Privacy Policy
Introduction
This Policy explains how Chavasse Court Chambers (“Chambers”) complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
The Regulation give rights to people about the ways in which businesses and other institutions, including Chavasse Court Chambers, deal with their personal information.
This Policy also applies to the barristers, pupil barristers and door tenants of Chavasse Court Chambers unless you are told that any such individual has a different Policy.
Chavasse Court Chambers
Chavasse Court Chambers is a chambers of independent barristers at 24 Queen Avenue, Liverpool, L2 4TZ.
Each individual barrister provides legal services including representing clients in court or other tribunals. The names of all barristers who are members of or affiliated to chambers can be found at www.chavassecourt.com. The names of all pupil barristers to whom this privacy notice applies can be provided on request using the contact details set out below.
Chambers assists individual barristers with management and administration services.
Contacts
Chris Jones is Chambers’ Data Protection Supervisor. He is in charge of Data Protection in Chambers. All enquiries in relation to this Privacy Policy, data protection matters and your legal rights under the GDPR should be sent to him.
The best way to contact him is by email: chris.jones@chavassechambers.co.uk
Alternatively he can be contacted in person or by post or phone –
Address 24 Queen Avenue, Liverpool, L2 4TZ.
Phone 0151 229 2030
The reasons we have and use your personal information
The GDPR calls personal information ‘personal data’ and defines personal data as “any information relating to an identified or identifiable person”.
The GDPR only allows personal information to be used for certain purposes. We will only use your personal information in one of the ways that the Regulation allows us to. We will usually rely on one or more of the following to authorise our use of your personal information:
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where you have consented to us using your information
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where we need to use your information to fulfil a contract we have with you or are about to have with you
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where a legal obligation or professional duty requires us to use your information
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where we need to use your information to conduct our business as barristers and/or provide legal services to you or others. We are not allowed to do that if your rights and freedoms or the interests of Data Protection are greater than our right to conduct our business as barristers.
Special categories of personal data
The Regulation identifies special categories of personal information. Those special categories of information may only be used for specific purposes.
The special categories of personal information consist of information concerning a person’s race, ethnicity, political opinion, religious or philosophical beliefs, genetic or biometric data, sex life or sexual orientation.
We will usually only use information from those special categories with your explicit consent or when it is necessary to conduct litigation or provide legal services.
Such data can also be used if it is necessary to comply with employment and social security obligations.
If you need further information about the purpose for which we are using your personal information please either ask your barrister or contact the Data Protection Supervisor in Chambers.
The information that we have and use
Most of the personal information that we have is provided to us when our barristers are instructed to represent someone in a legal case.
We also receive and retain personal information from our instructing solicitors, suppliers, employees and applicants (whether for employment, pupillage, mini-pupillage or work experience or tenancy).
Excluding the details of legal cases, the personal information that we routinely use include but is not limited to:
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Identity Information (names, sex or gender, dates of birth etc)
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Contact Information (email, postal, billing and delivery addresses, phone numbers)
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Financial Records (details about payments made and owing either to or by Chambers)
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Employment or Pupillage Application Forms
The information and instructions contained in the Legal cases that we conduct will routinely and inevitably contain details of personal data relating both to the person(s) we represent but also to third parties. That personal data includes but is not limited to:
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Information about criminal convictions and other reprehensible conduct, whether alleged or proven.
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Information relating to the investigation and prosecution of alleged criminal offences
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The result of criminal prosecutions, including any sentences imposed
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Information about sex life, including non-consensual sex, and sexual-orientation. Such information is necessary for the proper conduct of many criminal and family law, particularly cases alleging sexual misbehaviour.
Sharing your personal information
In order to provide legal services as barristers it is likely we will have to provide some of your personal information to other people, organisations or institutions. We only give your information to people, institutions or businesses who have a need to have it.
The recipients of your personal information will vary according to the purpose for which we are using your information. The potential recipients could include:
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All members of staff at Chavasse Court Chambers
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Other barristers in Chambers – for example when the originally instructed barrister is not available to conduct a case
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Judges, courts, other parties and their legal representatives – it is compulsory for barristers to provide certain information. It can also be in a client’s interests for information to be given
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Solicitors or other persons instructing your barrister or, in appropriate circumstances, acting on behalf of others
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Pupils in Chambers – a pupil is a trainee barrister who will soon be conducting cases him or herself
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‘Door Tenants’ at Chavasse Chambers – a door tenant is a barrister who is affiliated to Chambers but is not a member.
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Mini-pupils at Chambers – a mini-pupil is someone on a work experience placement
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Banks and other financial organisations for the purposes of processing financial transactions.
The use of computers and electronic working, including emails, will inevitably involve the disclosure of electronic information, some of which could relate to an identified or identifiable person.
Keeping your personal information
One of the aims of the GDPR is to stop personal information being unnecessarily kept or stored after it is no longer needed.
We will only keep your personal information as long as it is necessary and permitted by the GDPR. The time we keep your information will vary according to the circumstances.
Barristers are required to keep records in public access cases for a minimum of 7 years after the case has finished. Most of the cases conducted by Chambers are public access cases.
Further details of the time we will keep your personal information can be obtained from Chambers’ Data Protection Supervisor or from the barrister conducting your case.
Your rights
The GDPR gives rights to the people whose personal information is used by others. Actions by Chambers in pursuit of the purported exercise of such rights are free of charge unless any request is manifestly unfounded or excessive. Not all of the rights apply to every person or situation but they include:
1) ACCESSING YOUR INFORMATION
You have the right to request whether we hold information on you and we are required to give you some or all of that information and to explain how we are using your information. You are also entitled to a copy of the information we are required to give you.
