Privacy Policy

Please read the following information carefully. This privacy notice contains information about the information collected, stored and otherwise processed about you and the reasons for the processing.

It also informs you who Chambers shares this information with, the security mechanisms Chambers has put in place to protect your information and how to contact Chambers in the event you need further information.

We will always protect, respect and safeguard your Personal Information and your privacy whilst also ensuring any other partners with whom we share your data, also abide by our high operating standards.

For the purpose of the Data Protection Act 2018, the data controller is:

St Philips Chambers Ltd. 55 Temple Row, Birmingham. B2 5LS.

We have registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office and our registration number is: Z4568583.

If you are interested in any further information of any kind, with regards to services or Barristers that are incorporated in St Philips Chambers, please contact one of our offices – listed on our “contact us” page. We will be happy to supply any information required.

Who are we?

Sara Lewis KC is our Head of Chambers.

St Philips Chambers receives, stores, uses and is responsible for Personal Information about you.

When Chambers does this, it is the ‘Controller’ of this information for the purposes of the GDPR and the Data Protection Act.

Contents:

1. How do Chambers process your information?
2. Information from Other Sources
3. How Chambers uses your Information
4. Marketing and Promotion
5. Information provided by you
6. Legal Basis for Processing
7. Further information on Legal Basis
8. Who will Chambers share my data with?
9. Sources of Information
10. Where do we store Information?
11. Transfer of data outside the EEA
12. How long will Chambers store your data?
13. Consent
14. Applications to Chambers
15. Assessments
16. Conditional Offer
17. Your Rights
18. External Data Processors
19. Data Protection
20. Email
21. Marketing Emails
22. Search Engines
23. Social Media
24. IT Security
25. Cookies
26. CCTV and Recording
27. Reporting a Breach
28. Automated Decision Making
29. Future Processing
30. Changes to this Policy
31. Copyright and Trademarks
32. Warranties and Liabilities
33. Jurisdiction
34. How to make a complaint
35. Company Information

1. How do Chambers process your information?
Information collected:

Chambers collects some or all of the following personal information that you provide:

a. Personal details, (Name, address, telephone number etc.);
b. Family details;
c. Lifestyle and social circumstances;
d. Driving license information and/or passport information;
e. Bank Details / Payment information;
f. Goods and Services details;
g. IP Address;
h. Education, training and employment details;
i. Physical or mental health details;
j. Racial or ethnic origin;
k. Political opinions;
l. Religious, philosophical or other beliefs;
m. Trade union membership;
n. Sexual information and/or sexual orientation;
o. Genetic information;
p. Biometric information for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person;
q. Criminal proceedings, outcomes and sentences, or related security measures;
r. Other personal information relevant to instructions to provide legal services, including information specific to the instructions in question.

2. Information collected from other sources

The same categories of information may also be obtained from third parties, such as members of Chambers, experts, members of the public, your family and friends, witnesses, courts and other tribunals, suppliers of goods and services, investigators, government departments, regulators, public records and registers.

3. How Chambers uses your personal information

Chambers may use your personal information for the following purposes:

a. To procure legal services;
b. To publish legal judgments and decisions of courts and tribunals;
c. To fulfil equality and diversity and other regulatory requirements;
d. To manage matters relating to employment, including payroll etc;
e. To carry out anti-money laundering and terrorist financing checks;
f. To respond to requests for references;
g. To respond to potential complaints or make complaints;
h. To recruit staff and pupils;
i. To train barristers;
j. To assess applications for tenancy, Pupillage, Mini-pupillage & work-shadowing;
k. To promote and market the services of the Barristers;
l. As otherwise required or permitted by law.

4. Marketing and promotion

In relation to personal information collected for marketing purposes, the personal information consists of:

• Names, contact details, and name of organisation;
• The nature of your interest in Chambers’ marketing;
• Your attendance at Chambers events.

This will be processed so that you can be provided with information about Chambers [and the Barristers/Mediators/Arbitrators] and to invite you to events.

