Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Irwin Mitchell is a group of organisations that provide legal services via Irwin Mitchell LLP, Financial Services via IM Asset Management Limited, and other associated services via our other group companies.
Any reference to “we”, “our” or “us” means Irwin Mitchell LLP which is authorised by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority.

This information is for you (a member or prospective member of the IM Alumni Community).  We are committed to protecting your privacy and we are providing you with this privacy notice which describes the ways in which we collect, store and process your personal data (personal information) so that:

• You are reliably informed about what personal information we collect about you
• To describe how we use your personal information
• Who we  share your personal information with
• What your rights are under Data Protection legislation

Your personal information contains certain information about you as an individual which identifies who you are, such as name, address, telephone number date or birth, etc.  Rarely we may collect information which is sensitive in nature such as health information or your religious beliefs. Such sensitive information is only processed with your consent.

 What information we collect about you

‘You’ are a member or perspective member of the Irwin Mitchell Alumni community and we collect your personal information to effectively manage our relationship with you, operate our Alumni website and network, and provide members and prospective members of its Alumni community the best experience. You provide some of this personal information directly when interacting with us, such as when you submit your details to register and create a profile as an Irwin Mitchell Alumni, or contact us with a query.

We get some of it by recording how you interact with our website, for example, using technologies like cookies (please refer to our Cookie Policy for more information. If you choose to register by using your LinkedIn profile, our registration form will be pre-populated with information from your LinkedIn profile. We will not obtain from LinkedIn any additional information than what is needed to fill in the registration form.  

You can manage the connection with LinkedIn at any time, from your LinkedIn account. The connection can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/psettings/permitted-services

You have control over what personal information we collect and we have marked all mandatory fields on our Alumni platform with an asterisk (*). When asked to provide personal information, you may decline. However, if you choose not to provide your personal information that is necessary to complete the registration process, we may not be able to verify your identity and onboard you as an Alumni member.

To operate our Alumni network, we collect the following personal information about you:

Name and contact data: We collect your first and last name, email address, postal address, phone number and other similar contact details.

Photo: We collect your photo if you choose to add one to your profile or to register via your LinkedIn profile.

Preferred contact methods. We collect information about whether you wish us to contact you, why you have contacted us, as well as your preferred method of contact.

Employment status, history, professional memberships and affiliations: This includes details of your current and past employment, as well as specifics of your time at Irwin Mitchell. 

Device information: This is information about your device, such as manufacturer, device type, screen resolution etc. This is to allow us to understand how members are accessing the Alumni website and allow us to ensure we provide high quality experience for our members and tune the experience specifically for the devices they use.
Your interactions with us: We collect the content of messages and e-mails you send us, including when you use the “Contact Us” section of our Alumni website.

Your experiences and stories: With your permission, we collect information about your previous experiences, or interesting stories you may wish to share with the Alumni community. This is so that we can publish your story, with your consent on the Alumni website, or as part of the Alumni newsletter, which may be shared with others in the Alumni community so that they can read about your experiences.

Your comments and opinions: If you decide to comment on (but not limited to) others’ stories, Forums, news, Member Groups, updates, and featured profiles on the Alumni website, we capture your opinion or comment and it will be published on the Alumni website for others in the Alumni community to see.

Your interests: We may collect information about your interests via the following means:

• The Alumni website may provide you with the opportunity to connect with other Alumni members via Member Groups and Forums. Joining a Member Group or Forum is your choice. If you choose to join a Member Group or Forum, and participate in discussions on the Alumni website, we will collect information about the Group or Forum you have joined and your activity within that Member Group or Forum, such as any comments you make.
• As part of the registration process, we will collect information about you, such as employment history. Some of this information may be used to send you notifications via the Alumni website homepage about new Member Groups or Forums which we think may be of interest to you.
• Job vacancies may be published on the Alumni website home page, however with your permission, we may also send you job vacancies that we think you might be of interest to you or your friends and family based on the information you have shared with us.

How we process your personal information

Irwin Mitchell uses the personal information we collect on our Alumni website to operate the site and our Alumni network. We also use it to send and publish communications on the Alumni website and via our newsletter, including, but not limited to, promotional communications such as events and member benefits, your news stories and information regarding our current job vacancies. We also process personal data to serve our legitimate interest purposes. Please see below for further detail on what we do with your personal information:

Providing access to and improving the Alumni website and network: We use your personal information to confirm your identity and confirm your entitlement to access to our Alumni website and network, as well as continuously improve our registration process and the contents of our website.