2) CORRECTING INACCURATE INFORMATION
We will correct any inaccurate information that we hold on you as soon as we are aware of the error(s).
It will help us if you provide us with your updated personal information if it changes.
3) DELETING CERTAIN INFORMATION
You have the right to insist that we delete personal information if:
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we no longer need to use it
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you withdraw your consent for us to have it the only purpose that justified us using your information was your consent
4) RIGHT TO OBJECT
You have the right to object to us using your personal information for marketing
5) RESTRICTING OUR USE OF YOUR INFORMATION
You have the right to restrict our use of your personal information:
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During the period in which a challenge to the accuracy of the personal data is determined
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During the period in which an objection to our use of your personal information is determined
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Where the use of some or all of our use of your data is not justified but you don’t want us to delete your personal information
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Where we no longer need to use your personal information but are required to keep the information in relation to a legal claim
If you want to ask us about the information we hold on you or to exercise any of your rights given by the GDPR you should contact the Data Protection Supervisor whose address is given earlier in this Privacy Notice. More information about your individual rights under the GDPR is available on the Information Commisioner’s Office website.
If you are not satisfied with how we deal with your enquiry you have a legal right to complain to the Information Commissioner who can be contacted on www.ico.org.uk or 0303 123 1113.
Security
In additions to our legal obligations imposed by the GDPR, barristers have a professional duty of confidentiality towards their clients. That means that each barrister in every case must protect the personal information he has about his client.
Chambers has appropriate standards of physical and electronic security (the protection of information either held on electronic devices such as computers, tablets, smart-phones and storage device or information sent and received via the internet).
Equality and Diversity
Introduction
Chavasse Court Chambers is committed to promoting equality and diversity and furthering a culture that actively values difference and recognises that people from different backgrounds and experiences can bring valuable insights to the workplace and enhance the way we work. Carmel Wilde is Chambers' acting Data Diversity Officer.
The documents included below are our policies on equality and diversity, anti-harassment, reasonable adjustments, and diversity data. Should you have any further questions regarding Chambers policies on equality and diversity, please do not hesitate to contact us using the 'Contact Us' function tool at the bottom of the website.
Policies and Diversity Data Statistics
Complaints Procedure
The Bar’s Code of Conduct requires us to ensure that all lay clients are aware of their right to make a complaint and of the process by which this be done. This includes their right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman in the event that they are dissatisfied with our complaints process or any decision. All lay clients have the right to complain directly to Chambers without involving their solicitors. On request, we will provide the lay client with the timeframe and details for contacting the Legal Ombudsman.
Our professional clients are advised in writing with regard to our complaint procedure and a copy of this letter is always available on request to the Clerks.
The procedure is intended to be simple, straight forward and user friendly.
We are prepared to receive your complaint by telephone or in writing or by email.
We ask that any complaint you have is notified to us as soon as practically possible.
If you wish to raise a complaint by telephone please contact our Senior Clerk Alan Harvey on 0151 229 2030 and he will be happy to take details and advise you as to the next step. Should your complaint relate to a clerk or a member of staff, please ask to speak to our Head of Chambers Michael Bagley. Please ensure you leave contact details in case he is not immediately available.
If you wish to raise a complaint by email please use the address Clerks@ChavasseChambers.co.uk and mark the email for the attention of Alan Harvey. If your complaint is about a clerk or a member of staff please email our Head of Chambers Michael.Bagley@ChavasseChambers.co.uk
If you would prefer to raise your complaint in writing, please address your letter to Alan Harvey, Senior Clerk, Chavasse Court Chambers, 24 Queen Avenue, L2 4TZ. If your complaint relates to a clerk or a member of staff please write to Michael Bagley, Head of Chambers, Chavasse Court Chambers, 24 Queen Avenue, L2 4TZ. Please provide your address and contact details.
When making your complaint, please provide the following details:
The name of the person(s) that is the subject of your complaint.
The nature of your complaint.
What you would like us to do and how you would like your complaint to be resolved.
We will aim to resolve your complaint if at all possible. If the matter is not resolved to your satisfaction by telephone then, within 7 days of receipt of your complaint, we will commence an investigation. We will aim to reply to you within a further 7 days thereafter. In our reply we will provide the general terms of the investigation, whether further enquires or further information is necessary and any conclusions we have reached. If we uphold your complaint, we will suggest a resolution.
We will contact you by your preferred means to inform you of the outcome or to obtain further information. If you have provided a postal address we will also provide you with written confirmation of any decision and any suggested resolution.
Privacy and confidentiality are of the utmost importance to us.
All information and documents you provide will remain confidential. Necessary disclosure of the nature and details of your complaint will be confined to our Head of Chambers, members of the Management Committee, the Senior Clerk and/or the deputy (if you choose to report your complaint through the clerks) and the person or persons who are involved in your complaint and subsequent investigation.
With regard to any complaint that is not resolved by telephone, a written record of the complaint and any decision or resolution will be retained by Chambers. This record will be used as part of our process to monitor and improve our services.
If you are not satisfied with the decision or resolution of your complaint, or if you do not wish to adopt our complaints procedure, you have the right to make your complainant to the Legal Ombudsman. The address is as follows:
PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ
Tel: 0300 555 0333
E-mail: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk Website: http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/
If you have any general comments to make about our Chambers or our service to you, we would be grateful to receive them either by letter, email or telephone call using the details provided.