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Get on the path to results today.
You are instructing a barrister practising from Capital Fortune Chambers.
We are committed to maintaining the accuracy, confidentiality and security of your personal information. This document describes the personal information that we collect from or about you, why and how we use it and to whom we disclose that information.
The controller of your personal information will be Capital Fortune Chambers Ltd.
What Personal Information Do We Collect?
We will collect and maintain personal information about you when you contact us about providing legal services to you, either directly or through your solicitor, while a barrister continues to represent or advise you and once a barrister has ceased to act for you. We will collect personal information such as:
• your name, address, contact details and details of your enquiry;
• documents such as passport, driving licence and utility bills used to undertake money laundering checks;
• documents provided by you to us, either directly or through your solicitor;
• documents provided to us by third parties such as another party to litigation or an expert witness;
• notes taken by your barrister and conference in the preparation of your case.
The nature of the work that we carry out means that we may collect personal information about your health, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership sex life, sexual orientation and any criminal convictions. We may also obtain data from other third parties such as legal professionals, experts, your family and friends, witnesses, courts and tribunals, government departments, regulators, public records and registers.
Why Do We Collect Personal Information?
The personal information we collect is used and disclosed for our business purposes, including:
• handling your initial query and determining if we are able to assist you;
• undertaking money laundering checks;
• providing you with legal advice and representation;
• to keep financial and administrative records;
• to take or defend legal or regulatory proceedings;
• to respond to or make complaints;
• to check for potential conflicts of interest in relation to future potential cases;
• to promote and market our services;
• such other purposes as are reasonably required or permitted by law. We will only use your personal information where it is lawful and fair to do so because:
• It is necessary to enter into, or perform, a contract with you;
• It is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests, i.e. to enable us to provide you with legal advice and representation;
• In the case of special categories of personal information such as your health, where it is necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims;
• It is necessary to comply with a legal obligation, including the carrying out of money laundering checks.
It is necessary for you to provide us with personal information to enable us to provide you with legal advice and represent you. If you do not provide the necessary information we may not be able to advise or represent you.
When Do We Disclose Your Personal Information?
We may share your personal information with our employees, barristers and other parties (for example an expert witness) who require such information to assist us to provide you with legal advice and representation. We may also need to disclose your personal information:
• to a court, to other parties to litigation and to other legal professionals;
• to a data processor such as Chambers staff, IT support staff and data storage providers;
• as permitted or required by applicable law or regulatory requirements.
In such a case, we will not disclose more personal information than is required under the circumstances:
• to comply with valid legal processes such as search warrants, subpoenas or Court orders or to regulators such as the Financial Conduct Authority or the Information Commissioner’s Office, to the police or to intelligence services;
• in the event of a complaint, to any independent person who deal with Complaints, to the Bar Standards Board and to the Legal Ombudsman;
• where the personal information is publicly available;
How is Your Personal Information Protected?
Chambers endeavours to maintain physical, technical and procedural safeguards that are appropriate to the sensitivity of the personal information in question. These safeguards are designed to protect your personal information from loss and unauthorized access, copying, use, modification or disclosure.
How Long is Your Personal Information Retained?
Except as otherwise permitted or required by applicable law or regulatory requirements, Chambers will retain your personal information only for as long as it believes is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which the personal information was collected (including, for the purpose of meeting any legal, accounting or other reporting requirements or obligations).
In most cases your data will be deleted 7 years after our instructions have ceased.
In some cases, it may be necessary for us to keep data for a longer period, for example if we have advised you on a prenuptial agreement. We will retain some personal data indefinitely to enable us to carry out conflict checks. This will include your name and contact details.
Information relating to money laundering checks will be retained for 5 years.
Your Legal Rights Data protection legislation provides you with certain rights. These are not absolute rights. These rights include your right to:
• request access to your personal information.
Such a request should be made in writing to the contact details at the bottom of this document. You can also:
• ask us to correct any information that we hold about you which is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate;
• ask us to erase your personal information where there is no compelling reason for us to continue to hold it;
• ask us to restrict processing of your information;
• ask us to transfer your personal information to another person or organisation;
• object to processing based on legitimate interests or the performance of a task in the public interest/exercise of official authority (including profiling);
• make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues.
Any questions you may have regarding the processing of your personal information should be sent to our Data Protection Controller at capital Fortune Chambers, 128-129 Cheapside, London EC2V 6BT or robk@cfchambers.com