DLA Piper Alumni Network

Privacy notice

Your privacy is important to us. This Privacy Notice explains how we handle and treat your data when you participate in our Alumni Network platform available at alumni.dlapiper.com (“Alumni Network”), or such other address as may apply from time to time.

1. Scope and application

DLA Piper is a global law firm operating through a number of separately constituted and regulated legal entities which provide legal and other client services in accordance with the relevant laws of the jurisdictions in which they respectively operate.

The DLA Piper Alumni Network is a community for former partners, employees and other “alumni” of DLA Piper, as well as current partners, attorneys and other employees of DLA Piper, which is provided by DLA Piper UK LLP and DLA Piper LLP (US) (together, “us,” “our” or “we”). The DLA Piper Alumni Network provides access to alumni news, events, programs and other information about the DLA Piper global community, as well as networking opportunities and other benefits. In addition to our Privacy Notice, your use of the Alumni Network website is subject to the DLA Piper Alumni Network Terms of Use (the “Terms”).

We hope our Alumni Network will be beneficial to you by making it easy for current and former DLA Piper colleagues to stay connected. This Privacy Notice will inform you of the nature of your personal information that is processed by us related to the Alumni Network, as well as the rights you have regarding your personal information and how you can exercise those rights.

This Privacy Notice is intended to assist you in making informed decisions when using the Alumni Network and participating in the Alumni Network and/or to understand how your personal information may be processed by us as a result of providing the Alumni Network. Please take a moment to read and understand it.

Please also note that this Privacy Notice only applies to the use of your personal information obtained by us as part of the DLA Piper Alumni Network. You can obtain more information about our privacy practices, generally, and your privacy rights and choices regarding to the personal information we process outside of the DLA Piper Alumni Network, respectively, in the DLA Piper LLP (US) Privacy Policy and the DLA Piper UK LLP Privacy Policy.

2. What personal information do we collect?

Personal information you voluntarily provide us

We collect personal information when you directly give it to us, such as, when you register for the DLA Piper Alumni Network. During registration and profile setup, we require that you provide your name and email address. To the extent that we have information relevant to the creation of your Alumni Network profile, that information may be automatically added to your Alumni Network profile, when you register. However, your name and profile information will not be shared with other members of the Alumni Network until you have accepted the Terms and registered your account. Once you have completed the registration process and accepted the Terms, your name and other information (as described below) will appear in the Alumni Network Directory, which is visible to other members of the DLA Piper Alumni Network.

You have the option to expand your user profile to include a wide range of additional information, including photos, postal address, current occupation, industry, education, skills, and personal and business interests. By providing complete and accurate information in your profile, you enable us to customize your experience and help you get the most from the Alumni Network. However, please supply only information that is relevant for the stated purposes of this Alumni Network.

We also collect personal information in the following situations:

correspondence between you and the Alumni Network including the tracking of clicks, open rates and bounces;
information you post on the Alumni Network, such as, resumes, job applications, event RSVPs, comments on news articles; and
responses to online surveys or forms that we use for feedback, research and product improvement.

Please keep in mind that whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information online – in the optional fields in your profile, through email, or in areas of the Alumni Network – that information could be accessible to the rest of the members of our Alumni Network and may be made public. Please do not post or add personal information that you would not want to be publicly available to your profile or elsewhere on the Alumni Network.

Information we collect automatically

When you use the Alumni Network, we collect information about your visit and usage of the Alumni Network services. Some of this information is collected using third-party tools, including Google Analytics. That information may include your IP address, your operating system, your browser ID, and other information about how you interacted with the Alumni Network use this information to improve our services and the user experience as well as network management and security.

We and our third-party providers may use various technologies to collect and store information when you use our Alumni Network, including cookies and similar tracking technologies, such as pixels and web beacons, to analyze trends, administer the website, and track users’ movements around the website. Users can control the use of cookies at the individual browser level. For more information about our use of cookies and other tracking technologies, as well as how to opt out of the use of cookies, please refer to our Cookie Policy here. Turning off cookies may result in a loss of functionality when using the Alumni Network and potentially impact your ability to use the Alumni Network platform.

