Privacy Statement

Sekhon Syndicate (referred to as the “Firm”) is dedicated to safeguarding the privacy of visitors to our website, contacts for our clients and prospective clients, contacts for suppliers of goods and services to the Firm, candidates for employment or engagement, and any other individuals about whom the Firm obtains personal information (each, “you”). Please carefully review the following statement, which outlines the fundamental principles governing the Firm’s utilization of personal information that we may acquire about you. This will provide you with an understanding of how the Firm collects, uses, and otherwise processes your personal information, in addition to outlining the rights you possess regarding our handling of this information (referred to as the “Privacy Statement”).

In this Privacy Statement, the term “personal information” refers to data that, either in isolation or in combination with other information held by the Firm, enables your identification or recognition. Specifically concerning California residents, the references to “personal information” within this Privacy Statement pertain to information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, either directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household, while being subject to certain exceptions as delineated in the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (the CCPA), as amended.

The Firm functions as the data controller in regard to any personal information that the Firm processes about you. It assumes responsibility for ensuring that such processing adheres to applicable data protection laws, encompassing regulations such as the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”) and the CCPA. Your privacy holds a paramount position in our approach. It’s essential to note that all members of the Firm are mandated to adhere to the data privacy practices outlined in this Privacy Statement, as well as other data privacy-related policies implemented by the Firm.

Should you possess any inquiries or comments regarding this Privacy Statement, or should you seek additional information about our processing activities and your entitlements concerning your personal information, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

Information Collection

While it is not obligatory to furnish personal information, you may opt to provide such information by completing job application forms. In such instances, we may retain records of your name, email address, and any other details voluntarily submitted by you.

Furthermore, as part of our business operations and your interaction with our website, when you request information from us, engage in our services, or provide services to us, we may gather the following categories of personal information:

1. Identification Data: This encompasses details like your name, gender, title, job title, or address.
2. Contact Information: This includes phone numbers, email addresses, and, where appropriate, social media accounts or handles.
3. Financial Data: This pertains to bank account information and invoicing particulars.
4. Event Registration or Mailing List Data: This incorporates dietary requirements (which might reveal information about health or religious beliefs), preferences, interests, subscriptions, downloads, and usernames/passwords.
5. Job Applicant Data: In relation to job openings, this involves identification data, contact information, resume, and other data you or third parties (e.g., recruiters) provide through our website, online recruitment portal (where applicable), or offline. Additional local requirements may apply based on the advertised position’s country.
6. Legal and Regulatory Compliance Data: Necessary for purposes such as know your client, anti-money laundering, market abuse regulations, or client onboarding. This may encompass passport or other identification data, date of birth, home address, and due diligence data.
7. Other Service Data: Pertaining to the provision or receipt of services concerning your employees, customers, vendors, and client feedback.
8. Cookie and Device Data: Information relating to your website visit, including Internet Protocol address, device identifier, browser type and version, operating system, network, location, and time zone settings.

We might enhance the information you provide by obtaining data from other sources, including our staff, clients, professional advisors, partners, agents, third parties we interact with, and publicly accessible sources.

Sources of Personal Information Collected

We acquire the categories of personal information detailed below from the subsequent sources:

1. Directly from You: When you complete forms or provide information to us.
2. Indirectly from You: By observing your interactions on our website and gathering information from publicly available sources.
3. Third Parties: Information from external parties.

It is recommended to review and comprehend this comprehensive statement for an informed understanding of how we manage and process your personal information. Should you have any queries or need further clarifications about our data practices, kindly reach out to us.

Information Usage

We employ your personal information for the following purposes, each supported by the subsequent legal grounds:

1. Provision of Legal Services: We utilize personal information voluntarily shared by you on the website or during our engagement, encompassing identification data, contact details, and other service-related data. This data might be shared with third parties like expert witnesses and professional advisors to best represent your interests. This processing is imperative to fulfill our contract with you.

2. Administration of Client and Vendor Relationships: We utilize identification data, contact details, financial data, and other pertinent service data for invoicing, client record management, and vendor relationship maintenance. This action is crucial to fulfill our contract with you.

3. Addressing Client Inquiries/Feedback: Identification data, contact details, and other service data are used for this purpose. This is necessary to fulfill our contract with you and our legitimate interest in maintaining relationships and responding to your inquiries.

4. Sending Relevant Marketing Messages and Event Invitations: Identification data, contact details, cookie and device data, and mailing list data are used to communicate through email alerts and post, providing information on events, seminars, or services of potential interest. This aligns with our legitimate interest to provide tailored marketing messages, client newsletters, and event invitations.

