SHOBANA IYER, SWAN CHAMBERS: PRIVACY POLICY
General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR) EU 2016/679 & Data Protection Act 2018
1.1 We ask that you read our privacy policy carefully as it contains important information on who we are, how and why we collect, store, use and share personal information, your rights in relation to your personal information and on how to contact us and supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint. It also tells you who we share this information with, the security mechanisms we have put in place to protect you data and how to contact us in the event you need further information.
1.2 This privacy policy is divided into the following sections:
- Who we are
- Keeping your personal information secure
- Our website
- Our collection and use of your personal information
- Transfer of your information out of the EEA
- How long will we store your personal data?
- Cookies and similar technologies
- Marketing
- Your rights
- How to complain
- Changes to this website privacy policy
- How to contact us
- Do you need extra help?
Who we are
2.1 This website is produced and operated by Shobana Iyer a practicing barrister at Swan Chambers.
2.2 Swan Chambers is the sole practice of Shobana Iyer a practicing barrister of the Bar for England & Wales. Swan Chambers does not have any independent legal identity of any kind, it is the barrister’s chamber from which Shobana provides legal services. Shobana may employ clerks and assistants to assist her with running her Chambers, she is solely responsible her practice.
2.3 Shobana collects, processes, uses and is responsible for certain personal information about you. When she does so she is are regulated under the Data Protection Act 2018, and the General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR) which applies across the European Economic Area (EEA) (including in the United Kingdom). Shobana is responsible as the ‘data controller’ of that personal data for the purposes of those laws.
Keeping your personal information secure
3.1 Shobana has appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. She limits access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Any of her clerks/team processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
3.2 Shobana also has procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. She will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where she is legally required to do so.
3.3 If you want detailed information from Get Safe Online on how to protect your information and your computers and devices against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other online problems, please visit www.getsafeonline.org. Get Safe Online is supported by HM Government and leading businesses.
Our website
4.1 Shobana may collect personal information about you when you access our website, register with us, contact us, send us feedback, via our website.
4.2 Shobana also collect personal information from you either directly, such as when you register with us, contact us or use any services via our website or indirectly, such as your browsing activity while on our website (see ‘Cookies’ below under clause ).
Our collection and use of your personal information
Categories/types of personal data
5.1 When carrying out the provision of legal services or training or providing a reference, we may collect some or all of the following personal information that you provide. It is impossible to foresee precisely which categories of personal information might be obtained in particular cases, and some of the following categories may not be obtained at all. But as they might possibly be obtained, it is necessary to tell you on what basis they may be processed and in what manner they may be processed:
- (1) your name, address, contact (including emails and social media profiles) and personal details;
- (2) date of birth and nationality;
- (3) details of any feedback you give us by phone, email, post or via social media;
- (4) information about the services we provide to you;
- (5) family details,
- (6) lifestyle and social circumstances;
- (7) good and services;
- (8) financial details;
- (9) educational, training and employment details;
- (10) physical, physiological or mental health details;
- (11) racial or ethical origins;
- (12) political opinion;
- (13) religious, philosophical or other beliefs;
- (14) trade union membership;
- (15) sex life or sexual orientation;
- (16) genetic data;
- (17) biometric data for the purposes of uniquely identifying a natural person;
- (18) criminal proceedings outcomes and sentences and related security measures;
- (19) other personal data relevant to instructions to provide legal services, including data specific to the instructions in question.
Information collected about you from other sources or third parties.
5.2 The same categories (as described above in clause 5.1) of information may also be obtained from third parties, such as solicitors, other legal professionals, accountants or experts, members of the public, your family and friends, your employers, witnesses, courts and other tribunals, investigators, government departments, regulators, public records and registers.
Purposes for which we process your personal data
5.3 We process this personal information for the following purposes:
- to provide legal services to clients, including the provision of legal advice and representation in courts, tribunals, arbitrations and mediations;
- to check for potential conflict of interest in relation to future potential cases;
- create, manage keep accounting records and carry out office administration;
- verify your identity and any other legal compliance measures we may need to undertake;
- to take or defend legal or regulatory proceedings, or assist regulatory entities or to exercise a lien;
- to respond to potential complaints or make complaints or deal with quality assurance measures;
- to promote and market the services of Shobana Iyer (Practicing Barrister and Arbitrator);
- to carry out anti-money laundering and terrorist financing checks;
- to train other law students and/or pupil barristers and when providing work-shadowing opportunities;
- to respond to requests for references;
- when procuring goods and services and applications;
- to publish legal judgments and decision of court and tribunals;
- notify you of any changes to our website or to our services that may affect you;
- to improve our services;
- as required or permitted by law.
