Privacy Policy - Braitch Solicitors

GENERAL INFORMATION PROTECTION REGULATION- POLICY 24^TH May 2018 v.1

PRIVACY POLICY

We take your privacy very seriously. Please read this privacy policy carefully as it contains important information on who we are and how and why we collect, store, use and share your personal data. It also explains your rights in relation to your personal data and how to contact us or supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.

When we use your personal data we are regulated under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which applies across the European Union (including in the United Kingdom) and we are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal data for the purposes of the GDPR. Our use of your personal data is subject to your instructions, the GDPR, other relevant UK and EU legislation and our professional duty of confidentiality.

Contents

KEY TERMS

PERSONAL DATA WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU

HOW YOUR PERSONAL DATA IS COLLECTED

HOW AND WHY WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA

PROMOTIONAL COMMUNICATIONS

WHO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL DATA WITH

WHERE YOUR PERSONAL DATA IS HELD

HOW LONG YOUR PERSONAL DATA WILL BE KEPT

TRANSFERRING YOUR PERSONAL DATA OUT OF THE EEA

YOUR RIGHTS

KEEPING YOUR PERSONAL DATA SECURE

HOW TO COMPLAIN

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

HOW TO CONTACT US

DO YOU NEED EXTRA HELP?

KEY TERMS

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

We, us, our = Braitch Solicitors

Our Data Protection Officer = Lakhvinder Singh Braitch

Email address: lax@braitchsolicit.wpengine.com

Telephone: 01902 711200

Personal data = Any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual

Special category = Personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious, beliefs, philosophical beliefs or trade union membership

Genetic and biometric data = Data concerning health, sex life or sexual orientation

PERSONAL DATA WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU

The table below sets out the personal data we will or may collect in the course of advising and/or acting for you.

Personal data we will collect Personal data we may collect depending on why you have instructed us this could include

Your name, address and telephone number

Information to enable us to check and verify your identity, e.g. your date of birth or passport details

Electronic contact details, e.g. your email address and mobile phone number

Information relating to the matter in which you are seeking our advice or representation

Information to enable us to undertake a credit or other financial checks on you

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 National Insurance and tax details,your bank and/or building society details

Details of your professional online presence, e.g. LinkedIn profile

Details of your spouse/partner and dependants or other family members, e.g. if you instruct us on an immigration or asylum matter or a will

Your employment status and details including salary and benefits, e.g. if you instruct us on asylum or immigration where immigration rules or the home require such information or in which your employment status or income is relevant for example legal aid funding

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

Your employment records for immigration matters

Your racial or ethnic origin, gender and sexual orientation, religious or similar beliefs, e.g. if you instruct us on an asylum or immigration matter where the Legal Aid Agency or Tribunals require such information

Personal identifying information, such as your hair or eye colour or your parents’ names, e.g. if you instruct us on matters where password may be required by the receiving party.

Your medical records, e.g. if we are acting for you in relation to Lasting Powers of Attorney or Immigration Matters

This personal data is required to enable us to provide our service to you. If you do not provide personal data we ask for, it may delay or prevent us from providing services to you. In particular when other agencies such as the Home Office, Legal Aid or Tribunals Courts require such information.

HOW YOUR PERSONAL DATA IS COLLECTED

We collect most of this information directly from you. However, we may also collect information:

from publicly accessible sources, e.g. Companies House or HM Land Registry

directly from a third party, e.g.:

– sanctions screening providers;

– credit reference agencies;

– client due diligence providers;

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 body or pension administrators;

– your doctors, medical and occupational health professionals;

via our website—we do not currently use cookies on our website (Please see the Privacy Policy on our website www.braitchsolicitors.co.uk) but have a connection to a conveyancing portal for quotes

via our information technology (IT) systems, e.g.:

– case management, document management and time recording systems;

– visitors book;

– automated monitoring of our websites and other technical systems, such as our

computer networks and connections, communications systems and email.

Following a link to another website

If you go to another website from this one, read the privacy policy on that website to find out what it does with your information.

Following a link to braitchsolicitors.co.uk from another website

If you come to braitchsolicitors.co.uk from another website, we may receive information from the other website. We do not use this data. You should read the privacy policy of the website you came from to find out more about this.

HOW AND WHY WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA

Under data protection law, we can only use your personal data if we have a proper reason for doing so, e.g.

to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;
for the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract;
for our legitimate interests or those of a third party; or
where you have given consent.

A legitimate interest – explained

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.

