Privacy

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENT?

Under the UK GDPR, European Withdrawal Act 2018 and the Data Protection Act 2018, Chafes Hague Lambert LLP is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy policy explains how we do that and tells you about your legal privacy rights.

This privacy policy informs you how we collect and process your personal data when you use our services or our website.

It is important that you read this privacy policy together with our terms of business and any other notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This privacy policy supplements the other notices and is not intended to override them.

Changes to the privacy notice and your duty to inform us of changes

We may need to update our Privacy Policy from time to time. You can check it at any time on our website. We will inform you of any significant changes.

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.

WHO WE ARE

Chafes Hague Lambert LLP is the controller responsible for your personal data (referred to as “Chafes Hague Lambert Solicitors”, “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy notice).

You can contact us about data protection and any of your data rights using the details set out below.

Contact details

Full name of legal entity:
Chafes Hague Lambert LLP

Data Protection Officer:
Robert Brindley

Email address:
data.protection@chlsolicitors.co.uk

Postal address:
21-23 Union Road, New Mills, High Peak SK22 3EL

Telephone number:
01663 743344

If you think that we have used your data incorrectly or you are not satisfied with our response to any request you have made concerning your data, please contact us via the details above, tell us what has gone wrong and let us put it right. We also have a Complaints Procedure, a copy of which may be obtained from Ellen Jackson. However, you do also have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) whose contact details can be found at www.ico.org.uk.

THE DATA WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together follows:

  • Identity Data includes name, title, date of birth, gender, copy of photographic identification such as passport or driving licence, copy of utility bill.
  • Contact Data includes address, email address and telephone numbers.
  • Financial Data includes bank account and payment card details, tax status information and identifiers.
  • Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you and other details of services we have provided to you.
  • Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this website.
  • Profile Data includes services required by you, enquiries made by you, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses, and results of credit checks.
  • Usage Data includes information about how you use our services.
  • Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.

We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity and is not considered personal data in law. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific service. However, if we combine Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy policy.

We do not routinely collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data). Nor do we routinely collect any information about criminal convictions and offences. However, if we do collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you it will be because that forms part of the matter with which we are dealing on your behalf.

If you fail to provide personal data

Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with legal advice). In this case, we may have to cancel or suspend the provision of our service, including our legal advice.

HOW IS YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION COLLECTED?

We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:

  • Directly from you. You may give us your Identity, Contact and Financial Data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you:
  • engage our services;
  • meet with us or visit our premises;
  • provide information for money laundering or credit checks;
  • subscribe to our publications or request marketing to be sent to you;
  • complete a survey; or
  • give us some feedback.
  • Through our website. As you interact with our website, we may automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, and other similar technologies. Our website uses cookies from Google Analytics (a third party). We use this information to see how many visitors we are getting, and how they found us. You can access information about Google Analytics’ Cookies and their privacy policy at: https://policies.google.com/privacy
  • Any data you submit using our web forms will be held by our firm as Data Controller and will be held securely for no more than 12 months before being securely and confidentially destroyed. Your data will not be disclosed to any third parties and will only be used for responding to your enquiry (or purposes associated with that purpose).
  • From third parties or publicly available sources. We may receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources as set out below:
  • Contact, Financial and Transaction Data from providers of technical and payment services based inside and outside the EU;
  • Identity, Contact, Financial and Profile Data from lawyers representing other parties in a transaction in relation to which you have instructed us;
  • Identity, Contact, Financial and Profile Data from Companies House, the Intellectual Property Office, the Office of the Public Guardian, HM Courts and Tribunal Service, the General Register Office, DVLA, and the Department for Work and Pensions and other authorities in a transaction in relation to which you have instructed us;
  • Identity, Contact, Profile and Marketing and Communications Data from Business networking groups of which you and we or any of our employees are both members;
  • Identity, Contact, Profile and Marketing and Communications Data from Internet networking sites of which you and we or any of our employees are both members; and
  • Identity, Contact and Profile Data from industry and legal publications and the general press.

