Our Privacy Policy

Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR

Privacy Notice for Clients and Third Parties

Introduction

The UK’s General Data Protection Regulations (UK GDPR) and the UK Data Protection Act 2018 both apply from 25^th May 2018.

We are sending you this privacy notice to ensure transparency regarding our client data in terms of what information is held, how it is stored, why we hold it, and what we do with it. This notice tells you what we do with your personal information when you make contact with us or use one of our services

Personal information

In providing you with legal advice, we will process and store your personal information, which may include special category data such as health details. We have legal and professional obligations to keep your personal information and special category data confidential. We comply with UK and EU data protection laws and with the Solicitors Regulation Authority rules on client and data confidentiality.

Securing information

We are committed to keeping your personal information secure. We have put in place physical, electronic and operational policies and procedures designed to safeguard and to secure the information we collect and hold.

What information do we hold about you?

The information we hold about you may include personal information and special category data. It will typically include:

Your name, address, phone number/s, email address/es
Identifiers such as date of birth; National Insurance, passport, visa, driving licence numbers; photographs or other digital images
Financial details to include bank details, mortgage account, means questionnaire
Names of and other personal information on your family and relationships
Details of your property
Social media information
Special category data including health records, Trade Union membership, political affiliations, sexuality, ethnic origin, criminal records

We do not provide services directly to children or proactively collect their personal information. However, we are sometimes given information about children while handling a matter. The information in the relevant parts of this notice applies to children as well as adults.

Where has the data come from?

The data we hold will have come from:

you in person, by telephone, by email, by SMS/text, or from your use of our website, through your initial enquiry, request for a quote, initial instructions, and when we deal with your matter; or when you subscribe to our e-newsletter
an intermediary, such as an estate agent or a financial advisor, who refers you to us
another firm that transfers your file to us
a client who names you as a joint party in a matter or other transaction

It is very important to ensure that we hold up to date information, so please remember to tell us about any of the following as soon as possible:

changes of personal circumstances, such as relationship status or the birth of children
changes of name or address
change of contact details including mobile phone number and email address
bank details (if relevant to the retainer)

Who is the data shared with and why?

We may share information about you:

within the firm to enable us to deal with your matter effectively and efficiently
with other law firms acting for other parties in the same matter
with counsel
with experts
with our outsourced providers including for example our accounts function, IT consultant, risk and compliance consultant
with the intermediary who introduced you to us including for example a counsellor
with law enforcement agencies where required, for example under a Court order

This may involve them handling your personal information. The firm requires all third parties to sign a confidentiality and compliance document to confirm that your data is protected.

Please note that we will never sell your data to anyone.

What is the lawful basis for processing your data?

The legal bases we rely on to process your personal data are as follows:

Performance of our contract with you under article 6(1)(b) GDPR
Compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, under article 6(1)(c) GDPR
Consent under article 6(1)(a) GDPR, where you have given consent to the processing of your personal data for one or more specific purposes as listed in our Consent Form. Otherwise, we rely on (1) and (2)

If the information you provide us contains special category data, such as health, religious or ethnic information the legal basis in GDPR we rely on to process it is:

Consent under article 9(2)(a)
Establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims under article 9(2)(f)
Consent for processing information relating to criminal convictions under Data Protection Act 2018 Schedule 1 Part (3)(29)

Your Data Protection Rights

Under data protection law, we need to tell you about your rights. Those available to you depend on our reason for processing your information.

Right of access – you can ask for copies of your personal information. There are some exemptions, which means you may not always receive all the information we process
Right to rectification – you can ask us to rectify information you think is inaccurate, or incomplete
Right to erasure – in certain circumstances, you can ask us to erase your personal information
Restriction of processing – in certain circumstances you can ask us to restrict processing to specified activities
Objection to processing – for example to direct marketing
Data portability – you can ask us to transfer the information you gave us to another firm, or to give it to you

Keeping information

We will keep your information for only as long as necessary and in accordance with UK and EU law. The Money Laundering Regulations 2017 require us to keep evidence of your identity, with supporting documentation, for 5 years after we complete our work for you.

Your Right to Complain

We work to high standards when it comes to processing your personal information. If you have queries or concerns, please contact Gilva Tisshaw (who is responsible for Data Protection at our firm) at [email protected] and we’ll investigate and respond in accordance with our complaints procedure.

If you remain dissatisfied, you can complain about the way we process your personal information to the Information Commissioner. You should do this within three months of our response.

You can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at:

By phone: 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745

By email or live chat on the ICO website:

https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/your-personal-information-concerns/

By post: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF

You should also write to Gilva Tisshaw at [email protected] if you would like a copy of the personal information we hold about you, or to ask us to correct any inaccurate information, or to remove (where justified) your personal information from our records.