Privacy Policy
Effective date: [20th August 2026] Last reviewed: [20th August 2026]
Stride Legal is a full-service law firm headquartered in Pune, India, advising clients across corporate and commercial law, mergers and acquisitions, litigation and dispute resolution, employment, sports and media, and property, among other practice areas. This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) explains how Stride Legal (“Stride Legal”, “we”, “us” or “our”) collects, uses, discloses, retains and otherwise processes personal information in connection with our website www.stridelegal.co.in (the “Website”), our client and business relationships, recruitment processes and our events, and the choices available to you in respect of your personal information.
This Policy is issued in furtherance of Stride Legal’s obligations under, and is intended to be read consistently with, the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011 framed thereunder, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 together with the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 (collectively, the “DPDP Act”), as each may be amended, re-enacted or brought into force from time to time. Terms such as “Data Fiduciary”, “Data Principal”, “personal data”, “processing” and “consent” used in this Policy carry the meaning assigned to them under the DPDP Act, unless otherwise defined herein.
Please note that this Policy governs the processing of personal information collected through the Website and in the ordinary course of our business operations. It does not override, and is subject to, the specific confidentiality, privilege and data-handling terms agreed with clients under their respective engagement letters or terms of engagement, which shall prevail to the extent of any conflict.
In the course of operating the Website and our practice, we may collect the following categories of personal information (“Personal Information”), depending on the nature of your interaction with us:
a. Identity and contact information
such as your name, designation, employer or organisation, postal and business address, telephone and mobile numbers, and email address.
b. Matter and engagement information
information necessarily generated or shared in the course of a client engagement, including instructions received, documents and evidence provided, correspondence, billing and payment details, and details of the matter itself.
c. Website and technical information
information submitted through our Website’s contact and enquiry forms, and, where applicable, technical information such as browser type, device information and pages visited, collected through standard web logs or cookies.
d. Recruitment information
curriculum vitae, academic and professional qualifications, work history and references submitted by candidates applying for a position with Stride Legal.
e. Due diligence and verification information
information obtained from public records, regulatory filings, the media, credit or integrity databases, and conflict-check and know-your-client sources, to the extent necessary to accept and act on a client engagement in compliance with applicable law and professional obligations, including anti-money laundering norms.
f. Sensitive personal data
we do not seek to collect sensitive personal data or information (such as health data, biometric data or data revealing an individual’s affiliations) except where it is volunteered by you or is incidental to a specific, disclosed purpose, for instance, dietary or accessibility requirements shared in connection with a firm event, or information necessarily forming part of the record in a matter we are advising on. Any such information is processed only for the stated purpose and, where required by law, on the basis of your consent.
Any comments, posts or other content voluntarily submitted by a user on publicly accessible sections of the Website, if any, becomes published content and does not constitute Personal Information for the purposes of this Policy.
We collect Personal Information in the following ways:
- directly from you, when you contact us through the Website, correspond with us by email or letter, engage us as a client, attend a seminar or firm event, or apply for a position with us;
- from your organisation or its representatives, where we are engaged by or act for a corporate client, counterparty or business contact;
- from third parties, including co-counsel, opposing counsel, regulators, courts and tribunals, government agencies, credit or integrity databases, and publicly available sources, where reasonably necessary to advise on or conduct a matter; and
- automatically, through your use of the Website, including through cookies or similar technologies used to support Website functionality and analytics (see Section 9 below).
We use Personal Information strictly for the following purposes (“Permitted Purposes”), and do not sell or rent Personal Information to any third party:
- to render legal advice and services requested by you or your organisation, including managing the engagement, conflict checks, and the conduct of the matter;
- to communicate with you regarding an enquiry, engagement or ongoing matter;
- to manage our client relationships, including billing, invoicing, accounts and collections;
- to comply with our regulatory, professional and statutory obligations, including under the Advocates Act, 1961, the rules of the Bar Council of India, anti-money laundering norms, and record-keeping and tax requirements;
- to assess and process applications for employment or engagement with the firm;
- to organise and administer firm events, seminars and knowledge-sharing sessions you choose to attend;
- to maintain the security of our premises, systems and information, and to detect and prevent fraud or unauthorised access;
- to operate, maintain, and improve the functionality of the Website; and
- for any other purpose reasonably ancillary to the above, or for which you have separately provided your consent.
Where we rely on your consent for a specific purpose, for instance, to send firm updates, newsletters or event invitations, or to process sensitive personal data you have volunteered, you may withdraw that consent at any time by writing to us at the contact details in Section 12, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out prior to such withdrawal.
Depending on the Permitted Purpose, we process your Personal Information on one or more of the following grounds:
- your consent, given expressly or, where legally permitted, by way of your voluntary provision of Personal Information for a specified purpose;
- performance of an engagement or contract with you or your organisation;
- compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, including obligations relating to record-keeping, taxation, and professional regulation; and
- certain “legitimate uses” recognised under the DPDP Act, such as the use of information voluntarily provided by you for a purpose you have not expressly objected to, or processing necessary to respond to a medical emergency or to comply with a judgment, decree or order.