Customer support: We use your personal information to process any request for assistance you make and to provide other member care and support services.

Communications: We use personal information we collect to deliver and personalise our communications with you. We also use your personal information to send you marketing communications: for example, we may contact you by email (or other means, depending on your preferred means for contact) to highlight a job you may be interested in, invite you to an event, to promote services or to offer you member benefits. We will ask you if you wish to receive promotional communications from us during the registration process. You can also amend your preferences at any time via the Profile section of the Alumni website.

Alumni Profile: We collect your personal information to build an Alumni profile for you. This is similar in nature to a profile you may have on other social media platforms, such as LinkedIn. The type of information included within your Alumni profile as standard includes your name, contact details and employment history. Your Alumni profile will be viewable to other members if you choose to engage and interact with content and members on the platform and may also be published in the Member Directory (see below).You can edit your profile and what other members see at any time by logging-in to the Alumni portal.

Member Directory: One of the main purposes of the Alumni network is to allow members to connect with each other. We may therefore make Alumni Profiles viewable to other Alumni members on the website for the purpose of allowing members to directly engage. This means that your Alumni Profile becomes visible to other Alumni members. You will be able to decide what personal information you share with other Alumni members in the Directory by editing your Alumni Profile. Some personal information, such as your name, is mandatory information required for a directory listing. If your Member profile is published within the Member Directory and you would like this to be removed, you can opt-out at any time by emailing the Alumni team – alumni@irwinmitchell.com.

Member Groups and Forums: As noted in the ‘Your interests’ section, the Alumni website provides you with the opportunity to connect to other Alumni members via Member Groups and Forums. If you choose to join a Member Group or Forum, and participate in discussions on the Alumni website, we will collect information about the Group or Forum you have joined and your activity within that Member Group or Forum, such as any comments you make. As part of the registration process, we will collect information about you. Some of this information may be used to send you notifications via the Alumni website homepage about new Member Groups or Forums which we think may be of interest to you. Being part of a Member Group or Forum means that your personal information, including any comments you make, will be shared with others who are also part of the Group or Forum.

Legitimate interest purposes: We use personal information to ensure the Irwin Mitchell Alumni website is used in line with our Terms of Use, and to carry out audits or internal training. We also use personal information to develop business intelligence that enables us to operate efficiently and make informed decisions. We may also analyse your use of the Irwin Mitchell Alumni website and your response to our communications to improve these.

Why we are allowed to process your information

There are several grounds on which we may collect and use your personal information.

Because we need it to execute or take steps to enter into a contract with you. By registering onto our Alumni website, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use which outline the conditions under which we provide the service and the website operates. The information we collect about you is processed in order to provide you access to the service and execute the Terms of Use.

Because you have agreed. Where possible, we collect information about you with your consent. This is the case, for instance, when you provide us information which is not marked as mandatory, or if you have consented to receive promotional communications from us.

Because it is in our legitimate interest. We also sometimes process your information in pursuit of our legitimate interest to:

• enable the effective operation of the Irwin Mitchell Alumni website and manage Alumni accounts and relationships;
• manage and improve our Alumni network and operate it efficiently;
• carry out market research and analysis, including using statistics;
• ensure that the Irwin Mitchell Alumni website is used in accordance with our policies and procedures;
• analyse feedback provided by you;
• prevent fraud.

When we process your information on that basis, we always make sure that we balance our interest in having the information with your rights and reasonable expectations.

Because we need it to comply with the law or to defend our legal rights. In some rare cases, we will need to retain your information because we are compelled to do so by law. We may also need to use your information in order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights or for the purpose of legal proceedings.

How we share your personal information

We share your personal information with your consent or as necessary to operate the Irwin Mitchell Alumni website and network. Depending on your preferences and activity on the Alumni website, we may also share your personal information with others in the Alumni community. This type of sharing includes, but is not limited to, the following examples:

• Sharing your news story with others in the Alumni community, via the Alumni website and newsletter. This means that your member profile will also become visible to Alumni members. Your member profile can be edited to share as much information as you wish to with other Alumni members, but will always show your name as a minimum;
• If you decide to comment on others’ stories, updates, featured profiles, Member Groups and Forums, your name, profile photo and comment will be freely available to others in the Alumni community. Comments must therefore be made at your own discretion. If you are not comfortable for your information to be shared with others in the Alumni community, please do not comment;
• You will have the choice to make your own member directory available to others in the Alumni community. This includes sharing your name, profile photo, details of your current and past employment, as well as specifics of your time at Irwin Mitchell with others in the Alumni community. Please note that we will not freely publish this information unless you opt-in. You can choose how much information you wish to share with other Alumni members by editing your profile;
• If you decide to join a Member Group or Forum based on your interests, your personal information will be shared with others in the Group or Forum so that you are able to interact;
• We may also share your details with suppliers or vendors we hire to carry out certain tasks on our behalf, and to exercise or defend our legal rights and fulfill our legal obligations.

