Privacy and Data Protection Policy

HOW AND WHY WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Please refer to our separate Cookies Policy regarding the information gathered via the Cookies on our website.

INTRODUCTION

In dealing with your personal information, Waldrons Solicitors Limited is the Data Controller. This means we specify why and for what purpose and how the information we hold about you is used, stored and shared.

The person at Waldrons who is responsible for making sure that we comply with our legal requirements to process your information lawfully is our Data Protection Officer.  Our Compliance Team email address is compliance@waldrons.co.uk or by telephone on 01384 811 811. Should you have any questions or concerns about how your information is being processed please do not hesitate to contact the Compliance Team.

REASONS/PURPOSES FOR PROCESSING INFORMATION

NEW CLIENTS

When you first contact Waldrons with a view to instructing us to provide legal services we will need to take your name, contact details and date of birth and initial information about your situation/matter which depending on why you have contacted us may include sensitive information about your health, sexual orientation, trade union membership, criminal investigations or convictions. This is so that we can communicate with you and ensure that there is no conflict of interest. We will also need to take the details of other parties who may be involved in your matter to check that there is no conflict of interest.

The legal basis for us processing this data is:

We have a legal obligation to ensure that we do not act in a situation where there is a conflict of interest.

We also have a legal obligation to know who our client is and make an assessment as to whether we can act for them.

We are looking to enter into a contract for the provision of legal services and we need to communicate with you about this.

The legal basis for us collecting and processing any sensitive information about you or others, in addition to the reasons give above, is that the processing is necessary in relation to legal proceedings; for obtaining legal advice; or otherwise for establishing, exercising or defending legal rights.

If you are a previous client contacting us again we may review the personal data we already hold about you, check with you that it is up to date and use that information to communicate with you in order to enter/perform a contract for the provision of legal services. We may also use this information to carry out identity checks to comply with our legal obligations to know who our clients are and guard against Money Laundering.

If you provide us with any additional information whether via email, on the telephone or via our website then that information will be recorded we are looking to enter into a contract for the provision of legal services and we need to communicate with you about this. This information would be used if you then chose to instruct us to provide legal services or to search against in order to ensure we comply with our legal obligation to avoid conflicts of interest.

We may also collect information that is publically available about your from sources such as Companies House or HM Land Registry, or as a result of a general google search. This may collected as part of providing legal services to you and/or research to satisfy our legal obligation to know who our client is.

Before we take any further information from you we will send you our Client Care Pack. This contains all of the information we have to give you about what we do with your personal data, who we share it with and how long we keep it for. The Client Care Pack is tailored to your particular matter. The Client Care pack also sets out the terms on which we will agree to act for you.

THIRD PARTIES

We may hold the personal data of third parties either because a client or the other side on a matter has provided us with that information. We process that personal data only for the purpose of dealing with the provision of legal services to our clients.

We hold the personal data of suppliers of services – this may include experts or barristers for example. We process that personal data only for the purpose of dealing with the provision of legal services to our clients.

We hold personal details of business contacts that are supplied by way of email footers or business cards. We process this personal data on the basis of the legitimate interest of making and maintaining business contacts.

We process personal information to enable us to provide legal services including advising and acting on behalf of our clients. We also process personal information in order to maintain our own accounts and records, promote our services and to support and manage our employees.

TYPE/CLASSES OF INFORMATION PROCESSED

We process information relevant to the above reasons/purposes. This information may include:

personal details, family details, lifestyle and social circumstances, goods and services, financial details, business of the person whose personal information we are processing, education and employment details,

We also process sensitive classes of information that may include:

physical or mental health details, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or other beliefs, sexual life, trade union membership, offences and alleged offences, criminal proceedings, outcomes and sentences

WHO THE INFORMATION IS PROCESSED ABOUT

We process personal information about:

clients

suppliersand service providers

complainants

enquirers

advisers, consultants and professional experts

employees

other third parties which may be involved in the legal matter

WHO THE INFORMATION MAY BE SHARED WITH

We sometimes need to share the personal information we process with other organisations. Where this is necessary we are required to comply with all aspects of the relevant data protection legislation. What follows is a description of the types of organisations we may need to share some of the personal information we process with for one or more reasons.

Where necessary or required we share information with:

• family, associates or representatives of the person whose personal data we are processing
• current, past or prospective employers
• educators and examining bodies
• healthcare professionals, social and welfare organisations
• business associates
• trade associations and professional bodies
• suppliers and service providers
• ombudsman and regulatory authorities
• employment and recruitment agencies
• complainants, enquirers
• financial organisations
• debt collection and tracing agencies
• credit reference agencies
• private investigators
• courts and tribunals
• central government

CONSULTING AND ADVISORY SERVICES

Information is processed for consultancy and advisory services that are offered. For this reason the information processed may include name, contact details, family details, financial details, and the goods and services provided. This information may be about clients or other third parties. Where necessary this information is shared with the data subject themselves, business associates and other professional advisers, current, past or prospective employers and service providers.

TRANSFERS

It may sometimes be necessary to transfer personal information overseas. When this is needed information is only shared within the European Economic Area (EEA). Any transfers made will be in full compliance with all aspects of the relevant data protection legislation.

FOR HOW LONG DO WE KEEP THE INFORMATION

We will keep the information for as long as we are legally obliged to keep it – generally speaking this will be a minimum of six years in most cases.

For clients your information will be kept for the duration of your matter and then at the end of your matter we will write to you to confirm how long we will keep your information.

IF WE HOLD INFORMATION ABOUT YOU, YOU HAVE A NUMBER OF RIGHTS REGARDING THAT INFORMATION

You have a number of rights in relation to the personal information that we hold about you. These are:

1. To access that information – that means you can request details about the information that we hold about you. To do this you have to put your request in writing to our Data Protection Officer. We have 30 days to respond from when we receive your request. There may be some circumstances where we are legally prevented from providing that information to you.

2. To have incorrect information corrected – if the information we hold about you is not correct, for example we have your date of birth incorrect you have the right to request that we amend our records to show your correct date of birth. In the first instance, you should contact the Legal Adviser dealing with the matter in which you are concerned and let them know what needs correcting. It is important to us to ensure your information is up to date and accurate – therefore please let us know if your change your name, move house, change your email address or other contact details.

3. To restrict the processing of your information – this means we can store your information but we cannot do anything else with it. Please note that your right to restrict the processing of information that we hold only applies in certain circumstances.

4. To object to the processing of your information – You can object to the processing of your information for direct marketing purposes.

5. The right to withdraw your consent to us processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes – If you have given us consent to use your personal information for this purpose you can withdraw your consent at any time. All you need to do is contact our Data Protection Officer in writing and let them know.

6. The right to withdraw your consent to us processing your personal information which is of a sensitive nature for example regarding your race or religion or health where we require your consent as the basis to process this type of information.

You can give us your consent and can withdraw your consent at a later date. To withdraw your consent all you need to do is contact your Legal Adviser or our Data Protection Officer in writing and let them know.

7. If you are not happy with how we are processing your information we would ask that you raise your concerns with us. You can do this by contacting our Data Protection Officer. We take the handling and sharing of your information and your privacy very seriously. You are also able to raise your concerns with the Information Commissioner – details of how to contact the Information Commissioner can be found at www.ico.gov.uk