Privacy Policy
We take the security and privacy of data seriously and are committed to complying with our legal obligations under the Data Protection Act 2018 (the ‘2018 Act’) and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’) in respect of data privacy and security. We respect your personal data and our use of your personal data is subject to the relevant UK and EU legislation and SRA’s Code of Conduct for Solicitors.
Scope and Purpose
This privacy notice aims to give you information on how the Company collects and processes your personal data through your use of this website, including any data you may provide through this website or when you contact us through the methods of contact we provide.
Please read this privacy policy carefully as it contains important information on who we are and how and why we collect, store, use and share information about you. It also explains your rights in relation to your information and how to contact us or supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.
It is important that you read this privacy notice together with any other privacy notices we may provide on specific occasions. This privacy notice supplements the other notices and is not intended to override them. We are required to notify you of this information under the data protection legislation.
This policy applies to all data, whether it is stored electronically, on paper or on other materials.
This Website is not intended for children.
Changes to this policy
We will review and update this notice regularly in accordance with our data protection obligations. We will circulate any new or modified policies or notices in relation to your data when it is adopted on our website. It is important that you read and understand this notice before you share with us any personal data.
Your queries
If you have any queries about how we manage your information use the methods of contact supplied to raise a query with us and we will look to address these in accordance with any relevant laws and regulations.
We hope that we can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your information. However, if you feel that we have failed to address your concerns appropriately, you can contact the Information Commissioner at ico.org.uk/concerns/ or telephone: 0303 123 1113 for further information about your rights and how to make a formal complaint.
Controller
The Company obtains, keeps and uses information about you for a number of specific lawful purposes. The Company is a “data controller”. This means that we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal information about you.
Third Party Links
Our website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections 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 processing activities. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit as those third parties will be shared data controllers.
Data protection principles
When processing your data, the Company will comply with the following data protection principles when processing information:
- we will process personal information lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner;
- we will collect personal information for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes only, and will not process it in a way that is incompatible with those legitimate purposes;
- we will only process the personal information that is adequate, relevant and necessary for the relevant purposes;
- we will keep accurate and up to date personal information, and take reasonable steps to ensure that inaccurate personal information is deleted or corrected without delay;
- we will keep personal information in a form which permits identification of data subjects (you) for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the information is processed; and
- we will take appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure that personal information is kept secure and protected against unauthorised or unlawful processing, and against accidental loss, destruction or damage.
How we define processing
The Company will process your personal data (including special categories of personal data and your criminal offence data) in accordance with legal obligations.
‘Processing’ means any operation which is performed on personal data such as:
- collection, recording, organisation, structuring or storage;
- adaption or alteration;
- retrieval, consultation or use;
- disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available;
- alignment or combination; and
- restriction, destruction or erasure.
This includes processing personal data which forms part of a filing system and any automated processing.
What information we collect
We processes information about you ‘data subjects’ for a number of specific lawful purposes and we seek to ensure that our data collection and processing is always proportionate. Given the nature of our business we may collect personal data, sensitive personal data and criminal offence data as defined below:
‘Personal data’ is information which relates to a living person who can be identified from that data (data subject) on its own, or when taken together with other information which is likely to come into our possession. It includes any expression of opinion about the person and an indication of the intentions of us or others, in respect of that person. It does not include anonymised data.
‘Sensitive personal data’ is sometimes referred to as ‘special categories of personal data’ or ‘sensitive personal information’ and it includes information about your: race; ethnic origin; politics; religion; trade union membership; genetics; biometrics (where used for ID purposes); health; sex life; or sexual orientation.
‘Criminal Offence Data’ is data relating to criminal convictions and offences, or related security measures.
We have further grouped the above data together as follows:
Identity Data includes first name, maiden name, last name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth and gender.
Contact Data includes addresses, email addresses and telephone numbers.
Background Data includes details of your background information that you provide to us when enquiring about our services. This could be the nature of your dispute, the parties involved, what you wish to achieve and what type of our assistance you need. It may include sensitive data and criminal offence data and may include data about third parties.
Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, 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 this website.
Usage Data includes information about how you use our website ie how long you stay on each page and how long you generally visit our website for.
Marketing Data includes your marketing and communication preferences.
Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy notice.
Basis for processing data
We have set out below a description of what data we collect, where and how we obtain the data from, the purpose of collecting it, how we will use it and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate, what happens if you do not provide the information and who we may share it with and why.
