Privacy Notice

Deacon Search Limited is a UK company (04395941). We trade as Deacon Search, Deacon Associates and Deacon Legal, and we are often referred to as Deacon. Deacon Search Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of a holding company called Cornhill Bond Consulting Limited (12075967). Cornhill Bond Consulting Limited also owns Marsden International Legal Search Limited (05173876), Marsden International Pty Ltd and Marsden International Limited (“Marsden”).

Deacon is a London specialist recruitment organisation. Our office is in London. We provide permanent recruitment services in the legal sector.

Deacon (“We” “us” ‘our”) are committed to protecting and respecting the privacy and security of those with whom we interact.  We aim to comply with best practice and local privacy legislation in all jurisdictions in which we operate including, without limitation, the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (the “GDPR”) and the GDPR as it forms part of the law of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland by virtue of section 3 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (the “UK GDPR”). For the purposes of this privacy notice, references to the GDPR shall be construed as references to the GDPR and/or the UK GDPR, unless expressly stated otherwise. Our privacy notice may be subject to amendment in accordance with the domestic law requirements of the jurisdictions in which we operate and we may issue additional notices in those jurisdictions.

We will review our privacy notice from time to time to take account of changes in law, technology, and in our businesses to make sure it remains appropriate to the changing environment. Any information we hold will be subject to the current version of the privacy notice.

This privacy notice is intended to tell you how we use your personal information and describes how we collect and use your personal information during and after your relationship with us.  Where you provide us with your personal information whether in person, by email, through our websites or via any other method (including via LinkedIn and other professional networking sites), you consent to the collection and use of this information by us.

WHAT IS PERSONAL INFORMATION?

“Personal Information” for the purposes of this privacy notice consists of any information that relates to you and/or information from which you can be identified, directly or indirectly. We collect Personal Information within the following categories:

  • Identifiers such as: your name, postal address, Skype address, Internet Protocol (IP) address, email address, or other similar identifiers.
  • “Customer Records” information (some of which may be identifiers or professional/employment-related information as well), such as your name, signature, address, telephone number, education, employment, employment history, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, or any other financial information, medical information, or health insurance information.
  • Internet or other similar network activity, such as browsing history, search history, information on your interaction with our website.
  • Professional or employment-related information, such as your current or past job history.
  • Personal characteristics that are related to classifications legally protected from discrimination, such as race, national origin, ethnicity, marital status, age and gender.
  • Sensitive personal information, such as your passport number, your racial or ethnic origin, and certain information about your health.
  • Inferences drawn from other PII, such as a summary we might make based on your apparent personal preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities and aptitudes.

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of Personal Information about you for example and not limited to:

  • Candidates: as described above in Personal Information
  • Clients: name, title, contact details and employer’s name
  • Suppliers: name, date of dealings, order forms, invoices, bank account details

HOW IS YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION COLLECTED?

Information you give us

You may give us Personal Information about you for example when you first register with us.  Or by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by phone, e-mail or otherwise.  For example, name, address, phone number, employer details past and present, a cv personal description and photographs, work performance, education and training, and any other information that you may decide to give us.

Sensitive data: We may need to collect and process sensitive Personal Information about you which may include details of any disability. You are at liberty to decline to provide any of the sensitive Personal Information we request.

We may ask you to complete a Diversity Monitoring Form as part of our and our clients’ commitment to diversity.  If we ask you to complete a diversity monitoring form, any information provided is given voluntarily and on an anonymous basis for statistical analysis. We do not store any such data with your records.

We may undertake analysis about diversity for our own purposes and report such information to our clients.

Information we collect about you

With regard to each of your visits to our site we may automatically collect the following information:

  • technical information, including the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet, your login information, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform; and
  • information about your visit, including the (URL) clickstream to, through and from our site (including date and time); services you viewed or searched for; page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), and methods used to browse away from the page and any phone number used to call our contact numbers.

Information we receive from other sources

  • We may, with your consent, seek Personal Information about you from a third party (including from your previous employer and named referees included on your registration or CV), or by other public means.
  • We also work with third parties (including, for example, business partners, sub-contractors (including IT consultants), and may receive information about you from them.
  • We collect Personal Information from public sources such as professional networking sites including Linkedin, law firm websites and professional bodies.

