Recruitment Privacy Policy

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Last updated: March 2024

Latham & Watkins (Latham or the firm) respects your privacy and is committed to collecting, maintaining and using personal information about you responsibly. This privacy policy applies to personal information that you provide to us directly or through one of our recruitment portals, as well as other information we receive from you or third parties (such as referees) in connection with your job application. The policy explains how the firm may use personal information about job applicants, the rights you have and who to contact for more information. Please read it carefully.

1. Who We Are

Latham & Watkins operates worldwide as a limited liability partnership organized under the laws of the State of Delaware (USA) with affiliated limited liability partnerships conducting the practice in France, Hong Kong, Italy, Singapore, and the United Kingdom and as an affiliated partnership conducting the practice in Japan. Latham & Watkins operates in Israel through a limited liability company, in South Korea as a Foreign Legal Consultant Office, and in Saudi Arabia through a limited liability company. In accordance with applicable law, we have appointed a Data Privacy Officer (DPO) for our German offices. Our DPO, Dr. Sebastian Kraska, can be reached at +49.89.189.1736-0 or skraska@iitr.de.

Contact details for our offices around the world can be found on our website www.lw.com.

The data controller(s) in respect of your personal information will be the Latham entity or entities to which you have applied and/or Latham & Watkins LLP.

2. Who Does This Privacy Policy Apply To?

This policy applies to individuals who submit applications for or otherwise provide information in relation to a role at any Latham office. This includes staff vacancies, interns, graduates, lateral attorneys, lateral partners and any other roles.

The policy applies to individuals who submit a CV, resume or other information to the firm (either directly or via a recruitment agency) or who apply using one of our online portals.

3. The Types Of Personal Information We Receive And Use

We will receive and use the following information about you.

Information you provide as part of your application. You may provide us with personal information about you by using our website or recruitment portals to apply for a role, or by corresponding with us or our agents by email, telephone or otherwise. This includes information you provide when you register for and use the website or portal, or when you send us or an agent working on our behalf your resume or CV, such as: your name, contact information, work experience, educational qualifications, information about your practice, ability to work in the country in which the role is based, gender, date of birth, referees and any other information you choose to upload or submit (such as information in a CV or resume).

Sensitive information you may provide. Where permitted by local law, you have the option to provide certain sensitive personal information, such as race or ethnic origin, for the purposes of equal opportunities monitoring. If you decide not to provide this information, your application will not be prejudiced. You may also tell us if you have a disability, so that we can make appropriate arrangements for you to attend our offices and/or participate in an interview.

Information collected during interviews and assessments (both online and in person). If you attend an interview, we will keep notes about the conversation you had with our recruiters. We may also ask other people who meet you to give feedback about you. If you attend an assessment center, use an online assessment tool or submit a video interview we will collect and analyze the responses you give.

Information we collect about your usage of our recruitment portal and website. We automatically collect certain data from you when you use www.lwcareers.com, including IP address or other unique device identifiers, information collected by cookies on your usage of the portal or website, mobile carrier (if applicable), time zone setting, operating system and platform, browser software, and information regarding your use of the portal or website including date and time of visit (Usage Information).

Information from third parties. We will receive information from third parties in connection with your application, such as referees and recruiters.

If you are successful in your application, additional personal information will be collected in pre-employment background checks and as part of the on-boarding process when you join the firm:

  • Information from the third-party provider which operates background checking services for us. This may include criminal records checks, verification of qualifications and employment, financial and other checks to the extent permitted by applicable law. For US candidates, this will also include credit checks to the extent permitted by applicable law.
  • Bank account details, tax and social security number, national or other identity numbers, passport or other evidence of right to work, nationality and place of birth (where required/permitted by local law), emergency contact and next of kin, family details such as marital status and dependents, and (to the extent permitted by applicable law) additional health and equal opportunities information.

Information about your visit to our premises. If you attend an interview at our offices, we will collect data related to your use of building access control systems, including time and location of entry and exit, any access to restricted zones and security camera footage. 

We generally do not directly collect personal information from a child under 14 years of age but may collect such personal information from the guardian of the child where such processing policy updates PIPL. The parent or legal guardian may exercise the minor’s rights as described in section 10 “Your Rights.”

In the past 12 months, Latham has collected the following categories of personal information, as described further above:

  • identifiers;
  • professional or employment related information;
  • membership of professional bodies, including your regulatory record and any regulatory or disciplinary decisions or sanctions made against you;
  • education related information;
  • characteristics of protected classifications; 
  • audio and video information; and 
  • internet or other electronic network activity information.

4. How We Use Your Personal Information

The table in Appendix 1 sets out how Latham uses your information and the legal basis for processing relied upon by us to process your personal information. We use your information to:

  • identify and evaluate you for employment positions;
  • determine and validate your qualifications for employment;
  • conduct background checks including, to the extent permitted under applicable law, checking references, qualifications, right to work and criminal records checks, membership of professional bodies, including your regulatory record and any regulatory or disciplinary decisions or sanctions made against you; 
  • if you are a successful candidate, create an employment record;
  • to the extent permitted or required by applicable law, conduct equal opportunities and diversity monitoring;
  • communicate with you;
  • send you notifications about new positions that match your profile;
  • provide you with user support for our website or recruitment portal; and
  • maintain the security of our premises if you attend an interview at our offices.

