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:
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| We, us, our | Debenhams Ottaway LLP (trading as Debenhams Ottaway), a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales under number OC373542 |
| Our Data Compliance team | gdpr@debenhamsottaway.co.uk |
| Personal data | Any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual |
| Special category personal data | Personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, philosophical beliefs or trade union membership
Genetic and biometric data Data concerning health, sex life or sexual orientation |
| GDPR | The retained EU law version of the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) |
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.
| Personal data we frequently collect | Personal data we sometimes collect |
|---|---|
| Your name, address and telephone number | Your National Insurance and tax details |
| Electronic contact details, e.g. your e-mail address and mobile telephone number | Your bank and/or building society details |
| Your position, role, employer, company or organisation | Your credit and/or debit card details |
| Information to enable us to check and verify client identity, e.g. your date of birth or passport details | Details of your professional online presence, e.g. LinkedIn profile |
| Information relating to the matter in which a client is seeking our advice or representation | Details of your spouse/partner, dependants and/or other family members, e.g. if you instruct us on a family matter |
| Your financial details so far as are relevant to client instructions, e.g. the source of funds if we are instructed on a purchase transaction | Details of your spouse/partner, dependants, other family members and/or other beneficiaries, e.g. if you instruct us to prepare a will for you |
| Technical data, such as internet protocol (IP) address, login data, 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 (only as a result of you visiting our website) | Your employment status and details including salary and benefits, e.g. if we are instructed on a matter related to your employment or in which your employment status or income is relevant |
| Your employment records including, where relevant, records relating to sickness and attendance, performance, disciplinary, conduct and grievances (including relevant special category personal data), e.g. we are instructed on a matter related to your employment or in which your employment records are relevant | |
| Your racial or ethnic origin, gender and sexual orientation, religious or similar beliefs, e.g. if you instruct us on a discrimination claim | |
| Your trade union membership, e.g. if you instruct us on a discrimination claim or your matter is funded by a trade union | |
| Details of your pension arrangements, e.g. if you instruct us on a pension matter or in relation to financial arrangements following the breakdown of a relationship | |
| Personal identifying information, such as your eye colour, e.g. if you instruct us to incorporate a company for you | |
| Your medical records, e.g. if we are acting for you in a personal injury claim | |
| Criminal record data (where permitted by law and appropriate to do so), such as existence of prior criminal offences (or confirmation of a clean criminal record), and sanctions and embargo data | |
| Information to enable us to undertake a credit or other financial checks on a client
Your image, but usually only if use the rear car park of our St Albans office. |
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.
- the CCTV security system installed in the rear car park of our St Albans office
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:
| What we use your personal data for | Our reasons |
|---|---|
| To register new or prospective clients or to obtain details of prospective new instructions |
|
| To provide legal services to our clients |
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| Conducting checks to identify our clients and verify their identity
Screening for financial and other sanctions or embargoes Other processing necessary to comply with professional, legal and regulatory obligations that apply to our business, e.g. under health and safety regulation or rules issued by our professional regulators |
|
| Managing our relationship with clients, e.g. notifying clients of changes to our terms of business or this notice |
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| Gathering and providing information required by or relating to audits, enquiries or investigations by regulatory bodies |
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| Ensuring business policies are adhered to, e.g. policies covering security and internet use |
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| Operational reasons, such as improving efficiency, training and quality control |
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| Ensuring the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information |
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| Statistical analysis to help us manage our practice, e.g. in relation to our financial performance, client base, work type or other efficiency measures |
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| Preventing unauthorised access and modifications to systems and protecting our business and our website |
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| Updating and enhancing client records |
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| Statutory returns |
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| Ensuring safe working practices, staff administration and assessments |
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Marketing our services to:
|
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| Credit reference checks via external credit reference agencies |
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| External audits and quality checks, e.g. for Lexcel accreditation and the audit of our accounts |
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| Managing our relationships with third party vendors/suppliers |
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| The operation of a CCTV security system both internally and externally at our St Albans office |
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| Recruitment of employees, workers and contractors, including assessing applicants’ skills, qualifications and suitability for roles |
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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 offices 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.
When it is no longer necessary to retain your personal data, we will delete or anonymise it.
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:
| Rights | Description |
|---|---|
| Access | The right to be provided with a copy of your personal data |
| Rectification | The right to require us to correct any mistakes in your personal data |
| To be forgotten | The right to require us to delete your personal data — in certain circumstances |
| Restriction of processing | The right to require us to restrict processing of your personal data — in certain circumstances, e.g. if you contest the accuracy of the data |
| Data portability | The right to receive the personal data you provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and/or transmit that data to a third party — in certain circumstances |
| To object | The right to object:
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| Not to be subject to automated individual decision-making | The right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (including profiling) that produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you |
| Consent | Where we are processing your personal data on the basis of your consent, you can withdraw your consent |
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 on June 2023.
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:
| Our contact details | Our Data Compliance Officer contact details |
|---|---|
| Address: Ivy House, 107 St Peter’s Street, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 3EW | Address: Ivy House, 107 St Peter’s Street, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 3EW |
| Telephone number: 01727 837161 | Telephone number: 01727 735633 |
| E-mail address: lawyers@debenhamsottaway.co.uk | E-mail address: GDPR@debenhamsottaway.co.uk |