Website terms of use

The website is operated and maintained by Queensland Law Society Incorporated (the Society).  Its contents (including all information, data, text, graphics, images, software, advertisements and other material on the website (Content) are the property of the Society and nothing operates to transfer ownership of any of the Content to any user of the site.

The Society’s contact details are:

The Society reserves the right in its absolute discretion, to vary or amend these Terms and Conditions. Amendments will be effective immediately upon it being published. Your continued use of the website following any amendment will constitute acceptance and agreement by you to be bound by the amended Terms and Conditions.

We use the following special terminology in these Terms and Conditions and on the website:

• the Society’ or ‘QLS’ means Queensland Law Society Incorporated, Law Society House 179 Ann Street, Brisbane, QLD and ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ shall refer to the Society.
• ‘you’ and ‘your’ means any person who uses or accesses the website, views or downloads website information or content and includes (but is not limited to) any person who has been granted access to any special area.
• ‘Website information’ means any content, data, images, text, video or other material displayed or accessible on the website.
• ‘practitioner’ means an Australian legal practitioner with a Practising Certificate as defined in the Legal Profession Act 2007
• ‘member’ means a member of the Society
• ‘public’ means a member of the public who is not an Australian legal practitioner or member of the Society

By using the Society's website you agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions as amended by Queensland Law Society from time to time.

Breach of these Terms and Conditions may result in your registration and access to the website being cancelled at the sole discretion of Society.

These Terms and Conditions must also be read in conjunction with the general Disclaimer and Privacy information of the public aspects of the QLS website (qls.com.au) and the Society’s Privacy Policy, Plan and Code of Practice.

You shall be responsible for the confidentiality and use of your username and password(s), including but not limited to, all information electronically transmitted, or use of any data, information, or services obtained, using your username and password(s).

The Society administers content via social media channels—including, but not limited to, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube (the Channels)—to provide you with information of public interest concerning the  Society’s activities, and matters affecting its members and the general community. It is a condition of use that you follow these Terms of Use when interacting with or commenting on the Channels, and by making any comment or interacting, you acknowledge and accept the Terms of Use.

You agree and warrant that any comments and/or other content posted by you will not:

1. impersonate any other person or falsely claim to represent any other person, whether living or dead, real or fictitious
2. be abusive, harassing, threatening or violate the legal rights of others
3. be misleading, deceptive, false, defamatory or libellous
4. make a statement that may interfere with or prejudice the course of or otherwise deals with civil or criminal proceedings that are presently before any court, tribunal, commission or similar body or any investigation by the police, Crime and Misconduct Commission or other agency
5. seek to raise personal matters which have been dealt with or concluded judicially
6. use insulting, threatening or provocative language or language that is hateful towards a certain group of people
7. incite, or be likely to incite, or express views of, hatred on the basis of race, religion, gender, nationality or sexuality or other personal characteristic
8. include indecent, obscene, pornographic or otherwise inappropriate language, information or other content
9. infringe the intellectual property rights of others or disclose their confidential information
10. contain any commercial advertising material or be for a commercial purpose
11. post, transmit or include a link to any unsolicited advertising, promotion materials or other forms of solicitation to users of the Channels
12. alter, damage or delete any content on the Channels or otherwise interfere with the ability of others to use the Channels
13. act in such a way as to give rise to any liability for the Society or any user of the Channels or to cause any loss or damage to any person
14. be irrelevant to the themes currently being discussed and sought to be addressed in connection with the page, channel, account or profile
15. invade the personal privacy of any other person or groups without their consent, or
16. be for illegal purposes.

The Society reserves the right to moderate all content and remove information or language considered offensive and to block users who violate these Terms of Use.  Any comments or other content posted on any of QLS social media pages or accounts in contravention or breach of the above may be removed by the administrator.

Users found to be repeatedly engaging in the above activities may be banned.

Social media disclaimer

The opinions and/or views expressed on the Channels, including, but not limited to, its Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube are provided for general information and educative purposes. In some instances, they serve to encourage debate and/or discussion on topical issues of concern to the Society.    They represent the views of individuals who post material and not those necessarily of the Society.  Information published on social media platforms does not constitute legal advice or recommendations and should not be relied upon.

