Baur Hürlimann AG | Privacy Policy

1. WHAT IS THIS PRIVACY POLICY ABOUT?

Baur Hürlimann AG, (the ‘Baur Hürlimann’, hereinafter also referred to as ‘we’ ‘us’) is a law firm based in Zurich with a branch office in Baden. As part of our business activities, we obtain and process personal data, in particular personal data about our clients, associated persons, counterparties, courts and authorities, correspondence law firms, professional and other associations, visitors to our website, participants in events, recipients of newsletters and other bodies or their respective contact persons and employees (hereinafter also referred to as ‘you’). We provide information about this data processing in this privacy policy. In addition to this privacy policy, we may inform you separately about the processing of your data (e.g. in the case of forms or contractual conditions). If you provide us with data about other persons (e.g. family members, representatives, counterparties or other associated persons), we assume that you are authorised to do so and that this data is correct and that you have ensured that these persons are informed about this disclosure, insofar as a legal obligation to provide information applies (e.g. by bringing this privacy policy to their attention in advance).

2. WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR PROCESSING YOUR DATA?

The data controller responsible for the processing described in this privacy policy under data protection law is
responsible:

Baur Hürlimann AG
Oberstadtstrasse 7
5400 Baden
datenschutz@bhlaw.ch

3. FOR WHAT PURPOSES DO WE PROCESS WHICH OF YOUR DATA?

If you make use of our services, use www.bhlaw.ch (hereinafter ‘website’) or otherwise have dealings with us, we obtain and process various categories of your personal data. In principle, we may obtain and otherwise process this data for the following purposes in particular:

• Communication: We process personal data so that we can communicate with you and with third parties, such as parties to proceedings, courts or authorities, by e-mail, telephone, letter or otherwise (e.g. to answer enquiries, in the context of legal advice and representation and the initiation or execution of contracts). This also includes providing our clients, contractual partners and other interested parties with information about events, changes to the law, news about our law firm or similar. This may take the form of newsletters and other regular contact (electronically, by post, by telephone). You can reject such communication at any time or refuse or revoke your consent to such communication. For this purpose, we process in particular the content of the communication, your contact details and the marginal data of the communication, but also image and audio recordings of (video) telephone calls. In the event of an audio or video recording, we will inform you separately and you are free to inform us if you do not wish to be recorded or to terminate the communication. If we need or want to establish your identity, we will collect additional data (e.g. a copy of an identity document).

• Administration and processing of contracts: We obtain and process personal data so that we can fulfil our contractual obligations towards our clients and other contractual partners (e.g. suppliers, service providers, correspondence law firms, project partners) and, in particular, provide and demand contractual services. This also includes data processing for mandate management (e.g. legal advice and representation of our clients before courts and authorities and correspondence) as well as data processing for the enforcement of contracts (debt collection, legal proceedings, etc.), accounting and public communication (if permitted). For this purpose, we process in particular the data that we receive or have collected as part of the initiation, conclusion and fulfilment of the contract as well as data that we create as part of our contractual services or that we collect from public sources or from other third parties (e.g. courts, authorities, counterparties, information services, media, detective agencies or from the Internet). This data may include, in particular, minutes of meetings and consultations, notes, internal and external correspondence, contractual documents, documents that we prepare and receive in the context of proceedings before courts and authorities (e.g. statements of claim, appeals and complaints, judgements and decisions), background information about you, counterparties or other persons as well as other mandate-related information, proof of performance, invoices and financial and payment information.

• Operation of our website: In order to operate our website securely and stably, we collect technical data, such as IP address, information about the operating system and settings of your end device, region, time and type of use. We also use cookies and similar technologies. For further information, see section 8.

• Improvement of our electronic offers: In order to continuously improve our website and other electronic offerings, we collect data about your behaviour and preferences, for example by analysing how you navigate through our website and how you interact with our social media profiles.

• Registration: In order to use certain offers and services (e.g. [free WLAN], newsletter), you must register (directly with us or via our external login service providers). For this purpose, we process the data provided during the registration process. We may also collect personal data about you while you are using the offer or service; if necessary, we will provide you with further information about the processing of this data.

