Privacy Policy

The personal information we collect, use and share

In the course of your legal transaction we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:

Name, address, date of birth, contact information (telephone and email where appropriate) National Insurance number (where appropriate)

Identity information and documentation

Additional information in relation to your legal transaction to enable us to advise you and progress your case. This will depend on the type of legal work you instruct the firm to undertake

We use your personal information primarily to enable us to provide you with a legal service in accordance with your instructions. We also use your personal information for related purposes including identity verification, administration of files, updating existing records if you have instructed the firm previously, analysis to help improve the management of the firm, for statutory returns and legal and regulatory compliance. The information will be held in hard copy and/or electronic format.

You are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of all the personal data you supply to us, and we will not be held liable for any errors unless you have advised us previously of any changes in your personal data.

We will only take instructions from you or someone you authorise in writing.

Where you are acting as an agent or trustee, you agree to advise your principal or the beneficiary of the trust that their personal information will be dealt with on these terms.

If we are working on your matter in conjunction with other professionals who are advising you, including experts, barristers, banks, etc., we will assume, unless you notify us otherwise, that we may share and disclose relevant personal data and information about your matter to them, if we feel it is appropriate and necessary.

On occasions we ask other trusted companies to provide typing, costing, photocopying or other support work on our files to ensure that this work can be done promptly. We will always obtain a confidentiality agreement with these outsourced providers to ensure that they keep the information sent to them securely and confidentially. All routine typing, costing and photocopying is undertaken in-house.

We use a secure, computing system to assist us in processing and protecting your information and keeping it secure from the risks of cybercrime and fraud. All IT providers we use are subject to strict confidentiality agreements with this firm and we will ensure that they meet GDPR obligations in relation to the service they provide to us. All of the personal information you provide to us is kept in the UK; we will not transfer any of your personal data to another country outside the UK unless you specifically instruct us to do so.

There may be occasions when we are under a legal duty to share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities, including the Solicitors Regulation Authority or the Information Commissioner. If we are required to disclose information to the National Crime Agency, we may not be able to tell you that a disclosure has been made. We may have to stop working for you for a period of time and may not be able to tell you why. We cannot be held liable for any loss you suffer due to delay or our failure to provide information in these circumstances.

Occasionally some of our client files may be audited strictly confidentially, by external auditors or examiners to ensure we meet our legal, quality and financial management standards., Some information may be disclosed to our professional indemnity insurers and to our financial auditors if required. We may also provide basic details of your case to Legal 500 or Chambers and Partners legal directories but this information is provided on a strictly confidential basis where this concerns individuals. Unless you tell us otherwise we will assume you have no objection. You may object at any time and refusing your consent will not affect our work for you. We will not submit files for external audit or disclose personal information to directories where there is particularly sensitive material.

We will not share your personal information with any other third party and will not issue any publicity material or information to the media about our relationship and the work we are doing for you without your explicit consent.

How long your personal data will be kept

We will hold your personal data including your name, address and contact details plus your file of papers for a period of time, depending on the nature of your case. We will confirm this to you at the end of your case. After this period of time, your file of papers including the electronic file will be destroyed confidentially without further reference to you, unless we contact you to confirm other arrangements or you contact us to request your file of papers at an earlier date.

In order to meet our regulatory requirements, we may be required to retain basic information about you to include your name, address and date of birth on our electronic database for a longer period of time.