HOW DO WE USE YOUR INFORMATION?

We may use your Personal Information we collect for the following purposes:

  • to provide recruitment services to you where you are interested in an available position or where you have otherwise agreed we may disclose it (we may pass your Personal Information to employers and/or our affiliates outside the UK),
  • for business purposes, legal obligations, training and quality purposes;
  • to administer our site and for internal operations, including data analysis, service improvement, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes;
  • to improve our site to ensure that content is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer;
  • to allow you to participate in interactive features of our service, when you choose to do so;
  • as part of our efforts to keep our site safe and secure;
  • to measure or understand the effectiveness of any advertising, and to deliver relevant advertising and marketing to you.

The law allows us to use the Personal Information as set out above on the basis that the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract with you, or we are acting in our “legitimate interests” for example for the purposes of effective business management.

Combining Personal Information

We may combine the Personal Information that we collect from you (including information received from our affiliates and clients) to the extent permitted by applicable law.

Market Mapping

In keeping with the recruitment industry search practices, we regularly conduct legal market mapping exercises using public Personal Information from websites such as LinkedIn, law firm websites and professional bodies such as the Law Society website.  We use this information to create potential longlists for search assignments and may store this in password protected longlists.  Should mapped subjects choose to engage with us in respect of one or more opportunities and provide further Personal Information such as a cv etc, and become active candidates, they will be informed of their rights in respect of Personal Information.

TO WHOM DO WE DISCLOSE YOUR INFORMATION?

We will only use your Personal Information for our internal business purposes, some of which are mentioned above. However, we may disclose your information to the following entities;

  • Clients, business partners, suppliers and sub-contractors who help us provide our services, who perform functions on our behalf or who also provide services to us, such as professional advisors, IT consultants carrying out testing and development work on our business technology systems and research.
  • Analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimisation of our site.
  • Other companies within our group as they may be dealing with vacancies that may be of interest to you.

We may also disclose your Personal Information to third parties:

  • If Deacon or any part thereof or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, in which case Personal Information held by it about its clients will be one of the transferred assets.
  • In order to describe our services to prospective partners, clients and other reputable third parties and for other lawful purposes
  • We may disclose aggregate statistics about our site visitors and applicants – in such cases these statistics will include no personally identifying information.
  • If required to do so by law, a court order or by a regulatory authority of competent jurisdiction or if we believe that such action is necessary to protect, defend or enforce our rights to carry out our obligations; to provide you with the information, and services that you request from us.

We do not disclose your Personal Information to any non-affiliated parties for them to use for their own marketing practices.

WHAT WE DO TO KEEP YOUR INFORMATION SECURE?

We have put in place appropriate physical and technical measures to safeguard the Personal Information we collect in connection with our services.  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.  However, please note that although we take appropriate steps to protect your Personal Information, no website, product device, online application or transmission of data, computer system or wireless connection is completely secure and therefore we cannot guarantee the security of your Personal Information.

Our database, email and devices are all password protected, we have an IT/Office Policy in relation to Personal Information and IT/Office protocol. Our systems are partly hosted on an iCloud server and on a local server, and we are bound by their security protocols and our own.  All confidential information is kept in lockable cupboards and confidential paper documents are shredded.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all liability and responsibility for any damages you may suffer due to any loss, unauthorised access, misuse or alterations of any information you submit to the website or our platform.

Any payment transactions will be encrypted using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of our website, platform or our service, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential.

INTERNATIONAL TRANSFER OF INFORMATION

The Personal Information that we collect from you may be stored and processed in your region, or transferred to, stored at or otherwise processed outside the United Kingdom, including but not limited to Australia, UAE, USA, Canada, South Africa or in any other country where Deacon or Affiliates, subsidiaries or service providers maintain facilities.

By using or participating in any Service and/or providing us with your Personal Information, you acknowledge that we will collect, transfer, store and process your Personal Information outside of the UK. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your Personal Information is kept secure and treated in accordance with this privacy notice and the requirements of applicable law wherever the data is located. Where we transfer your Personal Information outside the UK to other countries, we will ensure that appropriate transfer agreements and mechanisms (such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement) is in place to help ensure that our third-party service providers provide an adequate level of protection to your Personal Information. We will only transfer your Personal Information outside the UK in accordance with applicable laws or where you have given us your consent to do so.

