We have explained our reasons for using your personal data. We set out below more detail on the ways in which we use your personal data. We use your data:
- To provide legal advice or other services to you/our clients, including technology solutions;
- To ensure the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information;
- To manage and administer your or your organisation’s business relationship with Shepherd and Wedderburn, including use for the purposes of processing payments, accounting, auditing, billing and collection and other support services;
- To conduct checks to identify our clients and verify their identity or to check whether or not we might have a conflict of interest in respect of such client or matter or prospective client or matter;
- To screen for financial and other sanctions or embargoes, including credit reference checks with credit reference agencies;
- To comply with professional, legal and regulatory obligations and guidance that applies to our business, e.g. rules issued by our professional regulators;
- To update and enhance client records;
- Where necessary to gather and provide information required by or relating to audits, enquiries or investigations by enforcement authorities, regulatory bodies, courts, tribunals and government agencies, e.g. for Investors in People accreditation or the audit of our accounts;
- To deal with any complaints received;
- To ensure business policies are adhered to, e.g. policies covering security and internet use, and to protect the security of our communications and other systems and prevent and detect security threats, frauds or other criminal or malicious activities;
- For operational reasons, such as ensuring safe working practices, improving efficiency, risk management, training, staff assessment and quality control;
- For statistical analysis to help us improve our services and communications to you or the strength of our relationship with you or to manage our practice, e.g. in relation to our financial performance, client base, work type or other efficiency measures;
- For insurance purposes;
- To identify those who are authorised to deal with Shepherd and Wedderburn on behalf of our clients, suppliers and/or service providers;
- To ensure your needs are catered for in connection with any event you may attend;
- For marketing our services to you (Further information about the use of your personal data in connection with marketing is given below in the section Marketing); and/or
- For recruitment. See the section Recruitment above.
We will also process personal data which is provided to us by or on behalf of our clients for the purposes of services we provide to them.
Managing our business
In relation to a number of uses of personal data we refer to above we are using such personal data on the basis that it is in our legitimate interests or those of a third party for us to do so. These interests cover a number of aspects of our business operations, namely:
- Ensuring that we are as efficient as we can be so we can deliver the best service for our clients at the best price;
- To allow us to provide bespoke services where requested by our clients;
- Protecting our commercially valuable information and also our intellectual property;
- Preventing and detecting fraud and/or criminal activity that could be damaging for us and/or for our clients;
- For credit control purposes and to make sure our clients can pay for the services we provide;
- For the purposes of risk management and to maintain our accreditations so we can demonstrate we operate to the highest standards; and
- Ensuring we are able to keep up to date with our clients and contacts.
Marketing
We have a legitimate interest in processing your personal data for promotional purposes (see above The basis on which we use your personal data). This means we do not usually need your consent to send you marketing information. However, where consent is needed, we will ask for this consent separately and clearly.
You have the right to opt out of receiving promotional communications at any time by:
- Contacting us at info.marketing@shepwedd.com; or
- Using the ‘unsubscribe’ link in emails or other marketing communications which we send to you.
If you opt-out or ask us to delete your personal data in accordance with your rights set out below, we will retain basic personal data on a suppression list to record your request and to avoid sending you unwanted materials in the future.
You can also update your marketing preferences and give us more detail of the type of information you would like to receive from us by contacting us using this link to our Preference Centre.
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.
We use personal data to look at whether you read the emails and other materials that we send to you. We also use it to look at whether you click on the links included in such materials and whether and how you visit our website after you click on that link (immediately and on future visits). We do this by using software that places a cookie on your device which tracks this activity and records it against your email address. If you remove this cookie it will not affect your use of our website. Please see our cookie policy for more information about our use of cookies.
Use of website
At a number of points on our website you are asked to provide information, for example, our Contact page and our Careers page. At the point at which information is requested it is clear what the purpose of providing the information is and we will only use the personal data you provide to us for that purpose.
Our website makes use of Google Analytics to look at how our website is used. This is done by placing small text files, known as session cookies, on your device to collect information about how visitors use our website. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the website. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the website, where visitors have come to the website from and the pages they visited. This information is transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the US.
You can opt-out of having your site activity available to Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. The add-on prevents the Google Analytics JavaScript (gtag.js, analytics.js) that is running on websites from sharing information with Google Analytics about visit activity.
Further details of our use of cookies can be found in our cookie policy.
Photographs
If you are attending events hosted by us there may be a photographer taking photographs and/or film of the event. These photographs and this footage may be used in our publications, on our website, in social media or in third-party publications to promote Shepherd and Wedderburn and our services and events. If you prefer that your image is not used in this way please contact the event organiser or let our staff or the photographer know at the relevant event. Alternatively you can contact us as set out in the How to contact us section above.
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