Privacy notices
Client and third party privacy notice
At Trowers & Hamlins LLP we take your privacy very seriously. Please read this privacy policy 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.
Activities which we undertake where we use your personal data are regulated under applicable data protection legislation, including the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), and we are responsible as ‘Controller’ and/or 'Processor' of that personal data for the purposes of applicable data protection legislation.
We may update this privacy notice at any time. This version was last updated on 25/09/2023.
Purpose of this privacy policy
It is important that you read this privacy policy together with any other privacy notice or policy (or fair processing notice or policy) we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This privacy policy supplements other privacy notices and policies and is not intended to override them.
We have appointed a data privacy partner, Lucy James, who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please email riskandcompliance@trowers.com or see our 'Contact us' section.
Key terms
It would be helpful to start by explaining some key terms used in this policy:
We, us, our
Trowers & Hamlins is made up of different legal entities, as set out in the Legal notices section of this website. When we mention Trowers & Hamlins, we, us or our in this privacy policy, we are referring to the relevant entity responsible for processing your data.
Controller
Under data protection legislation, this is defined as the natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data. Data protection legislation specifies the identity of the controller in certain limited situations.
Processor
For the purposes of data protection legislation, this is described as the natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which processes personal data on behalf of the controller.
Personal data
This means any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).
Special category personal data
This means 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.
Who this Privacy Notice applies to
This Third Party Privacy Notice applies to the processing of personal information by us in relation to the services we provide to and our interactions with our clients and/or prospective clients, counterparties to transactions and legal proceedings, executors and/or beneficiaries, rival bidders, individuals attending events we host or who sign up to our marketing and other updates, anyone with whom we are in contact regarding matters concerning our clients or prospective clients, and our suppliers and service providers.
Personal data we may collect about you:
- Identity data: Your name, title, gender, job description, personal and/or work address, marital status, title, photographic identification data and telephone number, information to enable us to check and verify your identity, such as your date of birth or passport details and videos, images and recordings of you from our CCTV system and if you attend our events or meetings.
- Contact data: Electronic contact details, such as your personal and/or work email address, mobile phone number or fax number, billing address and delivery address
- Financial Data: Information to enable us to undertake a credit or other financial checks on you, your bank account and payment card details
- Transaction Data: Details of payments to or from you
Usage Data: Information relating to the matter for which we are instructed, details of services provided to, or obtained from you and information about how you use our website and services including the times you enter and leave our offices - Technical Data: Your IP address and information related to the browser or device you use to access our website or to communicate with us, and details of the device you use when logging into our guest Wi-Fi service
- Profile Data: Your preferences, interests, feedback and survey responses, and any information or documentation you may provide to us about your dietary requirements when you attend one of our catered events.
We do not knowingly collect data relating to children unless this is in the course of providing legal advice in relation to children.
We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data could be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy policy.
Special Category Data
Depending on the context of the matter and/or instructions, we may in certain circumstances collect special category data (which is also known as sensitive personal data). We shall treat any such information with extra care and security measures. We may also collect criminal convictions and offences data.
If you fail to provide personal data
Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of our engagement with you (as set out in our engagement letter and terms of business), and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the services set out in the engagement letter.
How your personal data is collected
We use different methods to collect data from and about you including:
In the process of carrying out work for you (or your business) where we will in almost all instances act as a controller. In very limited circumstances we may act as a processor in which case we will let you know and ensure that an appropriate contract is put in place.
When we communicate with you by email or other electronic correspondence, by telephone or using video conferencing software. You may give us your Identity, Contact and Financial Data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you:
- make a request for our services
- create an account on our website
- subscribe to our publications
- request marketing to be sent to you
- complete a survey or provide us with feedback
- networking (for example, at in-person or virtual events)
- through your use of our guest Wi-Fi service
- by virtue of our access to CCTV footage
- otherwise through providing our legal services and operating our business
We also collect data from and about you via our website:
- Through your actions (for example, when submitting a subscription form)
- Through automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we will automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies[, server logs] and other similar technologies. See our cookie policy for further details
- Through third parties such as counterparties to a transaction, rival bidders, litigants in legal proceedings and/or their advisor, or from executors/beneficiaries, and consultants and other professionals we may engage in relation to the matter for which we are instructed, and your employer or colleagues
- Technical Data from analytics providers; advertising networks; and search information providers
- Contact, Financial and Transaction Data from providers of technical, payment and delivery services
- Identity and Contact Data from third parties providing sanctions screening and identity checking services, regulators and insurers
- Identity and Contact Data from publicly available sources such as Companies House, HM Land Registry, HMCTS and the Electoral Register based inside the UK
How and why we use your personal data
We will only use your personal data when data protection legislation allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances: Contract Performance
To perform and fulfil any rights and obligations in accordance with our contract we are about to enter or have entered with you or our client or prospective client, including all matters related to that contract both before and after its inception.
Compliance with our legal and regulatory obligations
- This includes using your personal data to comply with our obligations under anti-money laundering legislation and to conduct checks to verify identity.
- We may also use your personal data in order to screen for financial and other sanctions or embargoes.
- Gathering and providing information required by or relating to audits, enquiries or investigations by regulatory bodies and/or our insurers.