You may contact Chambers using the contact details at the end of this document if you no longer wish to receive such invitations or information.

We always include a link to allow you to unsubscribe in all of our email marketing correspondence.

5. Whether information has to be provided by you, and why:

If you apply to Chambers for a position or are seeking a reference or are a member of staff, your personal information has to be provided to Chambers, in order to progress your application/reference and also allow it to be properly assessed.

It also allows employment records, pay and pensions to be processed and also to enable Chambers to comply with its regulatory obligations, to keep accounting records.

If you are offering or providing Chambers with goods or services your information may also be processed in relation to such offers or contracts.

6. The Legal Basis for processing your Personal Information

Under GDPR guidelines it is important we clearly explain how we operate, what processes we follow and also on what authority we process Personal Data. Operating under instructions either directly from yourself (or the client), or under the direction of a solicitor, we would generally have a “Contractual” basis for lawful processing.

This may on some occasions, not be the appropriate lawful basis for processing, such as when we are instructed to process Personal Data on behalf of a legal authority, such as the Crown Prosecution Service.

When instructed to do so, we may also be processing on “Legal Obligation”. There may also be occasions whereby we may process Personal Data under “Legitimate Interests”.

With regards to any marketing campaigns undertaken, we would usually operate and send marketing information to clients under the terms of “Legitimate Interest” whereby the client has previously instructed us to act on their behalf.

If this is not the case, then we would be operating using “Consent” and this can be freely withdrawn at any time using the “Opt-Out” options on our emails.

Consent can also be withdrawn at any time either from legitimate consent or explicit consent via a telephone call to our head office and we never collect any automated “Opt-In” customer databases. We always add an “Opt-Out” option to all of our marketing literate.

7. Further information on the Legal Basis for Processing

Chambers relies on the following lawful basis to collect and use your personal information:

• In relation to information in categories (i) to (q) above (these being categories which are considered to include particularly sensitive information and which may include information about criminal convictions or proceedings).
• Chambers and its’ partners are entitled by law to process the information where the processing is necessary for legal proceedings, legal advice, or otherwise for the establishment, exercise or the defence of legal rights.
• In relation to information which is not in categories (i) to (q) above, Chambers relies on its’ legitimate interests and/or the legitimate interests of a third party in carrying out the processing for the purposes set out above.
• The processing is necessary for the assessment of your working capacity or health or social care purposes.
• The processing is necessary to prevent or detect unlawful acts where it is in the substantial public interest and it must be carried out without consent so as not to prejudice those purposes.
• In certain circumstances processing may be necessary in order that Chambers can comply with a legal obligation to which it is subject (including carrying out anti-money laundering or terrorist financing checks).
• If Relevant: The processing is necessary for the purposes of performing or exercising obligations or rights which are imposed or conferred by law on Chambers or you in connection with employment, social security or social protection.
• If Relevant: The processing of information in categories (i), (j), (l) and (n), is necessary for the purposes of identifying or keeping under review the existence or absence of equality of opportunity or treatment between members of Staff, Tenants, Pupils and Mini-pupils with a view to enabling such equality to be promoted or maintained.

8. Who will Chambers share your personal information with?

It may be necessary to share your information with the following:

• information processors, such as IT support staff, email providers, information storage providers;
• in the event of complaints, the Head of Chambers and members of Chambers who deal with complaints, the Bar Standards Board and the Legal Ombudsman;
• other regulatory authorities;
• current or prospective employers or employees;
• in the case of recruitment of Barristers to or from other chambers, your current or prospective chambers;
• education and examining bodies;
• legal professionals;
• experts and other witnesses;
• prosecution authorities;
• courts and tribunals;
• Chambers’ staff;
• trainee Barristers;
• lay and professional clients of Members of Chambers;
• family and associates of the person whose personal information Chambers is processing;
• current or prospective employers;
• education and examining bodies;
• business associates, professional advisers and trade bodies, e.g. the Bar Council;
• the intended recipient, where you have asked Chambers to provide a reference;
• If Relevant: the general public in relation to the publication of legal judgments and decisions of courts and tribunals.

