Privacy Policy

Introduction

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.

This Privacy Policy applies when you visit our website www.milberg.co.uk (‘our Site’). It also applies where we are in contact with you in other ways whether in your capacity as an individual or as director, shareholder, partner, employee or other representative of a company or other organisation.

This Privacy Policy does not apply to information you might provide to us or we might collect in the context of our providing legal services under a solicitor-client relationship. Where we are retained to provide legal services, our Client Data Protection Policy will apply.

Also, this Privacy Policy does not apply when you apply for a job with us.

About us

Milberg London LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales under registered number OC430853. Our registered office is at Third Floor, Sutton Yard, 65 Goswell Road, London, EC1V 7EN. Milberg London LLP is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office under registration number ZA777525. Milberg London LLP is authorised and regulated by The Solicitors Regulation Authority.

References in this Statement to the “Firm”, “we”, or “us” are references to Milberg London LLP.

Contacting us

We are not required to appoint a formal Data Protection Officer under data protection laws. However, our Privacy Manager is James Taylor who can be contacted at [email protected].

Data protection principles

We adhere to the following principles when processing your personal data:

1. Lawfulness, fairness and transparency – data must be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner.
2. Purpose limitation – data must be collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes.
3. Data minimisation – data must be adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed.
4. Accuracy – data must be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date.
5. Storage limitation – data must be kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the personal data are processed.
6. Integrity and confidentiality – data must be processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage by using appropriate technical or organisational measures.

Information we collect

Information you provide us

You may choose to provide us with personal data when you are introduced to us, when we meet you in person, or when we are in contact by phone, email, via our website or otherwise. The categories of personal data you provide includes:

1. first and last name;
2. job title and company name;
3. email address;
4. phone number;
5. postal address;
6. marketing and communications data, which includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and your communication preferences.

Information we collect from third parties

We collect most of this information from you directly. However, we also collect information about you:

1. from publicly accessible sources, e.g. Companies House;
2. from third party sources of information, e.g. client due diligence providers;
3. which you have made public on websites associated with you or your company or on social media platforms such as LinkedIn;
4. from a third party, e.g. a person who has introduced you to us or other professionals (such as accountants) that you may engage.

Information we collect online

We collect, store and use information about your visits to our website and about your computer, tablet, mobile or other device through which you access our website. This includes the following:

1. technical information, including the Internet protocol (IP) address, browser type, internet service provider, device identifier, your login information, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and geographical location;
2. information about your visits and use of the site, including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL), clickstream to, through and from our Site, pages you viewed and searched for, page response times, length of visits to certain pages, referral source/exit pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks and mouse-overs), and website navigation and search terms used

Sensitive personal data

We do not generally seek to collect sensitive (or special categories of) personal data. Sensitive personal data is defined by data protection laws to include personal data revealing a person’s racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, or data concerning health. If we do collect sensitive personal data, we will ask for your explicit consent to our proposed use of that information at the time of collection.

Children

Our website is not intended for or directed at children under the age of 16 years and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children under this age.

How and why we use your information

The purpose for which we use and process your information (excluding sensitive personal data) and the legal basis on which we carry out each type of processing is explained below.

Where we rely on legitimate interests as a lawful basis, we will carry out a balancing test to ensure that your interests, rights and freedoms do not override our legitimate interests. If you want further information on the balancing test we have carried out, you can request this from our Privacy Manager.

If you do not wish to provide us with your personal data and processing such information is necessary for the performance of a contract with you, we may not be able to perform our obligations under the contract between us.

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 purpose and that purpose is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated reason, we will notify you in a timely manner and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

Email marketing

For email marketing to an individual subscriber (that is, a non-corporate email address) with whom we have not previously engaged as a client, we need your consent to send you unsolicited email marketing.

Where you provide consent, you can withdraw your consent at any time, but without affecting the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.

You have the right to opt out of receiving email marketing communications from us at any time by:

1. contacting our Privacy Manager using the contact details set out above; or
2. using the “unsubscribe” link in emails.

Sharing your personal data

We do not share your personal data with third parties except as set out in this Privacy Policy. We share your information with the following third parties:

1. with partners, staff and consultants of the Firm based in the UK;
2. where appropriate, with other affiliated firms which are part of the Milberg brand (including in the USA);
3. suppliers providing marketing services to us, or with whom we are conducting joint marketing exercises;
4. with our third-party data processors and service providers who assist with the running of our website and our office services including our IT support services, client reception and telephone answering services and data storage/back up services;
5. If we, acting in good faith, consider disclosure to be required by law or the rules of any applicable governmental, regulatory or professional body.

Our third party processors and service providers are subject to security and confidentiality obligations and are only permitted to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions. In addition, we may disclose information about you in the following circumstances:

1. in the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets;
2. if all or substantially all of our assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by it about its customers will be one of the transferred assets;
3. if necessary, to protect the vital interests of a person; and
4. to enforce or apply our terms and conditions or to establish, exercise or defend the rights of Milberg London LLP, our staff, customers or others.