Personal information provided by DLA Piper

We may verify that you are a DLA Piper alumnus or current employee by matching your registration information with data previously known about you by DLA Piper. This information may include, but is not limited to, your name, email address, last position, locations, expertise or skills, and university/college.

Additional information for California; categories of personal information collected pursuant to the CCPA

If you are a California resident, the personal information that we may collect about you related to the Alumni Network, which is described above, includes the following categories of personal information as defined by the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA): identifiers (such as name, contact details, user ID, IP address and other online identifiers); personal information described in Cal. Civ. Code 1798.80(e) (such as name, contact details, photos, title and work history, and other information provided to us during registration or as part of your account profile, as well as your DLA Piper work history and DOB, which may be used to verify your account but will not be disclosed by us to other Alumni Network members); commercial information (such as products or services used or considered); internet and other electronic network activity information (such as your browsing, activity and usage while logged into the Alumni Network); audio, visual and other electronic data (such as comments you submit or recordings of webinars and online events that you choose to participate in); and professional and employment information (such as experience, current position and title, professional memberships and credentials, and other information that you provide in your profile, as well as your position and with DLA Piper); non-public education information (such as the university(ies) you attended, degrees and other qualification information that you add to your profile or otherwise share within the Alumni Network); and inferences drawn from your personal information (such as profiling characteristics about your interests and position, events or information you may be interested in, We do not intentionally collect or process sensitive personal information or characteristics of protection classifications as defined by California law, pursuant to the Alumni Network, and we ask that users refrain from sharing this information within the platform. For more information about these categories of personal information, and how DLA Piper LLP (US) collects, discloses and processes such information about California residents, generally, beyond the Alumni network, please review the DLA Piper US California privacy notice. Please see Section 8. of this Privacy Notice for information about your CCPA privacy rights regarding the personal information we collect and process related to the DLA Piper Alumni Network.

3. How do we use your personal information?

The Alumni Program and related Services will use your personal information for the following purposes:

Primarily, to provide our members with a customized experience on our Alumni Network, including personalization services, such as suggested contacts, news, events and interactive communications.
To enable other users to search for and locate you via the directory.
To research and analyze our users’ demographics, interests and behavior to better understand and serve our users and improve our Alumni Network and its offerings.
To contact you periodically with communications about DLA Piper announcements, seminars, events, memoranda, publications or employment opportunities with DLA Piper, affiliates or partners, which we feel might interest you, unless you ask not to be contacted. You will have an opportunity to opt out of receiving further messages.
To get your feedback and viewpoints through polls and surveys conducted by us and others. You are not obligated to respond to polls and surveys and can choose the information you provide.
To contact you with professionally relevant information.
To fulfill our legal obligations, including contractual, regulatory, and reporting obligations, and obligations in connection with potential or actual legal or regulatory proceedings or investigations.
To provide you and other members of the Alumni Network with resources for professional/career development and related support.
To maintain and improve the Alumni Network, including auditing and monitoring its use so as to understand user demographics, interests, and content preferences.
To provide information requested by you, including in connection with opting in for our blogs.
In connection with the administration of events.
To analyze whether event invitations and other emails sent by DLA Piper have been successfully sent or have been opened.

We may also use data for other purposes, which we would always describe to you when we collect the information. However, we will not rent or sell your personal information to others.

4. Who has access to your personal information?

When you register and set up your profile, your name and the other information you provide will be placed in the Member Directory. Unless you request otherwise through the opt-out mechanism provided on the Alumni Network, your name, profile picture, current and past professional data, degrees, and social media links will be accessible to other members of the Alumni Network. The rest of the information you provide for your profile will not be shared with other members of the Alumni Network unless you choose to share such information by clicking on the “Share My Profile With Other Site Members” within the privacy settings menu of your account profile. When you turn on sharing, all the information in your profile will be made visible in the Alumni Directory and will be accessible to other members of the Alumni Network. To access your account privacy settings, click on your profile picture in the upper right corner of any page within the Alumni Network and select “Privacy.”