Chambers may be required to provide your information to regulators, such as the Bar Standards Board, the Financial Conduct Authority or the Information Commissioner’s Office.

In the case of the Information Commissioner’s Office, there is a risk that your information may lawfully be disclosed by them for the purpose of any other civil or criminal proceedings, without Chambers’ consent or your consent, which includes privileged information.

Chambers may also be required to disclose your information to the police or intelligence services, where required or permitted by law.

9. Sources of information

The personal information Chambers obtains may include information obtained from:

• legal professionals;
• experts and other witnesses;
• prosecution authorities;
• courts and tribunals;
• trainee Barristers;
• lay and professional clients of Members of Chambers;
• family and associates of the person whose personal information Chambers is processing;
• in the event of complaints, the Head of Chambers, other members of Chambers who deal with complaints, the Bar Standards Board, and the Legal Ombudsman;
• other regulatory authorities;
• current or prospective employers;
• education and examining bodies;
• business associates, professional advisers and trade bodies, e.g. the Bar Council;
• the intended recipient, where you have asked Chambers to provide a reference;
• data processors, such as IT support staff, email providers, data storage providers;
• public sources, such as the press, public registers and law reports.
• the general public in relation to the publication of legal judgments and decisions of courts and tribunals;

10. Where do we store your information?

The data that we collect from you will generally be stored and accessed only in the UK (Within the European Economic Area) by Staff and partners directly working on your case.

There may be a requirement from time to time to export some Personal Data outside of the EEA as required in order to progress and fulfil our legal obligation to you as a client.

When this condition does occur, all necessary steps will be followed in order to ensure that all data exported and used outside the EEA is managed with the same due care and process that we undertake ourselves within the EEA.

Our partners also have contracts in place with ourselves outlining their responsibilities to us and also defining their working practices that will mirror our own internal processes and procedures to safeguard personal data appropriately.

11. Transfer of your information outside the European Economic Area (EEA)

This privacy notice is of general application and as such it is not possible to state whether it will be necessary to transfer your information out of the EEA in any particular case or for a reference.

However, if you reside outside the EEA or your case or the role for which you require a reference involves persons or organisations or courts and tribunals outside the EEA then it may be necessary to transfer some of your information to that country outside of the EEA for that purpose.

If you are in a country outside the EEA or if the instructions you provide come from outside the EEA then it is inevitable that information will be transferred to those countries. If this applies to you and you wish additional precautions to be taken in respect of your information please indicate this when providing initial instructions.

Some countries and organisations outside the EEA have been assessed by the European Commission and their information protection laws and procedures found to have adequate protection.

The list can be found here. Most do not. If your information has to be transferred outside the EEA, then it may not have the same protections and you may not have the same rights as you would within the EEA.

Chambers may transfer your personal information to the following which are located outside the European Economic Area (EEA):

• Cloud information storage services based in the USA who have agreed to comply with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, in order to enable us to store your information and/or backup copies of your information so that Chambers may access your information when they need to. The USA does not have the same information protection laws as the EU but the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield has been recognised by the European Commission as providing adequate protection. To obtain further details of that protection, click here.
• Cloud information storage services based in Switzerland, in order to enable us to store your information and/or backup copies of your information so that Chambers may access your information when it needs to. Switzerland does not have the same information protection laws as the EU but has been recognised by the European Commission as providing adequate protection. To obtain further details of that protection, click here.

If Chambers decides to publish a judgment or other decision of a Court or Tribunal containing your information then it may be published to the world.

Chambers will not [otherwise] transfer personal information outside the EEA [except as necessary for the conduct of any legal proceedings].

If you would like any further information please use the contact details at the end of this document.

12. How long will Chambers store your personal information?

• Our policies states that direct access clients’ data shall be held for 6 years after the completion date of the contract. Standard cases (when instructed via a solicitor) shall be held for 7 years after the completion date.
• Retention policies for other types of personal data are also specified in the retention and deletion schedule. Please request a copy of the Policy and Schedule if you require further information.

