When we say 'Brodies', 'we' or 'us' in this notice, it means the entity that you have instructed to provide you with legal advice, being either Brodies LLP or Brodies Middle East LLP (ADGM Branch) which is Brodies Middle East LLP's branch in the Abu Dhabi Global Market. That entity (either Brodies LLP or Brodies Middle East LLP (ADGM Branch)) is the 'controller' of your personal information.
When we may carry out IDV checks
We may carry these out in the following situations:
- Where we are taking you on as a client (or any person acting with delegated authority or under a power of attorney);
- Where you are a director, officer, partner, other person with executive authority, secretary, member, shareholder, beneficial owner, other owner, person with significant control or senior person responsible in a company, other body corporate, or an organisation which we are taking on as a client (e.g. partnerships and other unincorporated businesses);
- Where you are a settlor, trustee , protector or other person with a power to appoint or remove trustees, named beneficiaries of a trust or any person entitled to receive a distribution from the trust which we are taking on as a client;
- Where you are not a client and we are receiving a payment from you or making a payment to you;
- Whether or not you are a client, where we are involved in facilitating an arrangement / contract and you are making or receiving a payment in relation to that arrangement or contract, whether or not that payment is being received into or made via our client account;
- Where we are updating or refreshing an IDV check previously carried out.
How we may carry out IDV checks
Our preference is to use a third party, Amiqus, which provides an electronic IDV platform. This platform allows us to arrange for a link to be sent directly to you to allow you to upload the necessary information we need via an online portal. Amiqus uses facial recognition technology to verify your identity against the photograph contained in your ID document, such as a passport or driving licence.
For the purposes of data protection law, Amiqus acts as our processor. Please click on this link for a description of the data that Amiqus will collect and with whom it will be shared.
If we offer Amiqus to assist in carrying out the IDV check, you will be asked to provide your consent to your data being processed before accessing the Amiqus service.
If you do not consent to using Amiqus, Brodies can carry out the IDV check manually, which may involve you being asked to provide us with certified copies of your identification documents and verifying who you are via online or face-to-face meetings.
Types of personal information we collect for IDV purposes
| Types of personal information | Description |
| Identity Data | ID information including your name, marital status, title, date of birth, gender and National Insurance Number, ID document number |
| Contact Data | Where you live |
| Publicly Available Data | Details about you that are publicly available, such as on Companies House or elsewhere on the internet |
If you have agreed to use Amiqus, we will in addition collect:
- A record of your consent to the use of Amiqus; and
- Special Category Data; namely biometric data for the purposes of identification.
How we use your information
The table below outlines how we use your personal information and our reasons. Where these reasons include legitimate interests, we explain what these legitimate interests are.
| What we use your information for | Our reasons | Our legitimate interests |
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Where Amiqus is used to carry out the IDV check, we rely on your explicit consent as the legal basis for processing of your biometric data for the purposes of identification.
Where we collect your personal information from
We may collect personal information about you from the following sources:
- Directly from you;
- From Amiqus, where you have consented to using Amiqus for the IDV check;
- Organisations or other businesses that introduce you to us, such as referrals from other law firms, professional advisors, and financial institutions;
- Credit reference agencies and fraud prevention agencies;
- Publicly available open resources, such as Companies House and Registers of Scotland;
- The internet and social networking sites such as LinkedIn;
- Intermediaries with whom you are also a client;
- Other solicitors, intermediaries, expert witnesses, courts, adjudicators, arbiters and others that we engage (or have engaged us) in connection with the products and services that we provide to you.
Who we share your information with
We may share your personal information with the following third parties:
- If you have instructed Brodies Middle East LLP (ADGM Branch), personal data will be shared with Brodies LLP which will act as a processor in relation to its provision of IDV services;
- Our anti-money laundering service providers Creditsafe and (in the case of Brodies Middle East LLP (ADGM Branch)), MS Accountants;
- Amiqus for the purposes of carrying out IDV and for providing technical support;
- The police and other law enforcement agencies, HMRC and other government bodies where we have a legal or regulatory obligation to do so;
- Public information resources, such as Companies House and Registers of Scotland;
- Relevant regulators, including the Information Commissioner's Office in the event of a personal data breach, the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, the Law Society of Scotland and the Solicitors Regulation Authority;
- Credit reference agencies and fraud prevention agencies;
- (a) Subsidiaries or affiliates of Brodies LLP or of Brodies Middle East LLP (ADGM Branch), and (b) Brodies & Co (Trustees) Limited and any of its subsidiaries or affiliates;
- Potential or actual purchasers of any part of our business or assets, or other third parties in the context of a possible transfer or restructuring of our business.
If you choose not to give your personal information
Where we need to collect personal information from you to meet our legal obligations – for example to carry out anti-money laundering checks, or comply with sanctions rules – or under the terms of a contract we have with you, and you fail to provide that data when requested, it may delay or prevent us from being able to perform the contract we have entered into with you, or to make a payment to you, and/or comply with our own legal obligations. If you are an actual or prospective client, in some cases, we may be unable to act for you or may have to withdraw from acting.
Automated decisions
We do not envisage taking any decisions about you based solely on automated processing (i.e. without human involvement), which have a legal or similarly significant effect on you.
How long we keep your personal information which we collected for the IDV checks
| If you are… | We will retain your personal information for... |
| A client or an individual within a client organisation and the IDV check was for the purposes of our client onboarding checks | 5 years from completion of the service for which we were instructed |
| An individual (who is not a client) from whom we received a payment or to whom we made a payment | 5 years from completion of the service for which we were instructed in relation to which the payment was received or made |
| An individual (whether or not a client), where we are involved in facilitating an arrangement / contract and you are making or receiving a payment in relation to that arrangement or contract, whether or not that payment is being made via or received into our client account | 5 years from completion of the service for which we were instructed in relation to which you made or received the payment |
Brodies Middle East LLP
Where Brodies Middle East LLP (ADGM Branch) is the controller of your personal data under our notices, personal information will be held within the Abu Dhabi Global Market. We will only send your personal data outside of the Abu Dhabi Global Market to Brodies LLP within the United Kingdom (see Who we share your information with). The United Kingdom is considered an 'adequate jurisdiction' by the Abu Dhabi Global Market Office of Data Protection.
Further information
Further information about how we handle your personal information, including our use of your personal data for other purposes, the reasons we rely on to do so and the rights you have under Data Protection Law can be found in our privacy statement which is accessible here brodies.com/privacy-notice.