5.4 This website is not intended for use by children under the age of 13and most of the legal services provided are not anticipated to involve children under the age of 13 and we do not knowingly collect or use personal information relating to children unless necessary and specific to the legal case and for a legitimate purpose.
Whether information has to be provided by you, and why
5.5 If Shobana Iyer has been instructed by you or on your behalf on a case, or if you have asked for a reference, your personal information has to be provided, to enable her to provide you with advice or representation or the reference, and to enable her to comply with her professional obligations and/or to keep accounting and compliance records.
5.6 If you are offering or providing Chambers with goods or services you information may be processed in relation to such offers or contracts.
The legal basis for processing your personal information
5.7 When we use your personal information we are required to have a legal basis for doing so. There are various different lawful bases upon which we may rely, and these will depend on the personal information in question and the specific context in which we collect it.
5.8 The lawful basis upon which we may rely on include:
- consent:where you have given us clear consent for us to process your personal information for a specific purpose;
- in relation to personal information which are in Categories (10) to (18) above (these being categories which are considered to include particularly sensitive information, and which include information about criminal convictions or proceedings) we rely on your consent for any processing for the purposes set out in Purposes (2), (4), (6), (8), (9) and (10) above. We need your consent to properly carry out processing of this data for these Purposes, otherwise we may be unable to provide the service or comply with a legal or regulatory obligation. We will be unable to take your case or to provide a reference if your consent is denied or subsequently withdrawn.
- Further, in relation to personal information which are in Categories (10) to (18) above (these being categories which are considered to include particularly sensitive information, and which include information about criminal convictions or proceedings). We are entitled by law to process the information where the processing is necessary for legal proceedings, legal advice or otherwise for establishing, exercising or defending legal right.
- contract: where our use of your personal information is necessary for a contract we have with you, or because you have asked us to take specific steps before entering into a contract
- legal obligation: where our use of your personal information is necessary for us to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations) (including carrying out anti-money laundering or terrorist financing checks).
- public task: where our use of your personal information is necessary for us to perform a task in the public interest or for our official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law (e.g. where the processing is necessary to publish judgments or other decisions of court or tribunal).
- legitimate interests:where our use of your personal information is necessary for our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party (unless there is a good reason to protect your personal information which overrides our legitimate interests).
- In relation to information which is not in categories (10) to (18) above, we will rely on our legitimate interests and/or the legitimate interests of a third party in carrying out the processing for the Purposes set out above.
5.9 We do not intend to process your personal information except for the reasons stated within this privacy policy. If this changes in the future, this privacy notice will be amended and placed on the Chamber’s website.
Who we share your personal information with?
5.10 If you are a client, some of the information you provide will be protected by legal professional privilege unless and until the information is waived and/or becomes public in the course of any proceedings or otherwise. As a barrister, Shobana has a professional obligation to keep your information confidential, except where it otherwise becomes public or is disclosed as part of the case or proceedings. This data sharing enables Shobana to provide the legal services in compliance with the Bar Code of Conduct.
5.11 It may be necessary to share your information with the following:
- data processors, such as IT support staff, email and telephone reception providers, data storage providers;
- other legal professionals (including judges, barristers and their clerks from other Chambers, solicitors and international lawyers);
- our insurers, accountants, banks;
- experts and other witnesses;
- prosecution authorities;
- courts and tribunals;
- the staff at Swan Chambers;
- our pupils
- lay clients;
- family and associates of person whose personal information I am processing;
- Bar Standards Board and the Legal Ombudsman;
- other regulatory and government (or quasi-government) authorities;
- current, part or prospective employers;
- education and examining bodies, universities and business schools;
- business associates, professional advisers and trade bodies and institutions, e.g. the Bar Council, London Court of International Arbitration, International Chamber of Commerce;
- the intended recipient, where you have asked me to provide a reference;
- the general public in relation to the publication of legal judgments and decisions of courts and tribunals.
