Privacy Policy

Goodwin Alumni Community Portal Privacy Policy

 

Last updated: 14 September 2023

 

Goodwin Procter LLP and its affiliated entities (collectively “Goodwin”, “us”, “we”, or “our”) is committed to protecting the personal information of its alumni and retired partners (collectively, “you” or “your”). This privacy policy (“Policy”) describes how we collect, process, share and safeguard personal information that is collected through or in connection with our Goodwin Alumni Community Portal at alumnicommunity.goodwinlaw.com (the “Portal”) and other connected services (collectively the “Services”). It also tells you about your rights and choices with respect to your personal information, and how you can contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

Please read this Policy carefully. If you do not agree with this Policy or any part thereof, you should not access or use any part of the Services. If you change your mind in the future, you must stop using the Services and you may exercise your rights in relation to your personal information as set out in this Policy.

Personal Information we Collect

We collect personal information about you from different sources listed below. In this Policy, “personal information” means any information related to an identified or identifiable individual, and does not include data whereby personally identifiable information has been removed (such as anonymous data).

Personal information you provide to us

  • Account information: When you register for the Alumni Community and create an account on the Portal, we collect your full name, email address, password, country of residence, the end year of your Goodwin employment and your last primary Goodwin office(s).
  • Profile Information: Your user profile on the Portal offers you the opportunity to provide a wide range of additional information, including your photo, languages, postal address and other location information, current occupation, industry, educational and professional history, skills, and personal and business interests. To the extent that we already have information relevant to the creation of your profile, that information may also be automatically added to your profile on the Portal.
  • Content you post on the Portal: When you post content on the Portal, you may provide us with personal information such as the content you post, resumes, job applications, event RSVPs, comments and likes on news articles or other posts and any other information you share and post on the Portal.
  • Surveys: We may offer you the opportunity to participate in surveys that we use to receive your feedback or for research and product improvement. When you agree to participate in such surveys, you provide us with personal information including the content of your responses.
  • Correspondence and other communications: When you contact us, including about our Services, via the Portal, email, telephone, social media or by other means, you provide us with personal information, such as your full name, email address, social media profile, telephone number and the content of your communications.
  • Diversity information: You may choose to provide us with diversity, equity and inclusion information such as your racial, ethnic or cultural origin, your sexual orientation, veteran status and disability status when registering. Providing this information is optional.
  • Event information: When you register to attend, or attend, one of our events, we collect information on you including your name, contact details, and details of the event attended.
  • Career coaching information: If you use our career coaching services, you provide us with personal information such as about your career, professional goals and other information you may provide during the coaching sessions.
  • Marketing information: When you register your choices for receiving communications about our activities and publications, we store this information.

Information Collected via automated means

  • Device data: We collect information about your device such as your computer’s or mobile device’s operating system type and version, manufacturer and model, browser type, screen resolution, RAM and disk size, CPU usage, device type (e.g., phone, tablet), IP address, unique identifiers (including identifiers used for advertising purposes), language settings, mobile device carrier, radio/network information (e.g., WiFi, LTE, 4G), and general location information such as city, state or geographic area.
  • Usage data: When you access and use the Services, we receive and store information about interactions with our Services, including pages or screens you viewed, how long you spent on a page or screen, browsing history, navigation paths between pages or screens, information about your activity on a page or screen, access times, and duration of access, and whether you have opened our marketing emails or clicked links within them.

 

We collect personal information automatically via cookies, pixel tags, local storage technologies, web beacons or similar technologies on our Services (collectively referred to as “Cookies”), including for conducting analytics. For more information on our use of Cookies, please read our Cookie Policy.

 

Information We Receive from Third Parties

 

The third parties below process your personal information in accordance with their own privacy policies.  Please review these policies carefully before using their services.

 

  • Social media information: We maintain pages on social media platforms, such as LinkedIn. You or the platform providers may provide us with information through the social media platform, for example to import information from LinkedIn to your profile on the Portal. We will treat such information in accordance with this Policy.
  • Other sources: We may process your personal information we hold from our employment relationship with you.

How we use your Personal Information?

We will use your personal information for one or more of the purposes set out below.

 

  • Providing you with the Services. We use your personal information to operate, maintain and provide you with the Services. In particular we will use your personal information to perform our contractual obligation towards you to allow you to create and use an account, browse the Services and allow you to
    • create a profile on the Portal and stay connected with Goodwin and the Alumni Community through the interactive alumni directory;  
    • search and post various job opportunities on the Job Board;
    • search and comment on content on the News Feed such as news articles, podcasts and events. If you are a retired partner, you may also post content on the News Feed, subject to our approval;
    • to invite you to and allow you to view listings of upcoming alumni gatherings and events;
    • join and opt out of Affinity Groups;
    • offer you training programs and individual coaching opportunities organized by us;

We will also use your personal information to contact you in case of any issue with your account. The personal information we process when doing so includes your contact and account information.

