Privacy Notice – General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Please read the following information carefully. This privacy notice contains information about the information which may be collected, stored, and otherwise processed about you and the reasons for the processing. It also tells you who I may share this information with, the security mechanisms that I have put in place to protect your data, and how you may contact me in the event you need further information. You should read this privacy notice in conjunction with my chambers privacy notice and the Tennyson Chambers web site privacy notice (which you will find at https://www.tennysonchambers.com/privacy-policy/) in connection with any use of my web site of Tennyson Chambers ( which is my registered trademark) which are together referred to as “my privacy documents”.

Who Am I?

Susan Brown collects, uses, retains, and stores personal data which may include personal data about you. When I do this I am the ‘controller’ of this information for the purposes of the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. I process personal information about my lay and professional clients, about witnesses and experts, and anyone ancillary to actual or potential legal proceedings or the provision of legal advice.

If you need to contact me about your personal data or the processing carried out of your personal data you can use the contact details at the end of this document.

What do I do with your information?

Information collected

When carrying out the provision of legal services or when providing a reference I, Susan Brown, may collect store use retain some or all of the following personal information that you might provide to me namely:

personal details including name, address, telephone numbers and email address(es).
family details.
lifestyle and social circumstances.
goods and services.
financial details.
education, training and employment details
physical or mental health details.
racial or ethnic origin.
political opinions.
religious, philosophical or other beliefs.
biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person.
Trade union membership.
Sexual life.
Offences and alleged offences.
criminal proceedings, outcomes and sentences, and related security measures
other personal data relevant to instructions to provide legal services, including personal data specific to the instructions in question.
Your correspondence with me whether by e mail post fax or other form of communication with me.

Paragraphs g,h,I,j,l,m,n,o, are classified as sensitive information which I process.

Information collected from other sources.

The same categories of information may also be obtained or collected from third parties, such as other legal professionals or experts, members of the public, your family and friends, witnesses, courts and other tribunals, government departments, regulators, public records and registers.

How I use your personal information: Purposes

I may use your personal information for the following purposes:

to provide legal services to my clients, including but not limited to the provision of legal advice and representation in courts, tribunals, arbitrations, and mediations.
to keep accounting and business records and carry out office administration.
to take or defend legal or regulatory proceedings or to exercise a lien.
to respond to potential complaints or make complaints.
to check for potential conflicts of interest in relation to future potential cases.
to promote and market my services.
to carry out anti-money laundering and terrorist financing checks.
to train other barristers and when providing work-shadowing opportunities.
to respond to requests for references.
when procuring goods and services.
to publish legal judgments and decisions of courts and tribunals or write legal articles.
as required or permitted by law.
to comply with any professional obligation that I may have under the code of professional conduct contained in the Bar Handbook of my regulator the Bar Standards Board.
to carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us and to provide you with the information and services that you request from us or instruct us to carry out;
to notify you about changes to my services;
to verify your identity or of officeholders of your organisation;
to provide my services;
for the payment of my services and any debt collection;
for the administration of files and records;
for access to the secure client pages on the Tennyson Chambers web site;
for transfers of data between other professionals and advisers notified to us by you;
for legal and regulatory compliance;
to correspond with you whether by e mail, post, telephone, facsimile of other form of communication.

Whether information has to be provided by you, and why

If I have been instructed by you or on your behalf on a case/matter or if you have asked for a reference, or made an enquiry about my services as a barrister your personal information has to be provided, to enable me to provide you with a fee estimate, client care letter, legal advice or representation or the reference, and to enable me to comply with (a) my professional obligations as a barrister; (b) to keep my accounting and business records; (c) to fulfil my business record keeping obligations to Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise, and any duties that I may have to any court or tribunal involved or connected to your legal case; and (d) to enable me to carry out the purposes set out above.

