Privacy Policy

This notice gives you information about how we use your personal data, and the rights that you have in your data.

We are a data controller. This means that we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal data about you, and explaining it clearly to you.

This notice applies to our prospective, existing and former: clients (including employees and representatives of our clients); individual and business contacts and prospects; referrers; individuals who request information from us; any person who provides services to us, either as an individual or as the employee or representative of a service provider; third parties acting for our clients; parties connected to or on the other side of our client matters and lawyers acting for such parties.

It is important that you read this notice, together with any other privacy information or notices we may provide.

Our Managing Director is responsible for overseeing our compliance with data protection law. If you have any questions about this transparency notice or how we handle your personal data, please contact us via the details on our website.

It is important that the personal data that we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes.

This notice applies to the following entities:

Referred to as "we", "us" or "our" in this notice. A reference in this notice to the contract we have with you is a reference to the contract between you and the relevant entity that you have contracted with.

We may add to the list of entities as our business develops. Information may be shared between entities for the purposes set out in this notice, including to enable us to market and promote our products and services to you and others.

Personal data means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. There are special categories of more sensitive personal data which require a higher level of protection (see section 7, below).

We collect different information depending on your relationship with us, as set out in the subsections below. In each case we have identified our lawful basis for processing, described in more detail at section 6.

3.1 Individual clients

We process:

• Your name, address and contact details - necessary for performance of the contract between you and us.
• Anti-money laundering and know your client information (see section 9) - to comply with our legal obligations and as necessary for the legitimate interest of understanding who we are contracting with.
• Information relating to your matter and our instructions, which may include information about your family or third party beneficiaries - necessary to perform our contract for the provision of advice or other services.
• Your bank details - necessary for performance of a contract where we are required to pay funds to you.
• Your personal data in connection with the performance of the contract, including recovery and payment of our fees.
• Your marketing preferences and details of any services you have subscribed to or events you have attended - necessary for the legitimate interest of promoting and developing our business.
• Background information about you and your relationship with us, which may include lifestyle information and information about your family - necessary for the legitimate interest of informing and improving the services we provide to you.
• Feedback you provide to us on our services - necessary for the legitimate interest of managing our business and improving our services.

To the extent permitted by law, we may monitor electronic communications for the purposes of ensuring compliance with our legal and regulatory obligations and internal policies.

We use information from our client relationship management (CRM) system to monitor your engagement with our digital content in accordance with our Cookies Policy, for the legitimate interest of informing and improving the service we provide to you, and future product and service development.

3.2 Individual prospects and other non-client contacts

We process:

• Your name, address and contact details.
• Your marketing preferences and details of any services you have subscribed to or events you have attended.
• Feedback you provide on events or marketing campaigns.
• Background information about you and your relationship with us.

Such processing is necessary for the legitimate interest of promoting and developing our business and improving our services.

3.3 Individual service providers

We process:

• Your name, title and business contact information including addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses.
• Details relating to the performance of the contract between us, including financial information and bank details for payment.

Such processing is necessary for the performance of the contract between us. We may perform due diligence in the form of credit checks and verification of your identity.

3.4 Corporate clients, suppliers and third party business contacts and prospects

We process names, titles and business contact information for your employees and representatives, as necessary for performance of the contract between us.

We process personal data as part of our anti-money laundering and know your client procedures (see section 9). We may perform due diligence including verification of company registration details, credit checks, and checking photographic identification of directors and, in some cases, shareholders.

We process information relating to your matter and our instructions, marketing preferences, feedback, and background information about you and your relationship with us.

3.5 Other individuals involved in client matters

We process the details of parties involved in or on the other side in client matters for the purpose of carrying out conflict checks, and to enable us to advise our clients, carry out instructions, and comply with our legal obligations.

We may process bank details where we are required to pay funds to you or your client. If you are a beneficiary under a will, we will hold your name, address, contact details and information about your relationship with the testator.

