Effective date: June 22, 2026

Your privacy is important to us

The protection of our clients' data and the privacy of the users of our website is important to us. The personal data we collect or receive in the course of our business is treated confidentially and is securely protected from access. Most of our content on the website can be used freely. However, we use industry-standard technologies to measure and improve the performance of our website and collect data for this purpose. In some cases, we work with external service providers. Insofar as we (or third parties on our behalf) collect and process personal data, we comply with the requirements of the Swiss Data Protection Act and the applicable requirements of the EU General Data Protection Regulation. This Privacy Policy ("Policy") describes how Kellerhals Carrard ("we", "us" or "our") collects and processes personal data and what rights you have in doing so.

Introduction

By using our services, you agree to this Privacy Statement. If you provide us with personal data of other persons, please make sure that they are aware of this Privacy Policy and only share their personal data with us if you are authorized to do so.

Kellerhals Carrard includes the law firms at the locations listed in Section 11 and the Kellerhals Carrard Cooperative. These are companies incorporated under Swiss law and are subject to Swiss data protection laws, such as the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection ("FADP"). As an internationally active company, the EU General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") is also relevant to us in addition to the Swiss data protection regulations..

If you instruct us or one of our lawyers, the law firm where the mandate is held is the controller within the meaning of the FADP/DSGVO, which determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data. If we process mandates across locations, lawyers from other locations may be called in by the responsible location in accordance with instructions.

In the context of certain activities, the Kellerhals Carrard law firms are also joint data controllers within the meaning of data protection legislation; this is the case, for example, when we conduct conflict of interest checks or take measures to ensure compliance across locations.

If a client uses our services and there is an agreement between the client and a third party regarding the processing of personal data, the client's privacy policy applies to that third party and not this Privacy Policy.

If you do not agree with this Privacy Policy, you should not use our services. If you have any questions regarding data protection, please do not hesitate to contact us (section 11).

1 What personal data do we collect and process?

Personal data is any information that relates to an identified or identifiable natural person. Data that cannot be assigned to a natural person (anonymous data) are not included. We primarily process personal data that we receive as a law firm in the course of our mandates with our clients and business relationships with other business partners from these and other persons, companies and public bodies involved.

Sensitive personal data includes data about religious, ideological, political or trade union views or activities; data about health; privacy, including information about sexual life and sexual orientation; data about racial or ethnic origin; genetic data; biometric data that uniquely identifies a natural person; data about administrative or criminal prosecutions or sanctions; and data about social assistance measures.

We process, i.e., collect, use, store and transfer various types of personal data such as:

a. Data about your identity such as first name, surname, date of birth, gender, title;

b. Contact data such as addresses (billing address, shipping address, email address) and telephone number, and financial data such as bank details and payment card details;

c. Service data such as details of payments made to you or by you and other details of services you have received from us or we have received from you;

d. Identification and background information that you provide to us or that is collected from you as part of our onboarding process;

e. Information related to your job functions and activities (for example, so that we can use you to close and process business with your employer);

f. Data and information, for example, in documents or correspondence and meetings with third parties, which are provided to us by third parties (section 2a) or which we obtain from public registers, in particular in the context of a mandate or other contractual relationship;

g. Information disclosed to us by or on behalf of our clients or which we produce in the course of our services to clients;

h. Information disclosed to us for the purpose of attending meetings, seminars or events;

i. Advertising and communication data such as information about when you receive and read newsletters from us, which of our events you attend, and preferences in advertising and communication preferences;

j. Any other information related to you that you provide to us (including through our website and its features);

k. We collect sensitive personal data, including information about criminal convictions and criminal offenses, if we are required to do so by law or if clients, courts, authorities, etc. have provided us with such information because it is necessary for us to provide a specific service to our client.

2 How do we collect personal data?

We collect and process personal data when you communicate with us (including through our website and its features) or our staff, register to receive information by e-mail, or when you attend a meeting, seminar or other event.

In addition to the data you give us directly, we collect personal data from the following sources:

a. Information provided to us by our clients, your family, your employer, your contracting parties, our business partners, other attorneys, consultants or other third parties;

b. Information from public registers (e.g. debt collection registers, land registers, commercial registers, press, internet);

c. Information we receive from courts and authorities in connection with existing or threatened official and legal proceedings;

d. Information from the media and the Internet about your person (if this is appropriate in the specific case, e.g. in the context of an application, press review, marketing/sales, etc.).

