Privacy Notice
Greenwoods Legal Services Limited (“Greenwoods”), together with any subsidiaries, holding companies and affiliates in the same corporate group, respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information. Greenwoods is the data controller responsible for deciding how and why your personal information is used. Client confidentiality and information protection are fundamental to our relationships with clients. As a legal services firm regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, we also have statutory, common law and regulatory duties to protect confidential and personal information.
You may be receiving this notice because we act for trustees or executors and you are a settlor or beneficiary of a trust or estate. You may be reading this notice as a job applicant or as an attendee at an event that we are running/hosting.
This Privacy Notice (“Notice”) explains how and why we use your personal information (also called “personal data”), who we share it with, how long we keep it and the rights available to you.
Please read this Notice carefully as it contains important information on who we are and how and why we collect, store, use and share your personal information.
1. Who does this notice apply to?
- people who use or enquire about using our services;
- visitors to our website;
- job applicants and potential job applicants;
- complainants;
- people whose services we use
- attendees at our events; and
- third parties whose personal information we need to process while providing our services.
2. People who use or enquire about using our services
We ask for your personal information as it enables us to provide our services to you. To use a basic example, it would not be possible for us to communicate with you in relation to our services without knowing your contact details, which contain your personal information.
Personal information we will collect:
The types of personal information we collect while advising and/or acting for you may include:
- your name and contact details (postal address, email address and telephone/mobile number);
- information to enable us to check and verify your identity, e.g. your date of birth or passport details;
- during a remote online call, your voice may be recorded if recording is enabled, your image may be captured if video is enabled, and your name may be visible;
- information relating to the matter on which you are seeking our advice or representation;
- your financial details so far as they are relevant to the nature of our services which you request, e.g. the relevant source of funds if you are asking for us to help with a purchase transaction;
- your use of our IT, communication and other systems; and
- other monitoring information, e.g. if using our secure online client portal or if receiving our email updates.
Personal information we may collect depending on why you have instructed us:
- your national insurance number and tax details;
- your bank and/or building society details;
- details of your professional online presence, such as your company website profile or LinkedIn profile;
- your employment status and details including salary and benefits;
- your nationality, immigration status and information from related documents, such as copies of your passport, BRP cards, driving licence or other identification documents;
- details of your marital status/civil partnership, spouse/partner and dependents or other family members including children;
- information about your health, including any medical condition, health and sickness records;
- details of your pension arrangements; and
- your employment records including, where relevant, records relating to sickness and attendance, performance, disciplinary, conduct and grievances.
3. Visitors to our website
Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to operate, understand and improve the site and our communications. We ask for consent before using non-essential technologies unless the law allows their use without consent. Where an exemption applies, for example for limited statistical purposes, we provide clear information and a simple way to object.
We use Google Analytics to understand how people use different parts of our website, and tracking pixels to measure the effectiveness of our email communications. Our Cookie Notice and cookie settings explain which technologies we use, their purposes and how you can control them.
We do not use analytics information to try to identify you. However, online identifiers such as IP addresses may still be personal information, even where reports are aggregated. Please see our Cookie Notice for more information.
In general, the personal information we collect from website visitors (as well as those who subscribe to our email updates, attend our seminars/webinars or view our other publications) includes:
- your name, email address and internet service provider address;
- name of your organisation, your job title and details of your job;
- information relating to the matter which you contact us about;
- technical data including 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 you use to access this website.
- payment details; and
- dietary or access requirements.
4. Complainants
We are committed to providing a high-quality service to all of our clients. However, when you do want to raise a concern with us we may need to collect personal information in order to administer and respond to that complaint, such as:
- your name, home address, email address and mobile phone number;
- information relating to the matter about which you sought our assistance or which are/were the subject of our services/relationship; and
- details of your complaint.
5. People whose services we use
Where we engage individuals or organisations to provide services for us (for example, instructing a barrister or filing documents with the Court), we may be required to collect and use personal information related to the staff of the service provider in order to facilitate the provision of the service (for example, for the purposes of administrative communication). We may also collect and retain personal information to enable us to evaluate that service.
Any such use of personal information will be governed by contractual terms between us and the service provider as well as the relevant provisions of this Notice.