We have to have a valid lawful basis in order to process your personal data. We will generally process your personal data in the following circumstances:
- We need this information in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contact with you or for the performance of a contract to which you are a party;
- 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. Legitimate interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best service. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). Where we process your information under this lawful basis, we will specify legitimate interests accordingly;
- Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation that we are subject to;
- Where you have provided us consent. Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data but may in certain circumstances request for your explicit consent to process your data. If we do so, we will advise you on the purpose of that data collection, how we will process it and will request your explicit and clear consent for us to process that data for that purpose. Where we rely on your consent to process your data, you will be able to withdraw your consent at any time.
It is important that you are aware that where we process your data for the purposes of entering into a contract with you, our legitimate interest or to comply with our legal obligations once you have submitted your data to us we can process your data for these purposes without your consent (without prejudice to your other rights).
Please 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 below.
Clients
If you instruct us to act for you, you will be provided with a separate privacy notice. This privacy notice supplements the other notices and is not intended to override them. We are required to notify you of this information under data protection legislation.
Candidates
If you apply for a job with us, you will be provided with a separate privacy notice. This privacy notice supplements the other notices and is not intended to override them. We are required to notify you of this information under data protection legislation.
Website Users
When you use our website, we may automatically collect Technical Data and User Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this data by using cookies, and other similar technologies. We may also receive Technical Data about you if you visit other websites employing our cookies. We will:
- obtain this information from you or third parties such as analytics providers (e.g. google);
- collect this information for the purpose to administer and protect our business and this website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data);
- collect this data as it is 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);
- will share the information we receive with relevant personnel within company, e.g. those responsible for the IT aspect of the business and third-party service providers responsible for our website maintenance; and
- collect this information automatically when you use our website. If you do not wish for this information to be collected, please do not use our website.
Prospective Clients
We may process your Identity, Contact and Background data (which may include sensitive data or criminal offence data) by filling in forms on our website, by corresponding with us by post, phone or email and during face to face meetings. This includes personal data you provide when you enquire about our legal services. We will:
- obtain this information from you;
- collect this information for the purpose of determining if we are able to provide you with legal services and allocate your query to the appropriate personnel;
- collect this data as it is necessary in order for us to enter into a contract with you and for our legitimate interests (to grow our business, maintain appropriate records, determine if we can provide you with services) and to comply with our legal/regulatory obligation i.e. assess on whether we have the expertise and resources to provide you with the service and to carry out conflict checks;
- share the information we receive with relevant personnel within company, i.e. to pass messages or information so that that personnel may respond to your enquiry, make appointments etc.
- not be able to contact you or take necessary steps to enter into a contract with you, if you fail to provide necessary information.
Call Recording
We may record telephone calls you make to our teams to:
- help plan and make improvements to our services
- check for mistakes
- train staff
- detect/prevent fraud
- help plan and make improvements to our services
- If you object to this, you will need to end the call when you are told that calls may be recorded.
Sometimes, calls may not be recorded if:
- there is a technical fault with the telephony system
- call handler is using equipment which does not let calls be recorded
Your information will not be transferred outside the UK or European Economic Area.
Sharing your call recording
Your information may be shared with other organisations if they have a legal right to it.
How long we keep your call recording
We will delete call recordings up to 12 months after the call was made.
Your rights
The information you provided will be managed as required by Data Protection law.
You have the right to receive a copy of the call recording.
You have the right to request that the call recording be deleted if you believe we are processing it for longer than necessary.
Sensitive Data
The Company may from time to time process sensitive personal information about you. We may only use information relating to sensitive information where the law allows us to do so. This will usually be where such processing is necessary to carry out our obligations and provided, we do so in line with our data protection policy.
We will only process sensitive personal information if we have lawful basis for doing so and one of the special conditions for processing sensitive data applies.
The lawful bases of processing sensitive personal data are to take steps necessary to enter into a contract with you (e.g. to assess on whether we can assist you, or assess if you have capacity to instruct us) to comply with our legal obligations (e.g. to comply with SRA’s Code of Conduct) and legitimate business interests (to grow our business, to maintain appropriate records, to provide service to clients). The special condition is the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
You may also wish to provide us with sensitive data in relation to your health (i.e. disability) by requesting us to make reasonable adjustments on how we communicate with you or if we need to make special adjustments so that we can provide you with our services. The legal condition for processing such data is establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims (i.e. so that we can show that we have treated you fairly and in accordance to our legal obligations under Equality Act 2010).
The Company will not carry out automated decision-making (including profiling) based on any individual’s sensitive personal information.
We have in place an appropriate policy and safeguards which we are required by law to maintain when processing such data.
Criminal Offence Data
We may only use information relating to criminal convictions where the law allows us to do so. This will usually be where such processing is necessary to carry out our obligations and provided, we do so in line with our data protection policy. In some circumstances we may be required to hold information about criminal convictions.
