Last updated: 1 March 2026
This Privacy Policy describes how Mashiane Attorneys Inc. (“we”, “us”, or “our”), a law firm incorporated and registered in South Africa, collects, uses, stores, and processes personal information in compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (“POPIA”) and any applicable regulations made thereunder.
In terms of section 55 of POPIA, Mashiane Attorneys Inc. has designated an Information Officer who is responsible for ensuring compliance with POPIA and for handling all queries, complaints, and requests relating to the processing of personal information. Our Information Officer can be contacted at: Mashiane Attorneys Inc., Johannesburg, South Africa. Email: info@mashianeattorneys.co.za. All requests relating to the exercise of data subject rights must be directed to the Information Officer.
We collect and process the following categories of personal information: (a) Identity information — full name, identity number, passport number, date of birth, and gender; (b) Contact information — physical address, postal address, email address, and telephone numbers; (c) Professional information — employer details, occupation, professional registrations, and business contact details; (d) Financial information — banking details, billing information, and financial history where necessary for the rendering of legal services; (e) Legal matter information — case details, litigation history, correspondence, supporting documentation, and instructions given to us; (f) Website usage data — IP address, browser type, pages visited, and session duration collected automatically when you use our website. We do not collect special personal information (as defined in section 26 of POPIA) unless explicitly consented to or where required to perform our obligations.
We process personal information for the following purposes: (a) To render legal services to you, including advising, drafting, litigating, and representing your interests; (b) To comply with our obligations under the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014, the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001 (FICA), and all other applicable legislation; (c) To manage our client relationship, including invoicing, account management, and communication; (d) To respond to enquiries submitted through our website or by other means; (e) To send legal updates, newsletters, and insights where you have consented to receive such communications; (f) To comply with court orders, regulatory requirements, or lawful requests from competent authorities; (g) To maintain our internal records, quality controls, and professional indemnity requirements.
We process personal information on one or more of the following lawful grounds under section 11 of POPIA: (a) Consent — where you have expressly consented to the processing; (b) Contractual necessity — where processing is necessary to perform our contract with you or to take pre-contractual steps at your request; (c) Legal obligation — where we are required by law to process your information; (d) Legitimate interest — where processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided that such interests do not override your rights and freedoms; (e) Public interest — where processing is necessary to carry out public interest activities or exercise public authority.
Subject to applicable limitations, you have the following rights under POPIA: (a) Right of access — to request confirmation of whether we hold your personal information and to obtain a copy thereof; (b) Right to correction or deletion — to request that we correct inaccurate, incomplete, misleading, or outdated personal information, or that we delete personal information that is no longer necessary; (c) Right to object — to object on reasonable grounds to the processing of your personal information; (d) Right to withdrawal of consent — to withdraw your consent to processing at any time, where processing is based on consent; (e) Right to lodge a complaint — to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator if you believe that your rights have been infringed. The Information Regulator can be contacted at: inforeg@justice.gov.za or JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001. To exercise any of the above rights, please submit a written request to our Information Officer.
We retain personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, or as required by applicable legislation. For client matter files, we retain records for a minimum of five years following the conclusion of the matter, in accordance with the Legal Practice Act and applicable professional rules. Financial and tax records are retained for a minimum of five years as required by the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 and the Companies Act 71 of 2008. FICA records are retained for a minimum of five years from the date of the last transaction. Website analytics data is retained for no longer than twelve months. Upon expiry of the applicable retention period, records will be securely destroyed or de-identified.
We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures as required by section 19 of POPIA to protect personal information in our possession against loss, damage, unauthorised access, interference, modification, disclosure, or destruction. These measures include access controls, encryption, secure document management systems, staff training, and confidentiality obligations. Where a data breach occurs that poses a risk to data subjects, we will notify the Information Regulator and affected data subjects as required by section 22 of POPIA.
We may share personal information with third-party service providers (operators as defined in POPIA) who process information on our behalf, including: IT and cloud service providers, practice management software providers, accounting and auditing firms, courier and document storage services, and legal research platforms. All operators are required to process personal information only on our documented instructions and in accordance with POPIA. We enter into written operator agreements with each operator as required by section 21 of POPIA. We do not sell personal information to third parties for marketing purposes.
Our website uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to improve functionality, analyse usage, and enhance user experience. Cookies are small text files stored on your device. We use strictly necessary cookies (which cannot be disabled as they are essential for the website to function), analytical cookies (which collect anonymised data about how visitors use our site), and preference cookies (which remember your settings and choices). You may manage your cookie preferences at any time using the cookie settings link in the footer of this website. Disabling non-essential cookies will not affect your access to the substantive content of our site.
Where personal information is transferred to a third party in a foreign country, we ensure compliance with section 72 of POPIA, which requires that the recipient country provides an adequate level of protection for personal information, or that we have obtained your consent to the transfer, or that the transfer is necessary for the performance of your contract with us. We do not transfer personal information outside of South Africa except as necessary to render services and subject to the required safeguards.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in applicable legislation, our processing activities, or best practice. Any material changes will be communicated by updating the “Last updated” date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Your continued use of our website or services following any updates constitutes your acknowledgement of the revised policy.
For any queries about this Privacy Policy, to exercise your data subject rights, or to report a concern about the processing of your personal information, please contact our Information Officer at: Mashiane Attorneys Inc., Johannesburg, South Africa. Email: info@mashianeattorneys.co.za. If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa at inforeg@justice.gov.za or call 010 023 5207.