Confidentiality
How we hold information, and the honest limits of that protection.
How information you give us is held, who can see it, how long it is kept, and the specific circumstances in which the protection has limits. The qualifications are the part you actually need, so they are on this page rather than in a footnote.
The standing commitment
We confirm an engagement publicly only with your specific, current permission. This applies during the work, after it ends, and to anyone who asks, including a journalist seeking comment.
References are the one consent-based exception
A prospective client who wants to speak to someone the firm has worked for is asking something reasonable, and the answer is sometimes yes. Where it is appropriate, we ask a client whether they are willing to speak with that person specifically. They are asked each time, and the choice is theirs. Nothing is published either way.
The distinction the firm draws is between a private introduction a client consents to on the day, and a name printed on a website that works for the firm forever without their ongoing say-so. We will do the first, and only the first.
What we hold, and for how long
An engagement generates working material: the baseline documentation, correspondence with counterparties, drafts, and our own notes. We hold it while there is an operational reason to and then delete it. Where you ask for deletion at the conclusion of a matter, we do it and confirm in writing.
Inquiries from this website are delivered to the firm's inbox as email by Resend, a delivery provider that processes what you enter only to deliver it; the site keeps no inquiry database. When direct delivery is unavailable, the form opens a prepared email in your own email client instead. Once your email arrives, it is read by the firm and is used only to respond to you. The privacy policy sets out the specifics.
In practice
What this looks like day to day.
- A mutual non-disclosure agreement is available before the first substantive conversation, on request.
- Access to a matter is limited to the people working on it, by role.
- Everything published under your name carries your written approval of the final text.
- Where you prefer to speak rather than write, call and we will take nothing down that you have not agreed to.
Questions we are asked
- Will you sign a non-disclosure agreement?
- Yes, and we will send you a mutual one before any substantive discussion if you ask. Many clients prefer to have it in place before the first conversation, and that is a sensible instinct.
- Who inside the firm sees my matter?
- Only the people working on it. Access is limited by role, and the review reader sees the work product rather than the full file where the matter is sensitive.
- What happens to my information when the engagement ends?
- Working materials are retained only as long as there is a reason to hold them, then deleted. Where you ask us to delete everything at the conclusion of a matter, we will and we will confirm it in writing.
Under a mutual NDA, if you prefer.
Ask for one in your first message and we will send it before we discuss anything substantive.
The first conversation and the preliminary review that follows it are free. You decide whether to continue.
Whether your situation calls for a lawyer is one of the most common questions we are asked, and it is usually settled in the first conversation. Where counsel should be involved we will say so and work at their direction, and where it is ours to handle we will tell you that too. Either way, the question is ours to answer rather than yours to work out first. How we hold information