Data Privacy Complaints Procedure

View in Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Italian, and Spanish.

Last Updated: May 2023

This Data Privacy Complaints Procedure is available for any data subject whose personal data is processed by Latham & Watkins. Please refer to the sections below to find the information relevant to your request or complaint.

1. Employees

1.1 As an employee of Latham & Watkins, if you have a complaint about the way in which your personal information has been handled or if you would like to request access to copies of your HR file or other personal information or exercise any of your other rights, please contact an HR representative from your local office. If you are not satisfied with the response of the HR representative, you may proceed with the complaints procedure for Other Inquiries, as described below.

1.2 If you do not feel comfortable in making your complaint to your local HR department, you may direct your query to the local Office Administrator or the firm’s Global Data Privacy Office.

2. Former Employees

2.1 As a former employee of Latham & Watkins, if you would like to request access to copies of your personal information, such as your HR file or exercise any of your other rights, please contact an HR representative from your local office. Absent exceptional circumstances, we will acknowledge your request within 48 business hours and will provide a substantive response as soon as practicable, in accordance with any time limits set down by law. Where permitted by law, we may charge a fee for the provision of copies of your personal information.

2.2 If you are not satisfied with our response, you may proceed with the complaints procedure for Other Inquiries, as described below.

3. Marketing Requests

If you would like to request marketing materials from Latham & Watkins, you may subscribe at the following web address: https://www.sites.lwcommunicate.com/5/178/forms-english/subscribe.asp. If you would like to update your contact information for Latham & Watkins marketing materials, or if you would like to be removed from any e-mail or other distribution lists for Latham & Watkins marketing materials, you may do so at the same link or you can send an email to unsubscribe@lw.com. Absent exceptional circumstances, we will remove your email address from the relevant distribution list(s) within 48 business hours. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may proceed with the complaints procedure for Other Inquiries, as described below.

4. Other Inquiries

4.1 If you have a complaint about the way in which your personal information has been handled or would like to access or correct your personal information or exercise any of your other rights, please contact the Global Data Privacy Office. The Global Data Privacy Office monitors compliance with the firm’s Global Data Privacy Standards and is the initial contact point for any enquiry or complaint relating to compliance with those Standards. The Global Data Privacy Office will undertake an independent review of the investigation into your complaint and advise you of the conclusions. The Global Data Privacy Office may be contacted by email at GlobalDPO@lw.com.

4.2 You may request a full copy of the Latham & Watkins Global Data Privacy Standards by contacting the Global Data Privacy Office.

4.3 You may submit your request or complaint via email to GlobalDPO@lw.com, which is the email address of the Global Data Privacy Office. Please mark your email with “Privacy Enquiry” in the subject line and in the email provide:

(a) your full name;

(b) your address;

(d) any previous correspondence with us regarding the specific data privacy issue; and

(e) if you have incurred a loss, evidence to show the value of the loss.

4.4 We may ask you to provide proof of your identity.

4.5 Upon receipt of a request or complaint, Latham & Watkins will:

(a) confirm receipt, where possible, within 2 working days;

(b) assess the request or investigate the complaint fully; and

(c) provide further information regarding the status of your complaint within 2 weeks of receipt of your written request or complaint except that, if the investigation or assessment cannot be completed within 2 weeks, we will write to you to tell you when we expect to respond.

Requests to exercise rights under EU Privacy Laws will be dealt with within one month of receipt of a valid request, unless the request is complex, in which case the period may be extended by up to two further months. We will inform you if any extension of time is required in such cases.

4.6 If you are still not satisfied with our actions and findings, or at any other time if you so choose, you may:

(a) contact and/or lodge a complaint with the Chair of the Latham & Watkins Data Privacy Committee by email at datenschutz@lw.com;

(b) contact and/or lodge a complaint with the Hesse Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (Hessischer Beauftragter fuer den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit), PO Box 3163, 65021 Wiesbaden, Germany. Further information and contact details can be found at https://datenschutz.hessen.de/;

(c) contact and/or lodge a complaint with the data protection authority in the jurisdiction in the European Economic Area in which you work or are habitually resident, or where the alleged breach took place. Contact details can be found at https://edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/board/members_en; or

(d) bring a claim in the relevant courts as specified under Rights of Redress below.