Vendors and Suppliers. We sometimes use third party vendors or suppliers to carry out certain activities, such as processing and sorting personal information, monitoring usage of our website/mobile application and issuing e-mails for us. In such cases, we may share your contact details, and other relevant information. Our partner companies must abide by our data privacy and security requirements, and are not allowed to use personal information they receive from us for any other purpose.

Other cases. Finally, we will access, transfer, disclose and preserve personal information when we have a regulatory obligation to do so:

• allowed under applicable law;
• necessary to respond to valid requests for information, including from law enforcement agencies;
• necessary to prevent fraud.
  
  

Your rights in relation to your personal information

You have rights over how we use your personal information. To exercise any of these rights, please submit your request via this form: https://www.irwinmitchell.com/gdpr-request-form. You can also contact our Data Protection Team at DataProtection@IrwinMitchell.com if you wish to exercise any of these rights, or if you would like further information on how your personal information is handled. We may also require proof of identity in some cases.

Access. You have a right to know whether we hold personal information about you and how we process it.  Please note this does not entitle you to documents, but information on how we process your data and for what purposes.

Rectification. Where information held about you is inaccurate or incomplete, you may request its rectification or completion.

Objection. You have a right to object to the use of your personal information for marketing purposes.

Restriction. You have a right to ask us to restrict our use of your personal information in some circumstances, for example whilst we investigate a complaint that the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate (subject to conditions).

Erasure. You are allowed to withdraw your consent to our use of your personal information at any time. If there is no other justification for the use of your personal information, we will stop using it.

Withdrawal of consent. You are allowed to withdraw your consent to our use of your personal information at any time. If there is no other justification for the use of your personal information, we will stop using it.

Complaint. If you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal information, you can contact our Data Protection Team, who will investigate the matter. If you are dissatisfied with our response or believe we are not processing your personal information in accordance with the law, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (www.ico.org.uk).

Your Communications Preferences 

You can choose whether you wish to receive promotional communications from Irwin Mitchell by email, postal mail or telephone. If you receive promotional emails or letters from us and would like to opt out, you can do so by following the instructions in those messages.

You can also manage preferences for receipt of promotional materials by signing into the Alumni website and accessing the “My Profile” section.  Within “My Profile” you can update contact information, manage contact preferences, or opt out of promotional materials. Please note we will process your request promptly, but in some cases you may need to allow up to a week for the changes to be effective.

How long we keep your information

We will keep your personal information for the period you chose to keep your account with us active. If you choose to deactivate your account, we will delete your personal information within 30 days of you deactivating your account.

If you do not choose to deactivate your account, we will retain your information in accordance with our retention schedule. We calculate retention periods for your personal information in accordance with the length of time necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including any legal and regulatory obligations.

Transfers abroad

In some cases, we may need to transfer your information outside of the European Economic Area because we (or a third party or vendor we use) store it on systems that are hosted abroad, or because we need to share it with companies that are not situated in the European Economic Area.

Where this is the case, we will always ensure that your information is safe and only sent to organisations providing adequate safeguards, such as:

• Organisations established in countries providing adequate provisions to safeguard your personal information;
• Organisations contractually bound to protect your information.
  
  

How we keep your personal information safe

We take the security of personal information seriously and we use appropriate information security policies and procedures to protect personal information (including administrative, technical and physical safeguards) according to the risk level and the service provided including changes in technology and regulatory requirements.

Changes to this Policy

This is our current Privacy Notice, we will from time to time update this Privacy Notice.

Important information

Irwin Mitchell LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England & Wales with number OC343897. Its registered office and principal place of business is at Riverside East, 2 Millsands, Sheffield, S3 8DT, United Kingdom. We are the data controller for your personal information, and are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office under the reference Z6397561.

Our Data Protection Officer can be contacted at DataProtection@IrwinMitchell.com, or:

Irwin Mitchell
Data Protection Team
The Colmore Building
20 Colmore Circus Queensway
Birmingham
B4 6AT