• Security purposes and access controls: We obtain and process personal data in order to ensure and continuously improve the appropriate security of our IT and other infrastructure (e.g. buildings). This includes, for example, monitoring and controlling electronic access to our IT systems and physical access to our premises (including by means of procedures in which biometric data is processed), analyses and tests of our IT infrastructures, system and error checks and the creation of backup copies. For documentation and security purposes (preventive and to investigate incidents), we also keep access logs and visitor lists in relation to our premises and use surveillance systems (e.g. security cameras). Surveillance systems are signposted at the relevant locations.

• Compliance with laws, directives and recommendations from authorities and internal regulations (‘compliance’): We obtain and process personal data to comply with applicable laws (e.g. to combat money laundering, tax obligations or our professional obligations), self-regulations, certifications, industry standards, our corporate governance and for internal and external investigations in which we are a party (to proceedings) (e.g. by a law enforcement or supervisory authority or an authorised private body).

• Risk management and corporate governance: We obtain and process personal data as part of risk management (e.g. to protect against criminal offences) and corporate governance. This includes our business organisation (e.g. resource planning) and corporate development (e.g. acquisition and sale of business units or companies).

• Job application: If you apply for a job with us, we will obtain and process the relevant data for the purpose of reviewing the application, carrying out the application process and, in the case of successful applications, for the preparation and conclusion of a corresponding contract. In addition to your contact details and the information from the corresponding communication, we also process the data contained in your application documents and the data that we can additionally obtain about you, e.g. from job-related social networks, the Internet, the media and from references, if you consent to us obtaining references.

4.WHERE DOES THE DATA COME FROM?

From you: You (or your end device) provide us with the majority of the data we process yourself (e.g. in connection with our services, the use of our website or communication with us). You are not obliged to disclose your data, with exceptions in individual cases (e.g. legal obligations). However, if you wish to conclude contracts with us or utilise our services, for example, you must provide us with certain data. The use of our website is also not possible without data processing.

From third parties: We may also obtain data from publicly accessible sources (e.g. debt collection registers, land registers, commercial registers, media or the Internet incl. social media) or receive such data from (i) authorities, (ii) your employer or client who either has a business relationship with us or is otherwise involved with us, as well as from (iii) other third parties (e.g. clients, counterparties, legal expenses insurers, credit reference agencies, address dealers, associations, contractual partners, Internet analysis services). This includes in particular the data that we process in the context of the initiation, conclusion and execution of contracts as well as data from correspondence and discussions with third parties, but also all other categories of data.

5.TO WHOM DO WE DISCLOSE YOUR DATA?

In connection with the purposes listed in section 3, we transfer your personal data in particular to the categories of recipients listed below. If necessary, we will obtain your consent for this or have our supervisory authority release us from our professional duty of confidentiality.

• Service providers: We work with service providers in Germany and abroad who (i) process data on our behalf (e.g. IT providers), (ii) on our joint responsibility or (iii) on their own responsibility, which they have received from us or collected for us. These service providers include, for example, IT providers, banks, insurance companies, debt collection agencies, credit reference agencies, address verifiers, other law firms or consulting firms. We generally agree contracts with these third parties regarding the use and protection of personal data.

• Clients and other contractual partners: This initially refers to clients and other contractual partners of ours for whom the transfer of your data arises from the contract (e.g. because you work for a contractual partner or they provide services for you). This category of recipients also includes organisations with which we cooperate, such as other law firms in Switzerland and abroad or legal expenses insurance companies. The recipients generally process the data under their own responsibility.

• Authorities and courts: We may pass on personal data to offices, courts and other authorities in Switzerland and abroad if this is necessary for the fulfilment of our contractual obligations and in particular for the performance of our mandate or if we are legally obliged or entitled to do so or if this appears necessary to protect our interests. These recipients process the data under their own responsibility.

• Counterparties and persons involved: Insofar as this is necessary for the fulfilment of our contractual obligations, in particular for the management of the mandate, we also pass on your personal data to counterparties and other persons involved (e.g. guarantors, financiers, affiliated companies, other law firms, persons providing information or experts, etc.).