5. Rights of Redress

5.1 The provisions of this section 5 apply to:

(a) personal data which is processed by Latham & Watkins as a data controller and which is governed by laws implementing European Regulation 2016/679 and related European privacy legislation, including the UK Data Protection Act 2018; and

(b) the export of such personal data outside of the EEA or the UK by Latham & Watkins and the processing of such exported data by another Latham & Watkins entity (either in the capacity of a data controller or a data processor) located outside the EEA.

5.2 If any Latham & Watkins entity breaches the Standards, European Regulation 2016/679 or related European privacy legislation, including the UK Data Protection Act 2018, with respect to your personal data in the circumstances described in 5.1 above, you are entitled in accordance with the provisions of this section 5 to bring a claim as a third party beneficiary in:

(a) the courts of Germany;

(b) the courts of the EEA jurisdiction of establishment of the relevant Latham & Watkins data controller that initially collected the personal data to which your claim relates;

(c) the courts of the EEA jurisdiction of establishment of the relevant Latham & Watkins data controller that exported the personal data to which your claim relates;

(d) the courts of the EEA jurisdiction in which you are habitually resident.

The selected jurisdiction will be referred to as the “Relevant Jurisdiction.”

5.3 Latham & Watkins is comprised of a number of legal entities which have entered into an agreement pursuant to which each such Latham & Watkins entity has agreed to comply with the Standards (the “BCR Agreement”) and provide certain rights to data subjects. If you have completed this Data Privacy Complaints Procedure but you are not satisfied with the response you have received from us and would like to make a claim in a court pursuant to this Rights of Redress section, you may request a copy of the BCR Agreement by contacting the Global Data Privacy Office by email at Globaldpo@lw.com. In order to receive a copy of the BCR Agreement, you will need to sign a confidentiality agreement in a form acceptable to us. The requirement to sign a confidentiality agreement will not prevent you from sharing information with a lawyer in order to obtain legal advice or from using the BCR Agreement in legal proceedings in order to exercise your rights.

5.4 If you wish to make a claim against Latham & Watkins for compensation for damages resulting from an alleged breach of the Standards, or in any other case where you allege a breach of the Standards has been committed, you will be required to provide evidence which shows that it is likely that a breach has occurred, and/or that it is likely that the damage has occurred because of the breach of the Standards by one or more of the Latham & Watkins entities. In such cases, the Frankfurt office of Latham & Watkins will accept the burden of proof on behalf of Latham & Watkins offices located outside the EEA to demonstrate that responsibility for any breach of the Standards does not rest with the Latham & Watkins entity or entities which are the subject of the claim. Consequently, any claims against Latham & Watkins offices located outside the EEA should be brought against the Latham & Watkins Frankfurt office. Any claim against a Latham & Watkins office located in the EEA should be brought against such Latham & Watkins office. In order to discharge itself from responsibility under any such claim, Latham & Watkins Frankfurt must demonstrate either that no such breach occurred or that the Latham & Watkins office located outside the EEA is not responsible for a breach of the Standards which resulted in the damages or other remedy claimed by you. You may contact the Frankfurt office at the following address: Latham & Watkins, Reuterweg 20, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany, marked for the attention of the Chair of the Data Privacy Committee, or by email at datenschutz@lw.com.

5.5 The submission by a Latham & Watkins entity to the Relevant Jurisdiction does not, in respect of any claims that do not relate to compliance by Latham & Watkins with the Standards or for any other purpose whatsoever, constitute a submission by the relevant Latham & Watkins entity to the jurisdiction of such courts or a waiver by the relevant Latham & Watkins entity of its right to claim forum non conveniens.