Privacy Notice

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Last updated: Nov 4, 2026

We're an employment law firm and people management consultancy. To advise you, we need information about you, your business and, very often, your people. We keep it confidential, use it to do our job and run our firm properly, keep it secure, and don't keep it forever. You have rights over it. If you're unhappy with how we've handled it, tell us first and we'll put it right.

Who we are

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Guardian Law Limited ("we","us", "our") is the controller of your personal information. That means we decide how and why it's used, and we're responsiblefor looking after it.

•     Registered in England and Wales, company number 06422486

•     Registered office: The Createry, 4 Castle Quay, Nottingham NG7 1FW

•     Authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, SRA number 521231

•     Registered with the Information Commission's Office (ICO), registration number ZA118606

Our data protection lead is Nickie Elenor, Solicitor and Director. Nickie is your point of contact for anything in this notice.

•     Email:support@guardianlaw.co.uk

•     Phone: 0115 870 0150

•     Post: Guardian Law Limited, TheCreatery, 4 Castle Quay, Nottingham NG7 1FW

Who this notice covers

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•     Clients and prospective clients, including the business owners, directors,managers and HR contacts we work with

•     People connected to the matters we handle: for example employees, former employees, job applicants, witnesses and the other side's representatives, whose information our clients or others share with us

•     Website visitors, newsletter subscribers and people who attend our events, webinars and training

•     Suppliers and professional contacts, such as barristers, experts and other professional services firms

What we collect

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What we hold depends on why we're dealing with you. It can include:

•     Identity and contact details: name, job title, employer, business and home address, email, phone number

•     Identity checks: date of birth, copy ID and proof of address, where we need to verify who you are

•     Financial details: billing information, bank details for payments or refunds, and figures relevant to a matter (pay, settlement sums)

•     Matter information: whatever is relevant to the issue we're advising on, such as contracts, employment records, pay, performance, absence, disciplinary and grievance records, correspondence, meeting notes and recordings

•     Special categoryinformation: health, sickness absence, disability and adjustments, pregnancy, ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation,trade union membership, where it's relevant to the matter (in a discriminationclaim, for example)

•     Criminal offenceinformation: allegations or convictions, only where relevant to a matter (a DBS issue, or misconduct that's also a crime)

•     Marketing and eventinformation: your preferences, what you've signed up to and events you've attended

•     Website information: IP address, device and browser details, and pages visited (see Cookiesand our website)

Where we get it from

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•     From you directly

•     From your organisation, if weact for your employer or a business you're connected to

•     From the other side in a matterand their representatives

•     From Acas, the EmploymentTribunal, the Employment Appeal Tribunal and the courts

•     From barristers, experts andother professionals working on a matter

•     From public sources such asCompanies House and professional networking sites

•     From identity verificationproviders

If we receive information about you fromsomeone other than you, we don't always have to tell you. The law recognisesthat confidential legal advice couldn't work if it did, so where information iscovered by legal professional privilege, or telling you would prejudice amatter, the usual duty to inform you doesn't apply.

Why we use it, and our legal basis

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Data protection law says we need a lawful reason for each thing we do with your information.

Here's ours:

- Advise and represent clients:  Contract, where you're our client. Legitimate interests, where you're a client's contact or someone connected to amatter: our client's interest in getting legal advice and bringing or defending claims, and ours in giving it

- Onboarding, identity and conflict checks: Legal obligation and legitimate interests (knowing who we act for and avoiding conflicts)

- Billing, accounts and recovering fees: Contract and legal obligation (tax and accounting rules)

- Keeping records, meeting our regulatory and insurance obligations, handling complaints: Legal obligation and legitimate interests

- Sending updates, insights and event  invitations: Legitimate interests for clients and business contacts. Consent where the law requires it

- Running, securing and improving our website: Legitimate interests. Consent for any non-essential cookies that need it

Special category and criminal offence information

We only use this where it's necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims or to give legal advice, or where you've given explicit consent. We follow the extra safeguards the Data Protection Act 2018 requires.

Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time by contacting us. That doesn't affect anything we did before you withdrew it.

Automated decisions. We don't make decisions about you using solely automated means.

AI tools. We use AI-assisted tools to help us work efficiently, for example with drafting, summarising and research. A lawyer always reviews the output and remains responsible for the advice you receive. We only use tools provided under business terms that keep your information confidential and secure, and that don't allow the provider to use it to train their AI models.