  • Verifying your identify by automatic matching. When you register for the Services, we automatically verify if the personal information you provide to us matches the information we hold on you from the time you were employed by us. The personal information we process when doing so includes your first name, last name and the year you departed Goodwin. If the information you provide does not match the information we have on you, your registration may be rejected. We approve or reject registrations manually.
  • Providing you with support and to respond to your requests and complaints. If you reach out to us for support, it is in our legitimate business interests to use your personal information to respond and resolve your queries and facilitate support. The personal information we process when doing so includes your correspondence with us, your contact details, and to the extent applicable other personal information processed about you when you use our Services.
  • Communicate with you about the Services. It is in our legitimate interests to communicate with you about our Services including by sending you announcements, automated reminders, updates, security alerts, and support and administrative messages. The personal information we process when doing so includes your contact details, account information and usage data.
  • To administer surveys. We may also use your personal information to administer a contest, survey or other feature we offer on our Portal.
  • Improve or monitor usage of our Services and to protect, investigate and deter against fraudulent, harmful, unauthorized or illegal activity. It is in our legitimate interests to improve our Services and customer service and to keep our Services safe for our users, which includes conducting troubleshooting, testing and research and to keep the Services secure. When doing so we may use personal information that we automatically collect about you such as usage and device information.
  • To monitor and analyse trends and use of our Services. It is in our legitimate interests to analyse the use of our Services. When doing so, we will process personal information that we automatically collect about you or that is generated about you when you use the Services.
  • To personalize your experience and use of our Services and our communications. It is in our legitimate interests to provide you with customized Services and communications that may be relevant or of interest to you. For example, we may use your information to provide you with personalized and curated content on the News Feed, based on your particular interests, skills, groups, languages and location. When doing so, we will process personal information your account and contact information, as well as personal information that we automatically collect about you.
  • Direct marketing. Except where consent is required, unless you have opted out of receiving marketing communications, it is in our legitimate interests to use your personal information to communicate with you regarding our Services, promotions, events, and other news, products or services we think will be of interest to you. For example, we may contact you if we are interested to (re)hire you, to receive candidate referrals from you, or to do business with you and/or your future employer(s). You can opt out of such communications by following the unsubscribe mechanism on any communication, or by otherwise emailing us at dataprivacy@goodwinlaw.com.
  • To enforce the Terms of Use, to comply with legal obligations and to defend Goodwin against legal claims or disputes. It is in our legitimate interests to enforce and comply with our terms and policies, to ensure the integrity of our Services and to defend ourselves against legal claims or disputes. Where we do so, we will use the personal information relevant to such a case. Some processing may also be necessary to comply with a legal obligation placed on Goodwin, for example to keep records of transactions, or as requested by any judicial process or governmental agency.
  • Diversity. If you have chosen to provide us with diversity information, we may use such information to advance our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (“DEI”) initiatives and connect you with local events that may be of interest to you. We will only process such information with your consent.
  • For aggregation. It is in our legitimate interests to aggregate or anonymize personal information in a form that does not allow you to be personally identified and use the resulting information for statistical analysis regarding the use of the Services, such as to better understand our customer base, or for other purposes.

 

We only rely on legitimate interest as a legal basis when such legitimate interests are not overridden by your interests or your fundamental rights and freedoms and we ensure we comply with any request you make to exercise your rights.

 

If, where we are processing your personal information to perform our contract with you, you do not provide the personal information, we may not be able to conclude or fulfill such contract.

Do we Disclose your Information to Third Parties?

We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to third parties, your personal information, unless to the following recipients and in the following circumstances:

  • The Alumni Community: When you create an account on the Portal, you may allow other alumni registered on the Portal to search and find your name in the alumni directory. You may also allow them to access the personal information provided on your profile. In addition, all content, comments and information you post on the public portions of the Portal, for example the Job Board and the News Feed, will be visible to other alumni.
  • Service Providers: We rely on trusted third parties who assist us in providing the Services and for the purposes as set out above, such as providers of website analytics, hosting and cloud computing services and other administrative services. These third parties may have access to or process your personal information as part of providing these services, and include:
    • PeoplePath, Inc, an unaffiliated service provider, to operate the Portal as our data processor. PeoplePath built the website, and manages it in consultation with Goodwin, but the website belongs to Goodwin;
    • Google Analytics, a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic (see below for more information);
    • third parties involved in hosting or organizing events.
  • Affiliates: We may also share your personal information with our affiliated entities, for purposes consistent with this Policy.
  • Advisors: We work with various advisors, including tax consultants and legal advisors, with whom we may share your personal information.
  • Legal: We may also disclose your personal information to law enforcement agencies, regulatory bodies, public authorities or pursuant to the exercise of legal proceedings if we are legally required to do so, or if we believe, in good faith, that such disclosure is necessary to comply with the law, enforce our polices, the Terms of Use to protect our or others’ rights, property or safety or for the purposes of preventing or detecting an unlawful act.
  • Business Transaction: if Goodwin is involved in a merger, acquisition or asset sale, financing due diligence, reorganisation, bankruptcy, receivership, sale of company assets, or transition of service to another provider, your personal information may be sold, transferred or otherwise shared including as part of any due diligence process.