Appropriate legal advice should be obtained in actual situations.

While every care has been taken in the preparation of these pages, channels and applications, the Society cannot accept responsibility for any errors, including those caused by negligence, in the pages, channels and applications. QLS makes no statements, representations or warranties about the accuracy or completeness of the information and content, and you should not rely on it. You are advised to make your own independent inquiries regarding the accuracy of any information provided on the Channels.  No warranty of any kind, implied, express or statutory, including but not limited to the warranties of third party rights is given with respect to the contents of the website, the Channels or links to other online resources or pages.

QLS does not guarantee, and accepts no legal responsibility whatsoever, including in negligence, arising from or in connection to any reliance upon the accuracy, reliability, currency, correctness or completeness of any information or content contained on or in the Channels.

Whilst the Society makes reasonable efforts to monitor and/or moderate content posted on its Channels, it cannot always respond in a timely manner to online requests for information. The Society only responds to comments and monitors the Channels during standard business hours.

The Channels may include third party content, which is subject to that third party’s terms and conditions of use. Nothing on the social media profiles, accounts, or pages should be construed as granting any licence or right for you to use that content. You should consult the third party’s terms and conditions of use in relation to any third party content.

The  society does not warrant, guarantee or make any representations regarding the correctness, accuracy, reliability, currency or any other aspect regarding characteristics of use of the information on external websites accessed by links from social media profiles, accounts, or pages, and makes no warranties of any kind that the information or content contained on its social media platforms or any links from the Channels are safe or suitable, free of infection by computer viruses or other contamination. QLS disclaims all responsibility and all liability (including liability for negligence) for all expenses, losses, damages & costs you might incur as a result of the information or content being inaccurate or incomplete in any way and the Society expressly disclaims liability to the extent permissible by law.

Links to third party websites and a guide only and do not constitute any endorsement or approval of those sites or the owners of those sites.

By submitting information or content to any of the Society’s Channels and applications, you acknowledge that this information is available to the public and is considered a public record under the Public Records Act 2002.

Our Privacy policy describes the full details of the information we collect from you when you use our website. By accepting these Terms and Conditions, you also agree to accept the terms of our privacy policy.

The Society is committed to protecting the privacy, confidentiality and security of users of this website.

When you visit the Society’s website, our server records your visit and logs certain information for statistical and diagnostic purposes only. A tracking cookie is used which identifies the user over an entire browsing session and also over repeat visits to the website. In the unlikely event of an investigation, a law enforcement agency may exercise a warrant to inspect activity logs.

Information that may be collected includes:

• requesting IP address
• type of browser being used
• date and time of the visit
• pages and resources accessed and downloaded
• previous site visited
• user ID used to access the page (if any).

Cookies

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a piece of data which is sent from a web server to a web browser on the user’s machine or device when the browser visits the server’s website. The cookie is stored on the user’s machine or device as an historical identifier only and cannot do anything to your machine. Cookies are not stored by the Society and cannot be used to determine the user’s email address or anything about the user’s computer or device.

If you wish to log in to our website you will need to accept cookies. If your browser rejects all cookies you will still be able to view public, information only pages.

Cookie Policy

The Queensland Law Society ("the Society") is committed to preserving the privacy of all visitors to www.qls.com.au. Please read our Privacy policy to understand how we use and protect the information that you provide to us. We are committed to using this data in accordance with relevant data protection laws such as the Privacy Act 1988, Information Privacy Act 2009 and with regard to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

By using this site (the "website") or contacting us by email or through this website, you consent to the collection, use and transfer of your personal information under the terms of this policy. If you do not accept the terms of this policy you must leave this website immediately and you may not use any of the services we provide.

The website may include third party content which is subject to that third party's terms and conditions of use. Nothing on this website should be construed as granting any licence or right for you to use that content. You should consult the third party’s terms and conditions of use in relation to any third party content.

The website includes links to third party sites which are not related to the Society and in relation to which the Society has no control or interest.  Links to third party sites are a guide only and do not constitute any endorsement or approval of those sites or of the owners of those sites.

The Society expressly disclaims liability to the extern permitted by law and makes no warranties of any kind in relation to information contained on the website or in relation to any links on the website.  It is not responsible for the accuracy of information contained on other websites accessed by links from this website and makes no warranties that the information contained on this website or any links from this website are safe or suitable or free of infection by computer viruses or other contamination.

Material appearing on this website is subject to copyright vested in Queensland Law Society or, unless otherwise stated, third parties.  All content on this website is protected by the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) and International copyright and other intellectual property laws. You may not do anything which interferes with or breaches the Society’s entitlement or those laws or the intellectual property rights in the content.  Unless otherwise indicated, the Society owns or licences or has permission to use third party content.

You may download, display or print a copy of material from this website only for personal, non-commercial use or use within your own organisation provided you do not modify the content in any way (including any copyright notice).   All other use of the content on the website content is not permitted without the copyright or trademark owners’ permission.  The Society asserts the right to be recognised as the author of the material and the right to have its material remain unaltered.

Your use of the content on the Society’s website does not grant or transfer any rights, title or interest in the material.  Except for the purposes permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), you must not use, copy, modify, transmit, store, publish or distribute the content on the website or any part without permission.  All other rights are reserved.

The Society’s logo is a trademark of the Queensland Law Society. Nothing displayed on the website should be construed as granting any licence, title or interest or right to use, reproduce or adapt the logo without the express written permission of the Society.

Requests and inquiries should be addressed to info@qls.com.au

Some content may include third party material which is used by the Society with the permission of those third parties and which is subject to that third party’s terms and conditions of use.  Nothing on this site should be construed as granting any licence or right for you to use that content.  You should consult the third party’s terms and conditions of use in relation to any third party content.  External site images, if any, used on qls.com.au are used with the permission of the authors of that image and must not be reproduced, modified or transmitted without obtaining the permission of the author of those materials.

You must note that the copyright in material appearing on internet sites which are linked from this website vest in the author of that material, or the author's licensee [subject to the operation of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth)]. The Society strongly recommends that you refer to the copyright statements at those sites before making use of any material.  Links to third party sites do not constitute any endorsement or approval of those sites of or the owner of those sites.

Email newsletters

The QLS Update and publication contains copyright material owned by the Society, contributors and external third parties. Third party content is not controlled or owned by the Society unless otherwise specified and the Society makes no warranty about its accuracy, correctness or reliability. Except as permitted by the copyright law applicable to you, you may not reproduce or communicate any of the content on this website, including files downloadable from this website, without the permission of the copyright owner. The Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) allows certain uses of content on the internet without the copyright owner’s permission. For more information, see copyright.com.au, copyright.org.au and ipaustralia.gov.au. The Society’s copyright policy for its website is hereabove.

Contributors to QLS Update generally grant to the Society a royalty free, perpetual, non-exclusive, irrevocable paid up licence to:

1. use, reproduce and adapt their contributions 
2. perform any other act with respect to the Intellectual Property in their contributions and to exploit or commercialise all those Intellectual Property rights.

The Society will acknowledge a contributor’s moral rights by attributing authorship to that contributor.

When you submit content for inclusion on the website in any format, including but not limited to any text, photographs, graphics, video or audio, you grant the Society an irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual licence to publish that content on the website. You acknowledge that content submitted by you will be accessible by the public through the website.

You agree that the Society can use that content in any way, now and in the future. The Society also reserves the right not to use or publish on the website content you submit.

As a contributor, you warrant that you are the owner of the content and have all of the necessary rights, including third party permissions for any third party content included in the material and including copyright, that your content is not defamatory and that it does not infringe any law. You also warrant that the content you contribute complies with any relevant professional obligations.

By submitting content to the Society for inclusion on its website, you waive any moral rights in your contribution for the purposes of its submission to and publication on the website.