When you access our website, data transmitted by your browser and automatically stored by our server, such as the date and time of access, the name of the file accessed, as well as the amount of data transferred and the access time, your web browser, browser language and requesting domain are recorded (further data is only recorded via our website if you provide this information voluntarily, for example as part of a registration or request).

If you register to receive our newsletter, we process the contact details you provide, such as title, first name, last name, company as well as e-mail address.

3 For what purposes do we process personal data?

Our core business is our activity as lawyers. One of the pillars of this activity is the attorney-client privilege. Attorney-client privilege is guaranteed and protected by numerous international and national regulations. The purposes for which we process personal data are always consistent with the attorney-client privilege we owe to our clients. If you are using services that we provide in a capacity other than as an attorney (e.g., as an accountant, notary public, counsel, arbitrator, etc.), that activity may additionally be governed by specific regulations.

We process your information, including your personal data, for the following purposes:

a. Primarily, to enter into and perform contracts with our clients and business partners, such as, in particular, in the course of providing legal services to our clients;

b. For the purpose of purchasing products and services from our suppliers and auxiliary persons (such as, in particular, retained attorneys and law firms or experts in Switzerland and abroad). If you work for such a client or business partner, your personal data may be affected in this capacity;

c. To comply with legal and regulatory obligations and responsibilities, in the course of our general business and for other business administration purposes; this includes, in particular, obligations to comply with regulatory obligations applicable to lawyers;

d. For marketing, promotional and other purposes: where you have given us consent to process your personal data for specific purposes, we will process your personal data within the scope of and based on that consent, unless we have another legal basis and we require one. Consent given can be revoked at any time, but this will not affect any data processing that has already taken place;

e. For the purposes of corresponding with you through email or other means (including our website and its features);

f. For the purpose of providing specific services to you through our website such as answering queries submitted to us through our website including its features such as our chatbot;

g. For the further development of our offers, services and websites, and other platforms on which we are present; communication with you; communication with third parties and processing of their inquiries (e.g. applications, media inquiries);

h, For market and opinion research, media monitoring;

i. In the context of asserting legal claims and defense in connection with legal disputes and official proceedings;

j. For the purpose of ensuring our operations, in particular IT, our websites and other platforms, as well as measures for IT, building and facility security and protection of our employees and other persons and assets entrusted to us (such as access controls, visitor lists, network and mail scanners, telephone records);

k. In the context of any transactions under company law and the related transfer of personal data as well as measures for business management, compliance with legal and regulatory obligations and internal regulations of Kellerhals Carrard.

4 On what legal basis do we process personal data?

Depending on the purpose of the processing activity (see section 3 above), your information and personal data will be processed if:

a. it is necessary for the conclusion or performance of a contract for the requested services or for the performance of our obligations under such contract, e.g. if we process your data for some of the purposes mentioned in sections 3a - 3c (as well as for some of the data transfers described in this section 4);

b. it is necessary for the legitimate interests of Kellerhals Carrard without unreasonably prejudicing your interests or fundamental rights and freedoms;

c. it is necessary to comply with our legal or regulatory obligations, including conducting verifications to identify you and disclosing information to authorities, regulators and government agencies (sections 5b and 5c);

d. if we process sensitive personal data or special categories of personal data that are necessary for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims, or if the processing relates to personal data that are manifestly in the public domain; or

e. they are processed with your consent, which we may obtain from you from time to time (e.g., if required by law), or which are processed with your explicit consent, which may be required, in the case of sensitive personal data or special categories of personal data.

Examples of the "legitimate interests" mentioned above are:

f. the pursuit of certain purposes of sections 3d – 3k;

g. Exercising our rights under Articles 26 and 27 of the Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation or Articles 16 and 17 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, including our freedom to conduct a business and our right to property;

h. making the disclosures set forth in section 5 below, providing products and services, and ensuring consistently high standards of service and satisfaction of our clients, employees and other stakeholders; and

i. meeting our accountability and legal requirements around the world;

j. in any case, unless your privacy interests outweigh those interests.