13. Consent

As explained above, Chambers is relying on contractual consent in most cases however your explicit consent to process your information may be used for marketing purposes.

You may also provide consent when you apply to become a member of Staff, Tenant, Pupil or Mini-pupil or you asked Chambers to provide a reference.

You have the right to withdraw this consent at any time but this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing activity carried out prior to you withdrawing your consent.

Chambers also relies on other bases for processing your information and you therefore may not be able to prevent processing of your information.

If you believe there is an issue with the processing of your information, please contact Chambers using the contact details below.

14. Applications to Chambers

If you apply for any position within Chambers, whether this is for a staff role or for a pupillage position, we will ask you for your name, address, contact details and other information that is relevant to the post you have applied for.

This information will not be made available to staff members outside the recruitment team and your details will also be kept confidential.

15. Assessments

We may ask you to participate in assessment days, complete tests or profile questionnaires, or a combination of these. Further information may be generated by you or us. This information will only be kept in your personal file and if you are unsuccessful in your application, will only be kept for a period not exceeding 6 months after the completion date of your application, as defined in our Retention and Deletion Policy and Schedule.

You have the right to request us to keep this information for a longer period, in order that should another position arise, we may be able to contact you in relation to that new post. We will require your written consent in order to do so.

Under GDPR guidelines we have a requirement to define deletion dates for all personal data and therefore we have a legal duty to strictly abide by these dates. If you request an extension to these dates, we then have your legal authority to extend these dates as requested.

16. Conditional Offer

We may make a conditional offer of employment and we will ask you for information in order that we can complete pre-employment checks. You must successfully complete pre-employment checks in order to progress to a final offer. We are required to confirm your identity and your right to work in the UK and also seek assurance as to their trustworthiness, integrity and reliability.

You will therefore be required to provide:

• Proof of your identify – You will be asked to attend our office with original documentation and we will take copies;
• Proof of your qualifications – You will be asked to attend our office with original documentation and we will take copies;
• Your information may be forwarded for a Criminal Records Check and you may be invited to update us on any criminal convictions you may have;
• You will be asked to complete a health questionnaire in order to advise us of any health issues you may have. This may help us be prepared for any health issues that arise whilst at work;
• We will contact your referees, using the details you provide in your application in order to obtain references;
• We will collect your bank details in order to process your salary payments.
• We will collect emergency contact details in order to allow us to contact the next of kin in case of any emergencies;
• We may ask for your personal pension information if you wish us to use this information for any pension you have with us.

17. Your rights explained:

Under the GDPR, you have a number of rights that you can exercise in certain circumstances. These are generally free of charge. In summary, you may have the right to:

• Ask for access to your personal information and other supplementary information;
• Ask for correction of mistakes in your information or to complete missing information Chambers holds on you;
• Ask for your personal information to be erased, in certain circumstances;
• Receive a copy of the personal information you have provided to us or have this information sent to a third party. This will be provided to you or the third party in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, e.g. a Word file;
• Object at any time to processing of your personal information for direct marketing;
• Object in certain other situations to the continued processing of your personal information;
• Restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances;
• Request not to be the subject in automated decision-making which produces legal effects that concern you or affects you in a significant way.

If you require more information about your rights under the GDPR please see the Guidance from the Information Commissioners Office.

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please:

• Use the contact details at the end of this document;
• Chambers will need to ask you to provide other information so that you can be identified;
• Please provide a contact address so that you can be contacted to request further information to verify your identity;
• Provide proof of your identity and address;
• State the right or rights that you wish to exercise.

Chambers will respond to you within one month from when we receive your request unless your request is very complex. You will be notified if this is the case and we may require up to three months to process your request.

You have the right to ask us not to process your Personal Data. This is a right under the existing Data Protection Regulation 2018 guide lines as well as under the new GDPR regulations.

This may relate to data we hold on you in general or data that we use for marketing. However, you should be aware there may be a legal precedence that supersedes your wishes with regards to processing personal data for legal reasons.

You can of course withdraw your consent for marketing purposes at any time.