Who we share it with

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We only share what's needed, and we never sell your information. Depending on the matter, we may share it with:

•     People working on your matter: barristers, experts, mediators and other professionals we instruct

•     The other side, Acas,tribunals and courts, where that's needed to run a matter

•     Our service providers: IT, cloud storage, case management, AI tools, e-signature, identity verification, payment and email marketing providers. They act on our instructions under written contracts and must keep your information secure. Our main providers are Google, Microsoft (Office 365), Dropbox and Anthropic (Claude)

•     Our professional advisers and insurers, including our accountants, auditors and professional indemnity insurers

•     Regulators and authorities: the SRA, the Legal Ombudsman, the ICO, HMRC, and the police or other authorities where the law requires us to

•     A buyer or successor, if all or part of our business is sold or merged, under a duty of confidentiality

Sending information outside the UK

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Some of our service providers store or access information outside the UK, including Google, Microsoft, Dropbox and Anthropic, which may process information in the United States. When that happens, we make sure the transfer is lawful: either the country is covered by UK adequacy regulations, or we use the approved contractual safeguards (the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the EU clauses).

How long we keep it

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We keep information only as long as we need it, then delete or destroy it securely.

- Client matter files - 6 years after the matter closes

- Billing and accounting records - 6 years from the end of the financial year they relate to

- Identity check records - kept with the matter file

- Enquiries that don't go ahead - 12 months

- Marketing preferences - Until you unsubscribe. We then keep a  short "do not contact" record so you don't hear from us again

- Data protection complaints and requests - 6 years after closure

Sometimes we have to keep information for longer, for example if a claim or investigation is ongoing.

Keeping it safe

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As solicitors, we're bound by a professional duty of confidentiality, on top of data protection law. We use access controls, multi-factor authentication and encryption, train our team, and only let people see what they need for their role. If something goes wrong, we have a procedure to contain it quickly and we'll report it to the ICO, and tell you, where the law requires.

Your rights

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You have the right to:

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Where we correct, erase or restrict your information, we'll let anyone we've shared it with know, unless that's impossible or would involve disproportionate effort.

Some limits apply. Much of what we hold is protected by legal professional privilege or is confidential to our client. If you're not our client (for example, you work for a business we advise), we're usually unable to give you copies of privileged advice or the confidential information of the business we act for. Where we hold something back, we'll tell you why, unless the law stops us.

Marketing

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We send clients and business contacts updates on employment law, practical insights and event invitations we think you'll find useful. Every email has an unsubscribe link, or you can just email us. We never sell or rent our mailing list.

Cookies and our website

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Cookies are small files saved on your device when you visit a website.

We use cookies that are strictly necessary to make our website work and keep it secure, such as those that allow our contact form to function. These don't need your consent.

We don't use cookies for advertising or to track you across other websites. If we use any other cookies, such as analytics to understand how our site is used, or cookies set by embedded content like YouTube videos, we'll only do so with your consent or, for analytics used purely to produce statistics, after telling you and giving you an easy way to opt out.

You can block or delete cookies at any time in your browser settings. If you block essential cookies, parts of our site may not work properly.

Children

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Our services aren't aimed at anyone under 18 and we don't knowingly market to children. We'll only hold information about a child where it's relevant to a matter, such as an apprentice's employment or a flexible working request.

Complaints

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If you're unhappy with how we've handled your personal information, please tell us first. Contact Nickie using the details above and explain what's happened. We'll acknowledge your complaint within 30 days, look into it properly, and let you know the outcome without undue delay.

If you're still not satisfied, you can complain to the regulator:

Information Commission's Office (ICO) Website: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint

Phone: 0303 123 1113

Post: 4th Floor, No. 3 Circle Square, 5 Hawkshaw Street, Manchester M1 7BL

The ICO will usually expect you to haveraised the issue with us first.

Complaints about our legal services (rather than how we've handled your data) go through our Complaints Procedure, with the Legal Ombudsman available afterwards.

Changes to this notice

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We review this notice regularly and will update it when the law or the way we work changes. The date at the top shows when it was last updated.