• Other persons: This refers to other cases where the inclusion of third parties arises from the purposes set out in section 3. This applies, for example, to delivery recipients or payment recipients specified by you, third parties in the context of agency relationships (e.g. your lawyer or your bank) or persons involved in official or court proceedings. We may also pass on your personal data to our supervisory authority, in particular if this is necessary in individual cases to release you from our professional confidentiality obligation. If we work with the media and send them material (e.g. photos), you may also be affected by this. As part of our corporate development, we may sell or acquire businesses, parts of businesses, assets or companies or enter into partnerships, which may also result in the disclosure of data (including your data, e.g. as a client or supplier or as their representative) to the persons involved in these transactions. In the course of communication with our competitors, industry organisations, associations and other bodies, data relating to you may also be exchanged.

All these categories of recipients may in turn involve third parties, so that your data may also become accessible to them. We can restrict processing by certain third parties (e.g. IT providers), but not by other third parties (e.g. authorities, banks, etc.).

6.WILL YOUR PERSONAL DATA ALSO BE SENT ABROAD?

We process and store personal data mainly in Switzerland and the European Economic Area (EEA), but potentially in any country in the world, depending on the case – for example via subcontractors of our service providers or in proceedings before foreign courts or authorities. Your personal data may also be transferred to any country in the world as part of our work for clients.

If a recipient is located in a country without adequate data protection, we contractually oblige the recipient to comply with an adequate level of data protection (we use the revised standard contractual clauses of the European Commission, which are available here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj, including the supplements required for Switzerland), unless the recipient is already subject to a legally recognised set of rules to ensure data protection.

We may also disclose personal data to a country without adequate data protection without concluding a separate contract if we can rely on an exemption clause for this. An exception may apply in particular in the case of legal proceedings abroad, but also in cases of overriding public interests or if the fulfilment of a contract that is in your interest requires such disclosure (e.g, if we disclose data to our correspondence offices), if you have given your consent or if it is not possible to obtain your consent within a reasonable period of time and the disclosure is necessary to protect your life or physical integrity or that of a third party or if the data in question has been made generally accessible by you and you have not objected to its processing.

We may also rely on the exception for data from a register provided for by law (e.g. HR), which we have authorised access to.

7.WHAT RIGHTS DO YOU HAVE?

You have certain rights in connection with our data processing. In accordance with applicable law, you may in particular request information about the processing of your personal data, have incorrect personal data corrected, request the erasure of personal data, object to data processing, request the disclosure of certain personal data in a commonly used electronic format or its transfer to other controllers.

If you wish to exercise your rights against us, please contact us; our contact details can be found in section 2. In order to rule out misuse, we must identify you (e.g. with a copy of your ID, if necessary).

Please note that conditions, exceptions or restrictions apply to these rights (e.g. for the protection of third parties or business secrets or due to our professional duty of confidentiality). We reserve the right to black out copies for reasons of data protection or confidentiality or to supply only extracts.

8.HOW OUR WEBSITE AND OTHER DIGITAL SERVICES USE
COOKIES, SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES AND SOCIAL MEDIA PLUG-INS USED?

When using our website (including newsletters and other digital offers), data is collected that is stored in logs (in particular technical data). We may also use cookies and similar technologies (e.g. pixel tags or fingerprints) to recognise website visitors, evaluate their behaviour and identify preferences. A cookie is a small file that is transmitted between the server and your system and enables a specific device or browser to be recognised.

You can set your browser so that it automatically rejects, accepts or deletes cookies. You can also deactivate or delete cookies in individual cases. You can find out how to manage cookies in your browser in the help menu of your browser.

Neither the technical data we collect nor cookies generally contain any personal data. However, personal data that we or third-party providers commissioned by us store about you (e.g. if you have a user account with us or these providers) may be linked to the technical data or to the information stored in and obtained from cookies and thus possibly to your person.

We also use social media plug-ins, which are small pieces of software that establish a connection between your visit to our website and a third-party provider. The social media plug-in informs the third-party provider that you have visited our website and may send the third-party provider cookies that it has previously placed on your web browser. For more information on how these third-party providers use your personal data collected via their social media plug-ins, please refer to their respective privacy policies.