For security reasons, your identity will need to be confirmed before this process can begin.

18. External Data Processors

External Data Processors are third parties who may provide support for our business in some way with regards to data processing or recruitment. We have contracts in place with all of our external data processors in order to ensure data security and integrity at every stage.

This ensures they cannot do anything with your personal data unless we have instructed them to do so.

They will not share this data with anyone else and they have a legal responsibility to ensure it is held securely and not accessed by unauthorised personnel.

19. Data Protection

We understand the importance of protecting the personal and sensitive information entrusted to us, and currently comply with the Data Protection Act 2018.

We will also comply with the data protection requirements under GDPR.

We are committed to protecting and keeping your personal information private – whether we receive it from you personally or from third parties – and take all reasonable steps to ensure its security.

Your information will remain confidential and we will not disclose any personal information to a third party without your consent – except where there is a legal or regulatory obligation. We do not sell, trade or rent your personal information to third parties and will only use your personal data for the purposes you have agreed to.

Your information will be used for legal purposes, including preparation and representation in court.

Your information may be transferred to any country, including countries outside the European Economic Area for any of these purposes. Where this happens, we will ensure that all necessary safeguards are followed for the transfer of information and that whoever receives this information agrees to treat it with the same level of protection and security that we provide.

20. Email

We will make every reasonable effort to ensure email communication is secure. This may include encrypting personal and/or sensitive data or using encrypted email systems. Please note that transmission of data over the internet may still be intercepted and we cannot be held liable for any issue or loss of data transmitted to or by us electronically.

Please let us know as soon as possible if you become aware of any failure, delay or error in sending or receiving an email. Our ‘email sent’ records can be used as evidence that the email has been sent unless there is a clear mistake.

You can unsubscribe from our marketing communications at any time by clicking on the ‘unsubscribe’ link located on the bottom of our emails.

21. Marketing Emails

Please note: If you wish to unsubscribe from any marketing emails that you have signed up for, you can do so by following the instructions at the bottom of any marketing material.

22. Search Engines

We use a third party, Google, for website analytics. The information that we collect is information such as device information, location, IP address, gender and age information. We also collect language information, bounce rate, browser type, OS used, google cookies and other standard information collected by Google Analytics.

We collect this information to improve our website and search facilities and also to improve the customer experience on our websites. No user-specific data is collected.

23. Social Media

We use social media as a tool to inform clients of operations and seminars that are planned and in order to share knowledge of the business as a whole.

However, we reserve the right to remove any posts that are present on any of our social media sites that we deem to be incorrect, damaging, offensive, irrelevant, dis-tasteful or otherwise not complying with the company’s high standards.

24. IT Security

Where we ask you for personal information via any of our websites or via other methods, we will maintain strict security standards and procedures to prevent unauthorised access to your data by anyone – including our staff. We will maintain appropriate technological measures to ensure the information you submit remains secure.

You must not misuse our websites by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, or any other malware or material which is malicious or technologically harmful.
You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to our websites, our network, servers, computers or databases, including those that host our websites.

You must not attack our websites via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of-service attack.
Doing any of the above is a criminal offence. We will report any such breach to the relevant authorities and tell them your identity. You will immediately lose your right to use our site.

We are not liable for any loss or damage caused by a distributed denial-of-service attack, viruses or other technologically-harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, data or other material from using our website, or downloading any material from it or from any linked website.

25. Cookies

Cookies are text files containing small amounts of information which are downloaded to your device when you visit a website. Cookies are then sent back to the originating website on each subsequent visit, or to another website that recognises that cookie. Cookies are useful because they allow a website to recognise a user’s device.

Cookies do many different jobs, like letting you navigate between pages efficiently, remembering your preferences, and generally improve the user experience. They can also help to ensure the adverts you see online are more relevant to you and your interests.

The cookies we use do not collect personally identifiable information about you.
The only exceptions may be:

• When you apply for a job vacancy;
• When you register to attend an event;
• Post a comment on one of our blog posts or social media sites;
• Sign up to receive marketing information from us.