5. Improving Our Website: Cookie and device data help enhance our website’s functionality and user-friendliness. This serves our legitimate interest in consistently enhancing our online presence and services.

6. Ensuring Website and IT System Security: Identification data, contact details, financial data, cookie and device data, and other service data are employed to safeguard your data and maintain the security of our systems. This is necessary to fulfill our contract with you and our legitimate interest in preventing unlawful activities.

7. Compliance with Legal and Regulatory Inquiries/Requests: Identification data, contact details, financial data, cookie and device data, and legal and regulatory compliance data are used to meet legal and regulatory obligations, including anti-money laundering and ethical responsibilities.

8. Recruitment: Personal information of job applicants is collected for screening, evaluation, record-keeping, analysis of hiring processes, and background checks, where permitted. If hired, this data becomes part of your employee record. This is undertaken in line with your request prior to entering a contract and for legal, regulatory, and governance compliance.

Please be assured that the processing of your personal information is conducted within the framework of applicable data protection laws and regulations. Should you require any further clarification or have inquiries about our data practices, we encourage you to reach out to us.

Information Sharing

We may disclose your personal information to the subsequent categories of recipients:

1. Other Firm Entities: Personal information might be shared within the Firm to furnish legal services and manage any services we agree to undertake for you.

2. Professional Advisers, Partners, and Firm Agents: For local legal services and to administer our relationship with you, we may share with professional advisers, partners, and Firm’s agents.

3. Vendors: During our business operations, we engage vendors who process personal information under our guidance for services, including IT, financial institutions, customer relationship management databases, cloud-based solutions, business analytics for marketing campaigns, and event hosting venues. We ensure vendors implement necessary security measures and process data solely as per our instructions.

4. Law Enforcement, Regulatory, or Government Agencies: If requested for inquiry, subpoena, court order, or legal/regulatory procedures, we might disclose personal information to law enforcement, regulatory, or government agencies, ensuring compliance. Additionally, we might share information to establish or protect legal rights, property, safety, or defend against legal claims.

5. Business Transfers: Personal information might be transferred to third parties during business reorganizations, restructuring, mergers, acquisitions, or asset transfers of the Firm. Such transfers will be conducted with the condition that the receiving party adheres to this Privacy Statement.

Please note that we are not accountable for the data policies or content of linked websites. It’s advisable to review the privacy and security policies of each visited website.

Marketing Choices

We may send you direct marketing communications, including email alerts and postal messages, provided we possess a lawful basis for doing so. If you decide to discontinue receiving our email alerts, being part of a mailing list, or any other marketing communications, you have the option to opt-out from such communications at any point.

Your preferences regarding direct marketing communications are of utmost importance to us, and we respect your choice to opt-out of these communications. Please be assured that your request will be promptly processed to align with your preferences. If you have any questions or require further assistance concerning your communication preferences, feel free to reach out to us through the provided contact information.

Your Rights

If you are a California resident, you have the following rights, subject to certain exceptions as set forth in the CCPA:

1. Right to Know: You possess the right to receive information from us concerning:
   1. The categories of personal information collected about you.
   2. The categories of sources from which we collected your personal information.
   3. The business or commercial purposes for collecting, sharing, or selling your personal information.
   4. The categories of third parties to whom we disclosed your personal information.
   5. The specific pieces of personal information collected about you in the 12 months preceding your request.

2. Right to Delete: You can request the deletion of your provided personal information. Certain exceptions might apply, such as legal obligations, security incidents, transaction completion, and internal uses aligned with your expectations.

3. Right to Correct: You can request the correction of inaccurate personal information we maintain about you, considering the nature of the data and its processing purposes.

4. Right to Non-Discrimination: You are protected from discrimination resulting from exercising your CCPA privacy rights, including employees, job applicants, or independent contractors.

To exercise these rights, please contact us. The CCPA mandates us to verify your requests. You may need to provide proof of identity, like a copy of your driver’s license, passport, or recent utility/credit card bill. We are committed to respecting your rights and processing your requests diligently. Please note that these rights pertain specifically to California residents under the CCPA. For further details or clarifications, please contact us using the provided channels.

The Firm has gathered various types of personal information about California residents in the preceding 12 months, which fall within the categories specified below:

1. Identifiers: This comprises your real name, previous names or preferred name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, Internet Protocol address, email address, account name, Social Security number, driver’s license number, passport number, or other similar identifiers.