DATA RETENTION – HOW LONG WE WILL STORE / KEEP YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

We will review the Personal Information we process to ensure that it is up to date, accurate and not held for longer than necessary for our internal processes or as otherwise required by law.  You are asked to help us to keep your Personal Information accurate by informing us of any changes such as to your name or change of address.  When your Personal Information is no longer required it will be deleted and/or returned to you in accordance with applicable law.

ACCESSING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION AND OTHER RIGHTS YOU HAVE

We will collect, store and process your Personal Information in accordance with your rights under applicable data protection law, in particular, the UK GDPR. Under certain circumstances, you have the following rights in relation to your Personal Information:

  1. Subject Access – you have the right to request details of the Personal Information which we hold about you and copies of such Personal Information.

  2. Right to Withdraw Consent – where our use of your Personal Information is based upon your consent, you have the right to withdraw such consent at any time.  In the event you wish to withdraw your consent to processing, please contact us using the details provided below.

  3. Data Portability – you may, in certain circumstances, request us to port (i.e. transmit) your Personal Information directly to another organisation.

  4. Rectification – we want to ensure that the Personal Information about you that we hold is accurate and up to date. If you think that any information we have about you is incorrect or incomplete, please let us know. To the extent required by applicable laws, we will rectify or update any incorrect or inaccurate Personal Information about you.

  5. Erasure (‘right to be forgotten’) – you have the right to have your Personal Information ‘erased’ in certain specified situations.

  6. Restriction of processing – you have the right in certain specified situations to require us to stop processing your Personal Information and to only store such Personal Information.

  7. Object to processing – You have the right to object to specific types of processing of your Personal Information, such as, where we are processing your Personal Information for the purposes of direct marketing.
  8. Prevent automated decision-taking – in certain circumstances, you have the right not to be subject to decisions being taken solely based on automated processing.

ENFORCING YOUR RIGHTS

If you wish to enforce any of your rights (as explained above), then please contact us at dataprotection@deaconlegal.com. We will respond to your request without undue delay and no later than 1 month from receipt of any such request, unless a longer period is permitted by applicable law.

COMPLAINTS

If you are concerned that we have not complied with your legal rights under applicable data protection law, you may contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (www.ico.org.uk) which is the data protection regulator in the UK. Alternatively, if you are based outside the UK, you may contact your local data protection authority.

THIRD PARTY LINKS AND PRODUCTS

Our websites, applications and products may contain links to other third-party websites that are not operated by Deacon and our websites may contain applications that you can download from third parties. These linked sites and applications are not under Deacon’s control and as such, we are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of any linked websites and online applications. If you choose to use any third-party websites or applications, any Personal Information collected by the third party’s website or application will be controlled by the Data Protection Notice of that third party. We strongly recommend that you take the time to review the privacy policies of any third parties to which you provide Personal Information.

COOKIES

A cookie is a small text file that is stored on your computer, for use when you return to a page/website that you visited before. We do not currently operate cookies on our website.

YOUR CHOICES – for example MARKETING

We may use your Personal Information such as your contact details e.g., name, address, email address, telephone number to send to you marketing related correspondence.  When we process your Personal Information for marketing purposes, we do so on the basis that it is in our legitimate interests to do so.

This allows us to suggest other jobs to you alongside the specific one you applied for, significantly increasing the likelihood of us finding you a new position.

We do not share Personal Information with unrelated third parties without express consent (i.e. outside of our group of companies).

We may also use your Personal Information to personalise and to target more effectively our marketing communications to ensure, to the extent possible, that any marketing related correspondence is relevant to you.

To opt-out of receiving marketing related correspondence at any time from Deacon, please contact us or click “Unsubscribe” on the correspondence you receive from us.

CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY NOTICE

Any changes we may make to our privacy notice in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail. Please check back regularly to see any updates or changes to our privacy policy.

CONTACT US FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

Questions, comments and requests regarding this privacy notice should be addressed to Dan Wilkins, dataprotection@deaconlegal.com

OFFICE

London

Deacon Search Limited
First Floor, 46 Bow Lane
London
EC4M 9DL
UK