The legal basis for processing your personal information

I rely on the following as the lawful bases on which I collect and use your personal information. Processing of your personal data by me will be lawful under the GDPR if and to the extent one of the following applies:
1. If you have consented to the processing of your personal information, then I may process your information for the purposes set out above to the extent to which you have consented to me doing so. However I may still process your personal data without your consent if –
- Processing is necessary for the performance of a contract entered into between you and me or to take steps to enter into a contract – Article 6(1)(b);
- Processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation – Article 6(1)(c);
- Processing is necessary to protect your vital interests or those of another person – Article 6(1)(d);
- Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in me – Article 6(1)(e);
- Processing is necessary for the purposes of legitimate interests pursued by us or a third party, except where such interests are overridden by your interests, rights or freedoms – Article 6(1)(f).
1. 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.
2. In relation to information which is in categories (g) to (o) above (these being categories which are considered to include particularly sensitive information and which include information about criminal convictions or proceedings) I may rely on your consent for any processing for the purposes set out in purposes (ii), (iv), (vi), (viii) and (ix) above. I may need your consent to carry out processing of this data for these purposes. However, if you do not consent to processing for purposes (iv) and (ix) (responding to potential complaints and providing a reference) I will be unable to take your case or to provide a reference. This is because I need to be able to retain all the material about your case until there is no prospect of a complaint and to provide an informed and complete reference.
3. In relation to information in categories (g) to (o) above (these being categories which are considered to be particularly sensitive information and include information about criminal convictions or proceedings), I am 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 rights.
4. In relation to information which is not in categories (g) to (o) above, I rely on my legitimate interest and/or the legitimate interests of a third party in carrying out the processing for the Purposes set out above and the grounds in Article 6 of the GDPR where processing can take place without your consent.
5. In certain circumstances processing may be necessary in order that I can comply with a legal obligation to which I am subject (including carrying out anti-money laundering or terrorist financing checks).
6. The processing is necessary to publish judgments or other decisions of courts or tribunals.
If you withdraw your consent, as stated above, I may still process your data if that processing falls into one or more of the above categories set out above. If you object to processing performed under Article 6(1)(e) or 6(1)(f), I will stop processing your personal data unless I either:
- Demonstrate a compelling legitimate ground for processing the personal data that overrides the data subject’s interests.
- Need to process the personal data to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

Who will I share your personal information with?

I sometimes need to share the personal information/data I process with the individual themselves and also with other organisations ( see below). If you are a client, some of the information you provide in confidence will be protected by legal professional privilege unless and until the information becomes public in the course of any proceedings or otherwise loses its confidentiality. As a barrister I have an obligation to keep your information confidential, except where the information or personal data otherwise becomes or is public or is disclosed as part of the case or proceedings.

Where it may be necessary or required I share your information with the following:

data processors, such as my Chambers staff or contractors, IT support contractors, email providers including cloud e mail providers, data storage providers, software providers, software network engineers, my telephone receptionists, and serviced office staff employed by Oxford Innovation Limited at Ocean Village Innovation Centre.
other legal professionals.
experts and other witnesses.
prosecution authorities.
courts and tribunals.
staff in my chambers.
trainee barristers or min pupils.
lay clients.
family and associates of the person whose personal information I am processing
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
other regulatory authorities.
current, past or prospective employers.
education and examining bodies.
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 e .g. law case reporters in relation to the publication of legal judgments and decisions of courts and tribunals.
I 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 information which was originally privileged information. I may also be required to disclose your information to the police or intelligence services, where required or permitted by law.

The personal information I obtain may include information which has been obtained from:

other legal professionals
experts and other witnesses
prosecution authorities
courts and tribunals
trainee barristers
lay clients
family and associates of the person whose personal information I am processing
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
other regulatory authorities
current, past or prospective employers
education and examining bodies
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 my Chambers staff, IT support staff, email providers, data storage providers, software providers, software network engineers, my telephone receptionists, and serviced office staff employed by Oxford Innovation Limited at Ocean Village Innovation Centre.
public sources, such as the press, public registers and law reports.

cloud data storage services based in the USA who have agreed to comply with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, in order to enable me to store your data and/or backup copies of your data so that I may access your data when they need to. The USA does not have the same data protection laws as the EU but the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield has been recognised by the European Commission as providing adequate protection. To obtain further details of that protection see https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/data-transfers-outside-eu/eu-us-privacy-shield_en.
cloud data storage services based in Switzerland, in order to enable me to store your data and/or backup copies of your data so that I may access your data when I need to. Switzerland does not have the same data protection laws as the EU but has been recognised by the European Commission as providing adequate protection; see https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/data-transfers-outside-eu/adequacy-protection-personal-data-non-eu-countries_en.

