1.              Background

1.1           This policy sets out the firm’s procedures to be followed in order to comply with section 7 of the Bribery Act 2010. It is an offence under section 7 of the Act for the firm to fail to prevent bribery. If any employee or person associated with the firm commits an act of bribery then the firm may be liable.

1.2           The daily overall responsibility for the compliance with the Bribery Act and the implementation of the policy rests with the COLP and Head of Risk and Compliance.  They are to be consulted on any matter where the possibility of unlawful acts could arise.

1.3           It shall be a condition of the contract of employment of all employees that they shall at all times observe the requirements of this policy.

1.4           Employees shall report any attempt at bribery which comes to their attention, whether it consists of an approach to one of them or an act done by an associated third party.  In the first instance the report should be made to the COLP.

1.5           Any person who reports a suspicion of bribery will not be subject to any form of victimisation for making report, whether or not the suspicion turns out to be justified.

2.1           Promotional expenditure which seeks to improve the image of the firm, to establish professional relationships and to maintain them is not unlawful if it is reasonable and proportional.

2.2           Staff should be aware of this policy and will be required to consider the procedures when any hospitality event is offered to a client, prospective client or intermediary.

2.3           Circumstances where an employee is invited to an event, a similar procedure should be followed.

2.4       Instances of hospitality with an estimated value of greater than £150, should be recorded on the Firm’s gifts and hospitality register. It will also be necessary for you to obtain prior approval to give or receive the hospitality.

No fees over and above proper professional fees agreed in advance for professional work done may be accepted.  No payment may be made to the client for the award of a contract for services.

A third party instructed by the firm should be engaged to act on behalf of the firm in a manner consistent with this policy.

At Child & Child, we aim to provide you with a high-quality legal service and to treat you fairly. We wish to hear about any issues to ensure that we can make improvements to our service. At Child & Child, we take complaints seriously. If you are dissatisfied with any aspect of our service, including our charges, please contact us so that we can do our best to resolve your concerns.

This is our external complaint handling procedure (CHP).

If you have concerns or issues with our service, please address these initially to the partner with overall responsibility for your matter identified in your client care letter.  

If your issues or concerns are not addressed to your satisfaction by that partner, you may make a formal complaint to our complaints partner, Nicholas Yapp, e:nicholasyapp@childandchild.co.uk or by post to him at our address Child & Child ,22 King Street, London, SW1Y 6QY.

So that we properly understand the issues or concerns you wish to raise, please set out:-

• Your full name and contact details;
• Your file reference number (this usually appears on letters and emails we have sent to you);
• Details of your concerns /issues, identifying any key dates or documents /correspondence to which your concerns /issues relate.
• What action you consider it appropriate for us to take having regard to the issues and concerns raised by you.

Once we have received your complaint, we will acknowledge it and commence our investigation. Typically, that investigation will involve: –

• A review of your complaint and any issues or concerns raised;
• A review of your file and any documents referred to in your complaint;
• Discussing your complaint with the person dealing with your matter or who dealt with your matter, where practicable;
• In appropriate circumstances, meeting with you.

If we need you to clarify any aspect of your complaint, we will write to you and ask you to provide clarification within a set time period. Any delay by you in responding to such a request may result in a delay to our final response to your complaint.

We will usually inform you in writing of our response to your complaint, following our internal investigation, within twenty-eight days of your complaint being made. If we need longer, we will inform you and explain why further time is required.

If you do not agree with our conclusions, we will have exhausted our complaints process and we will close the complaint.

We will not charge you for dealing with your complaint.

If you decide to disable cookies, we record this so you don’t get asked the question again. You will find that most of the website works as expected although functions that rely on cookies are obviously disabled. These functions include online forms (e.g. our Make an Enquiry form) or any feature that requires you to log in.

We use a cookie to remember your cookie preferences, which has a couple of consequences:

• If you delete all your cookies you will have to tell us your preference again
• If you use a different device, computer profile or browser, you will have to tell us your preference again

The materials appearing on this website do not constitute legal advice and are provided for general information purposes only. No warranty, whether express or implied is given in relation to such materials. We shall not be liable for any technical, editorial, typographical or other errors or omissions within the information provided on this website, nor shall we be responsible for the content of any web images or information linked to this website.

