PRIVACY POICY

We take your privacy seriously. Please read this policy carefully as it contains important information on who we are and how and why we collect, store, use and share your personal data (and that of the organisation who have engaged you). All Personal data is kept strictly confidential under the SRA Codes of Conduct 2019, and is not shared with any third party (other than with your permission, for the purposes of facilitating the provision of requested services (other than under lawful authority) to you. It also explains rights in relation to personal data, how to contact us or the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in the event that you have a complaint.

We are subject, with regard to collection, storage and use of data, to the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). We are also subject to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) in relation to services we offer to individuals in the European Economic Area (EEA).

Key terms

It would be helpful to start by explaining some key terms used in this policy:

We, us, our	LCP SOLICITORS (UK) LIMITED a company registered in England and Wales (Company no:ENTER) whose registered office is situated at ENTER.
Data subject	Any information collected in relation to personal data which is collected and processed by us.
Personal data	Any personal information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (whether a patient, end client, customer or otherwise) and shall have the same meaning as afforded by the Data Protection Act 2018.
Processing	of Personal Data means any operation or set of operations which is performed upon Personal Data, whether or not by automatic means, such as collection, recording, organization, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, accessing, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, blocking, erasure or destruction.
Special category personal data	Personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, philosophical beliefs or trade union membership Genetic and biometric data (when processed to uniquely identify an individual)
Data subject	The individual who the personal data relates to.

Personal data we collect about you (and your organisation)

We collect and use this personal data to facilitate the provision of legal services to you. If you do not provide data we ask for, it may delay or prevent us from providing requested services.

The data which we collect depends upon the nature of your instructions and the services which you require, and may include:

• your name and contact information, including electronic contact details, e.g. your email address, telephone and mobile numbers, and similar company or organisation contact details you may be instructing on behalf of;
• Information to enable us to check and verify your identity, e.g. your date of birth or passport details etc.
• your position and role in any organisation you have contacted us on behalf of;
• the purpose of your contact and the services or deliverables you are seeking;
• Information relating to the matter in which you are seeking our advice or representation;
• Your National Insurance and tax details;
• Your bank and/or building society details;
• Details of your spouse/partner and dependants or other family members, e.g. if you instruct us on a family matter or a will, or it is relevant to your instructions;
• Your employment status and details including salary and benefits, e.g. if it is relevant or required on the matter on which you are instructing us;
• Your nationality and immigration status and information from related documents, such as your passport or other identification, and immigration information, e.g. if you instruct us on an immigration matter;
• Details of your pension arrangements, e.g. if you instruct us on a pension matter or in relation to financial arrangements following breakdown of a relationship;
• Your employment records including, where relevant, records relating to sickness and attendance, performance, disciplinary, conduct and grievances, e.g. if you instruct us on matter related to your employment or in which your employment records are relevant;
• Your medical records, e.g. if we are acting for you in a personal injury claim.
• Your racial or ethnic origin, gender and sexual orientation, religious or similar beliefs, eg if you instruct us on discrimination claim;
• Your financial details so far as relevant to your instructions, e.g. the source of your funds if you are instructing on a purchase transaction;
• Your trade union or professional memberships, and details of any insurance policies which you hold, e.g. to assess potential assistance with the funding of your instructions;
• contact and transaction history with us;
• your billing information;
• information to enable us to undertake credit or other financial checks on new clients;
• Information about how you use our website, IT, communication and other systems;
• any responses to surveys and promotions.

How your personal data is collected

We collect most of this personal data directly from you—in person, by telephone, text or email and/or via our website.. However, we may also collect information:

• from publicly accessible sources, e.g. Companies House or HM Land Registry etc,
• directly from a third party, e.g. credit reference agencies,
• from a third party with your consent, e.g. your bank or building society, another financial institution or advisor, consultants and other professionals we may engage in relation to your matter, your employer and/or trade union, professional bodies, insurers or pension administrators, your doctors, medical and occupational health professionals etc;
• from cookies on our website—for more information on our use of cookies, please see our cookie policy [insert link or directions where to find it, eg which is available on our website]
• via our information technology (IT) systems, e.g. our case or management and time recording systems;
• from door entry systems and reception logs;
• through automated monitoring of our websites and other technical systems, such as our computer networks and connections, CCTV and access control systems, communications systems, email and instant messaging systems;

How and why we use your personal data

Under data protection law, we can only use your personal data if we have a proper and valid reason:

• to provide requested services to you or your organisation (or your patients, end clients or customers)
• to comply with all applicable laws relating to the provision of such services;
• to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;
• for our legitimate interests or those of any lawful authority or third party.

A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your information, so long as this is not overridden by your own rights and interests. We will carry out an assessment when relying on legitimate interests, to balance such interests against your own.

The table below explains what we use your personal data for and why.