Your personal information will only be processed for limited purposes and in an appropriate way that is fair and lawful. Latham will only collect personal information that is adequate, relevant and not excessive for the purpose in question. 

5. How We Share Your Personal Information

Latham shares your personal information with selected recipients. These categories of recipients may include:

  • recruitment agencies and recruitment services companies where relevant for the role or position you are applying for;
  • our trusted third party recruitment portal providers, which vary depending on the jurisdiction in which you apply, but which we use to collect and process information as part of online applications, and which may store your information in the United States (if you require further information regarding these vendors, please contact us at the email address below);
  • professional bodies and educational establishments;
  • background check providers (including screening, background and criminal records checks), such as Sterling Infosystems Inc., which store your personal data either in the European Union or the United States, depending on your location, to verify the information that you provided as part of your application; and
  • referees whose details you provide to us, so they can provide a reference. 

Latham may be under an obligation to disclose your personal information to regulators, courts, the police or tax authorities, or in the course of litigation. It may not be possible to notify you in advance about the details of such disclosures. Latham will use all reasonable efforts to disclose the minimum personal information necessary in such cases. We may also disclose your personal information in connection with a reorganization or combination of our firm with another firm. 

We have in the last 12 months disclosed for a business purpose the categories of personal information listed in Appendix 1. 

6. How We Transfer Your Personal Information And Where We Store It

Latham is an international firm operating on a global basis. Like many international businesses, Latham maintains global systems for the purpose of recruitment and has centralized aspects of its data processing and human resources administration in order to allow better business management. This centralization may result in the transfer of personal information from one country to another.

Details of your application may be held locally by the office to which you have applied or may be recorded in our global recruitment systems. Some of our global recruitment systems are maintained on our behalf by trusted third party vendors and in some cases are hosted in the United States and are accessible worldwide by personnel involved in our recruitment process.

As a result, your personal information may be transferred to locations outside the country in which you are located, including locations outside the European Economic Area or the UK where data protection laws may not provide the same level of privacy protection. Latham & Watkins has implemented Binding Corporate Rules which allow for global transfers within the firm of personal information originating in the EEA and the UK, and the firm has contracts in place with its trusted third party vendors to protect the personal information they handle for the firm. These contracts include the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses for the transfer of personal data from a data controller to a data processor located in a third country.

If you require further information about any of these vendors, please contact the Global Data Privacy Office.

7. The Security Of Your Personal Information

Latham is committed to safeguarding the personal information you provide to us. The firm maintains appropriate levels of security to protect personal information from accidental or unlawful access, use, disclosure, alteration, loss or destruction. The firm also takes steps to ensure the ongoing confidentiality, integrity, availability and resilience of its networks and systems.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your information transmitted through the recruitment portals and any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will take appropriate technical and organisational measures to safeguard your personal information against loss, theft and unauthorized use, access or modification.

8. Retention

We will retain your information in accordance with the firm’s retention policies and applicable law. Please contact Latham’s Global Data Privacy Office for further details.

We may need to retain information for longer periods of time in order to establish, exercise, or defend our legal rights. Where possible and practical, personal information will be rendered anonymous through the removal, substitution, or blocking of details which enable individuals to be identified.

9. Accessing and Correcting Your Information

If you have created an account on www.lwcareers.com you will be able to access and make a copy of the personal information you uploaded there. You will also be able to edit or update your personal information, using the password you created when you submitted your application on www.lwcareers.com.

For all other requests to access or correct your personal information (including having incomplete data completed), please contact Latham’s Global Data Privacy Office. Please note that we will require you to verify your identity before responding to your request.

10. Other Rights

You may have other rights in relation to your personal information. Some of these only apply in certain circumstances as set out in more detail below. Please email your request to Latham’s Global Data Privacy Office. Note that we will require you to verify your identity before responding to any requests to exercise your rights.

  • The right to know whether Latham holds personal information about you and, if so, how we use it.
  • In certain circumstances and subject to applicable law, the right to request that your personal information is deleted. Note that we may retain your personal information if there are valid legal grounds for us to do so.
  • The right to request that we no longer send you notifications about new positions that match your profile.
  • In certain circumstances and subject to applicable law, the right to restrict or object to the processing of your personal information.
  • In certain circumstances and subject to applicable law, the right to receive a copy of the personal information which you have provided to the firm, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format or to request that we transfer that information to another party (known as “data portability”).
  • Where you have provided personal information voluntarily, or otherwise consented to its use, the right to withdraw your consent.

You also have the right to complain to a Data Protection Authority. Further information about making a complaint, either to Latham or to a Data Protection Authority, can be found in the Latham Data Privacy Complaints Procedure available at www.lw.com/privacy.

Global Data Protection Office:
If you have any questions or concerns about this policy or the use of your personal information by Latham, please contact the Global Data Protection Office; Globaldpo@lw.com, 99 Bishopsgate EC2M 3XF, London. California residents may also call our toll-free number (866) 596-3896. 

Appendix 1: Purposes for Processing Candidate Data and Related Information