may process in Australia, New Zealand or the United States.

Recordings and transcripts we hold for clients are stored in Australia, on cloud storage set to its Australian region. They are not stored outside Australia.

We use service providers whose terms include commitments about how they protect the information they handle for us.

Our office is located in Australia. However, in the event that we open offices or facilities outside Australia, any transfers to each of those countries will be protected by appropriate safeguards.

10. Security of Personal Information

We take reasonable steps to protect the personal information we hold from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. Our security measures include:

  • limiting access to personal information to authorised people only;

  • storing personal information in password-protected, access-controlled systems, using accounts we issue and manage, with multi-factor authentication;

  • using encrypted communications where practicable;

  • applying strict handling procedures to client material in accordance with our relevant policies and procedures;

  • requiring every person we engage to sign a deed of confidentiality, hold a current national criminal history check and acknowledge our policies before they receive client material; and

  • conducting periodic reviews of our information security arrangements.

Where personal information is no longer required for the purpose for which it was collected, and we are not required by law to retain it, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify it. Section 4 sets out how long we keep client material.

Data breaches. If we become aware of a data breach that is likely to result in serious harm to anyone, we will notify the people affected and the OAIC as the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme requires.

11. Access to and Correction of Personal Information

You have the right to ask for access to the personal information we hold about you, and to ask us to correct any personal information that is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading.

To make an access or correction request, please contact us using the details in section 14. We will respond within a reasonable time and in the manner the APPs require.

We do not charge a fee for making an access or correction request, though we may charge a reasonable fee to cover the cost of giving access where the law permits it.

In some circumstances we may be unable to give access to, or correct, personal information, for example where giving access would be unlawful, where the information forms part of client material (section 4), or where the APPs otherwise permit us to refuse. If we decline your request in whole or in part, we will tell you in writing why, and how you can complain.

12. Complaints

If you have a concern about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us first using the details in section 14. We will acknowledge your complaint promptly and aim to respond within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner:

  • online: www.oaic.gov.au;

  • by phone: 1300 363 992; or

  • by post: GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time, at our sole discretion, to reflect changes in our practices, legal obligations or business operations. The current version will always be available on our website and will show the date it was last updated.

We encourage you to review this Policy periodically. Continued engagement with Writ & Folio after a change has been published on our website constitutes your acceptance of the updated Policy.

14. How to Contact Us

For any privacy enquiry, access or correction request, or complaint, please contact us by email or post: