Privacy Policy

1. Responsible party and Information Officer

Lawryse (Pty) Limited, Registration Number 2026/277972/07, is the responsible party for the processing described in this Policy. Its address is 36 Faure Marine Drive, Gordon’s Bay, Cape Town.

Information Officer: Alice Edmunds
Privacy and PAIA email: enquiries@lawryse.com
Telephone: 087 1888 990

2. Who this Policy covers

• Visitors to lawryse.com, newsletter subscribers, poll participants and Public Voices users.
• Adults and children who use or attempt to use LARIA, and people described in an enquiry.
• Member firms, attorneys, firm administrators and other authorised Dashboard users.
• Research Contributor applicants and active or former Contributors.
• Advertisers, Guest Article authors, referrers, suppliers, service providers and other business contacts.
• People who contact Lawryse for support, billing, editorial or general enquiries.

3. Information Lawryse collects

4. Sources of information

Lawryse usually collects information directly from the person or an authorised firm administrator. It may also receive professional information from member firms, public professional registers, payment and communications providers, people making a LARIA enquiry, Research Contributor references, public sources and service providers that support security or verification.

5. Why Lawryse processes information

• To create, secure and administer accounts, profiles, memberships and contributor relationships.
• To publish professional profiles and approved content selected for public display.
• To receive, classify, safeguard and route LARIA enquiries to eligible opted-in firms.
• To process payments, maintain accounting records, calculate credits and administer bookings.
• To manage editorial submissions, research assignments, approvals, attribution and payment statements.
• To provide support, communicate service notices and respond to enquiries or rights requests.
• To prevent fraud, misuse and security incidents and to maintain audit evidence.
• To comply with legal obligations and establish, exercise or defend legal rights.

The lawful basis depends on the context and may include consent, performance of an agreement, compliance with law, protection of a legitimate interest, protection of the person’s legitimate interests, and processing necessary to establish, exercise or defend a right or obligation in law.

6. Public profiles and published content

Professional profile fields and approved public content are public by design. Firm administrators and attorneys must ensure that they are authorised to publish the relevant information. Private login, identity-verification, banking, billing and security data is not displayed publicly.

7. LARIA privacy and staged disclosure

LARIA limits the information shown before a firm accepts an invitation. A firm may initially receive only the legal field, broad location or location rule, urgency and other limited routing information. After acceptance, the selected firm receives the enquirer’s permitted contact details and matter description. Competing invitation links expire when a firm accepts.

A recipient firm processes the enquiry under its own professional and privacy obligations. Lawryse records routing, delivery, acceptance and status events for security, fairness, service administration and dispute purposes. Lawryse does not sell LARIA information or use it to give a paying membership tier priority.

8. Children and vulnerable enquirers

A person under 18 may use LARIA to seek help. Lawryse does not impose a blanket requirement that a parent or guardian submit or approve the enquiry, because that could prevent a child from seeking protection or exercising a legal right.

• LARIA asks only for an age band rather than a full birth date where that is sufficient.
• The child may identify a safe contact method and safe time. Sensitive details are not included in ordinary SMS alerts.
• Lawryse limits collection and access and processes the information only where a lawful child-data basis applies, including where necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of a right or obligation in law.
• Information may be shared without ordinary consent only where law requires it or where a lawful and proportionate step is necessary to address an immediate serious safety risk.

9. Special personal information

A legal enquiry may disclose health, sex-life, race, religion, political, criminal-behaviour or other special personal information. Lawryse does not request more than reasonably needed. It processes special information only with a lawful authorisation, appropriate safeguards and access restrictions.

10. Automated tools and human review

Lawryse may use automated tools to detect spam or unsafe content, identify a broad legal field, apply a location-sensitivity rule and support neutral routing. These tools do not provide legal advice, decide the merits of a case, choose an outcome or create a professional relationship. Flagged or uncertain matters may be reviewed by an authorised person.

11. Sharing and operators

Lawryse may share information only as reasonably necessary with:

• eligible opted-in firms receiving a LARIA invitation or accepted enquiry;
• hosting, database, authentication, payment, email, analytics, security and support providers acting under contract;
• Our SMS provider, which sends text messages on our behalf, to a participating attorney or firm when LARIA routes them an enquiry, and to a member of the public who contacts us through LARIA. We only send this provider a phone number and a short message describing the type of legal matter and the responding firm; we never include the enquirer's name, their phone number (when messaging the firm), or any narrative detail in the message itself.
• editors, authorised contractors, accountants, auditors, insurers and professional advisers subject to appropriate duties;
• regulators, courts, law-enforcement bodies or other persons where disclosure is required or authorised by law; and
• the public where the data subject or authorised firm has deliberately selected information for publication.

Lawryse does not sell personal information. Operators must process information only under Lawryse’s instructions, maintain appropriate security and notify Lawryse of relevant security incidents.

12. International transfers

Lawryse’s main systems are hosted in Ireland (database and authentication) and by providers whose operations or support may be located in the United States or elsewhere (website hosting and delivery, email delivery, file storage and payment processing). Where information is processed outside South Africa, Lawryse relies on a contract or the provider’s binding rules that give protection substantially similar to POPIA, or on the data subject’s consent where that is the basis. Special personal information and children’s information receive heightened transfer controls and any required prior authorisation.

13. Security

Lawryse uses reasonable technical and organisational safeguards appropriate to the information and risk, including role-based access, authentication controls, encrypted transmission, logging, backups, supplier controls, staff confidentiality, security monitoring and incident-response procedures. No online system can be guaranteed completely secure.

14. Retention

When retention is no longer authorised, Lawryse will delete, destroy or de-identify information, subject to secure backup cycles and lawful restrictions.

15. Cookies and analytics

Lawryse currently uses necessary first-party cookies and similar technology for security, sessions and public functions. Non-essential analytics, advertising or embedded-service cookies will be activated only with suitable notice and consent controls where required. Browser settings may block cookies, but some functions may then not work correctly.

16. Service communications and direct marketing

Lawryse may send necessary account, payment, security, editorial, contributor and LARIA service messages. Marketing communications are sent only where lawful and include an appropriate opt-out. Opting out of marketing does not stop necessary service notices.

17. Your rights

Subject to law, a data subject may ask whether Lawryse holds their information, request access, request correction or deletion, object to processing, withdraw consent where consent is the basis, ask for restriction, or complain to the Information Regulator. Lawryse may require reasonable identity verification and may refuse or limit a request where law permits or requires.

18. Complaints

First contact Alice Edmunds at enquiries@lawryse.com so Lawryse can investigate. A complaint may also be submitted to the Information Regulator, Woodmead North Office Park, 54 Maxwell Drive, Woodmead, Johannesburg, 2191; telephone 010 023 5200; enquiries@inforegulator.org.za.

Information Regulator website and forms: https://inforegulator.org.za/

19. Changes to this Policy

Lawryse may update this Policy when its services, providers or legal obligations change. A material change will be notified through the relevant website, Dashboard, portal or email channel. The effective date identifies the current version.