6. Attendees at our events
Where we host events, sometimes with others, we will collect your data either directly or from our co-host. We often use platforms to run those events. In those cases the platform will be a data processor. Your registration details are requested so that the event can be delivered to you and your information will be access by us for this purpose. You can unregister at any time by following the links in the emails that you receive from the platform. Cookies are also often used. The platform’s privacy and cookie notices will be available to you either in the emails or from the platform directly.
7. “Special category” personal information
Applicable law recognises certain categories of personal information as sensitive and therefore requiring more protection and careful handling, e.g. information about your health, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, sex life, genetic data, biometric data, religious or philosophical beliefs and political opinions.
We may need to use special category personal information when it is relevant to our services or operations. For example, we may use it to advise on a discrimination claim, make reasonable adjustments, monitor equality or establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
We will use special category personal information only where we have both a lawful basis for using personal information and an additional condition required by law. Depending on the circumstances, that condition may relate to legal claims, employment or social protection law, substantial public interest or your explicit consent.
8. How we obtain your personal information
We collect most of the personal information covered by this Notice directly from you. However, we may also collect personal information from other sources, such as:
Directly from a third party (consent will be sought where required):
For example:
- from clients requesting our services (i.e. when your personal information is relevant to the matter about which they seek our assistance);
- your bank or building society, or other financial institution (for example, to pay our invoices);
- consultants and other professionals we may engage in relation to your matter (for example, an expert witness in litigation);
- your employer and/or trade union, professional body or pension administrators;
- your doctors, medical and occupational health professionals (for example, so that we can put in place appropriate workplace adjustments to ensure equality of access and opportunity); and
- recruitment agencies.
Via our own or our landlord’s information technology systems:
For example:
- case management, document management and financial management systems;
- door entry systems, desk booking platforms and reception logs;
- recording and transcription of meetings and calls via our computer systems; and
- automated monitoring of our websites and other technical systems, such as our computer networks and connections, CCTV and access control systems, communications systems, email and instant messaging systems.
Publicly accessible sources:
For example:
- Companies House;
- HM Land Registry;
- Charity Commission; and
- through social media platforms. Depending on your privacy settings for social media services, we may access information from relevant accounts or profiles – for example when you interact with us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.
9. How and why we use your personal information
We can only use your personal information where we have a legally recognised justification for doing so, such as:
- in order to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;
- for or in the performance of our contract to provide you with our services, or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract;
- for our legitimate interests or those of a third party, where your interests and rights do not override them, or for a recognised legitimate interest set out in law; or
- where you have provided your consent.
We do not sell or rent your personal information. We may use service providers to help us deliver our services and communications, but they may use your information only for the agreed purposes and under appropriate safeguards.
A “legitimate interest” is a genuine business or operational reason to use your personal information. We consider whether the use is necessary and balance that reason against your rights and interests. For certain “recognised legitimate interests” set out in law, such as preventing crime, the usual balancing test is not required. We will still use only what is necessary and follow the data protection principles.
If we want to use your personal information for a new purpose, we will consider whether that purpose is compatible with the original purpose. If it is not compatible, we will tell you and identify another lawful basis before using the information, unless the law allows or requires the new use without notice.
We summarise how and why we use your personal information (and the applicable legal justifications) below:
10. How we use personal information relating to other individuals collected from you
For other individuals:
Due to the nature of our business, we frequently need to collect and use personal information of third parties as part of the service we provide to our clients.
In some cases, we may not be required to give information directly to an individual if doing so would disclose legally privileged or confidential material, prejudice legal proceedings or fall within another legal exemption. We assess any exemption case by case. We may also withhold personal information in response to an access request where the law requires or permits us to do so, including to protect legal professional privilege or another person’s rights.
For you:
In the course of providing our services to you, you may provide us with personal information which relates to and identifies individuals who are not aware of our involvement or of our use of their personal information at all. Examples include:
- Personal information relating to employees in the course of a corporate acquisition.
- Personal information relating to key individuals of parties to a dispute.
- Personal information contained in allegations made about former colleagues by a claimant ex-employee.
- Personal information relating to beneficiaries, trust/estate persons in the course of preparing Wills, creating trusts and estate and trust administration.
