At Forensic Pathways, we take your privacy very seriously. 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 your personal data. It also explains your rights in relation to your personal data and how to contact us or supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.
When we use your personal data we are regulated under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which applies across the European Union (including in the United Kingdom) and we are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal data for the purposes of the GDPR. Our use of your personal data is subject to your instructions, the GDPR, other relevant UK and EU legislation and our professional duty of confidentiality.
1. Key terms It would be helpful to start by explaining some key terms used in this policy:
(a) “We”, “us”, “our”, Clarifyi
(b) “Personal data”: any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual
(c) “Special category/Personal data”: Personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, philosophical beliefs or trade union membership; Genetic data; Biometric data (where used for identification purposes); Data concerning health, sex life or sexual orientation
2. Personal data we collect about you
2.1 The table below sets out the personal data we will or may collect in the course of providing our services to you. This may include special category personal data.
| Personal data we will collect | Personal data we may collect depending on how you are working with us |
| Your name, address and telephone number | Your National Insurance and tax details |
| Information to enable us to check and verify your identity, e.g. your date of birth or passport details | Your bank and/or building society details |
| Electronic contact details, e.g. your email address and mobile phone number | Details of your professional online presence, e.g. LinkedIn profile |
| Information relating to the matter in which you are seeking our advice | Details of your spouse/partner and dependants or other family members, e.g. if you instruct us on a family matter or a will |
| Information which may relate to your person or company which may have been leaked online | |
| Information about your use of our IT, communication and other systems, and other monitoring information |
2.2 This personal data is required to enable us to provide legal services. If you do not provide personal data we ask for, it may delay or prevent us from providing those services.
2.3 For information on why we use this personal data, see below: ‘How and why we use personal data’ and ‘How and why we use special category personal data’.
3. How your personal data is collected
We collect most of this information from you, directly or via our secure online client portal.
However, we may also collect information:
(a) from publicly accessible sources, e.g. Companies House
(b) directly from a third party, e.g.
(i) sanctions screening providers
(ii) credit reference agencies
(iii) client due diligence providers
(c) from a third party with your consent, e.g.
(i) your bank or building society, another financial institution or advisor
(ii) consultants and other professionals we may engage in relation to our work with you
(iii) your employer and/or trade union, professional body or pension administrators
(d) via our website—we use cookies on our website (for more information on cookies, please see our cookie policy at Clarifyi.com
(e) via our information technology (IT) systems, e.g. case management, document management.
(f) via searches conducted on the public and dark web in relation to our work with you.
4. How and why we use personal data
4.1 Under data protection law, we can only use personal data if we have a proper reason for doing so, e.g.:
(a) to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;
(b) for the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract;
(c) for our legitimate interests or those of a third party; or
(d) where you have given consent.
4.2 A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use personal data, so long as this is not overridden by your own rights and interests.
4.3 The table below explains how we use personal data and our reasons for doing so:
| What we use personal data for | Our reasons |
| To provide our services to our clients | For the performance of our contract with our client or to take steps at our client’s request before entering into a contract |
| Conducting checks to identify our clients and verify their identity | To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
| Searching for leaked personal or company information | |
| Other processing necessary to comply with professional, legal and regulatory obligations that apply to our business, e.g. under health and safety regulation. | |
| Gathering and providing information required by or relating to audits, enquiries or investigations by regulatory bodies | To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
| Ensuring business policies are adhered to, e.g. policies covering security and internet use | For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to make sure we are following our own internal procedures so we can deliver the best service to you |
| Operational reasons, such as improving efficiency, training, and quality control | For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service for you at the best price |
| Ensuring the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information | For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to protect our intellectual property and other commercially valuable information To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
| Statistical analysis to help us manage our practice, e.g. in relation to financial performance, client base, etc | For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service for you at the best price To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
| Updating and enhancing client records | For the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract. To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations. For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, e.g. making sure that we can keep in touch with our clients about existing and new services |
| Ensuring safe working practices, staff administration and assessments | To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, e.g. to make sure we are following our own internal procedures and working efficiently so we can deliver the best service to you |
| Marketing our services, and those of selected third parties, to: existing and former clients; third parties who have previously expressed an interest in our services; third parties with whom we have had no previous dealings. | For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to promote our business to existing and former clients |
| Credit reference checks via external credit reference agencies | For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. for credit control and to ensure our clients are likely to be able to pay for our services. |
| External audits and quality checks. | For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to maintain our accreditations so we can demonstrate we operate at the highest standards To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
5. How and why we use special category personal data
5.1 Under data protection law, we can only use special category personal data where:
(a) we have a proper reason for doing so (see above: How and why we use personal data); AND
(b) one of the ‘grounds’ for using special category personal data applies.
5.2 There are ten potential grounds for using special category personal data under data protection law. Generally, we do not use or request special category data, however in the course of forensic investigations, special category data may be discovered and therefore form part of a data set.
