Privacy Notice

Ashfords LLP ("Ashfords", "we", "us", or "our") respects individuals' privacy. We are committed to protecting and respecting the personal information we collect about individuals, or which is provided to us by individuals or third parties, and to observing and complying with relevant data protection laws. This Notice will inform you as to how we process your personal data and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.

This Notice sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect about an individual, or that is provided to us by an individual or any other third party, will be processed by us.

If you have any queries regarding this Notice please contact us (at the contact details set out in section 18 below) and we will do our best to deal with your query or complaint as soon as possible. From 1^st January 2021, if you are based in the EEA you may contact our authorised representative whose details are set out in section 18 below.

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues, who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns or telephone: 0303 123 1113. We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO, so please contact us in the first instance.

Ashfords LLP is the controller and responsible for your personal data.

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.

1. Personal Information we may collect

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about individuals which we have grouped together as follows:

Identity Data includes names, usernames or similar identifier, marital status, title, job title, name of employer, date of birth, gender, copies of passports, driving licences, birth certificates, and other documents that prove identity, plus details relating to your job, experience, qualifications, your behaviour, preferences, hobbies and interests and details as to whether an individual is a politically exposed person or is listed on sanctions lists maintained by a government.
Contact Data includes address, email address and telephone numbers.
Financial Data includes bank account and payment card details and National Insurance and tax details.
Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you and other details of services individuals have purchased from us.
Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices used to access our website.
Profile Data includes usernames and password, interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses.
Usage Data includes information about usage of our website, products, offices, facilities, and services.
Marketing and Communications Data includes preferences in receiving marketing and communications from us and our third parties and communication preferences.
Photograph and Image Data includes images and photographs of you taken at our marketing events, and captured on CCTV at our offices.
Special Category Data includes data concerning health, genetic data and biometric data, data concerning a person’s sex life and/or sexual orientation, personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs and trade union membership.
Criminal Convictions and Offences Data includes personal data on criminal convictions and offences.

If an individual fails to provide personal data

Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with an individual and they fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with the individual (for example, to provide an individual with products or services). In this case, we may have to cancel a product or service an individual has with us, but we will notify the individual if this is the case at the time.

We have set out below descriptions of the categories of individuals about whom we process personal data, and the ways we plan to process the personal data.

2. Clients

We process Identity, Contact, Financial, Transactional, Technical, Profile, Usage, Marketing and Communications and Photograph and Image Data about clients, including personal data of their employees, customers, directors, officers, ultimate beneficial owners and any other personal data disclosed to us by the client or their representatives, or obtained by us or anyone engaged by us, in relation to the services to be provided.

If you are a Client of Ashfords your personal data is processed by us in accordance with our Privacy Notice to Clients. PLEASE READ as our Privacy Notice to Clients is the only privacy notice that is relevant and it overrides this Notice.

3. Prospective Clients

We process Identity, Contact, Technical, Profile, Usage, Marketing and Communications and Photograph and Image Data about prospective clients, which will include any personal data disclosed to us by the prospective client, including personal data of their employees, customers, directors, officers, ultimate beneficial owners and any other personal data disclosed to us by the prospective client or their representatives, or obtained by us or anyone engaged by us, in relation to the services they are considering acquiring from us. We process this data to enable us to determine whether we can or wish to and to provide any services to prospective clients. We will also use the data to provide updates on our products and services and to invite individuals to events.

In assessing whether we can or wish to provide services to a prospective client we may process certain Special Category Data, and Criminal Convictions and Offences Data. By way of examples, we will conduct searches that may reveal a) information concerning political opinions or trade union membership of either the prospective client or a related party; or b) information concerning certain criminal offences which impact on our ability to provide advice to you. Further information on this processing is set out in section 8.

We also process Identity and Contact data of prospective clients to enable our staff and partners to claim business expenditure they may incur in line with our internal policies and procedures.

4. Employees, Consultants, Partners, & Prospective Employees, Consultants

We have implemented a number of policies and privacy notices which set out what, how and why we will process their data. Those approaching Ashfords in respect of prospective employment or work opportunities will be provided with our relevant privacy notice.

5. Suppliers & Service Providers

We process the Identity, Contact, Financial, Transaction, Usage and Photograph and Image data of specific individuals at our suppliers and services providers to allow us to assess if we require the services and to enable us to receive the services that they are providing. We also need to process this personal data in order to manage the relationship between Ashfords and the relevant supplier or service provider.

We may also share this personal data with clients where the supplier or service provider needs to liaise directly with a client.

6. Contacts

This category of individuals is quite broad and will include individuals at other professional services firms, such as accountants and other lawyers, third party service providers, and general business contacts made by our staff, including individuals that they meet at marketing and other events. We will also add the personal data provided to us when individuals contact us via our website, or sign up to attend one of our events or our mailing lists.