If you have a complaint, please refer to our Complaints Procedure, above.

Modern slavery is a crime and a violation of fundamental human rights. It takes various forms, such as slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour and human trafficking, all of which have in common the deprivation of a person’s liberty by another to exploit them for personal or commercial gain. We have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery, and we are committed to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business dealings and relationships and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure modern slavery is not taking place anywhere in our own business or in any of our supply chains.

We are also committed to ensuring there is transparency in our own business and in our approach to tackling modern slavery throughout our supply chain, consistent with our disclosure obligations under the Modern Slavery Act 2015. We expect the same high standards from all of our contractors, suppliers and other business partners, and as part of our contracting processes, we include specific prohibitions against the use of forced, compulsory or trafficked labour, or anyone held in slavery or servitude, whether adults or children, and we expect that our suppliers will hold their own suppliers to the same high standards.

This policy applies to all persons working for us or on our behalf in any capacity, including employees at all levels, directors, officers, agency workers, second workers, volunteers, interns, agents, contractors, external consultants, third-party representatives and business partners.

This policy does not form part of any employee’s contract of employment and we may amend it at any time.

Child & Child is the trading name for Child & Child Law Limited, a limited liability company No 11554363, regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under SRA number 667053.

In accordance with The General Data Protection Regulation 2018, (GDPR), Child & Child is registered as a ‘Data Controller’ on the public Register of Data Controllers as maintained by the Information Commissioner Office (ICO).

We are committed to ensuring that the information you provide to us during the course of our relationship is safe and secure. In line with the implementation of GDPR, we have made some changes to our Privacy Policy.

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

In order to ensure that the data we collect from you is being processed lawfully and fairly in accordance with the GDPR, we will only collect information from you that is relevant to the matter that we are instructed with. For example, by retaining us in a matter you are authorising us to process your personal data upon a contractual basis. In particular, whilst acting for you we may collect the following information which is defined as ‘personal data’: Personal details, such as family, lifestyle and social circumstances, financial details and business activities of the person whose details we are processing.

We may also collect information that is referred to as being in a ‘special category’. This could include: physical or mental health details, racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs or other beliefs of a similar nature, biometric data, criminal convictions & sexual orientation. You authorise us to process this data on the basis that it is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence, or legal claims under a contract.

Much depends on the purpose of our relationship. Generally, we will use your information for the provision of legal advice necessary for the performance of the contract between us. We may also use it for: Administering any accounts, processing your bank/credit card details in order to obtain payment, the prevention and detection of fraud, credit reference checks (where appropriate).

From time to time we may need to disclose information to third parties such as barristers, accountants and government agencies. It may also be necessary to permit third parties (such as auditors, our professional indemnity insurers and the Solicitors Regulation Authority) to have access to your information for administrative or regulatory purposes. On occasion, we may be obliged to transfer information to countries outside the European Economic Area which do not provide the same level of data protection as the UK.

If we decide to share your information with others, we will provide you with as much information about the intended recipients as we reasonably can be expected to, before it is shared. Under our Code of Conduct 2019 (Regulations that apply to law firms), there are very strict rules governing solicitors and who they can share your information with. This will normally be limited to other people who will assist with your matter. This may include: barristers and other solicitors, medical experts, healthcare professionals, social and welfare organisations the courts and tribunals, in the event that your matter becomes litigious (please note this is not an exhaustive list).

From time to time, we may use your personal information for marketing purposes. Under GDPR, we are obliged to ask if you object to us sharing your information for marketing purposes. If you do not want us to share your personal information for marketing purposes, you must let us know. You may receive an email asking you to provide us with consent. Our retainer letters (or client care) letters also provide an opportunity for you to provide us with consent, should you wish to ‘opt in’ for marketing purposes.

We may occasionally send you mailings which you have requested or we feel may interest you and/or are relevant to you (and your business). Such mailings may include details of our products and services; newsletters; briefing notes and legal updates; and invitations to our various training seminars and other social events.