We use your personal data in order to manage your attendance at our events, such as webinars, training and workshops (both online and in-person). Your name, and the name of the organisation you work for, may be visible to other attendees.

Our events are usually recorded and we may make recordings publicly available, for example by uploading to our website. If you are a speaker at one of our events, we may also publish your name, contact details and profile.

We collect personal data direct from you when you enquire about our services, when we establish you as a client, if you register for an event or to receive updates, or where we enter into a contract to receive services from you.

We collect information from our clients and from parties acting on the other side in a transaction, or from lawyers or other professional advisors acting on their behalf.

We may collect information from other third parties such as referrers, partner organisations, and credit reference agencies, as well as from public sources such as Companies House, the Land Registry, online searches or social media.

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

• Where we need to perform the contract we have entered into with you.
• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
• Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.
• With your consent.

We may also use your personal data where we need to protect your vital interests or where to do so is needed in the public interest.

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another compatible reason and we notify you accordingly.

Special categories of particularly sensitive personal data require higher levels of protection. Depending on the nature of our instructions, we may collect, store and use any of the following special categories of information:

• Physical or mental health, including any medical condition or disability.
• Nationality, race or ethnicity.
• Political opinions.
• Religious or philosophical beliefs.
• Trade union membership.
• Sexual orientation or sex life.
• Genetic information and biometric data.
• Information relating to criminal convictions and offences.

We process this type of information where it is necessary to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim, where we are under a legal obligation, or where it is necessary to protect vital interests.

We may only use information relating to criminal convictions where the law allows us to do so. Except where this is necessary in the course of the advice we are providing, we do not envisage that we will hold information about criminal convictions.

We may use such information where it is necessary in relation to legal claims, where it is necessary to protect your interests and you are not capable of giving consent, or where you have already made the information public.

We are required by law to verify the identity of all clients. These procedures may necessitate verification of the identity and good standing of clients, including for corporate clients verifying directors, shareholders, and beneficial owners.

We may require evidence of source of funds at the outset of and possibly throughout our relationship with clients. In some circumstances we may decline to act until such procedures have been completed.

Where we instruct counsel or other professionals on behalf of clients, they may request copies of evidence of identity which we have obtained, and we will be entitled to send such copies to them.

We will share your personal data with third party service providers who provide services to us, and with other third parties where required by law or regulation. We share personal data with:

• Our regulators, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), and other government or law enforcement agencies.
• Our insurance providers and professional indemnity insurance brokers.
• Auditors, for the purpose of auditing our compliance with our legal and regulatory obligations.
• Credit reference agencies including Equifax Ltd, Experian Ltd, and TransUnion, with no impact on your credit score.

We may share your information if we refer you to a third party adviser for specialist advice or if we are prevented from acting for you due to a conflict. Third party service providers carry out functions on our behalf including: office and client administration, credit request searches, security, video conferencing, archiving, document management, IT support, website hosting, marketing, and anti-money laundering services.

We may share your personal data with third parties in the context of negotiations for a sale or restructuring of the business.

If we are required to transfer information outside the EEA, we have put in place appropriate measures to ensure that your personal data is treated in a way that is consistent with and which respects UK data protection laws.

If you are based outside the UK or the EEA, we may transfer personal data to the correspondence address you provide to us and will take all reasonable steps to ensure that such transfers are secure.

We will only retain your personal data for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which we collected it, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

Where a minimum retention period is required by law, we comply with that minimum period plus up to 12 months to allow time for us to anonymise or delete information in accordance with our internal data management processes.

Unless particular circumstances warrant longer retention, we retain client documents in line with the National Archives' recommended best practice and (where applicable) the Law Society's recommended retention periods. Our backup and disaster recovery service provider retains a copy of all emails and attachments for ten years.

In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal data so that it can no longer be associated with you, in which case we may use such information without further notice to you.

Under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to:

To exercise any of the above rights, please contact us via the details on our website. You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data. However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded or excessive.

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access the information.