JSM recruitment privacy notice

Introduction

1. This Privacy Notice (“Notice”) describes how Johnson Stokes & Master (“JSM”) and its representative offices and consultancy service provider in Mainland China (the “JSM Mainland China Entities”) collect, use, disclose or otherwise process personal information during any recruitment, selection and subsequent onboarding processes. For information on the specific JSM Mainland China Entities, please refer to the legal notices section on JSM’s website (jsm.com).
2. We have prepared an addendum to this Notice for individual applicants located in Mainland China (the “Mainland China Addendum”). Please read this Notice together with the Mainland China Addendum if you are applying from Mainland China.
3. We are required by applicable data protection laws to provide you with comprehensive details on how we handle your personal information. This invariably leads to lengthy and complex notices filled with technical and legal terminology. To simplify this for you, in summary:
   1. Collection: we are committed to collect only personal information that we consider relevant to the recruitment process;
   2. Use: we use your personal information to administer the recruitment process and for subsequent onboarding processes;
   3. Sharing: we only share personal information as necessary internally and with trusted external third parties. If your information is collected in Mainland China, we put in place appropriate mechanisms to protect your information when sharing it with third parties outside of Mainland China;
   4. Data Security: we maintain technical and organizational measures to protect personal information against unauthorized or accidental access, processing, erasure or loss;
   5. Data Subject Rights: you have the rights to requires access to and correction of the personal information in our records where required by law; and
   6. Contact Us: if you have any questions about this Notice or wish to exercise your rights regarding your personal data, please contact our privacy team at privacy@jsm.com.

Scope of this Notice

4. The Notice applies to all categories of job applicants including those applying for partner roles, fixed term and permanent positions, dispatched employee positions, agency worker and independent contractor positions, training contracts, internships, secondments, as well as individuals participating in work experience or vacation placements with us. All applicants are referred to as “you” in this Notice. This Notice does not form part of any contract of employment, agreement or other contract to provide services.
5. For the purpose of this Notice, the JSM practices (the “JSM Practices”, “we”, “our” and “us”) include both JSM and the JSM Mainland China Entities. The “Firm” refers to one or more of the JSM Practices.
6. References in this Notice to employment, work (and similar expressions) include any arrangement we may have under which an individual provides us with work or services, or applies for such work or services, including but not limited to partners of any JSM Practices.
7. It is important that you read this Notice (including the Mainland China Addendum) together with any other notices that we provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing your personal information, so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your personal information. This Notice supplements the other notices and is not intended to override them.
8. Generally, personal information processing is handled and controlled by the JSM Practice to which you apply.

Collection of your personal information

9. We may collect personal information directly from you when you apply for a position with us via any recruitment platforms, by email, by post, or when you participate in the interview and selection process.
10. We may obtain personal information about you indirectly. This could occur, for instance, when you are recommended for a position at the Firm or when we acquire supplementary information from third parties with your consent, like your named referees, your recruitment agents, your past employers or our human resources outsourcing and management agencies (if any). Additionally, we may gather information about you from public sources during pre-employment checks. If we do carry out any pre-employment checks, we will inform you during the recruitment process of the exact checks that are going to be carried out.
11. In order to maximise your opportunities to work with us, you are encouraged to keep the information provided to us up to date at all times. You are responsible for ensuring that the personal information is correct and true.

Personal information we process about you

12. The personal information we collect and process is determined by the specific role you apply for, the location of your role, the stage of your application and the outcome of your application. During the recruitment a process, we may collect and process the following categories of personal information:

1. 1. basic personal information, including your name, address, email address and telephone number. If you receive and accept an offer from us, additional details including your date of birth, marital status, gender, nationality, country of citizenship, emergency contact, and any dependent information (if applicable);
   2. personal identity information, including ID card and passport, if you are invited for an interview with us, or when you receive an offer from us;
   3. personal education and work information, including your educational background, work experience, professional qualifications, language skills, work locations;
   4. recruitment information, including your CV, covering letter and references;
   5. legal and compliance related information, including disciplinary and criminal records, bankruptcy proceedings, civil litigation and outside interests (e.g. directorship) collected as part of our background checks if you are made an offer by us;
   6. if you receive and accept our job offer, your personal property information, including bank account details (for onboarding related matters); and
   7. any other information you provide voluntarily during the recruitment process, such as your photograph and compensation details. Trainee solicitor and internship applicants may also supply details regarding sexual orientation, ethnic origin, gender identity, and disability on a voluntarily basis in our diversity and inclusion monitoring form.

If you are applying for a position as a partner of JSM, we may also collect and process the following categories of personal information:

1. 1. compensation history (cash and non-cash) and financial information;
   2. disciplinary proceedings with any regulatory body;
   3. any claims information, such as professional negligence;
   4. claims in which you have been involved or associated;
   5. details of your professional indemnity insurance;
   6. details of any pending or completed administrative proceeding, arbitration, or criminal or civil court action;
   7. complaints filed with any court or administrative body as to your personal conduct;
   8. any history of being a target, subject, or witness, or being interviewed in connection with, any administrative proceeding or investigation, arbitration, or criminal or civil court action or investigation;
   9. any sanctions imposed by any court or administrative proceeding or arbitration;
   10. any disciplinary, grievance, or similar procedures before a court, or other committee, agency, or administrative; or regulatory body responsible for considering such matters;
   11. any civil action instituted against you; and
   12. any filing of bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings by you or a business owned or controlled by you, or of which you were an officer, director, general partner, or manager.