In order to manage all of these contacts we have implemented a relationship management tool called InterAction. Staff add Identity, Contact, Transaction, Marketing and Communications Data to InterAction, so that we can ensure that the firm is able to manage our relationships consistently with all of our Contacts.

In addition to InterAction we use a product called Vuture to give Contacts the ability to manage their preferences. Contacts will be able to select what information they want to receive from us.

We will use the contact information contained in InterAction to provide updates on our products and services and to invite individuals to events and to enable our staff and partners to claim business expenditure in line with our internal policies and procedures. We also use InterAction to manage client and contact relationships, including to ensure that we are providing consistent delivery of our services.

We will on occasion engage the services of third party experts, such as medical experts. When we receive professional information from experts, such as CVs, we retain this information within our library service to ensure staff stay informed about an expert's qualifications.

The categories of personal data that we will collect about our contacts will include Identity, Contact, Financial, Transactional, Technical, Profile, Usage, Marketing and Communications, and Photograph and Image Data.

We may collect Photograph and Image Data when you attend one of our marketing events. Photographs and images may be used in our marketing literature, press coverage, and social media. If you are at one of our events and do not wish to be photographed please let us know.

7. Visitors to our website

For website visitors, we may collect Technical Data about their computer and Usage Data about their browsing actions and patterns. Please see section 10 (‘Automated Technologies or Interactions’) for information on how this data is collected. For guidance on how to manage your cookie settings and the data we collect on your visits to our website, please see our cookie policy on the website.

Where a website visitor contacts us through the website or signs up to an event or a mailing list, please see section 6 (‘Contacts’) for information on the data collected.

8. How do we use Personal Data & for what purpose do we use it

The purpose for which we use a person’s personal data will vary depending on how they interact with us. Most commonly, we will use an individual's personal data in the following circumstances:

where we need to perform a contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with the individual or some other third party (e.g. a client or supplier, such as a company or another individual).
to provide an individual with information they have requested from us either verbally or in writing, including where an individual has submitted a query via our website.
to send individuals information about our services or our events, including events hosted with third parties.
where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and the individual's interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.

We will only process an individual’s personal information where the law allows us to. Our legal basis for processing personal information will typically be determined by the purposes for which we process that individual’s personal data. Most commonly we will rely on one of the following legal basis:

we are performing a contract, or about to enter into a contract, with the individual;
we have a legal or regulatory obligation, such as carrying out ID checks and anti-money laundering compliance on prospective clients and their respective directors, officers and ultimate beneficial owners; or
it is in our legitimate interests (or the legitimate interests of a third party) to process the personal information (except where those interests are overridden by the interests or the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual).

Those legitimate interests include:

enhancing the profile of our business;
providing legal and related services to our clients;
marketing our business and services;
ensuring compliance with our policies and procedures;
protection of our brand reputation, intellectual property and commercially valuable information;
ensuring our services are delivered efficiently and reliably;
preventing and detecting criminal activity;
for security reasons;
promoting our business to ensure commercial viability;
pursuing debts;
maintaining/obtaining accreditations so we can demonstrate that we operate at the highest standard;
defending legal claims against us (e.g. for negligence);
complying with relevant laws and regulations; and
ensuring the health and safety of our staff and visitors.

Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing personal data other than in relation to sending third party direct marketing communications via email or text message. Individuals have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time, by contacting us using the details set out below.

Special Category Data

As and when we process Special Category Data, we will process it in accordance with applicable Data Protection legislation.

Typically, this will be where the processing is necessary for performing our contract with you or the processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject and (in addition) the processing is necessary:

(1) for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or whenever courts are acting in their judicial capacity; or

(2) for reasons of substantial public interest, such as where the processing is necessary for the purpose of (i) preventing or detecting unlawful acts, or (ii) protecting the public against dishonesty, or (iii) regulatory requirements relating to unlawful acts and dishonesty, or (iv) preventing fraud, or (v) making disclosures of suspicions of terrorist financing or money laundering.

On occasion we may need to obtain your explicit consent, or (in the case of another Data Subject's Special Category Data) require you to obtain the Data Subject's explicit consent, before we can process that Special Category Data.

If we do seek and obtain your (or another Data Subject's) explicit consent, you/they can withdraw it at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing based on your/their consent before its withdrawal.

We have in place an appropriate policy document which we are required by law to maintain when processing Special Category Data. This is available on request by contacting us at the address specified in section 18 (‘Contact Us’).

Criminal Convictions and Offences Data

We will only process personal data relating to criminal convictions and offences in accordance with applicable Data Protection legislation.

(1) preventing or detecting unlawful acts; or

(2) protecting the public against dishonesty; or

(3) regulatory requirements relating to unlawful acts and dishonesty; or

(4) preventing fraud; or

(5) making disclosures of suspicions of terrorist financing or money laundering; or

(6) legal proceedings or obtaining legal advice or establishing, exercising or defending legal rights.