We will only collect information about criminal convictions if we have lawful basis for doing so and one of the special conditions for processing criminal convictions applies for example:
- processing is necessary for the purpose of, or in connection with, any legal proceedings (including prospective legal proceedings);
- is necessary for the purpose of obtaining legal advice, or
- is otherwise necessary for the purposes of establishing, exercising or defending legal rights.
We have in place an appropriate policy and safeguards which we are required by law to maintain when processing such data.
Third Parties
We may be provided information about you by a prospective client or our client within the Background Data (which may include sensitive data or criminal offence data). We may not be able to notify you that we hold this data about you due to our legal professional privilege which we owe to Prospective Clients and Clients.
We will do our best to accommodate reasonable GDPR requests from third parties for their Personal Data held by us, providing that in doing so we are not:
(1) in breach of our duties of confidentiality or any other duties to our clients;
(2) required to provide any documents, data or information over which a claim of legal professional privilege, litigation privilege, common interest privilege or any other form of professional privilege could validly be asserted in the context of legal proceedings; or
(3) in breach of any provisions of the relevant SRA Codes of Conduct in force from time to time.
Promotional Communications
When you enquire about our service, we will process your data under the lawful basis of legitimate business interest. When you subscribe to our newsletters or publications, request marketing to be sent to you or enter into a competition, promotion or survey we will collect your Identity Data, Contact data and Marketing Data on the basis of consent.
We will obtain this information from you.
We will collect this information so that we can send you our newsletters, to deliver relevant website content and advertisements to you, notify you of legal updates, send you information on our seminars or invite you to networking or other events, or to introduce our new services and measure or understand the effectiveness of the advertising we serve to you;
If you enquire about our services, we have a legitimate interest in processing your personal data for promotional purposes. This means we do not usually need your consent to send you promotional communications if you are our former or current client (consumer) or if you are a business or organisation. We will collect the personal data as it is necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep in touch with our clients, to study how customers use our services, to develop our services and promote them, to grow our business and to improve our marketing strategy).
Where consent is needed, we will ask for this consent separately and clearly.
We will always treat your personal data with the utmost respect and never sell or share it with other organisations for marketing purposes.
You have the right to opt out of receiving promotional communications at any time by using the ‘unsubscribe’ link or ‘opt out’ link in any promotional emails;
Data Retention
We will not retain your data for longer than necessary for the purposes set out in this policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data. We generally keep your personal data so that we can:
- respond to any questions, complaints or claims made by you or on your behalf;
- show that we treated you fairly;
- keep records required by law;
- prevent fraud;
- comply with our regulatory requirements.
When it is no longer necessary to retain your personal data, we will delete securely in accordance with our Data Retention Policy.
In summary, your data will be retained as follows:
- Website Users: your data will be aggregated and retained for 6 years.
- Prospective Clients: enquiries will be retained for 6 months after which period the data may be aggregated.
- Promotional: If you enquired about our services or subscribed to receive our promotional notifications, we will retain your name, email address, organisation and your contacting preferences until you withdraw your consent or until you request us to stop processing data.
- Third Parties: information will be retained for 6 months if such information is provided by Prospective Client and 7 – 12 years depending on the nature of the matter if the Prospective Client becomes a Client or if such information is provided by a Client.
Data Security
Information may be held at our offices and third-party agencies, service providers, representatives and agents. We have security measures in place to ensure that there is appropriate security for information we hold.
We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need-to-know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.
Data Sharing
We routinely share personal data with:
- relevant personnel within our Company;
- professional advisers who you may wish us to obtain a quote from or instruct on your behalf or refer to you (eg medical professionals, experts, tax advisors, barristers, conveyancers etc). We will share your personal information only if it is necessary and we have your permission;
- our insurers;
- external service suppliers, representatives and agents that we use to make our business more efficient (i.e. website developers, our technology, system and software providers).
- third- party service providers responsible for our website maintenance and marketing or software providers.
We only allow our service providers to handle your personal data if we are satisfied that they take appropriate measures to protect your personal data. They are only permitted to process your data for the lawful purpose for which it has been shared and in accordance with our instructions. We also impose contractual obligations on service providers relating to ensure they can only use your personal data to provide services to us and to you. We will only share information about you if it is strictly necessary.
We may disclose and exchange information with law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.
We may disclose your data in order to enforce our contractual rights against you or to defend legal claims. We may also disclose your data to protect our rights, property and safety, or the rights, property and safety of others or to prevent fraud.
We may also need to share some personal data with other parties, such as potential buyers of some or all of our business or during a re-structuring. Usually, information will be anonymised, but this may not always be possible. The recipient of the information will be bound by confidentiality obligations.
The above data will be shared subject to our duty of confidentiality as well the Code of Conduct for Solicitors.