What we use your personal data for	Our reasons
Providing legal services to you	To perform our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract
Preventing/detecting fraud against you or us	For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to minimise fraud that could be damaging for you and/or us
Conducting checks to identify our clients and verify their identity Screening for financial and other sanctions or embargoes Other activities necessary to comply with professional, legal and regulatory obligations that apply to our business, eg under health and safety law or rules issued by our professional regulator	To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.
Gathering and providing information required by or relating to audits, enquiries or investigations by regulatory bodies.	To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.
Ensuring business policies are adhered to, e.g. policies covering security and internet use	For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to make sure we are following our own internal procedures so we can deliver the best service to you
Operational reasons, such as improving efficiency, training and quality control	For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service to you at the best price
Ensuring the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information	For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to protect trade secrets and other commercially valuable information To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
Statistical analysis to help us manage our business, e.g. in relation to our financial performance, client base, services range, or other efficiency measures.	For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service to you at the best price
Preventing unauthorised access and modifications to systems	For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to prevent and detect criminal activity that could be damaging for you and/or us To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
Updating and enhancing client records	To perform our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, e.g. making sure that we can keep in touch with our customers about existing orders and new products
Preventing unauthorised access/modifications to systems.	For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, ie to prevent and detect criminal activity that could be damaging for us and for you and/or us To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
Statutory returns	To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
Ensuring safe working practices, staff administration and assessments	To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, e.g. to make sure we are following our own internal procedures and working efficiently so we can deliver the best service to you
Marketing our services[ and those of selected third parties] to: —existing and former clients; —third parties who have previously expressed an interest in our services; —third parties with whom we have had no previous dealings.	For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to promote our business to existing and former customers
Credit reference checks via external credit reference agencies	For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to ensure our customers are likely to be able to pay for our products and services.
Regulatory and external audits and monitoring of service standards, e.g. for Lexcel,] ISO or Investors in People accreditation and the audit of our accounts	For our legitimate interests or a those of a third party, i.e. to maintain our accreditations so we can demonstrate we operate at the highest standards To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations

 

Where we process special category personal data, we will also ensure we are permitted to do so under data protection laws, e.g.

 

• we have your explicit consent;

 

• the processing is necessary to protect your (or someone else’s) vital interests where you are physically or legally incapable of giving consent; or

 

• the processing is necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims—this includes using special category personal data, where necessary, for:

–           actual or prospective court proceedings;

–           obtaining legal advice; or

–           establishing, exercising or defending legal rights in any other way.

Marketing

We may use your personal data to send you updates (by email, text message, telephone or post) about our services, including exclusive offers, promotions or new services.

We have a legitimate interest in using your personal data for marketing purposes (see above ‘How and why we use your personal data’). This means we do not usually need your consent to send you marketing information. However, where consent is needed, we will ask for this separately and clearly.

You have the right to opt out of receiving marketing communications at any time by:

• contacting us at [insert contact details for marketing opt-out];
• using the ‘unsubscribe’ link in emails or ‘STOP’ number in texts; or
• updating your marketing preferences on our [insert link to preference centre]

We may ask you to confirm or update your marketing preferences if you ask us to provide further services in the future, or if there are changes in the law, regulation, or the structure of our business.

We will always treat your personal data with the utmost respect and never sell or share it with other organisations for marketing purposes.

Who we share your personal data with

We routinely share personal data with:

• professional advisers who we instruct on your behalf or refer you to, e.g. barristers, medical professionals, accountants, tax advisors or other experts;
• other third parties where necessary to carry out your instructions e.g. your mortgage provider or HM Land Registry in the case of a property transaction or Companies House;
• credit reference agencies;
• our insurers and brokers;
• external auditors, e.g. in relation to Lexcel accreditation and the audit of our accounts;
• our bank[s];
• external service suppliers, representatives and agents that we use to make our business more efficient, e.g. typing services, marketing agencies, document collation or analysis suppliers;

We only allow our service providers to handle your personal data if we are satisfied they take appropriate measures to protect your personal data. We also impose contractual obligations on service providers to ensure they can only use your personal data to provide services to us and to you.

We may also need to:

• share personal data with external auditors, e.g. in relation to the ICO, accreditation bodies and in relation to the auditing of our accounts;
• disclose and exchange information with law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;
• share some personal data with other parties, such as potential buyers of some or all of our business or during a restructuring—usually, information will be anonymised but this may not always be possible, however, the recipient of the information will be bound by confidentiality obligations.

If you would like more information about who we share our data with and why, please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ below).

We will not share your personal data with any other third party.

Where your personal data is held

Personal data may be held at our offices and those of our third party agencies, service providers, representatives and agents as described above (see above: ‘Who we share your personal data with’).

Some of these third parties may be based outside the UK/EEA. For more information, including on how we safeguard your personal data when this happens, see below: ‘Transferring your personal data out of the UK and EEA’.

How long your personal data will be kept

We will keep your personal data while you have an account with us or we are providing services, facilities or deliverables to you. Thereafter, we keep your personal data for as long as is necessary:

• to respond to any questions, complaints or claims made by you or on your behalf;
• to show that we treated you fairly;
• to keep records required by law.

