Privacy Policy

Introduction

Welcome to Counterculture’s privacy policy. This policy was last revised 4th August 2021.

We value and respect your privacy and are committed to keeping your personal information safe. This privacy policy tells you how we look after your personal data, about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.

1. Important information and who we are

Purpose of this privacy policy

This privacy policy aims to give you information on how Counterculture collects and processes your personal data through your use of this website, including any data you may provide when you comment on a post or sign up to receive our newsletter or request further information.

This website is not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children.

If you are also a Counterculture client, it is important that you read this privacy policy together with the letter of engagement provided to you. We may also provide additional privacy information on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data.

This privacy policy supplements other notices and is not intended to override them.

About Counterculture

Counterculture Partnership LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with number OC370322, and is the data controller and responsible for your personal data (referred to as “Counterculture”, “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy policy).

We have appointed a data privacy manager who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy policy. If you have any questions about this privacy policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the data privacy manager using the details set out below.

By email to legal@counterculturellp.com.

By post to:
The Data Privacy Manager
Counterculture Partnership LLP
Unit 115 Ducie House
Ducie Street
Manchester
M1 2JW

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (the ‘ICO’), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.

Changes to this privacy policy and your duty to inform us of changes

We keep our privacy policy under regular review. This version was last updated on 04 March 2021. Historic versions can be obtained by contacting us. We reserve the right to make changes to this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post any changes to this site and, where appropriate, notify you of any material changes by email.

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.

Third-party links

This website may include links to third-party websites. Clicking on those links may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.

2. The data we collect about you

We may collect and process different types of personal data about you. We have grouped these together as follows:

  • Identity Data includes your title, first name, maiden name, last name, marital status, date of birth and gender.
  • Contact Data includes the organisation you work for, billing address, correspondence address, email address and phone numbers.
  • Background Data is information provided by you as a Counterculture client and allows us to complete our identity checks. Background Data includes your passport, photo driving licence, national insurance number and/or other identifying information.
  • Technical Data includes your internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access our website.
  • Employment Data is information provided by you as a Counterculture partner, associate, consultant or employee and includes information about your work history, qualifications, references, proof of entitlement to work in the UK (such as a visa), skills, training, national insurance number, tax code, passport and other identifying documentation and any additional information you may provide to us.
  • Correspondence Data includes information contained in any correspondence between us and correspondence sent to us by third parties that relates to you (such as a solicitor acting for a client on the other side of a matter).
  • Sensitive Data includes information we may collect from you as a prospective or actual partner, associate, consultant or employee or that you provide to us as our client and may include information about your race or ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership as well as information about your health and any disability.
If you fail to provide personal data

Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you, and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with our consultancy or legal services).

In this case, we may have to refuse to provide any service that you have asked us to provide, but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

3. How is your personal data collected?

We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:

  • Direct interactions. You may give us your Identity, Contact, Background, Employment and Correspondence Data when we meet and by corresponding with us by post, phone, email, website or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you:
    • instruct us to work with you on a matter or project;
    • interact with us in any way, including use of our website’s live chat feature or our video conferencing service;
    • apply for a role at Counterculture or attend an interview;
    • register and/or attend one of our events;
    • issue any complaint to us; or
    • give us feedback or contact us.
  • Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we will automatically collect Technical Data and Identity Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies and other similar technologies.
  • Third parties. We may receive personal data about you from various third parties as set out below:
    • Technical Data from analytics providers such as Google based outside the EU.
    • Identity and Contact Data from information providers such as SmartSearch and Searches UK, each based inside the EU and from publicly available sources such as Companies House based inside the EU.  You can review the privacy policy of each organisation by clicking on their name.
    • Identity, Contact, Background and Correspondence Data when you use third-party services on our website. For example, our live chat services is currently provided by Tidio. Their privacy policy can be viewed by clicking here. We also use video conferencing services provided by Zoom (you can review their privacy policy by clicking here) and by Microsoft Teams (you can review their terms here). We use online surveys provided by Typeform (you can review their privacy policy by clicking here); CLIO (our practice managed software, whose terms are here) and Microsoft (you can review their terms here).
    • Employment Data from your recruitment agency, previous and current employers and from your school or any institute of higher education that you may have attended.

