SAUNDERS SOLICITORS LIMITED PRIVACY POLICY
This privacy policy explains how, when and why we collect personal information about you, how it is used, under what conditions we may disclose it to other parties and how we keep it secure.
OUR CONTACT DETAILS
Saunders Solicitors Limited
6 Snow Hill, London, EC1A 2AY
020 3131 9710
info@saunders-solicitors.co.uk
We are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and our SRA ID is 622221, our company registration number is 09562961 and our ICO registration reference is ZA131242.
Please use info@saunders-solicitors.co.uk regarding any queries about your data.
THE TYPE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT
The information we collect and process will depend upon what you have asked us to do for you
or what we are contracted to do for you.
There are two main types of personal data
Personal identifiers – general information about yourself such as name, address, date of birth, contact details and financial information.
Special Categories of Data – Race or ethnicity, political opinions, religious beliefs, trade union
membership, genetic data, health or sexual orientation.
In the majority of cases personal data will be restricted to basic information and information
needed to complete identification and money laundering checks. However, some of the work we do may require us to ask for more sensitive information.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Information about yourself may be obtained from a number of sources including but not limited
to –
• Information provided by yourself by emailing us, calling at our offices or meeting us in person.
• Information may be provided by a third party in order that we can undertake legal work on your behalf. These bodies can include Courts and Tribunals, prosecuting authorities, statutory public inquiries, Border Force and HMRC, tax authorities and commercial organisations.
• We may receive personal information about you if you are the other side on a case we are instructed upon either from your solicitor, barrister, a court or a commercial organisation.
Our website is hosted by Fuff International Limited, for information on what information they may collect when you visit our website please check their Privacy Policy. We also use a digital document management system provided by LEAP Legal Software Limited, for their Privacy Policy please check their website.
WHY WE NEED THAT INFORMATION
We ask for data for us to carry out your request to represent you or carry out legal work on your behalf.
We may use your information for:
• Verifying your identity
• Verifying source of funds
• Conducting a legal matter you have instructed us to act for you in which will include communicating with you, preparing or obtaining any necessary documentation and drafting and preparing documents for you
• Seeking advice from a 3rd party legal or non-legal experts such as Barristers or expert witnesses
• To respond to any complaint we may receive.
SHARING YOUR INFORMATION
We do not use your data to market to you and we will never sell or rent your information to third parties for any reason. We will not share your data with third parties for the purposes of marketing or selling anything.
We may share this information with the Legal Aid Agency if your case is publicly funded, HMRC, Courts and tribunals and Solicitors or Barristers involved with the conduct of your case. We may also need to share it with any expert witnesses instructed in your case. We will keep you informed throughout your case as to who we are dealing with and who information will be shared with.
In the event that any of your information is shared with a third party we will ensure that they comply with our instructions and do not use your personal information for their own purposes unless they obtain their own consent to do so.
HOW LONG WILL WE KEEP YOUR DATA FOR
Your personal information will be retained, usually in computer or paper files, only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which the information was collected; or as required by law; or as long as is set out in any relevant contract you may hold with us.
We will keep your data for a minimum of 6 years from the conclusion or closure of your legal work as mandated by the SRA; in case you, or we, need to re-open your case or for the purpose of defending complaints or claims against us
HOW DO WE PROTECT YOUR DATA
We understand that your personal data is important and we take all reasonable measures to protect any data we hold. We have high standards of technology and operational security in order to protect personally identifiable data from loss, misuse, alteration or destruction.
We ensure that anyone who may have access to your data both internally and externally have agreed to protect the confidentiality of all information; to ensure all personal data is handled and processed in line with our stringent confidentiality and data protection policies.
We use computer safeguards such as firewalls and data encryption and we enforce, where possible, physical access controls to our office and files to keep data safe.
ACCESSING THE DATA WE HOLD ON YOU
The current data protection legislation, GDPR, allows individuals a “right to access”. Which means that you have a right to access what personal data on you we are holding.
A request for access to your personal data means you are entitled to a copy of the data we hold on you – such as your name, address, contact details, date of birth, information regarding your health etc. but it does not mean you are entitled to the documents that contain this data.
If you would like to make should a request please contact us at info@saunders-solicitors.co.uk or in writing to Gary Bromelow, Saunders Solicitors Ltd, 6 Snow Hill, London, EC1A 2AY.
YOUR DATA PROTECTION RIGHTS
Under data protection law, you have rights including:
Your right of access – You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.
Your right to rectification – You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.
Your right to erasure – You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to restriction of processing – You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to object to processing – You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to data portability – You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.
You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.
COMPLAINTS ABOUT OUR USE OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA
If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are not processing your personal data in accordance with the law, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).