Privacy Notice

Barristers are required to provide this notice when they receive personal information which they will process. This notice sets out how and why your personal data is used. It also sets out some of your rights.

Who controls your personal information?

The ‘controllers’ of your information are John Gardiner KC (as Head of Chambers) and any barrister from 11 New Square that you have instructed (or is instructed on your behalf).

In all cases, your data controller can be contacted at:

The Chambers of John Gardiner KC
11 New Square
Lincoln’s Inn
London, WC2A 3QB

Telephone: 020 7242 4017

Or alternatively, your controller can be contacted via the Senior Clerk (Tom Rook) at tom.rook@11newsquare.com.

How is your personal information used?

Your personal information may be used for the following purposes:

  1. to provide legal services, including the provision of legal advice and representation in courts, tribunals, arbitrations, and mediations
  2. to keep accounting records and carry out office administration
  3. to take or defend legal or regulatory proceedings or to exercise a lien
  4. to respond to potential complaints or make complaints
  5. to check for potential conflicts of interest in relation to future potential cases
  6. to promote legal services
  7. to carry out anti-money laundering and terrorist financing checks
  8. to train pupils and mini-pupils
  9. as required or permitted by law.

Whether personal information has to be provided by you, and why

Often personal information must be provided to enable a barrister to provide advice or representation and to comply with legal and professional obligations. A refusal to provide relevant personal information may prevent a barrister from undertaking legal services for .the client.

The legal basis for processing your personal information

The lawful bases for processing personal information are:

  • If you are a client, processing is necessary for the performance of a contract for legal services or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract.
  • Your controller may be entitled to process personal data as necessary for legal proceedings, legal advice or otherwise establishing, exercising or defending legal rights.
  • Your controller may also have a legitimate interest in processing your personal information for the purpose of checking for conflicts with other clients, dealing with complaints and training other barristers .
  • In certain circumstances processing may be necessary in order to comply with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject, including carrying out anti-money laundering or terrorist financing checks.
  • If you have consented to the processing of your personal information, then your information may be processed for a purpose for which you have consented.

Consent

Where you have provided consent for your personal information to be processed, you have the right to withdraw this consent at any time using the contact details provided above. This will not affect the lawfulness of any processing activity carried out prior to your withdrawing your consent and where there are other lawful bases for processing your information (as set above), you may not be able to prevent processing of your data. For example, if you have asked for work to be done for you and time has been spent time on your case, you may owe fees in relation that work.

Who will your personal information be shared with?

If you are a client, some of the information you provide will be protected by legal professional privilege unless and until the information becomes public in the course of any proceedings or otherwise.

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

  • data processors, such as staff at 11 New Square, IT support staff, email providers, data storage providers
  • other legal professionals with whom in the judgement of the barrister data needs to be shared to facilitate performance of the contact
  • experts and other witnesses
  • prosecution authorities where disclosure is compulsory and not protected by privilege
  • courts and tribunals
  • pupils and mini-pupils at 11 New Square
  • lay clients
  • family and associates of the person whose personal information is by also being processed
  • 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
  • regulatory authorities 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 my consent or yours, which includes privileged information.
  • professional advisers and professional regulatory or representative bodies such as the Bar Council.

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. However, if you reside outside the EEA or your case involves persons or organisations or courts and tribunals outside the EEA then it may be necessary to transfer some of your data 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.

Your personal information may be transferred to the following which are located outside the European Economic Area (EEA):

How long will your personal information be stored?

Your personal information will be kept for 7 years from latest of: (1) the date of the last item of work carried out, (2) the date of the last payment received or (3) the date on which all outstanding payments are written off. At this point the retention of your personal information will be reviewed and either deleted or kept marked for review after a further period of retention.

Some basic personal information necessary for carrying out conflict checks may be retained by a barrister you instruct for the rest of their career. This will normally only be your name contact details and an outline of your case.

Names and contact details of professional clients held for the purpose of providing legal services and providing information in relation to the Chambers or an individual barrister’s practice will be stored indefinitely or until either it becomes apparent that an individual has ceased to be a potential client or the individual asks to be removed from any marketing lists.

Your Rights

Under the GDPR, you have a number of rights that you can exercise in certain circumstances. These are 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 data or to complete missing information held on you;
  • Ask for your personal information to be erased, in certain circumstances;
  • Receive a copy of the personal information you have provided or have this information sent to a third party;
  • Object at any time to the processing of your personal information for the purpose of sending you newsletters or information about services provided by any barristers at 11 New Square[1];
  • Object in certain other situations to the continued processing of your personal information;
  • Restrict my processing of your personal information in certain circumstances;
  • Request not to be the subject to automated decision-making which produces legal effects that concern you or affects you in a significant way.

If you want more information about your rights under the GDPR please see the Guidance from the Information Commissioners Office on Individual’s rights under the GDPR.

If you want to exercise any of these rights, please:

  • Use the contact details above;
  • Provide your name and contact details;
  • State the right or rights that you wish to exercise.

You may need to provide other information, such as proof of identity and address.

You should receive a response within one month from receipt of your request.

How to make a complaint?

You may make a complaint to the Senior Clerk (Tom Rook) using the contact details above. You also have 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 data protection laws occurred. The Information Commissioner’s Office can be contacted at http://ico.org.uk/concerns/.

Future Processing

Your personal information is not intended to be processed except for the reasons stated within this privacy notice. If this changes, an amended version of this privacy notice will be placed here.