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0115 870 0150
support@guardian-online.co.uk
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© 2026 All Rights Reserved
Guardian Law Limited - Co. No. 06422486
A law firm regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority SRA ID 521231
The Createry, 4 Castle Quay, Nottingham, NG7 1FW
PRIVACY NOTICE
Privacy Notice Guardian Law Limited · Last updated: 4th November 2026 We're an employment law and people management consultancy. To advise you, we need information about you, your business and, very often, your people. We keep it confidential, use it to do our job and run our firm properly, keep it secure, and don't keep it forever. You have rights over it. If you're unhappy with how we've handled it, tell us first and we'll put it right. The rest of this notice gives you the detail. Who we are Guardian Law Limited ("we", "us", "our") is the controller of your personal information. That means we decide how and why it's used, and we're responsible for looking after it. • Registered in England and Wales, company number 06422486 • Registered office: The Createry, 4 Castle Quay, Nottingham NG7 1FW • Authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, SRA number 521231 • Registered with the Information Commission's Office (ICO), registration number ZA118606 Our data protection lead is Nickie Elenor, Solicitor and Director. We're not legally required to appoint a formal Data Protection Officer, so Nickie is your point of contact for anything in this notice. • Email: support@guardianlaw.co.uk • Phone: 0115 870 0150 • Post: Guardian Law Limited, The Createry, 4 Castle Quay, Nottingham NG7 1FW Who this notice covers • Clients and prospective clients, including the business owners, directors, managers and HR contacts we work with • People connected to the matters we handle: for example employees, former employees, job applicants, witnesses and the other side's representatives, whose information our clients or others share with us • Website visitors, newsletter subscribers and people who attend our events, webinars and training • Suppliers and professional contacts, such as barristers, experts and other firms What we collect What we hold depends on why we're dealing with you. It can include: • Identity and contact details: name, job title, employer, business and home address, email, phone number • Identity checks: date of birth, copy ID and proof of address, where we need to verify who you are • Financial details: billing information, bank details for payments or refunds, and figures relevant to a matter (pay, settlement sums) • Matter information: whatever is relevant to the issue we're advising on, such as contracts, employment records, pay, performance, absence, disciplinary and grievance records, correspondence, meeting notes and recordings • Special category information: health, sickness absence, disability and adjustments, pregnancy, ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, trade union membership, where it's relevant to the matter (in a discrimination claim, for example) • Criminal offence information: allegations or convictions, only where relevant to a matter (a DBS issue, or misconduct that's also a crime) • Marketing and event information: your preferences, what you've signed up to and events you've attended • Website information: IP address, device and browser details, and pages visited (see Cookies and our website) Where we get it from: • From you directly • From your organisation, if we act for your employer or a business you're connected to • From the other side in a matter and their representatives • From Acas, the Employment Tribunal, the Employment Appeal Tribunal and the courts • From barristers, experts and other professionals working on a matter • From public sources such as Companies House and professional networking sites • From identity verification providers If we receive information about you from someone other than you, we don't always have to tell you. The law recognises that confidential legal advice couldn't work if it did, so where information is covered by legal professional privilege, or telling you would prejudice a matter, the usual duty to inform you doesn't apply. Why we use it, and our legal basis Data protection law says we need a lawful reason for each thing we do with your information. Here's ours: What we do and our lawful basis: Advise and represent clients Contract, where you're our client. Legitimate interests, where you're a client's contact or someone connected to a matter: our client's interest in getting legal advice and bringing or defending claims, and ours in giving it Onboarding, identity and conflict checks Legal obligation and legitimate interests (knowing who we act for and avoiding conflicts) Billing, accounts and recovering fees Contract and legal obligation (tax and accounting rules) Keeping records, meeting our regulatory and insurance obligations, handling complaints Legal obligation and legitimate interests Sending updates, insights and event invitations Legitimate interests for clients and business contacts. Consent where the law requires it Running, securing and improving our website Legitimate interests. Consent for any non-essential cookies that need it Special category and criminal offence information. We only use this where it's necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims or to give legal advice, or where you've given explicit consent. We follow the extra safeguards the Data Protection Act 2018 requires. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time by contacting us. That doesn't affect anything we did before you withdrew it. Automated decisions. We don't make decisions about you using solely automated means. AI tools. We use AI-assisted tools to help us work efficiently, for example with drafting, summarising and research. A lawyer always reviews the output and remains responsible for the advice you receive. We only use tools provided under business terms that keep your information confidential and secure, and that don't allow the provider to use it to train their AI models. Who we share it with We only share what's needed, and we never sell your information. Depending on the matter, we may share it with: • People working on your matter: barristers, experts, mediators and other professionals we instruct • The other side, Acas, tribunals and courts, where that's needed to run a matter • Our service providers: IT, cloud storage, case management, AI tools, e-signature, identity verification, payment and email marketing providers. They act on our instructions under written contracts and must keep your information secure. Our main providers are Google, Microsoft (Office 365), Dropbox and Anthropic (Claude) • Our professional advisers and insurers, including our accountants, auditors and professional indemnity insurers • Regulators and authorities: the SRA, the Legal Ombudsman, the ICO, HMRC, and the police or other authorities where the law requires us to • A buyer or successor, if all or part of our business is sold or merged, under a duty of confidentiality Sending information outside the UK Some of our service providers store or access information outside the UK, including Google, Microsoft, Dropbox and Anthropic, which may process information in the United States. When that happens, we make sure the transfer is lawful: either the country is covered by UK adequacy regulations, or we use the approved contractual safeguards (the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the EU clauses). Ask us if you'd like the details. How long we keep it We keep information only as long as we need it, then delete or destroy it securely. Client matter files 6 years after the matter closes (covering the period in which claims could be brought) Billing and accounting records 6 years from the end of the financial year they relate to Identity check records Kept with the matter file Enquiries that don't go ahead 12 months Marketing preferences Until you unsubscribe. We then keep a short "do not contact" record so you don't hear from us again Data protection complaints and requests 6 years after closure Sometimes we have to keep information for longer, for example if a claim or investigation is ongoing. Keeping it safe As solicitors, we're bound by a professional duty of confidentiality, on top of data protection law. We use access controls, multi-factor authentication and encryption, train our team, and only let people see what they need for their role. If something goes wrong, we have a procedure to contain it quickly and we'll report it to the ICO, and tell you, where the law requires. Your rights You have the right to: • Access a copy of the personal information we hold about you • Rectification: have inaccurate or incomplete information corrected • Erasure: ask us to delete your information in certain circumstances • Restriction: ask us to limit how we use it in certain circumstances • Portability: receive information you gave us in a format you can take elsewhere, in certain circumstances • Object to us using it on the basis of legitimate interests, and to object at any time to direct marketing • Not be subject to decisions based solely on automated processing that have a legal or similarly significant effect on you • Withdraw consent, where we rely on it How we handle requests. Contact Nickie using the details above. We may ask you to confirm your identity, or to clarify what you're looking for. The response time doesn't start until we have what we need. We'll respond within one month, or tell you within that month if we need up to two more months because the request is complex or one of several. We'll carry out reasonable and proportionate searches. There's normally no fee. Where we correct, erase or restrict your information, we'll let anyone we've shared it with know, unless that's impossible or would involve disproportionate effort. Some limits apply. Much of what we hold is protected by legal professional privilege or is confidential to our client. If you're not our client (for example, you work for a business we advise), we're usually unable to give you copies of privileged advice or the confidential information of the business we act for. Where we hold something back, we'll tell you why, unless the law stops us. Marketing We send clients and business contacts updates on employment law, practical insights and event invitations we think you'll find useful. Every email has an unsubscribe link, or you can just email us. We never sell or rent our mailing list. Cookies and our website Cookies are small files saved on your device when you visit a website. We use: We use cookies that are strictly necessary to make our website work and keep it secure, such as those that allow our contact form to function. These don't need your consent. We don't use cookies for advertising or to track you across other websites. If we use any other cookies, such as analytics to understand how our site is used, or cookies set by embedded content like YouTube videos, we'll only do so with your consent or, for analytics used purely to produce statistics, after telling you and giving you an easy way to opt out. You can block or delete cookies at any time in your browser settings. If you block essential cookies, parts of our site may not work properly. Children Our services aren't aimed at anyone under 18 and we don't knowingly market to children. We'll only hold information about a child where it's relevant to a matter, such as an apprentice's employment or a flexible working request. Complaints If you're unhappy with how we've handled your personal information, please tell us first. Contact Nickie using the details above and explain what's happened. We'll acknowledge your complaint within 30 days, look into it properly, and let you know the outcome without undue delay. If you're still not satisfied, you can complain to the regulator: Information Commission's Office (ICO) Website: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint Phone: 0303 123 1113 Post: 4th Floor, No. 3 Circle Square, 5 Hawkshaw Street, Manchester M1 7BL The ICO will usually expect you to have raised the issue with us first. Complaints about our legal services (rather than how we've handled your data) go through our Complaints Procedure, with the Legal Ombudsman available afterwards. Changes to this notice We review this notice regularly and will update it when the law or the way we work changes. The date at the top shows when it was last updated.