4. How we use your personal data

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

  • Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you to provide our consultancy and/or legal services.
  • Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
  • Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.

Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data although we will seek to obtain your consent before sending third party direct marketing communications to you by email or SMS. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us.

Purposes for which we will use your personal data

We have set out below a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.

Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.

Purpose/Activity Type of data Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest
To register you as a new client (a) Identity

(b) Contact

(c) Background

(a) Performance of a contract with you

(b) To comply with a legal obligation

(c) Legitimate interest (to conduct our business)

To respond to any enquiry you may make (a) Identity

(b) Contact

(a) Legitimate interest (to conduct our business)
To manage our relationship:

(a) Provide our services to you

(b) Manage and collect our fees

(c) Notify you about changes to our terms or privacy policy

(d) To keep in contact with you about our news, events and services that may be of interest to you

(a) Identity

(b) Contact

(c) Background

(d) Correspondence

(e) Marketing and Communications

(a) Performance of a contract with you

(b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to recover money due to us)

(c) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to develop our relationship with you and provide you with information that may be of relevance to you)

To manage our relationship with you as an employee:

(a) To engage you

(b) To manage the payment of your salary/fees

(c) Notify you about changes to our terms or privacy policy

(a) Identity

(b) Contact

(c) Background

(d) Employment

 

(a) Performance of a contract with you

(b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to pay you)

(c) To comply with a legal obligation (reporting to HMRC)

To administer and protect our business and this website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data) (a) Identity

(b) Contact

(c) Employment

(d) Technical

(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise)

(b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation

To provide you with access to our website and to provide support services where requested by you (a) Technical Necessary for our legitimate interests (to provide access to our website and ensure our website is presented in an effective and optimal manner)
To use data analytics to improve our website, services, marketing, and client relationships (a) Technical Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our website updated and relevant, to develop our business and to inform our marketing strategy)
To make suggestions and recommendations to you about goods or services that may be of interest to you (a) Identity

(b) Contact

(c) Technical

(d) Usage

(e) Profile

(f) Marketing and Communications

Necessary for our legitimate interests (to develop our products/services and grow our business)
To process any job application you may submit to us (a) Employment Necessary for our legitimate interests (to recruit new personnel)
To detect fraud and unlawful activity (a) Identity

(b) Contact

(c) Background

(d) Technical

(e) Employment

(f) Correspondence

(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to detect and prevent fraud)

(b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation

Marketing

We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising.

You will receive marketing communications from us if you have requested information from us or purchased services from us and you have not opted out of receiving that marketing.

You can ask us to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by following the opt-out links on any marketing message we may send to you.

If you opt-out of receiving these marketing messages, this will not apply to personal data provided to us as a result of services we have previously provided to you.

Cookies

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site.

You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website, such as our live chat facility, may become inaccessible or not function properly. For more information about the cookies we use, please see our Cookie Policy.

Change of purpose

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.

If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

5. Disclosures of your personal data

We may share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table above.

  • Service providers acting as processors based in the EU who provide IT and system administration services, website development and hosting services and identity verification and fraud protection services.
  • Professional advisers acting as processors or joint controllers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers based in the United Kingdom who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.
  • HM Revenue & Customs, regulators (including our regulator, the Solicitors Regulation Authority) and other authorities acting as processors or joint controllers based in the United Kingdom who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.
  • Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy policy.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

6. International transfer

Some of our external third parties are based outside the EEA so their processing of your personal data may involve a transfer of data outside the EEA.

Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the EEA, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

Please contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the EEA.

7. Data security

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

8. Data retention

How long will you use my personal data?

We will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements.

Details of retention periods for different aspects of your personal data are available in our retention policy which you can request from us by contacting us.

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data: see Section 9 below for further information.

In some circumstances, we will anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes, in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

9. Your legal rights

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. In particular, you can:

  • Request access to your personal data.
  • Request correction of your personal data.
  • Request erasure of your personal data.
  • Object to processing of your personal data.
  • Request restriction of processing your personal data.
  • Request transfer of your personal data.
  • Right to withdraw consent.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact our data privacy manager.

No fee is usually required

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

What we may need from you

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

Time limit to respond

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.