We also use our own tools and third-party services (which in turn may use cookies) on our website, in particular to improve the functionality or content of our website (e.g. integration of videos or maps), to compile statistics and to place adverts.

We may currently use offers from the following service providers and advertising partners in particular, whereby their contact details and further information on the individual data processing can be found in the respective privacy policy:

• Google Analytics
Provider: Google Ireland
Data protection information: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245
Information for Google accounts: https://policies.google.com/technologies/partnersites?hl=de

Some of the third-party providers we use may be located outside Switzerland. Information on the disclosure of data abroad can be found in section 6. In terms of data protection law, some of them are ‘only’ processors on our behalf and some are controllers. Further information on this can be found in the data protection declarations.

9.HOW DO WE PROCESS PERSONAL DATA ON OUR SOCIAL NETWORK PAGES?

We operate pages and other online presences on social networks and other platforms operated by third parties and process data about you in this context. In doing so, we receive data from you (e.g. when you communicate with us or comment on our content) and from the platforms (e.g. statistics). The providers of the platforms can analyse your use and process this data together with other data that they have about you. They also process this data for their own purposes (e.g. marketing and market research purposes and to manage their platforms) and act as their own data controllers for this purpose. For further information on processing by the platform operators, please refer to the privacy policies of the respective platforms.

We may use the following platforms, whereby the identity and contact details of the platform operator can be found in the privacy policy:

• Facebook
www.facebook.com
Privacy policy: www.facebook.com/privacy/policy

• Instagram
www.instagram.com
Privacy policy: https://privacycenter.instagram.com/policy

• YouTube
www.youtube.com
Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de

• LinkedIn
www.linkedin.com
Privacy policy: https://de.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy

• Twitter
www.twitter.com
Privacy policy: https://twitter.com/de/privacy

We are authorised, but not obliged, to check third-party content before or after its publication on our online presences, to delete content without notice and, if necessary, to report it to the provider of the platform in question.

Some of the platform operators may be located outside Switzerland. Information on the disclosure of data abroad can be found in section 6.

10.WHAT ELSE NEEDS TO BE CONSIDERED?

We do not assume that the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) applies in our case. However, should this exceptionally be the case for certain data processing operations, this Section 10 shall apply exclusively for the purposes of the GDPR and the data processing operations subject to it.

We base the processing of your personal data in particular on the fact that:

• it is necessary, as described in Section 3, for the initiation and conclusion of contracts and their management and enforcement (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR);

• it is necessary to safeguard legitimate interests of ours or of third parties as described in Section 3, in particular for communication with you or third parties, to operate our website, to improve our electronic services and to register for certain offers and services, for security purposes, for compliance with Swiss law and internal regulations, for our risk management and corporate governance, and for other purposes such as training and education, administration, evidence and quality assurance, organization, execution, and follow-up of events, and to safeguard other legitimate interests (see Section 3) (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR);

• it is legally required or permitted due to our mandate or our position under the law of the EEA or a member state (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. c GDPR) or necessary to protect your vital interests or those of other natural persons (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. d GDPR);

• you have separately consented to the processing, for example, via a corresponding declaration on our website (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a and Art. 9 para. 2 lit. a GDPR).

We would like to point out that we generally process your data for as long as required by our processing purposes (see Section 3), legal retention periods, and our legitimate interests, particularly for documentation and evidence purposes, or if storage is technically necessary (e.g., in the case of backups or document management systems). If there are no legal or contractual obligations or technical reasons to the contrary, we generally delete or anonymize your data after the expiration of the retention or processing period as part of our usual processes and in accordance with our retention policy.

If you do not provide certain personal data, this may result in the inability to provide the related services or conclude a contract. We generally indicate where personal data is mandatory.

The right to object to the processing of your data set out in Section 7 applies in particular to data processing for direct marketing purposes.

If you do not agree with our handling of your rights or data protection, please let us know (see contact details in Section 2). If you are in the EEA, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the data protection authority of your country. A list of authorities in the EEA can be found here:
https://edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/board/members_de.

11.CAN THIS PRIVACY POLICY BE CHANGED?

This privacy policy is not part of a contract with you. We may amend this privacy policy at any time. The version published on this website is the most current version.