The table below explains what we use (process) your personal data for and our reasons for doing so:

What we use your personal data for Our reasons

To provide legal services to you For the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract

Conducting checks to identify our clients and verify their identity

Screening for financial and other sanctions or embargoes

Other processing necessary to comply with professional, legal and regulatory obligations that apply to our business, e.g. under health and safety regulation or rules issued by our professional regulator

To comply with our legal and regulatory Obligations

To comply with our funding contract with the Legal Aid Agency or for Legal Aid Audits

What we use your personal data for Our reasons

Gathering and providing information required by or relating to audits, enquiries or investigations by regulatory bodies including Legal Aid Agency and our Accountants

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 for 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 our intellectual property

and other commercially valuable information

Statistical analysis to help us manage our practice, e.g. in relation to our financial performance, client base, work type 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 for 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 us and for you

To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations

Updating and enhancing client records

For the performance of 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 clients about existing and new services

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 such as Legal Aid Audits or SQM Audits

What we use your personal data and Our reasons

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 clients

Credit reference checks via external credit reference agencies

For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. for credit control and to ensure our

clients are likely to be able to pay for our services

External audits and quality checks, e.g. for CQS, SQM accreditation, the audit of our accounts and Legal Aid Audits

For our legitimate interests or 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

The above does not apply to special category personal data, which we will only process with your explicit consent unless required by the Legal Aid Agency where consent is given on the Controlled funding for.

We ask all clients to sign a General Data Protection Regulation consent form to give us explicit consent which is applicable to all Legal Aid Matters.

PROMOTIONAL COMMUNICATIONS

We may use your personal data to send you updates (by email, text message, telephone or post) about legal developments that might be of interest to you and/or information about our services, including exclusive offers, promotions or new services.

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

We will always treat your personal data with the utmost respect and never sell OR share it with other organisations which does not include third parties where you have consented to the information being shared such as Barristers, your Accountants, your GP or medical advisor, Country Experts, Conveyancing Portal Conveyancing Search Providers, Land Registry etc ( please see below)

You have the right to opt out of receiving promotional communications at any time by contacting our

Office Manager. You can do this by sending a letter, by phone or by sending an email to

lax@braitchsolicit.wpengine.com

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

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 CQS/SQM accreditation the audit of our accounts and Legal Aid Agency:

our banks;

external service suppliers, representatives and agents that we use to make our business more efficient, e.g. our computer software providers

We only allow our service providers to handle your personal data if we are satisfied they take

appropriate measures to protect your personal data or we have provided you with details of the service providers Policy and you have consented for your information to be conveyed.

We may disclose and exchange information with law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.

We may also need to share some personal data with other parties, such as potential buyers of some or all of our business or during a re-structuring. Usually, information will be anonymised but this may not always be possible. The recipient of the information will be bound by confidentiality obligations.

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

WHERE YOUR PERSONAL DATA IS HELD

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

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

HOW LONG YOUR PERSONAL DATA WILL BE KEPT

We will keep your personal data after we have finished advising or acting for you. We will do so for one of these reasons:

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 retain your data for longer than necessary for the purposes set out in this policy. Different

retention periods apply for different types of data. Further details on this are available in our Data

Retention Guidelines. You may request a copy of these guidelines from our Office Manager or they are

available on our website.

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

TRANSFERRING YOUR PERSONAL DATA OUT OF THE EEA

To deliver services to you, it is sometimes necessary for us to share your personal data outside the

European Economic Area (EEA), e.g.:

with your and our service providers located outside the EEA;
if you are based outside the EEA;
where there is an international dimension to the matter in which we are advising you.

These transfers are subject to special rules under European and UK data protection law.

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
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, e.g. 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

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, e.g. 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 or see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under the General Data Protection Regulation.

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

complete a data subject request form—or
email or write to Lax Braitch our Data Protection Officer—see below: ‘How to contact us’;

and

let us have enough information to identify you (eg your full name, address and client or matter reference number);
let us have proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill); and
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 where we are legally required to do so.

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

We hope that our Data Protection Officer can resolve any query or concern you may raise about our use of your information.

The General Data Protection Regulation also gives you right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the European Union (or European Economic Area) state where you work, normally live or where any alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at

https://ico.org.uk/concerns or telephone: 0303 123 1113.

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

This privacy policy was published on 24^th May 2018 and last updated on 26^th May 2018.

We may change this privacy policy from time to time.

Additional information – Other policies you must consulate and take advice on are as follows:

Our Software Providers policy:

https://www.leap.co.uk/information-security-policy/

Perfect Portal – Conveyancing Portal

https://www.perfectportal.co.uk/privacy-policy/

Legal Aid Agency Policy

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/legal-aid-agency-data-security-requirements

Land Registry

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/land-registry/about/personal-information-charter

Bank

https://www.lloydsbank.com/privacy.asp

Accountants

Awaiting

SRA

https://www.sra.org.uk/sra/how-we-work/privacy-notice.page

Home Office

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/about/personal-information-charter

HOW TO CONTACT US

Please contact us and/or our Data Protection Officer by post, email or telephone if you have any questions about this privacy policy or the information we hold about you.

Our contact details are shown below:

Our contact details Our Data Protection Officer’s contact details

Braitch Solicitors

28 Chapel Ash

Wolverhampton

WV3 0TN

TELEPHONE 01902 711200

FAX: 01902 711007

26^th May 2018

Braitch Solicitors

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