5.12 We may be required to provide your information to regulators, such as the Bar Standards Board, Financial Conduct Authority, HM Revenue & Customs 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 purposes of any civil or criminal proceedings without our consent or yours, which includes privileged information.
5.13 We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required or permitted by applicable law.
5.14 Sometimes, those third-party recipients may be based outside the European Economic Area (EEA) — for further information including on how we safeguard your personal data when this occurs, see ‘Transfer of your information out of the EEA’ below.
Sources of information
5.15 The personal information we obtain may include information which has been obtained from:
- other legal professionals;
- experts and other witnesses;
- accountants and directors;
- prosecution and regulatory authorities;
- courts and tribunals;
- pupil barristers & trainee lawyers;
- lay clients;
- family and associates of persons whose personal information we are processing;
- Bar Standards Board and/or the Legal Ombudsman;
- other regulatory and government (or quasi-government) authorities;
- current, part or prospective employers;
- education and examining bodies, universities and business schools;
- business associates, professional advisers and trade bodies, e.g the Bar Council;
- the intended recipient, where you have asked me to provide a reference;
- the general public in relation to the publication of legal judgments and decisions of courts and tribunals
- data processors, such as Swan Chambers’ staff, IT support staff, email and telephone reception providers, data storage providers;
- public sources, such as the press, public directories, registers and law reports
Transfer of your information out of the EEA
6.1 This privacy notice is of general application and as such is not possible to state here whether it will be necessary to transfer your information out of the European Economic Area (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/or tribunals outside the EEA then it may be necessary to transfer some of your data to the relevant countries involved which may well be outside the EEA for that purpose. If you are in a country outside the EEA or of the instructions you provide for the legal services come from outside the EEA then it is inevitable that information will be required to 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 instructions.
6.2 Some countries and organisation outside the EEA have been assessed by the European Commission and their data protection laws and procedures found to show adequate protection. The list can be found here. Most counties outside the EEA do not (including Singapore). 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 have within the EEA. Shobana will do her utmost best to safeguard your personal and confidential data at all time and whenever practically possible to the same standard as within the EEA and will only transfer data that is necessary to complete your instructions and/or requests.
6.3 If Shobana decides to publish a judgment or order of a Court or Tribunal containing your information then this will be published to the public worldwide, particularly as all publication on the web may be accessed worldwide, and the data on any website is transferred automatically upon access from a recipient from any non-EEA country.
6.4 Shobana will not otherwise transfer your personal information outside the EEA except:
- if and when using cloud-data storage services based outside the EEA, who have agreed to the comply with the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses and/or where an EU adequacy decision in place, in order to enable us to store your data and/or backup copies of your data so that we may access your data when needed; or
- where you have explicitly consented to the proposed transfer, after having been informed of the possible risks of such transfer due to the absence of an adequacy decision and appropriate safeguards as assessed by the European Commission; or
- where the transfer is necessary for the performance of a contract with you and Shobana, or the implementation of pre-contractual measures taken at your request; or
- where the transfer is necessary for the conclusion or performance of a contract concluded in your interest between Shobana and another natural or legal person; or
- where the transfer is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims and as necessary to providing legal services or for any legal proceedings.
If you would like further information please contact Shobana through the contact details at the end of this document.
How long will we store your personal data?
7.1 Shobana will normally store all your information:
- until at least 1 year after the expiry of any relevant limitation period (which will usually be 6 years,but may be 12 years (e.g claim under a Deed),or longer where the case includes information relating to a minor), from the date of the last item of work carried out, the date of the last payment received or the date on which all outstanding payments are written off, whichever is the latest. This is because it may be needed for potential legal proceedings. At this point any further retention will be reviewed and the data will be marked for deletion or marked for retention for a further period. The latter retention period is likely to occur only where the information is needed for legal proceedings, regulatory matters or active complaints. Deletion will be carried out (without further notice to you) as soon as reasonably practicable after the data is marked for deletion.
