PRIVACY NOTICE
Please read the following information carefully. This privacy notice contains information about the information collected, stored and otherwise processed about you and the reasons for the processing. It also tells you who we share this information with, the security mechanisms we have put in place to protect your data and how to contact use in the event you need further information.
Who Are We?
Alpha Academic Appeals gathers a team of lawyers to assist students and professionals who want to challenge a decision made by an educational institution, such as a school or university. All the barristers have a license to practise and are registered with the Bar Standards Board.
If you need to contact us about your data or the processing carried out you can use the contact details at the end of this document.
What do we do with your information?
Information collected
When carrying out the provision of legal services or providing a reference we collect some or all of the following personal information that you provide:
Information collected from other sources
The same categories of information may also be obtained from third parties, such as other legal professionals or experts, members of the public, your family and friends, witnesses, courts and other tribunals, investigators, government departments, regulators, public records and registers.
How we use your personal information: Purposes
I may use your personal information for the following purposes:
i. to provide legal services to my clients, including the provision of legal advice and representation in courts, tribunals, arbitrations, and mediations
ii. to keep accounting records and carry out office administration
iii. to take or defend legal or regulatory proceedings or to exercise a lien
iv. to respond to potential complaints or make complaints
v. to check for potential conflicts of interest in relation to future potential cases
vi. to promote and market my services
vii. to carry out anti-money laundering and terrorist financing checks
viii. to train other barristers and when providing work-shadowing opportunities
ix. to respond to requests for references
x. when procuring goods and services
xi. to publish legal judgments and decisions of courts and tribunals
xii. as required or permitted by law.
Whether information has to be provided by you, and why
If we have 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 us to provide you with advice or representation or the reference, and to enable us to comply with our professional obligations, and to keep accounting records.
The legal basis for processing your personal information
We rely on the following as the lawful bases on which we collect and use your personal information:
Who will we share your personal information 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. As a barrister we have an obligation to keep your information confidential, except where it otherwise becomes public or is disclosed as part of the case or proceedings.
It may be necessary to share your information with the following:
We may be required to provide your information to regulators, 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.
We may also be required to disclose your information to the police or intelligence services, where required or permitted by law.
Sources of information
The personal information we obtain may include information which has been obtained from:
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 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 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.
Some countries and organisations 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 do not. 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 within the EEA.
We may transfer your personal information to the following which are located outside the European Economic Area (EEA):
If we decide to publish a judgment or other decision of a Court or Tribunal containing your information then this will be published to the world.
We will not otherwise transfer personal information outside the EEA except as necessary for providing legal services or for any legal proceedings.
If you would like any further information please use the contact details at the end of this document.
How long will I store your personal data?
We will normally store your information:
Consent
As explained above, we are relying on your explicit consent to process your information in categories (g) to (o) above. You provided this consent when you agreed that we would provide legal services/you asked me 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 we have carried out prior to you withdrawing your consent. However, where we also rely on other bases for processing your information, you may not be able to prevent processing of your data. For example, if you have asked us to work for you and we have spent time on your case, you may owe us money which we will be entitled to claim.
If there is an issue with the processing of your information, please contact us using the contact details below.
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:
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:
We will respond to you within one month from when we receive your request.
Marketing Emails
Please note if you wish to unsubscribe from any marketing emails that you have signed up for, you can do so by emailing Rachel Nicholson at rachael.nicholson@virtalent.com. It may take 14 days for this to become effective.
How to make a complaint?
The GDPR also gives you 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
We do not intend to process your personal information except for the reasons stated within this privacy notice. If this changes, this privacy notice will be amended and placed on the website.
Changes to this privacy notice
This privacy notice was published on 21st September 2020 and last updated on 5th April 2019.
We continually review our privacy practices and may change this policy from time to time. When we do it will be placed on the website.
Contact Details
If you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information we hold about you, please contact us or.
The best way to contact us is by e-mail to Rachael Nicholson at rachael.nicholson@virtalent.com.