International Transfers

To deliver services, it is sometimes necessary for us to transfer and store your personal data outside of the UK and the European Economic Area (“EEA”) as follows:

1. affiliated firms which are part of the Milberg brand;
2. our service providers located outside the EEA;
3. if you are based outside the EEA; and
4. where there is an international aspect to the matter which we have been instructed on.

Where personal data is transferred to and stored outside the EEA, we take steps to provide appropriate safeguards to protect your personal data, including:

1. transferring your personal data to a country, territory, sector or international organisation which the European Commission has determined ensures an adequate level of protection, as permitted under Article 45(1) GDPR; or
2. entering into standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission, obliging recipients to protect your personal data as permitted under Article 46(2)(c) GDPR.
3. In the absence of an adequacy decision or of appropriate safeguards as referenced in above, we will only transfer personal data to a third country where one of the following applies (as permitted under Article 49 GDPR):
   1. the transfer is necessary for the performance of our contractual engagement with you;
   2. the transfer is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims; or
   3. you have provided explicit consent to the transfer.

If you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the EEA, please contact our Privacy Manager using the details set out above.

Security of your information

We store your information in hard copy and in electronic format. We use industry standard technical and organisational measures to protect information from the point of collection to the point of destruction. We will only transfer personal data to a third party if it agrees to comply with those procedures and policies, or if it puts in place adequate measures itself.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted over the internet or that unauthorized persons will not obtain access to personal data. In the event of a data breach, Milberg London LLP have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where required to do so under applicable data protection laws.

How long we keep your personal data

Your personal data will not be kept for longer than is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and processed and for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

The criteria we use for retaining different types of personal data, includes the following:

1. General queries – when you make an enquiry or contact us by email or telephone, we will retain your information for as long as necessary to respond to your queries. After this period, we will not hold your personal data for longer than one year if we have not had any active subsequent contact with you.
2. Direct marketing– where we hold your personal data on our database for direct marketing purposes, we will retain your information for no longer than two years if we have not had any active subsequent contact with you.
3. Legal and regulatory requirements– we may need to retain personal data for up 7 years after we cease providing services and products to you where necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes or enforce our terms and conditions.

Your rights

Access to and updating your personal data

You have the right to access information which we hold about you. If you so request, we shall provide you with a copy of your personal data which we are processing (“data subject access request”). We may refuse to comply with a data subject access request if the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive or repetitive in nature.

You may also have the right to receive personal data which you have provided to us in a structured and commonly used format so that it can be transferred to another data controller (“data portability”). The right to data portability only applies where your personal data is processed by us with your consent or for the performance of a contract and when processing is carried out by automated means.

We want to make sure that your personal data is accurate and up to date. You have the right to have inaccurate personal data rectified or completed if it is incomplete. You can update your details or change your privacy preferences by contacting us as set out above. We reserve the right to refuse to comply with a request for rectification if the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive or repetitive.

Right to object

You have the right to object at any time to our processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes.

You also have the right to object, on grounds relating to your particular situation, at any time to processing of your personal data which is based on our legitimate interests. Where you object on this ground, we shall no longer process your personal data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

Your other rights

In certain circumstances, you have the right to:

1. request your personal data is erased (“right to be forgotten”); and
2. restrict the processing of your personal data to processing in certain circumstances.

Please note that the above rights are not absolute and we may be entitled to refuse requests, wholly or partly, where exceptions under the applicable law apply. We may refuse a request for erasure, for example, where the processing is necessary to comply with a legal obligation or necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims. We may refuse to comply with a request for restriction if the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive or repetitive in nature.

Exercising your rights

You can exercise any of your rights as described in this Privacy Policy and under data protection laws by contacting us as set out above.

Save as described in this Privacy Policy or provided under data protection laws, there is no charge for the exercise of your legal rights. However, if your requests are manifestly unfounded or excessive, in particular because of their repetitive character, we may either: (a) charge a reasonable fee taking into account the administrative costs of providing the information or taking the action requested; or (b) refuse to act on the request.

Where we have reasonable doubts concerning the identity of the person making the request, we may request additional information necessary to confirm your identity.

Links

Please note our website may, from time to time, contain links to and from third party websites. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.

Email monitoring

Emails which you send to us or which we send to you may be monitored by Milberg London LLP to ensure compliance with professional standards and our internal compliance policies. Monitoring is not continuous or routine, but may be undertaken on the instruction of a partner where there are reasonable grounds for doing so. Occasional spot checks or audits may also be undertaken on the instruction or with the authority of a partner.

Complaints

If you have any questions or complaints regarding our Privacy Policy or practices, please contact us as set out above.

You have the right to make a complaint at any time with a supervisory authority, in particular in the EU (or EEA) state where you work, normally live or where any alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The supervisory authority in the UK is ICO who can be contacted at https://ico.org.uk or telephone on 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this policy

From time to time, we may change this Privacy Policy. The current version of this Policy will always be available from us on our website. We will post a prominent notice on our website to notify you of any significant changes to this Policy or update you by other appropriate means.