In such situations (which, by the nature of our business, are relatively common), it will not usually be appropriate for us to have any direct contact with individuals whose personal information we are using (for example, because we communicate instead with their solicitors). Alternately, it may not be appropriate for us to provide such individuals with this Notice (for example, because it may prejudice the purpose of the services we are providing or to maintain confidentiality).
Before you pass any such personal information to us, please ensure that the relevant individual has received any requisite privacy notices in connection with the performance of our services.
Additionally, please direct any individuals who interact with us on your behalf to this Notice, a link to which is also contained in the footer of all our emails.
11. Marketing and promotional communications
We may collect and use your personal information to send you email updates about industry or legal developments that might be of interest to you, and/or other information about our services, including offers, promotions or new services/products.
As set out in section 8 above, we have a legitimate interest in using your personal information for these purposes. This means we do not always need to obtain your consent to send you marketing and promotional communications. However, we acknowledge that there are situations where consent is needed: in such situations we will ask for consent separately and clearly, and put you under no pressure to provide your consent. If you do provide your consent, you can change your mind and withdraw your consent at any time either by contacting [email protected] or clicking the unsubscribe link in our emails.
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 applicable law, regulation or the structure/ operation of our business.
13. Where do we hold your personal information?
We generally store electronic information using cloud servers located in the UK and the European Economic Area (“EEA”). Some service providers or recipients may process information elsewhere, as explained below.
To provide our services or manage our relationship with you, we may transfer personal information to recipients outside the UK. This may happen, for example, on a multijurisdictional matter, when you are outside the UK or when a service provider uses facilities in another country.
The EEA and certain other countries are covered by UK adequacy regulations. For other destinations, we use safeguards recognised under UK law and, where required, assess whether the protection for your information would be materially lower than under UK data protection law.
When we transfer personal information outside the UK, we use one or more of the following safeguards:
- a UK adequacy regulation covering the destination country or organisation; or
- an approved transfer mechanism, such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement, the UK Addendum to the EU standard contractual clauses or another safeguard recognised by UK law, together with any additional protections required by our assessment.
Please contact us if you would like more information about the safeguard used for a particular transfer or a copy of the relevant protection, subject to any necessary redactions.
14. How long will we keep your personal information?
We will keep your personal information after our relationship comes to an end. We will do this for one of the following reasons:
- to respond to questions, complaints or claims;
- to show that we treated you fairly and in accordance with applicable law;
- to keep records required by regulatory bodies who govern our work and services (or otherwise as required by applicable law or regulation); or
- for business management purposes.
We keep records in line with our professional, legal and regulatory obligations and our Records Management Policy. We do not keep personal information for longer than necessary for the purposes described in this Notice. Retention periods vary according to the type of information, why we collected it, its sensitivity and any legal or regulatory requirements. Further details are available on request.
15. Your rights explained
Data protection law gives you rights over how we use your personal information. These rights are explained below:
To protect your information, we may ask you to confirm your identity or clarify what information or right your request concerns. Where the law permits, the response period may be paused until we receive information reasonably needed to verify your identity or understand the scope of your request. Some rights apply only in limited circumstances. To exercise a right, please use the contact details in section 17.
16. Keeping your personal information secure
We have implemented appropriate security measures to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost or used or accessed unlawfully. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to access it (i.e. as part of their job). Those who access and handle your personal information will do so only when authorised by us to do so and are subject to binding duties of confidentiality.
We also have procedures for responding to actual or suspected personal data breaches. We will notify you and the ICO where the law requires us to do so. For further information, please use the contact details in section 17.
17. Changes to this Notice
This Notice was first published on 15 March 2025 and last reviewed on 9 October 2026.
We may change this Notice from time to time (for example because there is an update in applicable law). Where we make any significant changes, we will inform you via a notice on our website and within our email footers. Where it is practical and not intrusive, we will notify you directly of any material changes to this Notice.
Nonetheless, we recommend that you review this Notice periodically to remain informed about how we may use your personal information.
We will only notify individuals who are directly engaging with us about these changes. In particular, we will not notify any third parties whose personal information you give us.
18. How to contact us
If you have a question, want to exercise a privacy right or wish to make a complaint, please contact us using the details below:
Post:
Data Protection
Greenwoods Legal Services Limited
Queens House
55-56 Lincoln’s Inn Fields
London
WC2A 3LJ
Email: [email protected]