1. Who We Are
ClauseWise Consulting ("ClauseWise", "we", "us", "our") is an independent legal support and business services provider based in South Africa, operating from Unit 208, Westwood Office Park, 1 Mottramdale, Westwood. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal information when you visit our website at clausewise.co.za or engage our services. By using our website or submitting your information to us, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Policy.
2. Information We Collect
We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us. This includes: (a) Contact and identity information — your full name, email address, telephone number, and company or trading name; (b) Matter information — details about your legal, commercial, or business matter that you share with us through our intake form, email, or WhatsApp; (c) Communication records — correspondence you send us, including emails, WhatsApp messages, and form submissions; (d) Website usage data — anonymised information about how you navigate our website, collected through analytics tools (only with your consent). We do not collect sensitive personal information such as identity numbers, financial account details, or health information unless you voluntarily provide it in the context of a specific engagement.
3. How We Use Your Information
We use your personal information for the following purposes: (a) To respond to your enquiries and provide the services you have requested; (b) To prepare and send you quotes, proposals, and engagement letters; (c) To perform the contracted services, including drafting documents, conducting research, and managing your matter; (d) To communicate with you about your matter and any updates to our services; (e) To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations; (f) To improve our website and service delivery based on anonymised usage data; (g) To send you service-related communications, such as engagement confirmations and completion notices. We will not use your personal information for unsolicited marketing without your express consent, and we will never sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties.
4. Legal Basis for Processing (POPIA)
We process your personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA). Our lawful grounds for processing are: (a) Contractual necessity — processing is required to perform the services you have engaged us for or to take steps at your request before entering into an engagement; (b) Legitimate interests — processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests, such as responding to enquiries, improving our services, and maintaining records, where these interests are not overridden by your rights; (c) Legal obligation — processing is required to comply with applicable South African law; (d) Consent — where we rely on your consent (for example, for analytics cookies), you may withdraw that consent at any time by contacting us or adjusting your browser settings. Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
5. Sharing Your Information
We do not sell or rent your personal information. We may share your information in the following limited circumstances: (a) Service providers — we use trusted third-party platforms to operate our website and manage communications (including our website host and inbox platform). These providers process data on our behalf and are contractually required to protect your information; (b) Legal requirements — we may disclose your information where required by law, court order, or regulatory authority; (c) With your consent — we will share your information with any third party where you have given us express permission to do so; (d) Professional referrals — if your matter requires the involvement of a specialist professional, we will seek your consent before making any referral that involves sharing your information. We do not transfer your personal information outside South Africa except where necessary to deliver our services and where appropriate safeguards are in place.
6. Data Retention
We retain your personal information for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including to satisfy any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. As a general guide: (a) Enquiry records (where no engagement follows) are retained for 12 months; (b) Client matter records are retained for a minimum of 5 years from the date of completion of the engagement, in accordance with standard professional practice; (c) Financial records are retained for 5 years as required by the South African Revenue Service. After the applicable retention period, we will securely delete or anonymise your personal information.
7. Cookies and Analytics
Our website uses cookies — small text files stored on your device — to improve your browsing experience and to understand how visitors use our site. We use the following types of cookies: (a) Strictly necessary cookies — required for the website to function and cannot be switched off; (b) Analytics cookies — used to collect anonymised information about how visitors interact with our website (for example, pages visited and time spent). Analytics cookies are only placed with your consent, which you can provide or withdraw via the cookie consent banner on our website. You can also disable cookies at any time through your browser settings. Disabling analytics cookies will not affect your ability to use our website.
8. Your Rights Under POPIA
As a data subject under POPIA, you have the following rights: (a) Right of access — you may request a copy of the personal information we hold about you; (b) Right to correction — you may request that we correct inaccurate or incomplete personal information; (c) Right to deletion — you may request that we delete your personal information, subject to our legal retention obligations; (d) Right to object — you may object to the processing of your personal information on grounds relating to your particular situation; (e) Right to lodge a complaint — if you believe we have processed your personal information unlawfully, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa at inforeg.org.za. To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details in Section 10 below. We will respond to your request within 30 days.
9. Security
We take the security of your personal information seriously and implement reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect it against unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures include: HTTPS encryption for all data transmitted through our website; access controls limiting who within our team can access client information; secure storage of client matter records. While we take all reasonable precautions, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is completely secure. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure, please contact us immediately.
10. Contact and Complaints
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, wish to exercise your POPIA rights, or have a complaint about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us: Email: hello@clausewise.co.za | WhatsApp: +27 82 893 0729 | Post: Unit 208, Westwood Office Park, 1 Mottramdale, Westwood. We will acknowledge your query within 5 business days and aim to resolve it within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may escalate your complaint to the Information Regulator of South Africa.
11. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, or legal requirements. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this Policy periodically. Your continued use of our website after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated Policy.