Other than with Alumni Network members, we will share your personal information in the following situations.

With our service providers, including but not limited to PeoplePath (who host the Alumni Network on our behalf) and other service providers who support and maintain our IT infrastructure.
With advisors, including attorneys and accountants, to help us with legal, accounting and security requirements.
When required to comply with court orders, valid discovery requests, valid subpoenas, and other appropriate legal mechanisms.
To a third-party acquirer if we sell or liquidate all or any part of its business or assets. In that event, any acquirer will be subject to our obligations under this Privacy Notice, and you will have the same rights with respect to your personal information.

We do not rent or sell any of the personal information we collect through the Alumni Network, nor do we share such information with any unaffiliated third-party to use for such party’s own marketing purposes.

5. How do we safeguard your personal information and how long do we retain your data for?

We implement security safeguards designed to protect the personal information that we collect. However, we cannot guarantee the security of any information that you send us. There is no guarantee that data may not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed by breach of any of our physical, technical, or managerial safeguards.

You should take steps to protect your account data, including by not divulging your password to anyone. Also remember to sign out of your account and close your browser window when you have finished using the Alumni Network, particularly if you share a computer with someone else or are using a computer in a public place like a library or Internet cafe.

Our Alumni Network may, from time to time, contain links to other third-party sites. If you follow a link to any of these sites, please note that these sites have their own privacy statements and terms of use, and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these statements or sites. Please check these privacy statements before you submit any personal information to these sites.

We will retain your personal information for as long as reasonably necessary in light of the purposes for which we have collected it. For example, we will retain your profile data for as long as you have a user account on the Alumni Network. If you decide to delete or transfer your user account, we will retain your account profile data in data backups and logs for an additional period of time, and we may otherwise retain data where necessary to comply with our legal, ethical and compliance obligations or as required or necessary to protect or defend our legal rights and the rights of others or protect health and safety.

6. How can you update your personal information and exercise your other rights?

You can access, edit or correct the information in your profile at any time. Log in to the Alumni Network and click on Profile. If you have forgotten your password, click on the Forgot Password link and we will send an email to your primary email address. Finally, you can ask us to deactivate, delete or transfer your personal information, but then you may not be able to access any members-only areas of the Alumni Network.

You may also have the following rights in relation to the personal information we hold about you, which pursuant to certain applicable data protection laws (such as the GDPR and UK data protection) may include:

Your right of access - If you ask us, we'll confirm whether we're processing your personal information and, if necessary, provide you with a copy of that personal information (along with certain other details). If you require additional copies, we may charge a reasonable fee.
Your right to rectification - If the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete, you are entitled to request to have it rectified. If you are entitled to rectification and if we've shared your personal information with others, we'll let them know about the rectification where possible. If you ask us, we'll also tell you who we've shared your personal information with so that you can contact them directly, where it is possible and lawful to do so.
Your right to erasure - You can ask us to delete or remove your personal information in some circumstances such as where we no longer need it or if you withdraw your consent (where applicable). If you are entitled to erasure and if we've shared your personal information with others, we'll let them know about the erasure where possible. If you ask us, we'll also tell you who we've shared your personal information with so that you can contact them directly, where it is possible and lawful for us to do so.
Your right to restrict processing - You can ask us to 'block' or suppress the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances, such as where you contest the accuracy of that personal data or you object to us. If you are entitled to restriction and if we've shared your personal information with others, we'll let them know about the restriction where it is possible for us to do so. If you ask us, we'll also tell you who we've shared your personal information with so that you can contact them directly, where it is possible and lawful for us to do so.
Your right to data portability - You have the right, in certain circumstances, to obtain personal information you've provided us with (in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format) and to reuse it elsewhere or to ask us to transfer this to a third party of your choice.
Your right to object - You can ask us to stop processing your personal information, and we will do so, if we are:
- relying on our own or someone else's legitimate interests to process your personal information, except if we can demonstrate compelling legal grounds for the processing; or
- processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes.
Your right to withdraw consent - If we rely on your consent (or explicit consent) as our legal basis for processing your personal information, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.
Your right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority - If you have a concern about any aspect of our privacy practices, including the way we've handled your personal information, you can report it to the relevant supervisory authority.