Your Rights
Under the legislation you may be entitled to the listed rights in certain circumstances as listed below.
The right to be informed about the collection and use of your personal data.
The right to access (Subject Access Request) to your personal information (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it. If you wish to exercise this right:
- 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 unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.
- 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.
- we try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may 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.
Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected. In certain circumstances we may refuse a request for correction.
Request erasure of your personal information. In certain circumstances you have the right to have ask for some but not all of the information we hold and process to be erased (the right to be forgotten). This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal information where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below).
Object to processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation, which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes.
Request restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
Request the transfer of your personal information to another party.
Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling: You will not be subject to decisions that will have a significant impact on you based solely on automated decision-making.
If you want to exercise any of the above-mentioned rights, please contact us in writing by sending a formal request to our registered company address. We will respond to your request within one calendar month.
Client feedback and complaints policy
We are committed to providing a quality service to our clients. We value feedback from clients greatly because it helps us to continually improve our service. If you do not feel that you are receiving excellent client service or that something could be improved, please do tell us about it. If we have fallen short of the high standards which we have set for ourselves then we would like the opportunity to put it right.
What do I do if I have feedback or a complaint?
At first it would be helpful if you could discuss any feedback or concerns which you have about our service or how it might be improved with the lawyer dealing with your matter. If the lawyer dealing cannot resolve your concern informally, or if the issue is of such a serious nature that you do not feel comfortable raising it with your lawyer, then you may discuss this with our complaints partner as a complaint under this policy.
How do I raise a complaint under this policy?
It would help us if you could email with:
- why you feel dissatisfied with the service which you have received;
- how you would prefer to be contacted about your complaint;
- if there is anything in particular which you would like us to do to resolve your complaint.
If you would prefer not to email details of your complaint in this way then please call to discuss the best way to get an understanding of your concerns.
What happens after I have made a complaint under this policy?
We will:
- send an acknowledgement of your complaint within 7 days of receiving it;
- log your complaint on our central complaints register;
- investigate the concerns and arrange a discussion with you to try to agree how to resolve the issues within 21 days of receiving your complaint;
- write to you within 28 days of receiving your complaint to confirm the outcome of this.
In exceptional circumstances it may be necessary to extend these timescales but we will try to agree any variations with you first. If you remain unsatisfied after 8 weeks at the latest we will always ensure that you are reminded at that time of how to make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman if you are eligible to do so.
What might the outcome of my complaint be?
We very much regret any dissatisfaction which our clients experience and will not hesitate to apologise to you where our service has fallen below our high standards. We may also agree that certain steps will be taken to improve your situation and to ensure that any problems experienced will not reoccur.
Cookies Policy
Effective Date: 23.11.2025
Last Updated: 23.11.2024
Apex Counsel (“we,” “our,” or “us”) uses cookies on our website www.apexcounsel.co.uk (“the Website”). This Cookies Policy explains what cookies are, how we use them, and your choices regarding their use.
What Are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files that are stored on your device (computer, smartphone, tablet) when you visit a website. They help websites recognize your device and store certain information about your preferences or actions.
Types of Cookies We Use
We use the following types of cookies on the Website:
- Strictly Necessary Cookies
These cookies are essential for the operation of the Website. Without these cookies, certain features of the Website may not function properly.
- Example: Session cookies to maintain login status.
- Performance Cookies
These cookies collect information about how visitors use the Website, such as which pages are visited most often. The data collected is aggregated and anonymous.
- Example: Google Analytics cookies.
- Functional Cookies
These cookies allow the Website to remember your preferences, such as language settings or login details, to provide a more personalized experience.
- Targeting/Advertising Cookies
These cookies track your browsing habits to deliver relevant advertisements. They may also limit how often you see an ad.
- Example: Cookies from advertising networks like Google Ads.
How We Use Cookies
We use cookies to:
- Ensure the Website functions correctly.
- Analyse and improve Website performance.
- Customize your experience on the Website.
- Deliver tailored advertising (where applicable).
Third-Party Cookies
We may allow third-party services to place cookies on your device when you interact with the Website. These third parties may include analytics providers, advertisers, and social media platforms. Please refer to their privacy policies for more information on how they use cookies.
Your Choices Regarding Cookies
You have the right to manage your cookie preferences such as through the use of Browser Settings, which can allow you to delete or block cookies. Refer to your browser’s help section for instructions.
- Example: Adjust cookie settings in Google Chrome or Safari.
Changes to This Cookies Policy
We may update this Cookies Policy from time to time to reflect changes in technology, law, or our business operations. The “Last Updated” date at the top of this policy indicates the latest revision.
Contact Us
If you have questions about this Cookies Policy or our use of cookies, please contact us in writing at our registered company address.