Privacy policy

Website Privacy Policy

Your privacy is important to us. Please read this privacy notice carefully as it contains important information on who we are and how and why we collect, store, use and share your personal data. It also explains your rights in relation to your personal data and how to contact us or supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.

Introduction

Our use of your personal data is subject to your instructions, the UK GDPR and all national implementing laws, regulations and secondary legislation (each as amended or updated from time to time) and our professional duty of confidentiality.

Our website is not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children. If you are under 16 years old, you may not submit any personal data to us. It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.

Please note that our website may include links to third party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.

Key terms

It would be helpful to start by explaining some key terms used in this notice:

Personal data we collect about you

The table below sets out the personal data we may collect, whether as a result of you visiting our website, in the course of advising and/or acting for you, or in connection with some other matter.

How your personal data is collected

We collect most personal data directly from you, but we may also collect personal data from your employer and/or the company or organisation which is our client/vendor/supplier. We may also collect personal data:

• From publicly accessible sources, e.g. Companies House or HM Land Registry;
• Directly from a third party, e.g.:
  • sanctions screening providers;
  • credit reference agencies;
  • client due diligence providers;
  • recruitment agencies and/or named referees;
• From a third party with your consent, e.g.:
  • your bank or building society, another financial institution or advisor;
  • consultants and other professionals we may engage in relation to a matter;
  • your trade union, professional body or pension administrators;
  • your doctors, medical and occupational health professionals;
• Via our information technology systems, e.g.:
  • our website and applications;
  • case management, document management and time recording systems;
  • reception logs;
  • automated monitoring of our website and other technical systems, such as our computer networks and connections, communications systems, e-mail and instant messaging systems.

Where we collect personal data from a third-party source, they must ensure that they have all necessary notices and consents in place in connection with the relevant transfer(s).

How and why we use your personal data

Under data protection law, we can only use your personal data if we have a proper reason for doing so, e.g.:

• to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;
• for the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract;
• for the promotion of public health and safety, the prevention and detection of crime and disorder and the apprehension and prosecution of offenders;
• for vital interests – the processing is necessary to protect someone’s life;
• for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims;
• for our legitimate interests or those of a third party; or
• you have given consent.

A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your information, so long as this is not overridden by your own rights and interests.

The table below explains what we use (process) your personal data for and our reasons for doing so:

The above table does not apply to special category personal data, which we will only process where we have a lawful basis for doing so, including:

• with your explicit consent;
• where this is necessary to protect your vital interests or those of a third party;
• where this is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims;
• where this is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest;
• as permitted by applicable law.

Promotional communications

We may use your personal data to send you updates (by e-mail, telephone or post) about legal developments that might be of interest to you and/or information about our services, including exclusive offers, promotions or new services.

We often have a legitimate interest in processing your personal data for promotional purposes (see above ‘How and why we use your personal data’). This means we do not usually need your consent to send you promotional communications. However, where consent is needed, we will ask for this consent separately and clearly.

We will always treat your personal data with the utmost respect and save as otherwise described in this policy, we will never share it with other organisations for marketing purposes.

You have the right to opt-out of receiving promotional communications at any time by:

• contacting us;
• using the unsubscribe or marketing preference update links in e-mails.
• We may ask you to confirm or update your marketing preferences if you instruct us to provide further services in the future, or if there are changes in the law, regulation, or the structure of our business.

Who we share your personal data with

We may share your personal data with:

• other professional advisers who we instruct on your behalf or refer you to, e.g. barristers, expert witnesses, arbitrators/mediators, medical professionals, accountants and tax advisors;
• other third parties where necessary to carry out your instructions, e.g. your mortgage provider or HM Land Registry in the case of a property transaction or Companies House; appropriate parties in the event of emergencies (in particular to protect the health and safety of our staff, members and clients);
• your employer, company or organisation (in relation to us providing legal services);
• credit reference agencies;
• recruitment agencies and/or named referees;
• our insurers and brokers;
• external auditors, e.g. in relation to Lexcel accreditation and the audit of our accounts;
• our banks;
• external service suppliers, representatives and agents that we use to make our business more efficient, e.g. IT and communication suppliers, typing services, marketing agencies, document collation or analysis suppliers and telephone answering services;
• the emergency services;
• other delegates, where your name will appear on an attendee list for events where you have told us you wish to attend;
• co-hosts, where we are organising an event (such as a marketing event or seminar) alongside a third party.

We only allow our service providers to handle your personal data if we are satisfied, they take appropriate measures to protect your personal data. We also impose contractual obligations on service providers to ensure they can only use your personal data to provide services to us and to our clients.

We may disclose and exchange information with law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.

We may also need to share some personal data with other parties, such as potential buyers of some or all of our business or during a re-structuring. Usually, information will be anonymised but this may not always be possible. The recipient of the information will be bound by confidentiality obligations.

Where your personal data is held

Information may be held at our office and those of our third-party agencies, service providers, representatives and agents as described above (see ‘Who we share your personal data with’).

Some of these third parties may be based outside the UK. For more information, including on how we safeguard your personal data when this occurs, see below: ‘Transferring your personal data out of the UK’.

How long your personal data will be kept

We will not retain your data for longer than necessary for the purposes set out in this notice. Different retention periods apply for different types of data. If you would like further information, please contact our Data Compliance Officer (see ‘How to contact us’ below).

In particular, where we advise and/or act for you, we will keep your personal data after we have finished advising or acting for you. We will do so for one of these reasons:

• to respond to any questions, complaints or claims made by you or on your behalf;
• to show that we treated you fairly;
• to keep records required by law.

Transferring your personal data out of the UK

To deliver services to clients and to otherwise operate our business, it is sometimes necessary for us to share personal data outside the UK, e.g.:

• with your and our service providers located outside the UK;
• if you are based outside the UK;
• where there is an international dimension to the matter in which we are advising you.

These transfers are subject to special rules under the UK’s data protection laws.

These countries do not have the same data protection laws as the UK. We will, however, ensure the transfer complies with data protection law and all personal data will be secure. Our standard practice is to use standard data protection contract clauses which have been approved by UK authorities, including the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

If you would like further information, please contact our Data Compliance Officer (see ‘How to contact us’ below).

Your rights

You have the following rights, which you can exercise free of charge:

For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, please contact our Data Compliance Officer (see ‘How to contact us’ below) or see the guidance published by the ICO on individuals’ rights under the UK GDPR.

If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please:

• contact our Data Compliance Officer (see ‘How to contact us’ below);
• provide enough information so as to allow us to identify you (including your full name, address and matter reference number (if you have one));
• provide us with proof of your identity and your address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill); and
• let us know what right you want to exercise and the information to which your request relates.

Keeping your personal data secure

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal data from being accidentally lost or used or accessed unlawfully. We limit access to your personal data to those who have a genuine business need to access it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator (including the ICO) of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

How to complain

We hope that our Data Compliance Officer can resolve any query or concern you may raise about our use of your information.

The UK GDPR also gives you right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. The supervisory authority in the UK is the ICO, who may be contacted online or by telephone (0303 123 1113).

Changes to this privacy notice

This privacy notice was last updated in March 2025.

We may change this privacy notice from time to time. If we change anything important in this notice, we will highlight those changes at the top of this notice and provide a prominent link on our website to it for a reasonable length of time following the change.

How to contact us

Please contact us and/or our Data Compliance Officer by post, e-mail or telephone if you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information we hold about you.

Our contact details are shown below: