How long we keep your personal information
Your personal information will be retained in accordance with our global data retention policy which categorizes all of the information held by A&O Shearman and specifies the appropriate retention period for each category of data. Those periods are based on the requirements of applicable data protection laws and the purpose for which the information is collected and used taking into account legal and regulatory requirements to retain the information for a minimum period, limitation periods for taking legal action, good practice and A&O Shearman’s business purposes.
Who we share your personal information with
As an international law firm, any personal information that you provide to us may be shared with and processed by any entity in the worldwide network of A&O Shearman and our associated firms. You can see a list of our offices here.
We will also share your personal information with:
- third parties involved in organizing, hosting, delivering or accrediting our education and employment community programs (including our charity partner Causeway Education and our accrediting body City & Guilds in the case of our Smart Start program, and our social enterprise partner Connectr and The Executive Coaching Consultancy in the case of our ReStart program) or monitoring, evaluating, promoting or reporting on diversity, equality and inclusion in those programs.
- our clients and business partners where they provide work experience, mentoring, assist with the delivery of workshops and training or are otherwise involved helping us to deliver our education and employment community programs.
- journalists and publicists reporting on or promoting our education and employment community programs.
- A&O Shearman’s social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter) to promote our education and employment community programs.
- IT service providers and suppliers to whom we outsource certain support services such as word processing, photocopying and document review.
- legal and regulatory authorities, courts, tribunals, government agencies and law enforcement agencies; and
- our professional advisers and auditors.
Protection of your information
We use a variety of technical and organizational measures to help protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, alteration or destruction consistent with applicable data protection laws. A&O Shearman’s document management and email systems are certified to the internationally recognized ISO/IEC 27001 security standard. This is an independently verified certification that information security is managed in line with international best practice.
When we engage a third-party service provider to collect or otherwise process personal information on our behalf, the third party is selected carefully and will be required to have appropriate security measures in place.
Transferring information outside the EEA
For the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy, we may need to transfer your personal information to locations outside the jurisdiction in which you provide it. This may entail a transfer of your information from a location within the European Economic Area (EEA) to outside the EEA, or from outside the EEA to a location within the EEA. Please see the section entitled ‘Who we share your personal information with’ for more detail on how the information may be shared with A&O Shearman offices and third-party service providers.
The level of data protection in countries outside the EEA may be less than that offered within the EEA. Where this is the case, we will implement appropriate measures to ensure that your personal information remains protected and secure in accordance with applicable data protection laws. EU standard contractual are in place between all A&O Shearman entities that share and process personal information. Where our third-party service providers process personal information outside the EEA in the course of providing services to us, our written agreement with them will include appropriate measures, usually standard contractual clauses. Please contact us using the details at the end of this policy if you would like to see a copy of the safeguards applied to the export of your personal information.
Your rights regarding your personal information
The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation and other applicable data protection laws provide certain rights for the individuals whose personal information we process.
You are entitled to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you and information on how we process it. You may also have a right in accordance with applicable data protection law to have your personal information rectified or deleted, to restrict or our processing of your personal information, to stop unauthorized transfers of your personal information to a third party, to object to our processing of your information and, in some circumstances, to have personal information relating to you transferred to another organization. You may also have the right to lodge a complaint in relation to A&O Shearman’s processing of your personal information with a local supervisory authority.
If you object to the processing of your personal information, or if you have provided your consent to processing and you later choose to withdraw it, we will respect that choice in accordance with our legal obligations.
Your objection (or withdrawal of any previously given consent) could mean that we are unable to perform the actions necessary to achieve the purposes set out above (see section entitled ‘How and on what basis we use your personal information’). Please note that, even after you have chosen to withdraw your consent, we may be able to continue to process your personal information to the extent required or otherwise permitted by law, in particular, in connection with exercising and defending our legal rights or meeting our legal and regulatory obligations.
We must ensure that your personal information is accurate and up to date. Therefore, please advise us of any changes to your information by emailing us at SocialImpactGroup@aoshearman.com.
Who the data controllers are
A ‘controller’ is the organization that makes the decisions about how and why your personal information is processed.
There are a number of entities through which A&O Shearman provides legal and other services. In most cases, the controller of your personal information in relation to our education and employment community programs will depend on the location of where those programs are provided. Please click here for details of which A&O Shearman entity will be the data controller in each country and, where necessary having regard to local applicable data protection or privacy laws, a country-specific privacy notice.
In certain circumstances, Allen Overy Shearman Sterling LLP, Allen Overy Shearman Sterling US LLP or other A&O Shearman entity may also be a controller of your personal information, for example certain personal information processed using, or accessible via, global systems.
Changes to our Privacy Policy
Any changes we make to this Privacy Policy from time to time will be posted on the Community Impact page of our website. The updated Privacy Policy will take effect as soon as it has been updated or otherwise communicated to you.
This Privacy Policy was last updated in May 2024.
Who to contact with questions or concerns
Application Questions: If you have questions about our education and employment community programs or wish to update the personal information we hold about you, please contact Kate Cavelle.
Privacy Questions/Complaints: If you need further information or have any questions or complaints about our Privacy Policy or practices, please contact:
Chief Privacy Officer A&O Shearman
68 Donegall Quay Belfast
Northern Ireland BT1 3NL
Email: DataPrivacy@aoshearman.com