This notice explains what personal data Montpellier Sentinel Legal collects when you visit this site, write to us, apply to join us or instruct us; why we use it; who we share it with; and the rights you have. It is written to meet the Law of Georgia on Personal Data Protection and, where it applies to a particular activity, the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union and its United Kingdom equivalent.
Who is responsible
Montpellier Sentinel Legal, headquartered at Axis Towers, 37m Ilia Chavchavadze Avenue, Tbilisi, Georgia, is the controller of the personal data described in this notice: it decides why and how that data is used.
Questions and requests about personal data go to [email protected], with "Privacy" in the subject line, or by post to the address above. The Contact page carries the firm's telephone number.
What this notice covers
This notice covers the website in every edition, the enquiries and applications you send to the firm, and the firm's business relationships with clients, prospective clients, counterparties, counsel and suppliers.
When the firm acts for a client, the personal data it handles in the course of the matter is also protected by professional secrecy and by the engagement terms agreed with that client. Where those terms say something more specific, they take precedence over this notice.
What we collect, and when
- When you visit the site.
- The site is static: it runs no analytics, no advertising and no social media plug-ins, and it embeds no third-party content. To deliver the pages and protect them from abuse, the firm's hosting provider, Cloudflare, processes technical data about each request: your IP address, the browser and device you use, the page requested, the time, and the referring page. Cloudflare holds these records for a short period under its own privacy policy; the firm does not receive logs of what an identifiable visitor did.
- When you write to us.
- The site's contact links open your own email program; nothing you write is sent through the site. The firm then holds what you send: your name, email address, telephone number and organisation if you give them, the content of your message and any attachments, and the correspondence that follows.
- When you apply to join us.
- Your résumé, the link to your professional profile, your covering note, correspondence about your application and, if you are interviewed, the notes taken at interview and the references you name.
- When you instruct us.
- Your contact details and role; the identification documents and ownership information the firm must collect under anti-money-laundering, conflict-check and professional rules; the details of the matter; and billing information. The firm may also hold personal data about other people involved in a matter, such as counterparties, witnesses or employees, and uses it only for that matter.
- From other sources.
- Public registers, court and regulatory records, your organisation's website, the professional profile you point us to, and the counsel or clients who refer you to the firm.
Why we use it, and on what basis
The firm uses personal data only for the purposes below, and only on a basis the law allows. Where the GDPR applies, the basis is named.
- To answer your enquiry and decide whether the firm can act.
- Steps taken at your request before an engagement, and the firm's legitimate interest in responding to those who contact it.
- To provide legal services.
- Performance of the engagement with the client, and compliance with the legal and professional obligations that attach to it.
- To meet legal obligations.
- Identifying clients and the source of funds, keeping the records the law and the bar require, and answering lawful requests from courts and authorities.
- To run and protect the site.
- The firm's legitimate interest in keeping the site available, secure and free from abuse.
- To recruit.
- Steps taken at your request before an employment contract, and the firm's legitimate interest in assessing candidates.
- To keep in touch.
- The firm sends updates and invitations only to people who have asked for them or with whom it has a business relationship, and stops when you ask. Your consent, or the firm's legitimate interest, as the case may be.
- To establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
- The firm's legitimate interest in protecting its position and that of its clients.
The firm does not sell personal data, does not use it for advertising and makes no decisions about you by automated means.
Who we share it with
Personal data is shared only with:
- people inside the firm who need it for one of the purposes above, all bound by professional secrecy;
- of counsel and the firm's counsel network, when a matter involves their jurisdiction and only with the client's knowledge; they act under their own professional duties;
- service providers who process data on the firm's instructions and under contract: Cloudflare for hosting, the providers of the firm's email, document and practice-management systems, and its IT support;
- courts, regulators, authorities and counterparties, where a matter or the law requires it;
- the firm's professional advisers, auditors and insurers, under confidentiality;
- a successor, if the firm is reorganised or merged, on the same terms as this notice.
Where it goes
The firm is based in Georgia. Its counsel network reaches the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and Uzbekistan, and Cloudflare serves the site from data centres around the world, so personal data may be processed outside the country you are in.
Each transfer rests on a basis the applicable law provides: a decision that the destination protects data adequately, contractual clauses approved for the purpose, or, where neither is available, the necessity of the transfer for the engagement or for legal claims. You may ask the firm which safeguard applies to a particular transfer.
How long we keep it
- Enquiries that do not lead to an engagement:
- up to twelve months from the last exchange, so the firm can answer follow-up questions and run conflict checks.
- Applications:
- up to twelve months after the position is filled or the process ends, unless you ask the firm to keep your details for future openings.
- Client files and the records that support them:
- for as long as professional rules, tax law and limitation periods require, after which they are deleted or anonymised.
- Technical records of visits:
- held by Cloudflare for the period its own policy sets; the firm keeps none.
Your rights
Under Georgian law and, where it applies, the GDPR, you may ask the firm:
- to confirm whether it holds personal data about you, and to give you a copy;
- to correct data that is inaccurate or incomplete;
- to delete data, or to restrict its use, where the law allows;
- to stop using data for a purpose based on the firm's legitimate interests, unless the firm shows compelling grounds to continue;
- to receive the data you gave the firm in a portable form;
- to withdraw a consent you gave, without affecting what was done before.
The firm answers requests within the time the applicable law sets, normally ten working days under Georgian law and one month under the GDPR, and may ask you to confirm your identity first. Professional secrecy and the rights of clients and third parties can limit what the firm may disclose; where it withholds something, it will tell you why, as far as the law permits.
If you are not satisfied, you may complain to the Personal Data Protection Service of Georgia or, if you are in the European Union or the United Kingdom, to the supervisory authority where you live.
Security
The site is served only over HTTPS, with security headers that restrict what a page may load and where it may be embedded. Inside the firm, access to personal data is limited to those who need it, and everyone with access is bound by professional secrecy. Client files are held in systems chosen for their security, with access controls and backups.
Email is not a secure channel. If you need to send the firm sensitive material, ask first; the firm can arrange an encrypted channel or a secure exchange of documents.
Children
The site and the firm's services are directed at businesses and adults. The firm does not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under eighteen, except where it acts for a client on a matter that concerns a minor, and then only as the matter requires.
Other websites
Links from this site lead to websites the firm does not control, and this notice does not extend to them. Read their own notices before you give them personal data.
Changes and contact
The firm updates this notice when its practices or the law change, and publishes the new version here with its date. Where a change materially affects how the firm uses data it already holds, it will tell the people concerned.
Questions, requests and complaints about personal data go to [email protected], with "Privacy" in the subject line, or by post to Axis Towers, 37m Ilia Chavchavadze Avenue, Tbilisi, Georgia.