Privacy policy

Based on Art. 13 of the Swiss Federal Constitution and the data protection provisions of the Swiss Confederation (Data Protection Act, DPA), every person has the right to protection of their privacy as well as protection against misuse of their personal data. The operators of these pages take the protection of your personal data very seriously. We treat your personal data confidentially and in accordance with the statutory data protection regulations and this data protection declaration.

In cooperation with our hosting providers, we strive to protect the databases as well as possible from unauthorised access, loss, misuse or falsification.

We would like to point out that data transmission on the Internet (e.g. communication by e-mail) can have security gaps. Complete protection of data against access by third parties is not possible.

By using this website, you consent to the collection, processing and use of data as described below. This website can generally be visited without registration. In the process, data such as pages called up or the name of the file called up, date and time are stored on the server for statistical purposes without this data being directly related to your person. Personal data, in particular name, address or e-mail address, are collected on a voluntary basis as far as possible. The data will not be passed on to third parties without your consent.

SEQUOIA Legal & Advisory GmbH, Sonnhaldenstrasse 10, 8903 Birmensdorf ZH, Switzerland, is responsible for your personal data. References in this privacy statement (the Statement) to "SEQUOIA", "SEQUOIA Legal & Advisory", "we" or "us" are references to SEQUOIA Legal & Advisory GmbH.

Personal data that we process about you includes:

• Your name and contact details (for example, name, address, telephone number or email address), information about the company you work for, your position or title and/or your relationship with a person, and other basic information);
• Identification and background information that you provide to us or that is collected from you as part of our onboarding process;
• Financial information, for example payment information;
• Information disclosed to us by or on behalf of our clients or which we generate as part of our services to clients.
• Information provided to us for the purpose of attending meetings, seminars or events;
• Information relating to documents and communications we send to you electronically, for example your use of promotional emails.
• Any other information relating to you which you provide to us.

We collect and record this information when you interact with us, for example when you communicate with our staff, register to receive information by email, apply for a vacant position, or when you attend a meeting, seminar or other event. We also collect or create personal information as part of our provision of legal services and when we obtain personal information from other sources, for example, by consulting publicly available sources to update your information.

We process your personal data:

• to communicate with you;
• to process an application you have submitted for a vacant position;
• to conduct money laundering, conflict and reputational checks;
• to provide and improve our services to you and our clients, including personal data of third parties disclosed to us or collected by us on behalf of our clients, for example, the processing of identification and background information as part of our onboarding process, financial data and data as part of our administrative and marketing processes/work;
• to manage the business relationship with you and our clients;
• to maintain, provide and improve our websites, including monitoring and evaluating their use (for more information see section 4 below);
• to advertise our services, including sending publications, alerts, updates, invitations to events, etc.
• To comply with our legal, regulatory and risk management obligations, including the assertion, enforcement and defence of legal claims.

We process personal data for these purposes on the following basis: when it is necessary for us to perform a contract, such as contacting an individual, to provide legal or other services, to assert, enforce or defend legal claims or (in) legal proceedings; to comply with legal and regulatory obligations, to protect legitimate interests including those mentioned and listed above; and/or based on consent.

We use various technical and organisational measures to help protect your personal data from unauthorised access, use, disclosure, alteration or destruction.

When you access and use our website, we automatically collect and store relevant log data and device-specific information for a limited period of time. This information includes, but is not limited to, specific information about how you use our website, IP address, access dates and times, hardware and software information as well as device-specific and other similar information. We process this information on the basis that it is necessary for us to operate, maintain and improve our websites.

Our websites use Google Analytics, a service provided by Google LLC, USA, which monitors and records the way our websites are used. Google Analytics does this by placing small text files called cookies on your computer or other devices. Cookies collect information about the number of visitors to these websites, visits to individual pages and the length of time these websites are visited. This information is available in aggregate form and is not identifiable with regard to the individual. This integration of Google Analytics is generally carried out via anonymised IP addresses by shortening them within the EU/EEA. From 12 August 2020, Google will be subject to the European Commission's standard contractual clauses for the transfer of data for online advertising and personal data originating from the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (further information: https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/10042247?hl=de).

You can refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser. However, please note that this may affect your ability to use our websites. For more information regarding cookies, including how to manage, reject or delete them, please visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

We may use your name and email address(es) to send you publications, alerts, updates, invitations to events and other information by email and will ask for your consent before doing so, unless we have received your contact details as part of our services and you have not opted out of receiving such promotional communications. If you no longer wish to receive promotional communications from us, you may unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the relevant email. Please note that we use personal data to track whether you read our emails or whether you click on links contained in them.

We may share your personal data with trusted third parties, including:

• Providers to whom we have outsourced certain support services such as translation work or document checks;
• IT service provider;
• Third parties engaged with their prior consent as part of services we provide to our clients, for example other law firms or technology service providers for data room services;
• our auditors;
• Third parties who are also involved in the implementation or organisation of events and seminars.

For the purposes set out in this statement and where deemed necessary, we may disclose personal data to courts, law enforcement agencies, regulatory and government authorities and law enforcement and enforcement agencies. We may also be required to disclose your personal information to comply with legal and regulatory requirements.

We may transfer your personal data to recipients (including trusted third parties as defined under "To whom we disclose your personal data") abroad, including countries that do not ensure an equivalent level of data protection as Swiss law. Normally, we will make such a transfer if it is necessary for the performance of a contract with the data subject(s), for a contract with a data subject or for the performance of a contract concluded in their interest, as well as for the assertion, enforcement or defence of legal claims.

If we transfer data to a country without adequate legal data protection, we ensure an adequate level of protection as provided for by law by using appropriate contracts (namely on the basis of the so-called standard contractual clauses of the European Commission) or so-called Binding Corporate Rules or rely on the legal exceptions of consent, the execution of the contract, the establishment, exercise or enforcement of legal claims, overriding public interests, published personal data or because it is necessary to protect the integrity of the data subjects. You can obtain a copy of the aforementioned contractual guarantees from us at any time. However, we reserve the right to black out copies for reasons of data protection law or confidentiality or to supply only excerpts.

We store your personal data for as long as it is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected and for as long as we have a legitimate interest in retaining personal data, for example for the implementation or defence of legal claims or for archiving purposes and IT security. We also store your personal data if and as long as this is required in accordance with a statutory retention obligation.

You have the right to request detailed information about what personal data we hold about you and how we process it, as well as a copy of your personal data and to request that certain personal data be handed over for transfer to another body (so-called data portability). You can also have your data corrected or deleted, restrict our processing activities concerning this information and object to the processing of your personal data. You may also choose to withdraw your consent. Please note that even if you choose to withdraw your consent, we may continue to process your personal data to the extent required or permitted by law. You may also lodge a complaint with a local supervisory authority, in Switzerland with the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner.

We may amend this privacy policy at any time without prior notice. The current version published on our website will apply. Insofar as the data protection declaration is part of an agreement with you, we will inform you of the change by e-mail or other suitable means in the event of an update.

March 2022