On occasion, we may need to obtain your explicit consent, or (in the case of another Data Subject) require you to obtain the Data Subject's explicit consent before we can process information relating to criminal convictions and offences.

We have in place an appropriate policy document which we are required by law to maintain when processing Criminal Convictions and Offences Data. This is available on request by contacting us at the address specified in section 18 (‘Contact Us’).

9. How do we collect personal data

The ways in which we collect and use, store and transfer personal data will vary. It may be through direct interactions, third parties, publicly available sources or through automated technologies or interactions.

10. Cookies and tracking technologies

As individuals interact with our website and communications we send, we may collect Technical Data about their equipment, and Usage Data about their browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. Please see our cookie policy on the website for further details.

11. Third parties or Publicly available sources

We may receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources as set out below:

Identity and Contact Data, Special Category Data and Criminal Convictions and Offences Data from publicly availably sources (such as Companies House and the Electoral Register based in the UK) and third party screening providers.
Contact, Financial and Transaction Data from providers of technical, payment and/or delivery services.
Technical Data from the following parties:
- analytics providers, such as Google based outside the UK; and
- search information providers based inside the UK and/or EU.
Our clients and suppliers and the other parties (and/or their advisers) to transactions and/or disputes/legal matters on which we are advising our clients.

12. Where we store and process personal data

The data that we collect from individuals may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination inside or outside the United Kingdom (UK), for example our IT service suppliers may store data in the Cloud and not on servers located in the UK. It may also be processed by persons or entities operating inside or outside the UK who work for us or for one of our suppliers or their sub-contractors. Such persons or entities may be engaged in, among other things, the fulfilment of your instructions, the processing of your payment details and the provision of support services.

In terms of the transfer of personal data out of the UK but within the EU/EEA, the UK Government has deemed the EU and EEA states to be adequate to allow for data flows from the UK. The EU has also granted the UK an ‘adequacy decision’. This means that the EU has determined the UK’s data protection laws to be robust enough to ensure personal data can transfer freely from the EU (and EEA) to the UK. No additional safeguards are therefore needed at this time.

Whenever we transfer personal data out of the UK, and to a non-EU (and non-EEA) country, we ensure at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

We will only transfer your personal data to countries that a) have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the European Commission on the basis the UK Government recognises the European Commission adequacy decisions in place as at 31 December 2020 or b) have alternative but comparable safeguards in place.
Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved by the European Commission and recognised by the UK Government which give personal data the appropriate level of protection.

13. Data security

We have put in place appropriate technical and organisational measures to look to prevent personal data from being unlawfully processed, altered or accidentally lost.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected or actual personal data breach and will notify individuals and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of any data transmitted to our website or to or from us via the internet. Any transmission is at the individual's own risk. Once we have received an individual's information, we use procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access and unlawful processing.

14. Disclosure of information

We may share personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in this Notice.

Our staff, Partners, Consultants, and our subsidiaries.
Service providers who provide services to us that involve data processing (including IT system administration and marketing and electronic communication services).
To individuals or organisations where we are under a legal, regulatory, or professional obligation to disclose an individual’s personal information, or where it is necessary to enforce or protect our rights or property or those of our clients.
Professional advisers acting as processors or controllers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers based in the United Kingdom, who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services or expert witness services.
HM Revenue & Customs, regulators including the SRA, the Law Society and other authorities acting as processors or controllers based in the United Kingdom who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.
Third parties with whom we organise events.
To any actual or prospective buyer of our business or with whom we plan to merge.

We require all third parties to respect the security of personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

15. Your rights

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. These rights include:

Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a "data subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.

Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.

Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.

Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.

You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes or to decisions being taken by automated means which produce legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affect you.

Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the data's accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.

Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us using the details set out in ‘Contact Us’ below.

No fee usually required

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

What we may need from you

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

Time limit to respond

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

16. Data retention

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

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal and regulatory requirements to which we are subject.

Details of retention periods are available on request by contacting us at the address set out in ‘Contact Us’ below.

Please note that all emails that we receive from you or we send to you will be stored for up to 15 years, either directly by ourselves or using a third party IT service provider’s storage service.

17. Changes to our privacy notice

We may update this Notice at any time without notice. Any changes we may make to this Notice in the future will be posted on this page. Please review this page regularly so that you are aware of any changes.

18. Contact us

Questions, comments and requests regarding this Notice are welcomed.

Address:
Risk & Compliance
Ashford House
Grenadier Rd
Exeter EX1 3LH

Email: Risk&Compliance@ashfords.co.uk.

From 1^st January 2021, if you are based in the EEA you may contact our authorised representative:

Contact: Data Protection Officer

Address:

Cornet Vincent Segurel
251 bd Pereire – 75852 Paris
France

Email: rgpd@cvs-avocats.com

Please ensure that in any correspondence to our authorised representative, you ensure that Ashfords LLP is clearly referenced in the subject heading.

This version was last updated on 21 October 2024.

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