As a law firm, Stride Legal is bound by professional obligations of confidentiality and legal privilege under the Advocates Act, 1961, the Bar Council of India Rules, and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, which apply in addition to, and are not diminished by, this Policy. Nothing in this Policy shall be construed as a waiver of attorney-client privilege or confidentiality attaching to any communication, instruction or document received or generated in the course of a client engagement. Where any conflict arises between the terms of this Policy and our confidentiality obligations to a client, our confidentiality obligations shall prevail.
We may share Personal Information, on a strictly need-to-know and confidential basis, in the following circumstances:
- with co-counsel, subject-matter experts, translators, and other professionals we engage in the course of advising you, where necessary for the conduct of the matter;
- with courts, tribunals, arbitral institutions, regulators and government authorities, where required for the conduct of a matter or by applicable law;
- with our professional advisors, including auditors and insurers, on a confidential basis;
- with service providers who support our practice management, IT infrastructure, document management, accounting and payment processing functions, under appropriate confidentiality undertakings;
- with the opposing party or their counsel, where necessary and appropriate for the conduct of a matter, such as correspondence, filings or settlement discussions;
- where you have directed or consented to such disclosure; and
- where required to comply with a court order, judicial process, or a valid request from a law enforcement or regulatory authority, or to investigate suspected fraud or unlawful activity.
We do not disclose Personal Information to third parties for their independent marketing purposes.
We retain Personal Information for as long as is necessary to fulfil the Permitted Purpose for which it was collected, including to comply with our professional, regulatory, limitation-period and record-keeping obligations, which, for client and matter records, may extend for a period following the conclusion of an engagement in accordance with our internal file-retention policy and applicable law. Recruitment information of unsuccessful candidates is retained only for such period as may be reasonably necessary for our hiring records, after which it is securely deleted or anonymised.
The Website may use cookies or similar tracking technologies to support core functionality and to understand aggregate usage patterns, such as pages visited and time spent on the Website. [Please confirm if the Website currently deploys any analytics tool (e.g. Google Analytics) or third-party cookies, and does it display a cookie banner? Clause to be aligned accordingly.] You may disable cookies through your browser settings; however, this may affect certain features of the Website.
10. SECURITY SAFEGUARDS:
We implement reasonable security practices and procedures, including administrative, technical and physical safeguards, that are commensurate with the sensitivity of the Personal Information we hold, and that meet or exceed the standards prescribed under the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011 and the DPDP Act. Access to Personal Information within the firm is restricted on a need-to-know basis. While we take these safeguards seriously, no method of electronic transmission or storage is entirely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. You accept the inherent risks of transmitting information over the internet and agree that Stride Legal shall not be liable for any unauthorised access, save where such access results from our gross negligence or wilful default.
11. YOUR RIGHTS:
Subject to applicable law and any exemptions available to us (including in respect of information that forms part of a privileged or confidential client record), you may:
- request access to, and a summary of, the Personal Information we hold about you;
- request correction or updation of inaccurate or incomplete Personal Information;
- request erasure of Personal Information that is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, subject to our record-keeping and legal obligations;
- withdraw consent previously given for a specific processing activity, prospectively; and
- register a grievance regarding the handling of your Personal Information, and, if unresolved, escalate the same to the Data Protection Board of India in accordance with the DPDP Act.
To exercise any of these rights, please write to us at the contact details set out in Section 12. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request, and certain information may be exempt from correction or deletion where retention is mandated by law, professional rules, or ongoing legal proceedings.
12. GRIEVANCE OFFICER AND CONTACT:
If you have any questions, concerns, or grievances regarding this Policy or our handling of your Personal Information, please write to our Grievance Officer at:
Grievance Officer | [Name of designated Grievance Officer/Partner – to be confirmed] |
Firm | Stride Legal |
Address | Swojas Gulmohar, Shanti Sheela Society, Law College Road, Pune – 411004, Maharashtra, India |
[●] |
We will endeavour to acknowledge and address grievances within a reasonable time, and in any event within the timelines prescribed under applicable law (currently, within ninety (90) days under the DPDP Rules, where applicable).
13. THIRD-PARTY LINKS:
The Website may contain links to third-party websites for informational convenience. Such links do not constitute an endorsement, referral, or affiliation, and this Policy does not extend to the privacy practices of any third-party website. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of any third-party website you visit.
14. REGULATORY NOTE:
This Policy, and the Website generally, are intended solely to provide information about Stride Legal and are not, and shall not be construed as, advertising or solicitation of work in any form, in keeping with the rules of the Bar Council of India. Nothing on the Website or in this Policy should be treated as legal advice or as creating an attorney-client relationship.
15. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY:
We may update this Policy periodically to reflect changes in our practices or in applicable law. The updated Policy will be posted on the Website with a revised “Last reviewed” date. We encourage you to review this Policy periodically. Continued use of the Website or continued engagement with the firm following any update constitutes acknowledgment of the revised Policy.
16. GOVERNING LAW AND JURISDICTION:
This Policy shall be governed by the laws of India. Subject to Section 11 above (in respect of the Data Protection Board of India), the courts at [Pune] shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any disputes arising out of or in connection with this Policy.