Last updated 6 November 2026. Read with our Privacy, Records Management and AI Use Policy.
We want to be open and transparent about our practices. Client trust is important to us. What people share with us in a mediation, a coaching session or a workplace conversation stays within our team and the practitioner on the matter, and is used only for the purpose it was shared for. This statement explains, in brief, how we look after that information, how we use AI with it, and how long we keep records.
If your organisation requires higher standards or limitations on how we maintain information, please let us know. We are happy to add further data security settings when a client asks, including for government, financial and healthcare clients. This statement summarises our full Privacy, Records Management and AI Use Policy, available on this website and on request. If the two differ, the policy applies.
1. Our starting point
Conflict Services is a small business. We follow practices aligned with the Australian Privacy Principles and, for Queensland Government work, the Queensland Privacy Principles. Where a client contract or the law that applies to an engagement is stricter than our policy, that requirement applies, and our policy does not reduce it.
2. Two kinds of information
We draw one line through everything we hold, and which side information falls on decides how we handle it.
| Operational information | Sensitive personal information | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | What we use to run the business: administration, scheduling, invoicing, marketing, website content, articles and routine business contact details. It also includes the details you enter into our forms or give the AI Concierge when you ask for triage, a guide, a Conflict Check result or a practitioner match. | What a client or participant shares with us or a practitioner because of an engagement: what is said in sessions, internal client documents, investigation reports, complaint files, meeting notes, recordings and transcripts, and any personal detail beyond routine business contact details. |
3. Confidentiality
- Who sees it. Sensitive personal information is seen only by the people named on the engagement. We tell the client who they are.
- Our practitioners. Panel practitioners have agreed to follow these terms and our full policy. Their agreement with us includes confidentiality and privacy obligations.
- What we report. In mediation, we report to the commissioning organisation only what participants have agreed can be shared, usually whether an agreement was reached and its terms.
- What we never do. We do not sell, rent or trade personal information, and we do not use sensitive personal information for marketing or product development.
- Articles and case studies. We may use de-identified material from our work in articles, case studies and training, but it will not identify a specific client.
The limits of confidentiality. Mediation and similar processes are not completely confidential. We may need to disclose information where there is a serious risk to life or safety, where a mandatory reporting duty applies, where a court or tribunal orders it or the law otherwise requires it, where participants consent, or where the rules of a statutory scheme or referral order apply. We explain these limits to participants before they begin.
4. How we use AI with your information
AI helps us work efficiently and keep our fees reasonable. This section explains how we use AI with client information and records. It is not a full list of every way we use AI in our business. We use it on these terms:
- The AI Concierge. Our free triage call, by voice or online chat, is with the Conflict Services AI Concierge, an AI assistant that runs on ElevenLabs and uses Anthropic's Claude model. It tells you it is an AI, asks questions and takes notes for our team so we can match a practitioner. It does not give advice or decide anything, and you can ask for a person at any time. Voice audio is not stored. The transcript is kept for 180 days.
- Your choice. You do not have to use the AI Concierge: you can request a triage call with a mediator instead, or email us. A client can also ask us not to use AI with its information, or at all in its engagement. Tell us at the start or at any time.
- Approved platforms only. Sensitive personal information goes only into AI platforms we have approved, on business accounts. We do not use free or personal AI accounts for client information.
- No training on our inputs. We do not put sensitive personal information into any platform that uses our inputs to train its models.
- Used only for its purpose. Sensitive personal information is used only for the purpose it was collected for and is not shared with anyone outside the people named on the engagement, except where the law requires it.
- Part of the record. AI conversations and files about an engagement are kept and deleted with the rest of the engagement records (see how long we keep records, below).
- People make the decisions. A person checks every AI output. People make all assessments, recommendations and decisions about individuals.
5. Recordings and transcripts
Practitioners may record or transcribe meetings and client sessions to support their work on the engagement. We tell participants before we start, and anyone can ask us not to record or transcribe. We do not record where a statutory scheme, referral order or contract prohibits it.