We will not keep your personal data for longer than necessary. Different retention periods apply for different types of personal data.

When it is no longer necessary to keep your personal data, we will delete or anonymise it.

Transferring your personal data out of the UK and EEA

To deliver services to you, it is sometimes necessary for us to share your personal data outside the UK/EEA, e.g.:

• with our offices or other companies within our group located outside the UK/EEA;
• with your and our service providers located outside the UK/EEA;
• if you are based outside the UK/EEA;
• where there is a European and/or international dimension to the services we are providing to you.

Under data protection law, we can only transfer your personal data to a country or international organisation outside the UK/EEA where:

• the UK government or, where the EU GDPR applies, the European Commission has decided the particular country or international organisation ensures an adequate level of protection of personal data (known as an ‘adequacy decision’);
• there are appropriate safeguards in place, together with enforceable rights and effective legal remedies for data subjects; or
• a specific exception applies under data protection law

These are explained below.

Adequacy decision

We may transfer your personal data to certain countries, on the basis of an adequacy decision. These include:

• all European Union countries, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway (collectively known as the ‘EEA’);
• Gibraltar; and
• Andorra, Argentina, Canada, Faroe Islands, Guernsey, Israel, Isle of Man, Japan, Jersey, New Zealand, Switzerland and Uruguay.

The list of countries that benefit from adequacy decisions will change from time to time. We will always seek to rely on an adequacy decision, where one exists.

Other countries or international organisations we are likely to transfer personal data to do not have the benefit of an adequacy decision. This does not necessarily mean they provide poor protection for personal data, but we must look at alternative grounds for transferring the personal data, such as ensuring appropriate safeguards are in place or relying on an exception, as explained below.

Transfers with appropriate safeguards

Where there is no adequacy decision, we may transfer your personal data to another country or international organisation if we are satisfied the transfer complies with data protection law, appropriate safeguards are in place, and enforceable rights and effective legal remedies are available for data subjects. The safeguards will usually include using legally-approved standard data protection contract clauses. To obtain a copy of the standard data protection contract clauses and further information about relevant safeguards, please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ below).

Transfers under an exception

In the absence of an adequacy decision or appropriate safeguards, we may transfer personal data to a third country or international organisation where an exception applies under relevant data protection law, e.g.:

• you have explicitly consented to the proposed transfer after having been informed of the possible risks;
• the transfer is necessary for the performance of a contract between us or to take pre-contract measures at your request;
• the transfer is necessary for a contract in your interests, between us and another person; or
• the transfer is necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims

We may also transfer information for the purpose of our compelling legitimate interests, so long as those interests are not overridden by your interests, rights and freedoms. Specific conditions apply to such transfers and we will provide relevant information if and when we seek to transfer your personal data on this ground.

Your rights

You have the following rights, which you can exercise free of charge:

Access	The right to be provided with a copy of your personal data
Rectification	The right to require us to correct any mistakes in your personal data
Erasure (also known as the right to be forgotten)	The right to require us to delete your personal data—in certain situations
Restriction of processing	The right to require us to restrict processing of your personal data in certain circumstances, eg if you contest the accuracy of the data
Data portability	The right to receive the personal data you provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and/or transmit that data to a third party—in certain situations
To object	The right to object: —at any time to your personal data being processed for direct marketing (including profiling); —in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal data, eg processing carried out for the purpose of our legitimate interests.
Not to be subject to automated individual decision making	The right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (including profiling) that produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you

 

For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ below) or see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights.

If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please:

• email, call or write to us—see below: ‘How to contact us’; and
• provide enough information to identify yourself g. your full name, address and customer or matter reference number) and any additional identity information we may reasonably request from you;
• let us know what right you want to exercise and the information to which your request relates.

Keeping your personal data secure

We have appropriate security measures to prevent personal data from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed unlawfully. We limit access to your personal data to those who have a genuine business need to access it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.  

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach.

If you want detailed information from Get Safe Online on how to protect your information and your computers and devices against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other online problems, please visit www.getsafeonline.org. Get Safe Online is supported by HM Government and leading businesses.

How to complain

Please contact us if you have any query or concern about our use of your information (see below ‘How to contact us’). We hope we will be able to resolve any issues you may have.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner or any relevant European data protection supervisory authority. The Information Commissioner may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or telephone: 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this privacy policy

This privacy notice was published on 11^th June 2021.

We may change this privacy notice from time to time—when we do we will inform you via our website or other means of contact such as email.

How to contact us

Individuals in the UK or the EEC

You can contact us by post, email or telephone if you have any questions about this privacy policy or the information we hold about you, to exercise a right under data protection law or to make a complaint.

Our contact details are shown below:

Our contact details
1st Floor, Alpha House, Coop Place, Bradford, BD5 8JX [email protected] 0800 0786 088