Please note that some of these rights may be limited where we have an overriding interest or legal obligation to continue to process the data or where data may be exempt from disclosure due to reasons of legal professional privilege or professional secrecy obligations. If you are a California resident, please see Section 8. For California residents, for information about the categories of personal information we process and your rights under California privacy law.

7. For UK and EU residents

General Data Protection Regulation

If at any point you believe your personal information is incorrect, you can request to see this information and have it corrected or deleted. If you wish to raise a complaint about how we have handled your personal information, you can contact our Data Privacy Office at < a href="mailto:privacyteam@dlapiper.com">privacyteam@dlapiper.com, which will investigate the matter.

Our lawful basis to use your personal information

It is necessary for us to use your personal information;

To perform our obligations in accordance with any contract that we may have with you.
It is in our legitimate interest or a third party's legitimate interest to use personal information in such a way to ensure that we provide the Services in the best way that we can.
It is our legal obligation to use your personal information to comply with any legal obligations imposed upon us.

For details of the specific lawful basis relied upon to use your personal information for the purposes described in this Privacy Notice, please contact us using the details at the end of this Privacy Notice.

Sensitive/special categories of personal information

We do not generally collect sensitive personal information through this Alumni Network. In the limited cases where we may collect such data, we will do this in accordance with applicable law. If you choose to provide us or members of the Alumni Network with unsolicited sensitive personal information, you consent to our using the data, as described in this Privacy Notice and in compliance with applicable law. The term “sensitive personal information” refers to the various categories of personal information identified as such by the EU GDPR and UK GDPR (as applicable).

Transfers outside the UK and the EU

While the personal information collected from you in connection with your participation in the Alumni Network will be hosted within the European Economic Area, we may transfer your personal information from the European Economic Area (EEA) to countries outside of the EEA and the UK (including the United States) in accordance with this policy and applicable laws. Any transfer of personal information to a location outside of the UK and the EEA will at all times be subject to the implementation of appropriate safeguards (which may include the use of the standard contractual clauses).

8. For California residents

If you are a California resident, please review the DLA Piper US privacy notice for California residents, which sets forth the categories of personal information that we collect, disclose and process, generally, pursuant to CCPA, generally, and provides additional information about the rights of California residents and how to exercise these rights.

In general, California residents have the following rights with respect to their personal information (subject to certain limitations and exceptions):

To know what personal information we have collected about them, including the categories of personal information, the categories of sources from which the personal information is collected, the business or commercial purpose for collecting, selling, or sharing personal information, the categories of third parties to whom we disclose personal information, and the specific pieces of personal information we have collected about them.
To request deletion of their personal information.
To request correction of inaccurate personal information.
To opt-out of our sale and sharing of their personal information. We do not “sell” or “share” (as defined by the CCPA) any of the personal information that we collect related to the Alumni Network. For more information about sales and sharing more broadly and your rights to opt out, please see the DLA Piper US privacy notice for California residents.
To limit uses or disclosures of sensitive personal information to those authorized by the CCPA. However, we do not use or disclose sensitive personal information beyond the purposes authorized by the CCPA.
To not be subject to discriminatory treatment for exercising their rights under the CCPA.

California residents may submit CCPA requests to know (access), delete and correct their personal information through one of the following methods:

Online by emailing CCPArequests@us.dlapiper.com
By phone at 844-792-4231 (toll free)

When you submit a request to know, correct or delete, we will take steps to verify your request by matching the information provided by you with the information we have in our records. You must provide your name and contact information to verify your request. In some cases, we may request additional information, where necessary to verify or process your request. Authorized agents may initiate a request on behalf of another individual to us via email at CCPArequests@us.dlapiper.com. Authorized agents must provide written proof of their authorization. We may also require that the relevant consumer directly verify their identity and the authority of the authorized agent, as permitted by the CCPA.

