Privacy Statement

 

Introduction

For the purposes of this privacy statement only, the “Forbes Hare Group” is a term used to describe the constituent entities that provide legal services under the name “Forbes Hare” (or similar) and various associated services businesses including, without limitation, the various partnerships and companies operating under the names of Forbes Hare, Forbes Hare LLP, Forbes Hare PTE Ltd, FH Corporate Services Ltd, Forbes Hare Trust Company (NZ) Limited, Forbes Hare Trust Company (or any variation thereof) and any other entities owned and/or controlled by any of them from time to time, including affiliates. The various constituents of the Forbes Hare Group currently have offices in the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Singapore, New Zealand, Nevis and the United Kingdom.

References in this statement to “we”, “us” or “Forbes Hare” are references to any of the Forbes Hare Group.

This privacy statement sets out how Forbes Hare uses, stores, transfers and discloses your personal data.

Reference in this notice to “personal data” means any information that identifies, or could reasonably be used to identify, a living individual, either on its own or together with other information. Please also see the below section on Cookies which explains the use of cookies and other web tracking devices via our website.

Please read the contents of this statement carefully to understand our practices with respect to personal data. Forbes Hare is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

 

The personal data we collect and process

The personal information that we collect and process may include:

  • Basic information, such as your name, your employer, your title or position and your relationship to a person;
  • Contact information, such as your physical address, email address and phone number(s);
  • Financial information, such as bank account details;
  • Technical information (including your IP address), such as information from your visits to our website or applications or in relation to materials and communications we send to you electronically;
  • Information you provide to us for the purposes of attending meetings and events, including access and dietary requirements;
  • Identification and background information (which may include sensitive information) provided by you or collected by us as part of our business acceptance and KYC checks such as date of birth, country of residence, nationality, your ownership of certain entities etc.
  • Personal information provided to us by or on behalf of our clients, partners and employees or generated by us in the course or providing services and employment, which may include special categories of data;
  • Details of your visits to our offices; and
  • Any other information relating to you which you may provide to us, or which may have been provided by others in relation to any potential or actual engagement.

From time to time we may ask you by email to review your contact details and mailing list preferences and update them as necessary.  This not only helps us to keep the contact information we hold about you up-to-date, it also ensures that we only send you information that you have requested and/or is relevant to you.  It is not Forbes Hare’s policy to send information emails other than occasionally, nor do we share our contact lists with anyone else.

As a law firm, we regularly receive personal data as part of our professional activities. We may collect your personal data:

  • As part of our business intake and development procedures;
  • When you or your organisation seek legal advice or services from us;
  • When you or your organisation offer or provide services to us;
  • When you browse or interact with our website(s) or use any of our online services;
  • When you seek employment with us;
  • When you email us or provide such data to us in other circumstances, such as when you request details about or attend a firm sponsored event.

Ordinarily, you will have provided any such data to us. But in some cases, we may collect data about you from a third-party source, such as government or credit reporting agencies, an information or service provider or from public records.

How we use your personal data

Whether we receive your personal data directly from you or from a third-party source, we will only use your personal data in connection with our ordinary professional activities (including the fulfilment of our legal or regulatory obligations) and as part of this, we may add your details to our contact database (the “Permitted Uses”).

These “Permitted Uses” may include:

  • Providing legal advice or other services to our clients and contacts;
  • Distributing relevant marketing information where Forbes Hare has a legitimate interest or where you have expressly consented to us doing so;
  • Managing our business relationship with you or your organisation, whether in connection with the provision or procurement of services or as your employer or former employer, including processing payments, accounting, auditing, billing and collection, circulating terms and conditions of engagement and related support services;
  • Acting in compliance with our legal obligations, including with respect to anti-money laundering and sanctions checks;
  • Managing and securing the access to our offices, systems and online platforms;
  • Complying with court orders and other legal and regulatory requirements; and
  • For any purpose for which you provided the personal data to the Forbes Hare Group.

If you have given us your express consent, we may process your personal data for additional purposes. You may withdraw your consent at any time and each electronic marketing communication you receive from us will include an “unsubscribe” option. Additional purposes for which we may process your personal data may include:

  • Communicating with you with respect to announcements, events and products and services which may be of interest to you;
  • Gathering information regarding your preferences to improve the quality of our communications and interaction with you, such as through website analytics or the tracking of our client publications; and
  • Any other purpose for which you have given consent.

How we share your personal data

Forbes Hare is an international firm and a list of our offices, together with relevant contact information, may be found on our website. Irrespective of how we obtain your personal data, it may be shared among all the offices within the Forbes Hare Group (both inside and outside the European Economic Area). We require all offices to at all times ensure a level of data protection at least as protective as those mandated by the European Economic Area. From time to time we may need to transfer personal data to third parties, including third parties based outside the European Economic Area, for example (but not limited to) sub-contractors, other counsel and accountants and third parties involved in your matters.

Where we share or transfer your personal data, we will do this in accordance with applicable data protection laws and will take appropriate safeguards to ensure its integrity and protection.

Keeping your personal data secure

We will take appropriate technical and organisational measures against unauthorized or unlawful processing of your personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, your personal data in accordance with our internal security procedures covering its storage, access and destruction. Personal data may be stored on our own technology systems or those of our vendors or in paper files.

Retaining your personal data

We will delete your personal data when it is no longer reasonably required for the Permitted Uses or you withdraw your consent (where applicable), provided that we are not legally required or otherwise permitted to continue to hold such data. We may retain your personal data for an additional period to the extent deletion would require us to overwrite our automated disaster recovery backup systems, or to the extent we deem it necessary to assert or defend legal claims during any relevant retention period, or for regulatory or insurance-related reason.

Your rights regarding your personal data

In addition to your rights under applicable data protection legislation and where we are permitted or required by applicable law and regulation and by our professional obligations, we will provide you, upon request, with a copy of your personal data and we will correct any errors identified by you. Except as set forth above, we will not use your data for any automated decision making or any profiling and you have the right to restrict our processing of your personal data as well as the right to lodge a complaint with supervisory authorities regarding the processing of your personal data. We will refrain from sending you marketing materials without your express consent and will also comply with your request to stop sending any such further communications. All such requests, or any questions or comments regarding this statement or our handling of your personal data, should be addressed to compliance@forbeshare.com.

Cookies

Cookies are text files containing small amounts of information which are downloaded to your device when you visit a website.  Cookies are then sent back to the originating website on each subsequent visit, or to another website that recognises that cookie.  Cookies are useful because they allow a website to recognise a user’s device. Cookies do lots of different jobs, like letting you navigate between pages efficiently, remembering your preferences, and generally improve the user experience.  They can also help to ensure that adverts you see online are more relevant to you and your interests.

Updates

This Privacy Statement was updated in May 2018. We reserve the right to amend this Privacy Statement from time to time to reflect changing legal requirements or our processing practices. Any such changes will be posted on this website and will be effective upon posting.