Privacy Notice

1. Who does this Notice apply to?

As a legal services firm, this Notice applies to the personal information we obtain which identifies and relates 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; and
• third parties whose personal information we need to process in the course of 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 in the course of 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;
• 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;
• 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 or other tracking technologies to record visits and allow engagement with our content and communications. This is useful for us because it can help us to improve how we operate our website, communications and services and, in turn, provide you with a better experience when using our website.

In particular, we use Google Analytics to collect details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out information that might be useful, such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. We also track how effective our email marketing is by using tracking pixels.

We do not use this information to identify anyone. The information is collected anonymously and in aggregate and we make no attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website. 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. Job applicants or potential job applicants

The Careers section of our website contains our Job Applicant Privacy Notice which explains how Greenwoods Legal LLP (‘we’, the ‘firm’) handles information it collects about job applicants.  This notice is non-contractual and can be amended at any time. You can access it here.

5. 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 (which we encourage you to do if you consider it appropriate), 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 subject of our services/relationship; and
• details of your complaint.

6. People whose services we use

Where we engage individuals or organisations to provide services for us (for example, outsourcing functions such as benefits administration), 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 the service provider as well as the relevant provisions of this Notice

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.

In certain situations, we may need to collect and/or use these “special categories” of personal information (for example if we were providing you with employment law advice in relation to a discrimination claim; for our own equality of opportunity monitoring purposes or so that we can administer our employment relationship in an effective manner).

We will only collect and use these special categories of personal information if there is a valid reason for doing so, and where applicable law allows us to do so.

8. How we obtain your personal information

We collect the majority of the personal information to which this Notice applies 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 and reception logs; 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.

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 have also implemented procedures to deal with any data security incident (or suspected data security incident). We will notify you, the ICO of any data security incidents where we are legally required to do so. For further information, please contact us using the details in section 19 below.

17. Changes to the terms of this Notice

This Notice was published on 03/05/2022.

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. The COVID-19 pandemic

During the Covid-19 pandemic and in response to UK Government / other authorised body guidance / regulation / law, we may need to collect, use and store more personal information than we normally would (for example, before you attend our premises, we may ask you information about recent travel history, clinical vulnerability, your recent Covid-19 test reports, whether you or someone in your family is isolating or has any other symptoms).

This is because we are under legal obligations to keep our workplace as healthy and safe as possible for all individuals on our premises, and take reasonable and proportionate steps to prevent the spread and transmission of Covid-19.