Cookies

1. What are cookies?

Cookies are text files containing small amounts of information which are downloaded to your device when you visit a website. Software on your device, for example a web browser, stores the cookies and sends them back to a website next time you visit. Cookies allow websites to recognise your device and preferences, and provide information to the owners of sites which can be used to improve your online experience.

2. The types of cookies that we use

This section sets out information about the cookie technology that we use on our site for which we are responsible. Where ‘personal data’ is processed by these cookies, Pinsent Masons LLP is the ‘data controller’ of that information, within the meaning of applicable data protection legislation. For an explanation of the meaning of these and other data protection legislation terms, and for comprehensive information about our responsibilities when handling personal data – including transfers of personal data across the Pinsent Masons business worldwide – and your rights in respect of any personal information of yours that we process, please see our Privacy Policy.

We set cookies to help us operate the core functions of our website and these are known as ‘first’ party cookies, as they are set by us. First party cookies allow us to recognise your device based on previous use of our website and store information about your preference or past actions. Third party providers of the cookie technology that we use may process data collected by the cookies on our site, in an aggregated form, for their own purposes. If this is the case in respect of any of the third-party cookie providers that we use, we have indicated as much in the tables set out in this section.

Basic performance – ‘necessary’ or ‘essential’ cookies

We use essential cookies to operate the core functions of our website, so that you may visit and move around it, and use its features. We do not require your consent to use these cookies but you may be able to block these cookies yourself on your device/browser (see section 4 of this Policy). However, without these cookies, our site is unlikely to work as you would expect and certain services that you may ask for, for example, signing into your online account, cannot be provided.

Where we process ‘personal data’ using these essential cookies, we do so on the basis of our legitimate interests to provide a website for visitors to use and to promote our business.

Help us to improve – ‘analytics’ cookies

Analytics cookies are used by us for statistical analysis purposes. This helps us to understand how visitors use and move around our website, which inform improvements and adaptions to our website to best meet our visitors’ needs by, for example, making the most popular features the easiest to find and access or ensuring that our site works properly on the devices and technologies that our visitors use.

These cookies work by using a distinctive sequence of characters from which your browser or device can be identified (‘unique ID’), which, for example, can be used by us to recognise the date and time of your visit(s) to our site. Our analytics cookies may also collect information about your browser type and settings, device type and settings, operating system and mobile network. This information is used to distinguish you from other visitors to our site, but it cannot be used to identify you as a named individual.

We will only set these types of cookies where you have provided us with your consent to do so by either choosing to ‘Allow all cookies’ or by adjusting your cookie settings via the ‘Your cookies settings’, above. Where we process your personal information using these types of cookies, we do so on the basis of that consent.

Rejecting our analytics cookies will prevent us from collecting the data described above to improve our site for you and other visitors. The performance and functionality of our site will not be affected.

Advertising cookies

We have configured the advertising plug-ins on our website to only set cookies on devices used by logged-in members of those advertisers, e.g. social media platforms.

provide us with anonymised demographics and browsing activity information of the logged-in visitors to our own website;
help us to tailor our advertising on the websites of those third parties to previous logged-in visitors to certain pages of our own site; and
help us measure the effectiveness of our advertising.

These cookies work by using a distinctive sequence of characters from which your browser or device can be identified (‘unique ID’). Social media and other advertising cookies may also collect information about your browser type and settings, device type and settings, operating system and mobile network. This information is used to distinguish you from other visitors to our site, but it cannot be used to identify you as a named individual.

Rejecting these cookies will prevent us from relating your website visits to our various marketing campaigns.

3. Note on ‘Experience Enhancing’ cookies

At present, we do not use experiencing enhancing cookies. Experiencing enhancing cookies would allow us to tailor content for you, for example to make our site and information displayed on it more relevant to your interests.

Choosing to ‘Allow all cookies’ or moving the on/off toggle for ‘Experience enhancing’ to ‘on’ in your ‘Manage my cookies’ preference centre will have no impact at this time. We have included this section and consent toggle functionality as we anticipate that in the future we may wish to use these types of cookies with your consent. If we wish to process your personal information using these types of cookies in the future, we will do so on the basis of your informed consent at that time. This means that we will provide details of the cookies so that you can make an informed choice as to whether you consent to our use of them.

4. Cookie set by third parties

‘Third party cookies’ are cookies set by a domain other than the one that you are visiting. When you visit our website, third party organisations may place cookies on your browser, even if you are not a logged-in member of those organisations. This is because third party cookies do not require you to actively engage with the third party’s content or visit their site, just load a page on which the third party’s technology sits. For example, we use third party technologies such as video and audio hosting platforms to enable you to watch videos and listen to podcasts on our website. The providers of these technologies may deploy cookies to your browser when you visit the pages on our site where we are using their technologies.

These cookies may inform the third party organisations about your visit to our site which may be used by those organisations to deliver targeted messages and advertising to you. In all cases, we do not set these cookies, and we have no access to the information that they gather. Such cookies are subject to the third party organisations’ own cookie policies.

Sometimes we will link to third party websites from our own, or we will embed third party content on our pages or white label third party sites or platforms such that they are part of a solution which we provide to you. Such third-party cookies are essential to the products and/or services being provided to you.

5. How to manage cookies using your browser

All recent versions of popular browsers give you a level of control over cookies. You can set your browser to accept or reject all, or certain, cookies.If you use your browser settings to block all cookies, which would include blocking our ‘basic performance’/ essential cookies, you may not be able to access all or parts of our site.