Your Rights and Choices

On the Portal, you have control over the personal information that you share with the Alumni Community. You are able to change privacy settings for your contact details to enable different audiences to see your details in the alumni directory e.g. only me (not visible to other registered alumni members), your contacts or all members.

You may have the following rights, as provided under applicable law and subject to any limitations in such law:

  • access the personal information we hold about you;
  • request we correct any inaccurate personal information we hold about you;
  • request we delete any personal information we hold about you;
  • restrict the processing of personal information we hold about you;
  • object to the processing of personal information we hold about you; and/or
  • receive any personal information we hold about you in a structured and commonly used machine readable format or have such personal information transmitted to another company.

 

Please note that, prior to any response to the exercise of such rights, we will require you to verify your identify. California residents can empower an “authorized agent” to submit requests on their behalf. We will require authorized agents to confirm their identity and authority, in accordance with applicable laws. You are entitled to exercise the rights described above free from discrimination. In addition, we may have valid legal reasons to refuse your request, and will inform you if that is the case. For more information on your rights, please contact us using the details in the “Contact Us” section below.

International Data Transfers

If you provide us with your personal information when using the Services from the UK, the EEA or other regions of the world with laws governing data collection and use that may differ from United States law, then please note that you are transferring your personal information outside of those regions, including to the United States, for storage and processing.

 

If we transfer your personal information internationally, these countries may not provide the same protections as the data protection laws where you are based. We will ensure that relevant safeguards are in place to afford adequate protection for your personal information and we will comply with applicable data protection laws, in particular if you reside in the UK or the EEA by relying on a UK government adequacy regulation or adequacy decision by the European Commission, on contractual protections for the transfer of your personal information or a derogation if available. For more information about how we transfer personal information internationally, please contact us as set out in the “Contact Us” section below.

 

Children’s Privacy

Our Services are not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 18. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us as set out in the “Contact Us” section below. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from children without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our servers.

 

Retention of personal Information

We retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected and processed, in accordance with our retention policies, and in accordance with applicable laws or until you withdraw your consent (where applicable).

 

To determine the appropriate retention period for your personal information, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal information, the purposes for which we use your personal information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

Security of Personal Information

We use reasonable organizational, technical and administrative measures designed to protect against unauthorized access, misuse, loss, disclosure, alteration and destruction of personal information we process. Unfortunately, data transmission over the Internet cannot be guaranteed as completely secure. Therefore, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its security.

Links to Other Sites

The Portal may contain links to other sites that are not operated by us. If you click a third party link, you will be directed to that third party’s site. We strongly advise you to review the privacy policy of every site you visit.

 

We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites or services.

Changes and Updates to this Policy

We will update this Policy from time to time. You are advised to review this Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

 

If we make material changes, we will let you know.

Complaints

If you have a concern about our privacy practices, including the way we handled your personal information, please contact us at dataprivacy@goodwinlaw.com. We will endeavor to respond to your complaint as soon as possible. You can report it to the data protection authority that is authorized to hear those concerns (in the United Kingdom, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at https://ico.org.uk/concerns; in Frankfurt, Der Hessische Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit at https://datenschutz.hessen.de/; in Munich, Das Bayerische Landesamt für Datenschutzaufsicht at https://www.lda.bayern.de/de/index.html; in France, Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) at https://www.cnil.fr/; in Luxembourg, Commission nationale pour la protection des données (CNPD), at https://cnpd.public.lu.).

 

Contact Us

Goodwin Procter LLP is the entity responsible for the processing of your personal information in connection with the Services, and is the data controller in respect of such processing. If you have any questions or comments about this Policy, our privacy practices, or if you would like to exercise your rights with respect to your personal information, please contact us by email at dataprivacy@goodwinlaw.com or at

  • Goodwin Procter LLP, 100 Northern Avenue, Boston, MA 02210 United States of America;
  • Goodwin Procter (UK) LLP, 100 Cheapside, London EC2V 6DY, United Kingdom;
  • Goodwin Procter (France) LLP, 12 Rue d’Astorg, 75 008 Paris, France.