- Shobana will store some of your information which she needs to carry out conflict checks for the rest of her career. However, this is likely to be limited to your name and contact details and the name of the case. This will not include any information within personal sensitive data in categories lists in (10) to (18) above (under clause 5.1).
- Information related to anti-money laundering checks will be retained until five years after the completion of the transaction or the end of the business relationship, whichever is the later;
- Names and contact details held for marketing purposes will be stored at Shobana’s discretion until we become aware or are informed that the individual has ceased to be a potential client and/or not interested to receiving further marketing information
7.2 As explained above, Shobana will rely on your explicit consent to process your information in categories (10) to (18) above (as listed in clause 5.1). You provided this consent when you agreed that Shobana would provide legal services, or training or when you asked her 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 Shobana has carried out prior to the withdrawal of your consent. However, where Shobana also relies on other bases for processing your information, you may be unable to prevent her from processing your data (even where consent is withdrawn). For example, if you ask Shobana to complete work for you and she has spent time on your case doing so, you may owe her money which she is entitled to claim, and there are compliance reasons for which she will need to retain certain data.
7.3 If there is an issue with the processing of your information, please contact us using the contact details below.
Cookies and similar technologies
8.1 A cookie is a small text file which is placed onto your device (eg computer, smartphone or other electronic device) when you use our website. We use cookies and other similar tracking technologies on our website. These help us recognise you and your device and store some information about your preferences or past actions so as to assist in providing you with the relevant information.
8.2 For further information on our use of cookies, please see our Cookie Policy.
8.3 For further information on cookies generally visit www.aboutcookies.orgor www.allaboutcookies.org.
Marketing
9.1 We would like to send you information about the legal services offered, news (including case updates) and training, which may be of interest to you. Where we have your consent or it is in our legitimate interests to do so, we may do this by post, email/electronic communications, telephone or text message (SMS).
9.2 In relations to personal information collected for marketing purposes, the personal information consists of:
- names, contact details, profession and name of organisation
- the nature of your interests in Chamber’s marketing
- your attendance at Chamber’s events (or connected events)
9.3 This will be processed so that you can be provided with relevant information about Chambers and the services of Shobana Iyer and to invite you to events.
9.4 If you have previously agreed to being contacted in this way, you can unsubscribe at any time by:
- contacting us at clerks@swanchambers.com
- using the ‘unsubscribe’ link in emails or ‘STOP’ number in texts
9.5 It may take up to 5 days for this to take place.
9.6 For more information on your rights in relation to marketing, see ‘Your rights’ below.
Your rights
10.1 Under the General Data Protection Regulation you have a number of important rights free of charge. In summary, those include rights to:
- access to your personal information and to certain other supplementary information that this Privacy Notice is already designed to address;
- require us to correct any mistakes in your information or complete missing information which we hold;
- require the erasure of personal information concerning you in certain situations
- receive a copy of the personal information concerning you which you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format (e.g. WORD/PDF file) and have the right to transmit those data to a third party in certain situations;
- object at any time to processing of personal information concerning you for direct marketing
- object to decisions being taken by automated means which produce legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affect you;
- object in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal information
- otherwise restrict our processing of your personal information in certain circumstances
10.2 For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals rights under the General Data Protection Regulation.
10.3 If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please:
- email, call or write to us (on the contact details provided below)
- let us have enough information to identify you, please provide contact address details so that you can be contacted to request further information to verify your identity.
- let us have proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill), and
- let us know the information to which your request relates, including any case name, party details, court/tribunal references, or trial/hearing dates, if you have them.
- State the rights or rights that you wish to exercise.
10.4 We will respond to you within one month from when we receive your information request.
How to complain?
11.1 We hope that we can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your information.
11.2 The General Data Protection Regulation also gives you right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the European Union (or European Economic Area) state where you work, normally live or where any alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/or telephone: 0303 123 1113.
Changes to this website privacy policy
12.1 This website privacy policy was published on 23 May 2018 and last updated on 24 May 2018
12.2 We continue to review our privacy practices, particularly as Shobana Iyer is a specialist in the field of information law. We may change this website privacy policy from time to time, when we do so the amended privacy notice will be place on the Chamber’s website
How to contact us
Please contact usif you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information we hold about you.
If you wish to contact us, please send an email to clerks@swanchambers.com
