Privacy Policy

  1. Who we are?

When we refer to “Gaby Gess Attorneys” or “we” or “us” in this privacy policy we mean Gabriele Therese von Hasseln Gess t/a Gaby Gess Attorneys.

  1. Application of this privacy policy:

2.1. This privacy policy applies to the personal information Gaby Gess Attorneys collects in connection with including but not limited to our:

2.1.1. website;
2.1.2. social media properties;
2.1.3. business communications, and other online and offline business interactions;
2.1.4. legal and professional services;
2.1.5. subscription to any of Gaby Gess Attorneys services;
2.1.6. third party service providers, including analytics, advertising networks; search information, technical, payment and delivery services providers;
2.1.7. publicly available sources;
2.1.8. request/s for tenders, quotations, proposals and the like made by or to us;
2.1.9. the supply of products and services to us.

2.2. This privacy policy does not apply to the personal information that we collect about employees and other personnel, contractors, or applicants and candidates.

  1. Purpose of this policy

3.1. Gaby Gess Attorneys respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information (as defined in applicable data protection legislation).
3.2. This is our main general privacy policy which applies across our business.
3.3. You warrant that you are lawfully entitled to provide personal information of any third party whose personal information you provide to any member of Gaby Gess Attorneys.
3.4. You indemnify Gaby Gess Attorneys against any loss, liability, damage or expense (including interest and penalties) suffered or incurred by any member of Gaby Gess Attorneys due to your provision of personal information of third parties to us in an unlawful manner.

  1. How to contact our chief information officer?

4.1. Gaby Gess Attorneys has an information officer who oversees our data protection compliance.

You can contact our chief information officer at:
Address: 53 Sea Hare Circle, Atlantic Beach Golf Estate, Melkbosstrand, Cape Town, South Africa, 7441
E-mail address: gess@mweb.co.za and Telephone number: +27 (0) 82 821 9223

  1. Privacy and security

5.1. The relevant members of Gaby Gess Attorneys have implemented reasonable measures to keep personal information secure and in compliance with applicable data protection laws.
5.2. You indemnify and hold Gaby Gess Attorneys harmless from any loss, damages or injury that you may incur as a result of:

5.2.1. any security compromise of personal information to unauthorized persons; or
5.2.2. your acts or omissions during the provision of personal information to any member of Gaby Gess Attorneys.

  1. Personal information which Gaby Gess Attorneys may collect

6.1. Gaby Gess Attorneys may collect the following personal information:

6.1.1. name, address (including proof of address), other contact details (e.g., email and telephone numbers), gender, marital status, date and place of birth, nationality, employer, job title, financial records and employment history, and family details, including their relationship to you;
6.1.2. identification numbers issued by government bodies or agencies, such as your identity number, passport number, tax identification number and driving license number and company registration number;
6.1.3. information relevant to the provision of our products and services;
6.1.4. information relevant to the procurement of products and services from suppliers;
6.1.5. bank account or payment card details, income or other financial information;
6.1.7. information that you provide to us as part of us providing products and services to you, which depends on the nature of your instructions to any employee or member of Gaby Gess Attorneys;
6.1.8. special or sensitive personal information as defined in applicable data protection legislation, including information about your health, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs and trade union membership; your genetic and biometric information; information about your sex life;
6.1.9. relevant information as required by applicable laws, including anti-money laundering legislation and as part of our client onboarding procedures, including evidence of source of funds;
6.1.10. information you provide to us for the purposes of attending meetings and events;
6.1.11. identity data, contact data and special personal information from publicly available sources or third parties, service providers and the like who conduct screening on any member of Gaby Gess Attorney’s clients or vendors for anti-money laundering purposes, or third parties with whom any member of the Gaby Gess Attorneys hosts events.

  1. Quality of information

In certain jurisdictions, Gaby Gess Attorneys is obliged to keep personal information accurate and up to date. Please help us to do this by advising us of any changes to your personal information.

  1. Purpose of processing of personal information

8.1. Gaby Gess Attorneys may process the personal information it collects for a number of lawful purposes including:

8.1.1. to register you as a client of the Gaby Gess Attorneys;
8.1.2. to conduct sanctions screening against any list that Gaby Gess Attorneys may in its sole discretion elect;
8.1.3. to comply with requirements under applicable laws;
8.1.4. to carry out legal or other services, or which may be ancillary thereto, or associated therewith, and to notify you about changes to such services, products or offerings;
8.1.5. to manage marketing preferences;
8.1.6. to manage Gaby Gess Attorney’s relationship with you which may include:

8.1.6.1. notifying you about changes to any member of the Gaby Gess Attorney’s terms (including to this policy);
8.1.6.2. asking you to leave a review or take a survey;
8.1.6.3. assessing and dealing with complaints and requests;
8.1.6.4. managing payments, fees, charges and accounts (including collecting and recovering money owed to any member of the Gaby Gess Attorneys);
8.1.6.5. to keep any work product or other documentation (including but not limited to opinions, agreements and other documents drafted by any member of the Gaby Gess Attorneys and/or other professional firm/s and/or other documents received and/or prepared in connection with any particular matter/s) as part of Gaby Gess Attorney’s internal know-how;
8.1.6.6. to verify your identity or the identity of your beneficial owners;
8.1.6.7. to comply with lawful requests for information received from local or foreign law enforcement, government and tax collection agencies;
8.1.6.8. to comply with measures designed to protect or advance persons, or categories of persons, disadvantaged by unfair discrimination;
8.1.6.9. to monitor, keep record of and have access to all forms of correspondence or communications received by or sent from any member of Gaby Gess Attorneys or any of its employees, agents or contractors, including monitoring, recording and using as evidence, where applicable, all telephone and online communication software communications between us and you;
8.1.6.10. to detect and prevent fraud and money laundering and/or in the interest of security and crime prevention;
8.1.6.11. to administer and protect Gaby Gess Attorneys’s business and website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data);
8.1.6.12. for operational, marketing, auditing, legal and record keeping requirements;
8.1.6.13. to conduct market research and provide you with information about the Gaby Gess Attorneys’s products or services from time to time via email, telephone or other means;
8.1.6.14. to deliver relevant website content and newsletters and other information to you (which may include direct marketing material);
8.1.6.15. to use data analytics to improve Gaby Gess Attorneys’s website, products/services, newsletters, customer relationships and experiences;
8.1.6.16. to make suggestions and recommendations to you about goods or services that may be of interest to you;
8.1.6.17. to disclose personal information to third parties for reasons set out in this policy or where it is not unlawful to do so;
8.1.6.18. to improve or evaluate the effectiveness of any member of Gaby Gess Attorneys’s business or products, services or offerings;
8.1.6.19. for submissions to awards and rankings agencies;
8.1.6.20. for purposes of material aimed to promote Gaby Gess Attorneys;
8.1.6.21. to prevent and control any disease;
8.1.6.22. where you have unsubscribed from certain direct marketing communications, to take steps to implement your instruction;
8.1.6.23. to procure goods and services;
8.1.6.24. to respond to requests for quotations and tenders.

  1. Disclosure of Personal Information

Gaby Gess Attorneys may share personal information with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in this policy:

9.1. Internal third parties

9.1.1. The members of Gaby Gess Attorneys share personal information with other members within the Gaby Gess Attorneys. This may involve transferring personal information outside the country where Gaby Gess Attorneys has collected that personal information, to entities in countries which may not have data protection laws which are similar to those of the country where the personal information was collected.

9.2. External Third Parties

9.2.1. Gaby Gess Attorneys may, as we may deem necessary for any one or more of the purposes set out in this policy or other lawful purposes, transfer personal information to third parties or service providers, including to service providers in countries which may not have data protection laws which are similar to those of the country where the personal information was collected, including to:

9.2.1.1. service providers acting as operators or processors or responsible parties or controllers who provide information technology and system administration services;
9.2.1.2. professional advisors acting as operators or processors or responsible parties or controllers, including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance, accounting and other services;
9.2.1.3. service providers and the like who conduct screening on any member of Gaby Gess Attorneys’s clients (or their beneficial owners) or suppliers for anti-money laundering purposes;
9.2.1.4. regulators and other authorities if any member of the Gaby Gess Attorneys is legally obliged to do so, or if instructed by you to do so, for purposes of preventing, detecting and reporting fraud and criminal activities, the identifying of the proceeds of unlawful activities and the combatting of crime;
9.2.1.5. any person if any member of the Gaby Gess Attorneys is under a duty to disclose or share personal information in order to comply with any applicable laws, or to protect the rights, property or safety of any member of Gaby Gess Attorneys, other clients or other third parties, or the reputation of Gaby Gess Attorneys;
9.2.1.6. your agent or any other person acting on your behalf, or an introducer;
9.2.1.7. tracing agents, sheriffs and the like;
9.2.1.8. various awards and rankings agencies;
9.2.1.9. clients and prospective clients for purposes of rendering legal services, proposals, quotations, tenders and the like;

  1. Transborder transfers

10.1. The Gaby Gess Attorneys operates across various African jurisdictions and we provide cross- jurisdictional legal advice and related services to our clients.
10.2. The multi-national nature of our business means that your personal information may be transferred across national boundaries, including, potentially, to countries that do not have similar data protection laws to those where the personal information was collected.
10.3. If we transfer your personal information across national boundaries, we will make those transfers in compliance with applicable data protection laws.

  1. Access to, correction and deletion of personal information

11.1. Under certain circumstances, you may have some or all of the rights under the data protection, and this will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

  1. Electronic and website links

12.1. Gaby Gess Attorneys’s website pages may include links to third party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share your personal information.
12.2. Gaby Gess Attorneys does not control these third-party websites and is not responsible for their privacy policies. When you leave the Gaby Gess Attorneys’s website, we encourage you to read all applicable privacy policies.

  1. Complaints

13.1. If you are not satisfied with the Gaby Gess Attorneys’s use of your personal information or our response to any request by you to exercise your rights, or if you think that we have breached any relevant data protection laws, you are encouraged to contact our Chief Information Officer at the contact details set out above or the relevant information officer set out in the applicable country- specific schedule to this policy, if applicable. Should you remain dissatisfied, then you have the right to complain to the authority that supervises our processing of your personal information.

  1. Latest Version

14.1. Gaby Gess Attorneys keeps this policy under regular review, and may amend this policy from time to time.
14.2. Any such amendment will come into effect when published on the Gaby Gess Attorneys website and become part of any agreement that you have with any member of the Gaby Gess Attorneys.
14.3. You must ensure that you obtain the latest version of this policy before any action is taken based hereon. It is your responsibility to check the Gaby Gess Attorneys website often.