Where we collect this information, we will only use it to process your request unless we tell you otherwise. We will never sell your data to third parties.

We also track IP addresses of businesses and organisations to help us understand how our website is used.

The cookies used on our website are grouped into the following categories.

We understand that you may want to change your mind and permanently delete cookies from your browser. Deleting cookies can help protect your privacy by removing tracking data and stored information.

Steps to delete cookies on popular browsers can be found here >>>

26. CCTV and Recording

In order to ensure everyone’s safety and security we utilise CCTV cameras on our sites. This also records data to allow us to fight crime and enforce policies as well as ensuring safety in high risk areas such as stairways and entrance halls etc.

This data is kept for no longer than 30 days and will only be kept after this period if evidence of a crime is recorded and this may need to be kept for legal reasons relating to possible prosecutions at a later date.

We display CCTV notices at all sites to advise clients of their rights and also to advise them that CCTV is in operation for these purposes.

27. Reporting a Breach

St Philips Chambers and all partners working with your Personal Data have a responsibility with the ICO to report any data or security breach that occurs to the ICO and also limit this breach wherever possible. We will also notify all parties affected by a breach wherever possible and also keep information relating to the breach in order to allow us to trace and monitor progress in such cases.

We will take further information from various places in order to make decisions on how we process the breach and carry our further actions.

We retain this information for as long as necessary to investigate and carry out these actions. The time scales applied are also in line with our data retention schedule.

28. Automated Decision Making

Chambers does not use any automated decision-making tools.

Therefore there are no areas in which you may request that we do not process you in this way.

29. Future Processing

Chambers will not process your personal information except for the reasons stated within any agreement or contract with you. If there is a change of requirement for this process, you will be requested to allow and authorise this change. These are your rights.

30. Changes to this privacy notice

This privacy notice was published on 18th May 2018 and last updated on 4 January 2024.

Chambers continually reviews its privacy practices and may change this policy from time to time. When an update is created, it will be placed on the Chambers’ website.

31. Copyright and Trademarks

Copyright of all information published on our websites, including photographs and images, belongs to St Philips Chambers and may not be used, sold, licensed, copied or reproduced in whole or in part in any way without our express permission.

St Philips Chambers is a registered trademark and may not be used without our prior consent.

32. Warranties and Liabilities

While we make every effort to ensure the information on our websites is accurate, we do not warrant or guarantee its accuracy, or the accuracy of information on any linked website.

We are not liable for any loss or damage resulting from:

• Any use – or inability to use – our websites;
  • Any unauthorised access;
  • Changes to the information on our websites;
  • Reliance on any information on our websites.

We cannot guarantee that our websites will be free from errors, defects, viruses or alterations made outside of our control.

If there is any difference between the information on our websites and our corporate literature – including key features documents, technical guides and policy documents – the corporate literature takes precedence.

33. Jurisdiction

These terms and conditions are governed according to English Law and Regulations, and are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.

These terms apply to all St Philips websites:

www.st-philips.com

34. How to make a complaint?

If you are dissatisfied with the service received, you may contact Juliette Print (Head of HR), either by telephone on: 0121-246-7000, email at: hr@st-philips.com

Or by post to: St Philips Chambers, 55 Temple Row, Birmingham. B2 5LS.

Please set out as clearly as you can the nature of your complaint or concern, how it has arisen and the outcome you seek.

Please also ensure that your letter states the identity of the person who dealt with your matter and your case or file reference number (if any).

The GDPR also gives you the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners’ Office if you are in the UK, or with the Supervisory Authority of the Member State where you work, normally live or where the alleged infringement of information protection laws occurred.

The Information Commissioner’s Office can be contacted at:

http://ico.org.uk/concerns/

35. Company Information

If you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information Chambers holds about you, please contact Chambers using the contact details below.

Chambers Administrator: Miss Juliette Print

Registered & Head Office:

St Philips Chambers Ltd
55 Temple Row
Birmingham
West Midlands
B2 5LS

Registered in England

Company number: 03647591