Purposes for which we process your personal information

13. We may process your personal information listed above for the following purposes:

1. 1. assessing and evaluating your suitability for employment in any current or prospective position within the Firm;
   2. verifying your identity and the accuracy of your personal details and other information you have provided;
   3. to assess whether there are any reasonable adjustments that we may need to make in the recruitment process;
   4. comply with immigration, employment or any other laws or regulations that apply to us;
   5. take steps prior to entry into an employment agreement or service contract with you if your application is successful;
   6. pursue our legitimate interests where permitted under applicable data protection laws, which are not overridden by your rights and freedoms;
   7. protect JSM’s systems, business information and employees, including where necessary for the exercise or defence of legal claims or other professional reporting requirements;
   8. we may contact you to ask for your consent as to whether you want to be contacted about future career opportunities with us; and
   9. with your separate consent, conducting pre-employment vetting, including background checks, bankruptcy and civil litigation checks, criminal record checks, employment reference checks and media screening etc. if permitted by law.

If you fail to provide personal information

14. There is no negative consequence if you do not wish to provide us with your personal information in the context of submitting an application. However, without providing your personal information when requested which is necessary for us to consider your application (such as evidence of qualifications or work history), it may not be possible to progress your application and your application may be closed. Incomplete or incorrectly completed applications may not be considered.

Data Sharing

15. We are committed to maintaining the confidentiality of your personal information. However, for the purposes outlined above, we may share, transfer, or disclose your information to the following third parties, who may be located within or outside the jurisdiction where we collect your information:

1. 1. any of the staff members of the JSM Practice where you applied for a role, JSM and other JSM Mainland China Entities on a need-to-know basis;
   2. human resources outsourcing and management agencies and the external recruitment agencies that assist us with the recruitment process (if any);
   3. service providers which carry out the pre-employment checks with us, in the event that you accept an offer of employment from us;
   4. data processors including providers of online recruitment and candidate management systems, and IT and payroll service providers that store and process data on our behalf;
   5. any person to whom we are under an obligation to make disclosure under any requirements of any laws, regulations or governmental bodies; and
   6. any person with your express or implied consent.

16. We may transfer personal information across borders when it is necessary for the purposes described above.  In particular, the platform AllHires is hosted on servers in the United Kingdom. The transfer of Personal Information is necessary for recruitment and hiring process. When you submit personal information to us you are transferring your data across borders.
17. When we transfer your personal information to third party suppliers and other overseas recipients, we will adopt safeguards under applicable data protection laws before transferring your personal information, for instance, to conduct personal information protection impact assessment, to complete the necessary record filings and obtain government approval if required, as well as to adopt other technical and managerial measures to ensure data security during transmission. Besides, appropriate data protection agreements or contractual clauses are in place to ensure that our third party service providers have appropriate and necessary technical and organisation measures to protect your personal information and are handling your personal information in compliance with all applicable data protection laws.
18. For further information about the third parties receiving your personal information, including the countries/regions they are located, the processing purposes, methods, and the categories of personal information processed, please contact our data privacy team as listed below.

Retention of your personal information

19. If your application is successful we will retain your personal information in accordance with our privacy notice for personnel and our data retention policy. We will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal and regulatory requirements.
20. We will retain personal information of unsuccessful applicants for future recruitment purpose for a period of two years unless you expressly inform us not to use your personal information. We retain your personal information for that period so that we may monitor re-applications and to show, in the event of a legal claim, that we have not discriminated against candidates on prohibited grounds and that we have conducted the recruitment exercise in a fair and transparent way. During this period, subject to your agreement, we may also use your personal information to consider whether to invite you to apply for future vacancies or to alert you to future vacancies which we believe will be of interest to you. After this period, we will securely destroy your personal information in accordance with our data retention policy.

Data Security

21. We have put in place appropriate security measures to protect the security of your information and to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorized way, altered or disclosed. Details of those measures are available on request. In addition, we limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions and where they have agreed to treat the information confidentially and to keep it secure.
22. We have also implemented comprehensive policies to ensure the security of your personal information. These policies establish guidelines that must be adhered to by all individuals within the Firm with access to your personal information, providing a framework for its adequate protection. Additionally, we have established procedures to address any suspected data security breaches. In the event of such an occurrence, we will notify you and any applicable regulator as required by law.

Your rights and method to exercise your rights

23. You have certain rights under the applicable data protection laws that you can exercise under certain circumstances in relation to the personal information that we hold. These rights include:
    1. request access to and correct your personal information in our records; and
    2. if we have any of your information, you have the rights to receive a copy of you personal information in a intelligible format.
24. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the contact information provided below. We will handle your requests in compliance with applicable laws and within a reasonable timeframe. It is recommended that you provide supporting documents that verify your identity and provide a clear and specific description of your request. Please note that in accordance with applicable laws, we may charge a fee for accessing your information, if permitted.

Contacting Us

25. If you have any questions about this Notice, including requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact our data privacy team by email at privacy@jsm.com or use the contact details provided here.

Effect of this Notice and Changes to Notice

26. This Notice shall apply in conjunction with any other policies, notices, contractual clauses and consent clauses that apply in relation to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information by us.

Last updated: 2 December 2024