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 or case information?

I 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, or longer where the case includes information relating to a minor), from the date of the last item of work was carried out, the date of the last payment received or the date on which all outstanding payments are written off, which ever is the latest. This is because it may be needed for potential legal proceedings or to deal with any compliant or potential complaint or to comply with any professional obligation that I have under the Bar Standards Board Handbook. This means that after the latest point above your file(s) and papers connected with you case can be kept in certain cases for up to a minimum of 7 – 12 years (see below).

After the above period(s) have expired if your papers have not already been returned to you any further retention will be reviewed and the data will be marked for deletion /destruction unless you give me written instructions not to destroy you papers or they will be 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.

In respect of cases under the public access scheme registered barristers are recommended by Bar Standard Board Guidance to retain copies of client data including personal data and sensitive personal data, information and documents you supply whether in hard copy or in electronic form for a minimum period of 7 years under the current provisions of the regulatory code of conduct for the English Bar set out in the Bar Handbook published by the Bar Standards Board of the United Kingdom who regulates all barrister members of Tennyson Chambers.

I review data held by me and review the length of time that personal data of clients is held. Where the business need and purpose require I update archive and securely delete information if it goes out of date and is no longer required for my business purposes above.

I will store some of your information and personal data which I need to carry out conflict checks for the rest of my career. However, this is likely to be limited beyond the above stated periods to your name and contact details/ the name of the case and correspondence which I may have had with you.

I will store Information related to customer due diligence checks under The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 which information will be retained until five years after the completion of the transaction or the end of the business relationship, whichever is the later;
I retain names and contact details held for marketing purposes which will be stored indefinitely or until I become aware or am informed that the individual has ceased to be a potential client or client.

Consent

As explained above, in certain instances I can rely on your explicit consent to process your information in categories (g) to (o) above. You provided this consent when you agreed that I 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 I have carried out prior to you withdrawing your consent. However, where I 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 me to work for you and I have spent time on your case, you may owe me money which I will be entitled to claim.

If there is an issue with the processing of your information, please contact me 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:

Ask for access to your personal information and other supplementary information;
Ask for correction of mistakes in your data or to complete missing information I hold on you;
Ask for your personal information to be erased, in certain circumstances;
Receive a copy of the personal information you have provided to me or have this information sent to a third party. This will be provided to you or the third party in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format, e.g. a Word file or pdf file;
Object at any time to processing of your personal information for direct marketing;
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 at the end of this document;
I may need to ask you to provide other information so that you can be identified;
Please provide a contact address so that you can be contacted to request further information to verify your identity;
Provide proof of your identity and address;
State the right or rights that you wish to exercise.

I will respond to you within one month from when I 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 sending me an e mail asking to be unsubscribed to any marketing e mails. It may take up to 7 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

I 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 Tennyson Chambers website.

Changes to this privacy notice

This privacy notice was published on 23^rd May 2018 and last updated on 19th November 2023. This privacy notice was last reviewed on 19th November 2023.

I continually review my privacy practices and may change this policy from time to time. When I do it will be on the Tennyson Chambers web site and is also available on written request.

Contact Details

If you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information I hold about you, please contact me as the Data Protection Officer at the address set out below.

The best way to contact me is to write to me at Tennyson Chambers Ocean Village Innovation Centre Ocean Way Southampton SO14 3JZ or contact me by email at email practicemanager@tennysonchambers.com or by phone at 02381 511511.

My EU Representative.

Susan Brown Tennyson Chambers Ocean Village innovation Centre Ocean Way Southampton SO14 3JZ ( for matters which predate the United Kingdom leaving the European Union).

My Data Protection Officer.

Susan Brown Tennyson Chambers Ocean Village Innovation Centre Ocean Way Southampton SO14 3JZ

Contact Us

For more information about our members and services please contact us.

Our telephone number in Southampton United Kingdom is +44 (0) 2381 511511.

For clients wishing to have a conference in London United Kingdom then please dial the London UK appointments number of +44 (0)203 407 0047.

Alternatively, you may email practicemanager@tennysonchambers.com.

Barrister Privacy Notice – Susan Brown

Contact details