2. Personal information categories listed in the California Customer Records statute (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e)): This encompasses your name, signature, Social Security number, physical characteristics or description, address, telephone number, passport number, driver’s license or state identification card number, insurance policy number, education, employment, employment history, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, financial information, medical information, or health insurance information.

3. Protected Classification Characteristics under California or Federal Law: This includes your age, race, color, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, religion or creed, marital status, medical condition, physical or mental disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy or childbirth-related conditions, sexual orientation, veteran or military status, and genetic information.

4. Internet or Other Electronic Network Activity: This pertains to browsing history, search history, interaction with websites, applications, or advertisements, as outlined in the Policy on Computer Communications Resources and Social Media Usage.

5. Professional or Employment-Related Information: This covers your professional or employment-related data, such as resume, interview records, work eligibility verification documents, Bar information, offer letter, employment dates, position, salary, bonuses, benefits information, attendance records, performance evaluations, and employee relations information (e.g., disciplinary records).

Disclosures for Business or Commercial Purposes: In the past 12 months, the Firm has disclosed the aforementioned personal information categories to its service providers for specific business objectives, including background checks for job applicants, payroll processing, data security incident detection, and software troubleshooting, among others as detailed in the Information Usage section of the Privacy Statement.

No Sharing/Selling with Third Parties: The Firm does not engage in the “selling” or “sharing” of your collected personal information, as defined by the CCPA. The Firm therefore has no knowledge of selling or sharing personal information of consumers under 16 years of age.

Compliance with Section 7027(m): The Firm abides by Section 7027(m) of the CCPA’s implementing regulations, ensuring sensitive personal information is only utilized or disclosed for purposes outlined within that section.

We are committed to upholding the rights and privacy of California residents. If you require further details or clarifications regarding the types of personal information collected, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Security Measures

To ensure the safety of personal information under our custody and control, we have established technical and organizational security measures. These measures encompass a range of actions, including:

1. Limited Access: We restrict access to personal information solely to staff and authorized service providers who require this data for the specific purposes detailed in this Privacy Statement. This access is granted on a need-to-know basis.

2. Safeguards: Administrative, technical, and physical safeguards are in place to fortify the security of personal information.

Reasonable Steps for Protection

We are committed to taking all reasonable steps to protect your personal information. However, it’s important to note that the security of data disclosed online cannot be entirely guaranteed. Email, for instance, is not a secure medium and should not be employed for sending confidential or sensitive information.

By providing information online, you acknowledge and accept the inherent security risks associated with transmitting information over the internet. Unless the breach of security stems from our negligence or willful default, we cannot be held liable for any security breaches.

At the Firm, we prioritize the safeguarding of your personal information and strive to uphold these standards consistently. Should you have any questions or concerns regarding security, please feel free to get in touch with us.

Use of Cookies

Our website employs specific technologies from third parties, including tags, log files, web beacons, and similar tracking technologies, collectively referred to as “cookies.” We want to ensure your awareness of these cookies and their implications. For further insights into the cookies we utilize, as well as guidance on how to manage and remove cookies, kindly consult our dedicated Cookie Policy.

We value your understanding of our cookie practices, and the Cookie Policy provides a comprehensive overview of how these technologies impact your online experience. If you require more information or assistance related to cookies, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Retention of Personal Information

We uphold a policy of retaining your personal information solely for the duration necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Statement. The determination of the appropriate retention period is influenced by factors including the nature and duration of our association, the services provided, and the potential impact on our services if certain data is removed.

In some instances, we might need to retain personal information for a longer duration as mandated by applicable law, for the purpose of establishing, exercising, or defending legal rights, or to meet other legitimate business requirements, including archiving and historical purposes. Where feasible, such data will be maintained in an anonymized format.

We are committed to adhering to these principles to ensure the responsible handling of your personal information. If you have any inquiries or need additional details concerning data retention practices, please feel free to get in touch with us.

Notification of Changes

We understand that our services and privacy practices may evolve over time, driven by changes in our operations or compliance with legal and regulatory mandates. Consequently, we may periodically revise this Privacy Statement to reflect such modifications. When substantial changes occur, we will make reasonable efforts to notify you via email.

The most recent update date is indicated below. We encourage you to periodically review this Privacy Statement to remain informed about how we handle and utilize your personal information. Your continued use of our services following any updates signifies your consent to the revised terms.

Thank you for your commitment to staying informed about our privacy practices. Should you have any questions or require clarifications about the changes, kindly reach out to us.