Recordings and transcripts are kept in approved systems, used only for the purpose they were made for, and not shared outside the people named on the engagement. A transcript is a working aid, not an agreed record of a session. Like any record, it can be sought by subpoena or court order. We delete raw audio and video once the transcript has been checked.
6. Our key systems
| System | What we use it for |
|---|---|
| Vercel | Hosts this website |
| Our enquiry system | Keeps the record of each enquiry and alerts our team. Run for us by 3P Digital on a private server in Malaysia |
| Resend | Delivers enquiry alerts and internal reports by email to our team |
| EmailOctopus | Sends the confirmation or resource you asked for, and practical notes if you signed up for them |
| ElevenLabs | Runs the AI Concierge, by voice and chat |
| Google Analytics 4 | Counts page visits and enquiry steps, unless you switch it off |
| Team email | Receives enquiry alerts and correspondence |
This list is current as of 6 November 2026. We may use other tools from time to time for our business operations, but we do not enter sensitive personal information into them. If this concerns you, please ask us.
7. Storage and security
- We keep access to client information limited to the people who need it, and we use multi-factor authentication on systems that offer it.
- Where a client prefers to keep control of sensitive documents, we work in a folder on the client's own system as invited guests.
- Team members use password-protected, auto-locking devices. Email is a transit channel, not a filing system.
- Some of our providers may store or process data outside Australia, including in Malaysia and the United States. Clients who need their data to stay in Australia can tell us at the start, and we will use the client's own Australian-hosted environment.
8. How long we keep records
The 12 month rule. Session notes, intake notes, coaching notes, transcripts and confidential client documents are generally destroyed or returned within 12 months of the engagement closing. Enquiry records and triage notes for an enquiry that does not lead to work are generally deleted within 12 months. If a client wants a longer period, it tells us in writing.
Deletion on request. You can ask us at any time to delete all the information we hold about you or your organisation, even before the periods below end. Email contact@shivmartin.com. We delete it from our systems, including our AI Concierge transcripts, ask our practitioners to delete any working copies, and confirm in writing when it is done. We keep only what the law requires us to keep, such as invoices and financial records, and we tell you what we have kept and why.
| Record | How long we keep it |
|---|---|
| Session, intake and coaching notes, recordings, transcripts and AI conversations about an engagement | Generally destroyed within 12 months of the engagement closing, or sooner on request. Raw audio and video are deleted once the transcript is checked |
| Enquiry records and triage notes (AI Concierge transcripts are kept by ElevenLabs for 180 days) | Generally deleted within 12 months where no work follows |
| Settlement agreements and outcome documents | Returned to the parties. We keep a copy for 7 years only if the parties agree, otherwise 12 months |
| Signed agreements to mediate, proposals, contracts and invoices | 7 years |
| Email lists | Until you unsubscribe, then removed within 30 days |
| Government agency information | As the agency directs. If it has not told us, we return it and keep nothing |
Electronic records are permanently deleted and paper is cross-cut shredded. Where a client's contract requires a certificate of destruction, we provide one.
9. Clients with their own requirements, including government
Where a client's contract sets requirements, including a government agency's, we comply with them, including any that are different from or stricter than our policy. We confirm the client's requirements on AI use, recording and transcription at the start of the engagement, and where the client has none our usual terms apply. We keep agency information in Australia unless the agency allows otherwise, which means we use our systems and AI platforms for agency information only with the agency's agreement. We return agency information at the end of the engagement.
10. If something goes wrong
If we know or suspect that personal information has been accessed, disclosed or lost without authority, we act straight away to contain it, assess what happened, and tell the affected client or agency as soon as practicable. Where serious harm is likely, we tell the people affected and, where required, the regulator.
11. Questions and concerns
You can ask to see or correct the personal information we hold about you. If you have any questions or concerns about how we handle your information, please contact us at contact@shivmartin.com. Our full Privacy, Records Management and AI Use Policy sets out these commitments in detail. We review it at least every two years.