- Other processing necessary to comply with professional, legal and regulatory obligations that apply to our business, e.g. under health and safety regulations or rules issued by our professional regulator.
Special Category Data
- Where the processing of special category data is necessary in the context of legal claims or where another legal ground other than explicit consent is available to us under the data protection legislation.
- We may process special category data where our legal services require us to process special category data and where we have obtained your explicit consent to do so. If we seek and obtain your consent, you may withdraw it at any time.
For our legitimate interests
This is where it is necessary for our legitimate interests as a legal services provider (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. Legitimate interests include:
- Operational reasons, such as improving efficiency, training and quality control, so that we can be as efficient as we can so that we can deliver the best service.
- Your information may be used:
- if it is relevant to a client matter in order to provide legal advice or to establish, exercise or defend your or another client's legal rights or claims;
- to defend a legal claim you have made or another person has made against us, or in the course of a legal process or litigation; and
- to enable us to manage risk, or manage finances with regards to payments, or investigate and respond to any complaints or queries we may receive from you or any other person. - Ensuring the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information to protect our intellectual property and other commercially valuable information.
- Statistical analysis to help us manage our practice, e.g. in relation to our financial performance, work types to ensure delivery of service, etc.
- Preventing unauthorised access and modifications to systems to prevent and detect criminal activity that could be damaging for us and for you.
- Marketing our services to third parties who have previously expressed an interest in our services. We will not use your personal information to send you marketing communications if you have requested not to receive them. At any time, you can opt out of future communications or change your preferences for receiving news and information.
- Recording meetings which you attend, and this may include your recorded image or voice.
- Recording events, including training sessions, that you attend, and these may include your recorded image or voice, so that so that we can use the recording for future training and know-how purposes.
Except as previously referred to above, we do not generally rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data although we will get your consent before sending third party direct marketing communications to you via email or text message. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us.
We may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out below.
Third-party marketing
We will get your express opt-in consent before we share your personal data with any third party for marketing purposes.
Opting out
You can ask us or third parties to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by contacting us at any time.
Where you opt out of receiving these marketing messages, this will not apply to personal data provided to us as a result of a service provision.
Cookies
You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly. Find out more information about the cookies we use.
Change of purpose
We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, contact us.
If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.
We may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.
Who we share your personal data with
We may share your personal information with third parties where necessary for in order to provide our services to our clients, or to carry on and manage our business.
We share personal data with:
- our clients or those to whom we owe a professional duty
- professional advisers who we instruct e.g. barristers, medical professionals, enquiry agents, accountants, tax advisors or other experts
- other third parties where necessary to carry out our instructions, e.g. Companies House, HM Land Registry, HMCTS, other legal advisors, etc.
- lawyers in any of our international offices where we require advice or input from that office
- our insurers and brokers
- external auditors in relation to our ISO or Lexcel accreditations, and the audit of our accounts
- on certain occasions, if required with our bank
- our suppliers, business partners, sub-contractors or service providers. We only allow our service providers to handle personal data if we are satisfied they take appropriate measures to protect such personal data
- we may disclose and exchange information with law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
- third-parties hosting events on our behalf to which you are invited, or co-hosting such events with us, and
- individuals who are contributing feedback to our legal ranking services
We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.
How long your personal data will be kept
We will keep your personal data, in accordance with the time periods allowed in the applicable legislation, following the conclusion of any provision of services. 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
We will not retain your data for longer than necessary or legally required, other than for us to review and dispose of such information. Different retention periods apply for different types of data.
Please contact us if you would like any further information around the retention periods of our data.
Transferring your personal data out of the UK
We are an international law firm and our offices work collaboratively with each other. In order to deliver services, it is sometimes necessary for us to share personal data to our other offices which are located outside the UK . The level of data privacy protection in countries outside the UK may be less than offered within the UK. We have robust data transfer agreements between our offices and where third parties sometimes process our data for us outside of the UK, we take all reasonable steps to ensure that personal data is protected and secure.
Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the UK, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:
- The transfer of personal data is to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data; or
- We may use specific international transfer contracts approved for use in the UK which give personal data the same protection it has in the UK.
Please contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the UK.
Your rights
- Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data, including the right to:
- 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. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
- 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:
- If you want us to establish the data's accuracy.
- Where our use of the data is unlawful, but you do not want us to erase it.
- 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.
- 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 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.
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 could 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 could 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.
For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, please contact us or see the ICO guide to individual rights .
If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please email riskandcompliance@trowers.com or see 'Contact Us'.
Please ensure you include enough information for us to be able to identify you, 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 to prevent personal data from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed unlawfully or unlawfully modified. Any access by our employees and partners to personal data is done so only in an authorised manner and subject to our duty of confidentiality.
This firm is accredited with Cyber Essentials Plus and is Lexcel accredited.
We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.
If you want detailed information from Get Safe Online on how to protect your information and your computers and devices against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other online problems, please visit www.getsafeonline.org. Get Safe Online is supported by HM Government and leading businesses.
How to complain about the use of your data
ou have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK regulator for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.
Other websites
Our website may contain links to other websites outside our control and which are not covered by this Privacy Notice. If you access other sites using the links provided, the operators of these sites may collect information from you which will be used by them in accordance with their privacy notice, which may differ from ours.