9. Cookies Policy

What are cookies and clear GIFs?

As part of offering and providing customizable and personalized services, this Alumni Network uses cookies and clear GIFs to store and sometimes track information about you. Cookies are text files containing small amounts of information which are downloaded to your computer or mobile device when you visit a site. Cookies are then sent back to the originating site on each subsequent visit, or to another site that recognizes that cookie. Clear GIFs, also called “web beacons” or “web bugs”, are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, and are used to track the online movements of users. In contrast to cookies, which are stored on your hard drive, clear GIFs are embedded invisibly on-site pages and are about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. For the purposes of this Privacy Notice, both cookies and clear GIFs are referred to as “cookies”. Cookies are useful because they allow a site to recognize a user’s device. You can find more information about cookies at: http://www.allaboutcookies.org and www.youronlinechoices.eu. For a video about cookies visit: https://policies.google.com/technologies/cookies.

Cookies do a lot of different jobs, like letting you navigate between pages efficiently, remembering your preferences, and generally improving the user experience.

The cookies used on this Alumni Network have been categorized on the basis of the categories found in the ICC UK Cookie guide issued in April 2012. A list of all the categories of cookies used on the Alumni Network website is set out below.

What if I don’t want cookies?

You can adjust how cookies are used by using the preference center presented to you when you first land on the Alumni Network, or you can do this using your browser options. If you want to block future cookies being placed on your device, you can change your browser settings to do this. For more information on managing cookies see www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies/. Please note that current “Do Not Track” initiatives are not recognized by our Alumni Network website.

Please bear in mind that deleting and blocking cookies will have an impact on your user experience as parts of the Alumni Network may no longer work. Unless you have adjusted your browser settings to block cookies, our system will issue cookies as soon you visit our Alumni Network website, even if you have previously deleted our cookies.

Turning off cookies will also prevent any web beacons from tracking your user activity on our Alumni Network. The web beacon will still account for an anonymous visit, but your unique information will not be recorded.

What cookies do we use on the Alumni Network?

Necessary cookies – These cookies are essential in order to enable you to move around the Alumni Network and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of the Alumni Network without these cookies, services you have asked for cannot be provided. Examples of strictly necessary cookies include session-based cookies which are deleted when you leave the site that maintain the state of your current activities and persistent cookies (cookies that remain on your machine between visits) for functionality such as “keep me logged in” or remembering your preferred language.
Performance cookies – These cookies collect information about how visitors use a site; for instance, which pages visitors go to most often, and if they get error messages from web pages. All information these cookies collect is only used to improve how a site works in general for all users as well as specifically for you. Performance cookies used by the Alumni Network include Google analytics tracking cookies, used to track analytics of site use, including pages viewed and whether the individual is a new or repeat visitor.
Functionality cookies – These cookies allow a site to remember choices you make (such as your username, language or the region you are in) and provide enhanced, more personal features. For instance, a site may be able to provide you with local information or news by storing in a cookie the region in which you are currently located. These cookies can also be used to remember changes you have made to text size, font and other parts of the Alumni Network’s pages that you can customize. They may also be used to provide services you have asked for such as watching a video or commenting on a blog. We may use information collected from our cookies to identify user behavior and to serve content and offers based on your profile. In some cases, we pass this information on to others within DLA Piper for marketing or analysis purposes. In most cases, we will not be able to track individuals by name. Only if a user is a registered user, will we associate the cookie information with a named individual. These cookies cannot track your browsing activity on other websites. They don’t gather any information about you that could be used for advertising or remembering where you’ve been on the internet outside our Alumni Network website.

10. Changes to this Privacy Notice

We may make changes to this Privacy Notice from time to time. To ensure that you are always aware of how we use your personal information we will update this Privacy Notice from time to time, to reflect any changes to our use of your personal information. We may also make changes as required to comply with changes in applicable law or regulatory requirements. Where it is practicable, we will notify you by email of any significant changes. However, we encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically Privacy Notice of how we use your personal information.

11. How to contact us

If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Notice, please email us at privacyteam@dlapiper.com.