The Society does not provide any protection as against third parties to the intellectual property in any content submitted or otherwise provided.  By submitting content, you warrant that you have all necessary permissions and licences for the use of that material and agree to indemnify the Society against any loss, liability, claim or demand (including legal fees) claimed by any third party arising from a breach of that warranty, third party intellectual property rights or these terms and conditions.

You acknowledge that the Site is created, managed, and administered by the Society and provides opportunities for users to post comments and collaborate with other users. However, the Society is not responsible for, and does not adopt as a statement of its own content posted or submitted by other users, such as comments or other material.

You acknowledge that the Society cannot and does not intend to screen communications in advance, nor does it exercise any control in advance over the content of the information passing through the website submitted by users. The Society does not warrant, guarantee or make any other representation as to the correctness, accuracy or reliability of content or or conformance with the Terms and Conditions of any content transmitted, posted or available on the website.

Notwithstanding the above, QLS will endeavour to monitor the content on the website from time to time and will remove any content it deems to be inappropriate or unacceptable to protect itself or other users in accordance with these Terms and Conditions.

Liability and indemnity

The Society does not warrant the accuracy, reliability or completeness or any other aspect of the information on the website. The content is provided to you 'as is' and on an 'as available' basis and on the condition that you undertake all responsibility for assessing the accuracy of the content and rely on it at your own risk. All content on the website may be changed without notice.

The Society expressly disclaims responsibility or liability to the extent permissible by law in relation to any loss or damage that you incur, including damage to your software or hardware, arising from your use of, access or interaction with this website.

The Society does not warrant that functions contained in the website content, such as hyperlinks, will be uninterrupted or error free, that defects will be corrected or the server that makes it available, are free of viruses, malicious computer code or bugs.

To the extent permitted by law, all other representations, conditions or warranties, whether based in statute, common law or otherwise are excluded. Liability of the Society, for any breach of a term or condition implied by law is limited at the Society’s discretion, to the supply of any service again or the payment for the cost of having any service supplied again.

You agree to indemnify the Society, its Council, directors, officers, employees and agents against any action, claim, loss or expense which it incurs which arises from your use of the website, including as a result of you submitting, providing or accessing content on the website in any form.

These Terms and conditions shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of Queensland.

Users are not permitted to use the website for any unlawful purpose.

The information provided on the website is not intended to constitute legal, business or other professional advice.  It is provided as general information only and is not intended as a substitute for advice from a qualified professional such as a solicitor.   It is provided for educative purposes in summary form on legal topics which is current when it is first published.

Appropriate legal advice should be obtained in actual situations.

While every care and diligence has been used in the preparation and maintenance of the information on the website, the Society  is not responsible to you or anyone else for any loss, including consequential, incidental, indirect or special loss, suffered in connection with the use of the Society’s website or any of its content.  Where liability cannot be excluded, any liability incurred by us in relation to your use of the website or its content, is limited to the extent permitted by law.   It is not responsible for any errors, including those caused by negligence, in the material. 

The Society makes no statements, representations or warranties about the accuracy or completeness of the information and you should not rely on it. You are advised to make your own independent inquiries regarding the accuracy of any information provided on this website.

The Society does not guarantee, and accepts no legal responsibility whatsoever arising from or in connection to the accuracy, reliability, currency, correctness or completeness of any material contained on this website.

The website may include third party content which is subject to that third party’s terms and conditions of use. Nothing on this website should be construed as granting any licence or right for you to use that content. You should consult the third party’s terms and conditions of use in relation to any third party content.

The Society does not warrant, guarantee or make any representation regarding the accuracy, reliability or currency of information contained on other websites accessed by links from this website and makes no warranties that the information contained on this website or any links from this website are free of infection by computer viruses or other contamination. The Society disclaims liability (including liability for negligence) to the extent permitted by law and makes no warranty of any kind that any links are safe or suitable and disclaims all responsibility or liability for all expenses, losses, damages and costs you might incur as a result of the information being inaccurate or incomplete in any way.

Links to third party websites do not constitute any endorsement or approval of those sites or the owners of those sites.