5.3 Where this does not apply, we will seek explicit consent to process special category personal data.
6. Promotional communications
6.1 We may use your personal data to send you updates (by email, text message, telephone or post) about legal developments that might be of interest to you and/or information about our services, including exclusive offers, promotions or new services or products.
6.2 We have a legitimate interest in processing your personal data for promotional purposes (see above ‘How and why we use your personal data’). This means we do not usually need your consent to send you promotional communications. However, where consent is needed, we will ask for this consent separately and clearly.
6.3 We will always treat your personal data with the utmost respect and never share it with other organisations outside Forensic Pathways for marketing purposes.
6.4 You have the right to opt out of receiving promotional communications at any time by:
(a) contacting us by email, telephone or post;
(b) using the ‘unsubscribe’ link in emails or ‘STOP’ number in texts.
6.5 We may ask you to confirm or update your marketing preferences if you instruct us to provide further services in the future, or if there are changes in the law, regulation, or the structure of our business.
7. Who we share your personal data with
7.1 We routinely share personal data with:
(a) other third parties where necessary to perform our services, such as IT providers;
(b) external auditors, e.g. in relation to ISO accreditation and the audit of our accounts;
7.2 We only allow our service providers to handle your personal data if we are satisfied they take appropriate measures to protect your personal data. 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.
7.3 We may disclose and exchange information with law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.
7.4 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.
8. Where your personal data is held
8.1 Information may be held at our offices and those of Forensic Pathway’s third party agencies, service providers, representatives and agents as described above (see ‘Who we share your personal data with’).
8.2 Some of these third parties may be based outside the European Economic Area. For more information, including on how we safeguard your personal data when this occurs, see below: ‘Transferring your personal data out of the UK and EEA’.
9. How long your personal data will be kept
9.1 We will keep your personal data after we have finished working with you. We will do so for one of these reasons:
(a) to respond to any questions, complaints or claims made by you or on your behalf;
(b) to show that we treated you fairly;
(c) to keep records required by law
9.2 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.
Further details on this can be obtained by contacting us at Forensic Pathways.
9.3 When it is no longer necessary to retain your personal data, we will delete or anonymise it.
10. Transferring your personal data out of the UK and EEA
10.1 To deliver services to you, it is sometimes necessary for us to share your personal data outside the UK or European Economic Area (EEA), e.g.: (a) with our offices outside the UK/EEA; (b) with your and our service providers located outside the UK/EEA; (c) if you are based outside the UK/EEA; (d) where there is an international dimension to the matter in which we are advising you.
10.2 These transfers are subject to special rules under European and UK data protection law.
10.3 If you would like further information, please contact us. (see ‘How to contact us’ below).
11. Your rights
11.1 You have the following rights, which you can exercise free of charge:
(a) Access: The right to be provided with a copy of your personal data
(b) Rectification: The right to require us to correct any mistakes in your personal data
(c) To be forgotten: The right to require us to delete your personal data—in certain situations
(d) Restriction of processing: The right to require us to restrict processing of your personal data—in certain circumstances, e.g. if you contest the accuracy of the data
(e) Data portability: The right to receive the personal data you provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and/or transmit that data to a third party—in certain situations
(f) To object: The right to object:
(i) at any time to your personal data being processed for direct marketing (including profiling);
(ii) in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal data, e.g. processing carried out for the purpose of our legitimate interests.
(g) Not to be subject to automated individual decision making: The right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (including profiling) that produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you
11.2 For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, please contact us or see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under the General Data Protection Regulation.
11.3 If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please:
(a) email, call or write to us – see below: ‘How to contact us’; and
(b) let us have enough information to identify you (e.g. your full name, address and client or matter reference number)
(c) let us have proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill); and
(d) let us know what right you want to exercise and the information to which your request relates.
12. Keeping your personal data secure
12.1 We have appropriate security measures to prevent personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed unlawfully. We limit access to your personal data to those who have a genuine business need to access it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
12.2 We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.
13. How to complain
13.1 We hope that we can resolve any query or concern you may raise about our use of your information.
13.2 The General Data Protection Regulation also gives you the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the European Union (or European Economic Area) state where you work, normally live or where any alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns or telephone 0303 123 1113.
14. Changes to this privacy policy
14.1 This privacy policy was published on 16th October 2020 and last updated on 16th October 2020.
14.2 We may change this privacy policy from time to time, when we do, we will inform you via email.
15. How to contact us
Please contact us by post, email or telephone if you have any questions about this privacy policy or the information, we hold about you. Our contact details are shown below: Forensic Pathways, Grosvenor House, 11 St Pauls Square, Birmingham B3 1RBE
Email: hello@clarifyi.com Phone: 0121 232 4662
Do you need extra help? If you would like this policy in another format (for example audio, large print, braille) please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ in section 15 above).