Privacy Notice
Lawyers for Animals, Privacy Notice
Registered name: Lawyers for Animals, registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales with registration number 1215659
This privacy notice sets out how we collect and use personal information about the following individuals:
Visitors to our website
Our donors
Prospective donors that we may wish to market to, including those that are on our marketing lists, sign our petitions or attend our events
Job or volunteer candidates, or those that we may wish to recruit or engage with as an employee, volunteer or similar
Defendants, prospective defendants, and those employed or otherwise associated with those defendant parties, and witnesses for our purposes to prevent, detect, investigate or prosecute crimes
Other individuals that engage with us, such as those who submit queries or complaints to us
We are the controller of your personal data. For more information on controllers and their responsibilities please see our guidance on data protection principles, definitions, and key terms.
This privacy notice tells you what to expect us to do with your personal information.
Contact details
What information we collect, use, and why
Lawful bases and data protection rights
Where we get personal information from
How long we keep information
Who we share information with
How to complain
Contact details
Email: info@lawyersforanimals.co.uk
What information we collect, use, and why
We collect or use the following information to receive donations or funding and organise fundraising activities:
Names and contact details
Donation history
Tax payer information (for Gift Aid purposes)
We also collect or use the following special category information to receive donations or funding and organise fundraising activities. This information is subject to additional protection due to its sensitive nature:
Religious or philosophical beliefs (specifically, whether an individual is vegan)
We collect or use the following personal information for the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of crimes:
Names and contact information
Criminal offence data (including details of potential criminal behaviour)
Video recordings (including indoor and outdoor spaces)
Audio and/or call recordings (including indoor and outdoor spaces)
Relevant information from previous investigations
Witness statements and contact details
Other circumstantial evidence, such as dates, times and locations
We collect or use the following personal information for service updates or marketing purposes:
Names and contact details
Addresses
Marketing preferences
IP addresses
Website and app user journey information
Records of consent, where appropriate
We collect or use the following personal information for research or archiving purposes:
Names and contact details
Addresses
IP addresses
Website and app user journey information
Records of consent, where appropriate
We collect or use the following personal information to comply with legal requirements:
Name
Contact information
Identification documents
Financial transaction information
Safeguarding information
Criminal offence data
We collect or use the following personal information for recruitment purposes:
Contact details (eg name, address, telephone number or personal email address)
Date of birth
National Insurance number
Copies of passports or other photo ID
Employment history (eg job application, employment references or secondary employment)
Education history (eg qualifications)
Right to work information
Details of any criminal conviction checks (eg Disclosure Barring Service (DBS), Access NI or Disclosure Scotland checks )
We collect or use the following personal information for dealing with queries, complaints or claims:
Names and contact details
Relevant information from previous investigations
Correspondence
We collect or use the following personal information to manage our website:
Names and contact details
Records of consent, where appropriate
IP addresses, website and app user journey information
Lawful bases and data protection rights
Under UK data protection law, we must have a “lawful basis” for collecting and using your personal information. There is a list of possible lawful bases in the UK GDPR. You can find out more about lawful bases on the ICO’s website.
Which lawful basis we rely on may affect your data protection rights which are set out in brief below. You can find out more about your data protection rights and the exemptions which may apply on the ICO’s website:
Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information. You can request other information such as details about where we get personal information from and who we share personal information with. There are some exemptions which means you may not receive all the information you ask for. Read more about the right of access.
Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to correct or delete personal information you think is inaccurate or incomplete. Read more about the right to rectification.
Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to delete your personal information. Read more about the right to erasure.
Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to limit how we can use your personal information. Read more about the right to restriction of processing.
Your right to object to processing - You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data. Read more about the right to object to processing.
Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you. Read more about the right to data portability.
Your right to withdraw consent – When we use consent as our lawful basis you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Read more about the right to withdraw consent.
If you make a request, we must respond to you without undue delay and in any event within one month.
To make a data protection rights request, please contact us using the contact details at the top of this privacy notice.
Our lawful bases for the collection and use of your data
Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information to receive donations or funding and organise fundraising activities are:
Legal obligation – we have to collect or use your information so we can comply with the law. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to erasure, the right to object and the right to data portability.
Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information for the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of crimes are:
Public interest – the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest. The public interest is:
The administration of justice, specifically the enforcement of law by way of prosecution. The right conduct private prosecutions is set out in common law and further established by the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985. Before pursuing a prosecution, we will conduct a public interest test according to the Code for Private Prosecutors as issued by the Private Prosecutors’ Association.
Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information for service updates or marketing purposes are:
Consent - we have permission from you after we gave you all the relevant information. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to object. To be clear, you do have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.
Legitimate interests – we’re collecting or using your information because it benefits our organisation, without causing an undue risk of harm to anyone. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to portability. Our legitimate interests are:
Legitimate interest in marketing our organisation and fundraising by attracting donors.
For more information on our use of legitimate interests as a lawful basis you can contact us using the contact details set out above.
Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information for research or archiving purposes are:
Legitimate interests – we’re collecting or using your information because it benefits you, our organisation or someone else, without causing an undue risk of harm to anyone. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to portability. Our legitimate interests are:
Legitimate interest for Lawyers for Animals to understand how to best conduct its charitable purposes.
For more information on our use of legitimate interests as a lawful basis you can contact us using the contact details set out above.
Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information to comply with legal requirements are:
Legal obligation – we have to collect or use your information so we can comply with the law. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to erasure, the right to object and the right to data portability.
Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information for recruitment purposes are:
Legitimate interests – we’re collecting or using your information because it benefits you, our organisation or someone else, without causing an undue risk of harm to anyone. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to portability. Our legitimate interests are:
Legitimate interest for Lawyers for Animals to attract and recruit staff and volunteers.
For more information on our use of legitimate interests as a lawful basis you can contact us using the contact details set out above.
Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information for dealing with queries, complaints or claims are:
Legitimate interests – we’re collecting or using your information because it benefits you, our organisation or someone else, without causing an undue risk of harm to anyone. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to portability. Our legitimate interests are:
Legitimate interest for Lawyers for Animals to adequately respond to any queries, complaints or claims, allowing it to be transparent and manage its reputation.
For more information on our use of legitimate interests as a lawful basis you can contact us using the contact details set out above.
Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information to manage our website are:
Consent - we have permission from you after we gave you all the relevant information. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to object. To be clear, you do have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Consent will apply to non-strictly-necessary purposes (such as analytic cookies) and we will ask for your consent through our consent banner when visiting our website.
Legitimate interests – we’re collecting or using your information because it benefits you, our organisation or someone else, without causing an undue risk of harm to anyone. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to portability. Our legitimate interests are:
Legitimate interest for Lawyers for Animals to operate and maintain its website for strictly necessary purposes, such as basic website functionality.
For more information on our use of legitimate interests as a lawful basis you can contact us using the contact details set out above.
Where we get personal information from
Directly from you
Charities or voluntary sector organisations
Publicly available sources
Third parties:
We partner with third party animal rights organisations and charities to obtain data for the purpose of prosecutions.
How long we keep information
Personal information shall be retained only for such period as is appropriate for its intended and lawful use, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal information, the purposes for which we process your personal information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements. Personal information that is no longer required will be disposed of in ways that ensure their confidential nature is not compromised.
Who we share information with
Data processors – data storage and management
We use data processors for the following activities: providing information technology and cloud computing services, allowing us to store, manage, access and use data for our purposes
Data processors – communications
We use data processors for the following activities: providing digital communications software, allowing us to communicate information effectively across the organisation
Others we share personal information with:
Charities and voluntary organisations
Private investigators
Professional advisors
Legal bodies or authorities
Relevant regulatory authorities
External auditors or inspectors
Organisations we’re legally obliged to share personal information with
Publicly on our website, social media or other marketing and information media
How to complain
If you have any concerns about our use of your personal data, you can make a complaint to us using the contact details at the top of this privacy notice.
If you remain unhappy with how we’ve used your data after raising a complaint with us, you can also complain to the ICO.
The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
Website: https://www.ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint
Last updated: 5 December 2025