We will use reasonable endeavours to keep any information provided to us, secure and to take appropriate technical and organisational measures against any unauthorised or unlawful processing/ accidental loss/destruction/damage of any personal data within that information. It is impossible to guarantee that your information will be free from every possible security breach and you acknowledge and accept that risk when engaging with us. We may also disclose your information to your family, associates or representatives and we may also disclose your information to debt collection agencies.

We shall not disclose any of your personal information which we obtain as a result of a relationship with Child and Child, except: As is reasonable and necessary for the purpose of carrying out your instructions; As required by law including in response to any requests for information under freedom of information or environmental legislation; As required by any regulatory, governmental or other authority (including the SRA) to which we are subject too; As is required to enable us to enforce our rights under the client care letter (or retainer)

Website
We use cookies when you visit our website (a cookie is a small piece of data, sent from a website and stored in the user’s web browser while the user is browsing). Every time the user loads the website, the browser sends the cookie back to the server to notify the user’s previous activity. Cookies perform essential functions in the modern web. We may obtain information about your general internet usage by using a cookie which is stored on your browser or the hard drive of your computer. Cookies can help us to improve the website and to deliver a better and more personalized service. Some of our cookies are essential to enable our website to operate properly. You can block cookies by activating the setting on your browser which allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. Our database of personal details, is used by us, and third parties acting on our behalf, for client administration and marketing related purposes.

In relation to client matters, we will keep information throughout the period of time that we are retained and afterwards for a minimum of six years, as we are required to do so by law. We will ensure any softcopy sensitive personal information is saved safely on our systems and hard copy files are stored in a secure facility. Any other information will be kept for as long as is necessary for us to fulfil the purpose of any relationship you have with us.

All soft copy information you provide to us is stored on our highly secure servers. All hard copy documentation is secured in our offsite specialist storage facility.

You have a number of new rights under GDPR in relation to your personal information. You can make a number of choices about how we collect and use it. For example, you can decide not to receive marketing material from us, tell us you want to receive marketing communications, and object to the way(s) in which we use your personal information. Note that some of these changes, may impact our ability to conduct the purpose of our relationship.

If you would like to see the information we hold about you (requesting a subject access request, a SAR), or would like to be removed from our database and/or any mailing lists, please contact our Data Protection Officer, Robert Biles at robertbiles@childandchild.co.uk

Please note that upon receipt of a SAR, we will ensure any information you are entitled to, will be forwarded to you within 30 calendar days. It is important that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and current.

If you are aware that any information we hold about you is inaccurate, please contact our DPO to update any personal information we hold about you at robertbiles@childandchild.co.uk

If you would like personal data that we are holding about you deleted (where there is no valid reason for holding onto it), you must contact our DPO at robertbiles@childandchild.co.uk

If you want to review, verify, correct or request erasure of your personal information, object to the processing of your personal data, or request that we transfer a copy of your personal information to another party, please contact our DPO at robertbiles@childandchild.co.uk

If you are unhappy about how we are using your information then initially you should contact our Data Protection Officer (DPO) at robertbiles@childandchild.co.uk. If your complaint remains unresolved, then you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office, details available at www.ico.org.uk

You have the right to be forgotten (Erasure). Data Subjects have the right to request that all their data be erased (this is not an absolute right and we may continue to process your data if it remains necessary for the purpose it was originally collected). If you do not wish to receive information from us and our services, or wish to receive only certain kinds of information, or wish to receive information only by a particular method please notify our DPO whose details are set out above.

The information and opinions contained on this website are for general interest and information purposes only and are not intended to constitute specific legal, commercial or other professional advice and should not be relied on or treated as a substitute for specific advice relevant to particular circumstances, while we seek to ensure that the contents are not misleading or outdated, users should obtain specific legal advice before making or refraining from making any business or personal decisions.

Child & Child and its partners and staff accept no responsibility for any loss or damage arising from any material on the website.

We are not responsible for the content of any other site, including any site through which you may have gained access to our site or to which you may gain access from our site.