5 Who has access to personal information and with whom is it shared?

As part of our work as a law firm, we are subject to attorney-client privilege. To the extent we are permitted, we may share your personal information as follows:

a. We may share Personal Information within our law firms; if we do so, the use and sharing of your Personal Information is subject to this Statement.

b. We may disclose Personal Information to comply with the law, a judicial proceeding, a court order, or other legal process, including arbitration, such as in response to a court order or subpoena.

c. When required, we disclose personal information to public and judicial authorities, regulators or government agencies and in proceedings, including when required by law or regulation, under a code of conduct, or by those authorities or agencies.

d. We may share your information with third party vendors, service providers, contractors or agents who perform service functions that we need to operate our business, such as Kellerhals Carrard Cooperative and, for example, banks, insurance companies, counterparties and their legal representatives, and other involved persons (guarantors, financiers, affiliates, respondents, experts, etc.), hosting providers, email communication providers, and other third parties), providers of hosting, email communicationsof, cloud services, AI tools/chatbots, customer services, analytics, marketing and advertising, all based on our instructions and in accordance with this statement and other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.

The named recipients may be located outside of Switzerland. In such cases, except where the country in question has been determined by the EU or Switzerland to provide an adequate level of protection, we will take appropriate safeguards (e.g., by entering into the EU Commission's standard contractual clauses, including any necessary adaptations for Switzerland) to ensure that such transfer is in compliance with applicable data protection laws. We normally transfer personal data to recipients or service providers in countries that do not offer an adequate level of protection if this is necessary for the performance of a contract with the data subject(s) concluded in their interest and for the assertion, enforcement or defense of legal claims.

You may request additional information in this regard and obtain a copy of the relevant safeguards (e.g. standard contractual clauses) by contacting us at the address provided at the end of this notice.

6 How long do we retain your information?

We retain your information, including personal data, only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected and for as long as we have a legitimate interest in retaining personal data, for example, to enforce or defend legal claims or for archiving purposes and IT security. Furthermore, we store your personal data if and as long as this is required in accordance with a legal retention obligation.

7 Cookies

See our Cookie Policy

8 Third-party links

Our Service may contain links to third-party websites. Access to and use of such linked websites is not subject to this Privacy Policy, but to the privacy policies of such third-party websites. We are not responsible for the information practices of such third-party websites.

9 Security of your personal data

We have taken reasonable precautions to protect the information we collect from loss, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction.

10 Rights

10.1 What are your rights?

Individuals located in Switzerland or the European Economic Area (EEA) have certain rights with respect to your personal data. Kellerhals Carrard offers you the opportunity to exercise your rights, including:

a. the right to access your personal data;

b. the right to correct or rectify inaccurate personal data;

c. the right to restrict or object to the processing of personal data;

d. the right to have your personal data deleted; and

e. the right to portability of personal data.

You are entitled to these rights in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act. Please note that these rights are not fully applicable and may be subject to restrictions.

10.2 How can you exercise your individual rights?

The exercise of your rights requires that you prove your identity (e.g. by means of a copy of your ID card). To exercise your rights, you can contact us at the addresses listed in section 11.

You also have the right to enforce your claims in court or to file a complaint with the competent data protection authority. The competent data protection authority in Switzerland is the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (http://www.edoeb.admin.ch).

11 Locations of Kellerhals Carrard

Kellerhals Carrard operates at the following locations in Switzerland:

Basel / Binningen
Kellerhals Carrard Basel KlG
Henric Petri-Strasse 35
P.O. Box 257
CH-4010 Basel

Tel. +41 58 200 30 00
info@kellerhals-carrard.ch

Bern / Gstaad
Kellerhals Carrard Bern KlG
Effingerstrasse 1
P.O. Box
CH-3001 Bern

Tel. +41 58 200 35 00
info@kellerhals-carrard.ch

Geneva
Kellerhals Carrard Genève SNC
Rue François-Bellot 6
CH-1206 Geneva

Tel. +41 58 200 32 00
info@kellerhals-carrard.ch

Lausanne
Kellerhals Carrard Lausanne/Sion SA
Place Saint-François 1
P.O. Box 7191
CH-1002 Lausanne

Tel. +41 58 200 33 00
info@kellerhals-carrard.ch

Lugano
Kellerhals Carrard Lugano SA
Via Canova 15
P.O. Box 1571
CH-6901 Lugano

Tel. +41 58 200 31 00
info@kellerhals-carrard.ch

Zurich
Kellerhals Carrard Zürich KlG
Rämistrasse 5
P.O. Box
CH-8024 Zurich

Tel. +41 58 200 39 00
info@kellerhals-carrard.ch

Central Services
Kellerhals Carrard Genossenschaft
c/o Kellerhals Carrard Bern KlG
Effingerstrasse 1
Postfach
CH-3011 Bern