OUR LEGAL JUSTIFICATIONS FOR USING YOUR PERSONAL DATA

Most commonly, we process your personal data based on the following justifications permitted by law:

  • Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you;
  • Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests in conducting and managing our business (or those of a third party). We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests;
  • Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation. This includes our professional and contractual duties to clients, the courts and our regulators. It also includes other legal obligations, for example fraud prevention to identify clients and to report suspected money laundering to the National Crime Agency.

Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data other than in relation to sending third party direct marketing communications to you via email or text message, or in relation to Special Categories of Personal Data as set out in the next paragraph. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us.

If we have collected Special Categories of Personal Data about you we will process that information because it is necessary for the performance of our contract with you, or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract and it is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims. It may be necessary for us to process some special categories of personal data in order to comply with legal or regulatory obligations (including making reasonable adjustments for clients with disabilities). Otherwise, we will only process your sensitive personal data with your explicit consent or if you send it to us voluntarily. You may withdraw your consent at any time.

We may process your personal data for more than one lawful justification depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data.

Marketing

We may use your Identity, Contact, Technical, Usage and Profile Data to tell you about products, services and offers that may be relevant to you.

You will receive marketing communications from us if you have requested information from us or purchased services from us or if you provided us with your details when you registered for a promotion and, in each case, you have not opted out of receiving that marketing.

Third-party marketing

We do not share your personal data with any company outside Chafes Hague Lambert Solicitors for marketing purposes.

Opting out

You can change your marketing preferences or ask us or third parties to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by contacting us at any time.

Where you opt out of receiving marketing messages, this will not apply to personal data provided to us as a result of our provision of services to you other than marketing.

Change of purpose

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably need to use it for another purpose which is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.

Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

SHARING YOUR PERSONAL DATA

In order to carry out the purposes set out above, we may have to share your personal data with the following parties:

  • Service providers acting as processors based in the United Kingdom who provide IT and system administration services and office administration services;
  • Service providers acting as processors based in the USA who provide IT and system administration services;
  • Professionals acting as processors or joint controllers including lawyers, consultants, expert witnesses, bankers, auditors and insurers based in the United Kingdom who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services;
  • Lawyers and other professionals representing other parties in a transaction in relation to which you have instructed us;
  • Companies House, the Intellectual Property Office, the Office of the Public Guardian, HM Courts and Tribunal Service, the General Register Office, DVLA, and the Department for Work and Pensions and other authorities in a transaction in relation to which you have instructed us
  • HM Revenue & Customs, HM Land Registry, the National Crime Agency, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and other authorities acting as processors or joint controllers based in the United Kingdom who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances;
  • Property search agencies acting as processors based in the United Kingdom;

We require all third parties who provide services to us to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

International transfers

It may sometimes be necessary to transfer personal information outside the UK

  • We will only transfer your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the European Commission. For further details, see European Commission: Adequacy of the protection of personal data in non-EU countries;
  • Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved by the European Commission which give personal data the same protection it has in Europe. For further details, see European Commission: Model contracts for the transfer of personal data to third countries;
  • Where we use providers based in the US, we may transfer data to them if they are part of the Privacy Shield which requires them to provide similar protection to personal data shared between the Europe and the US. For further details, see European Commission: EU-US Privacy Shield.

Please contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the UK.

DATA SECURITY

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

DATA RETENTION

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

By law we have to keep basic information about our customers (including Contact, Identity, Financial and Transaction Data):

  • for six years after they cease being customers for tax purposes; or
  • for 12 years where the matter relates to or includes documents executed by deed;
  • in compliance with the Solicitors Regulation Authority regulations and recommended relevant timescales.

In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS

Under certain circumstances, you have the right to:

Request access to your personal data (a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.

Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.

Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. We may not always be able to comply with your request for erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.

Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which means you object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.

Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.

Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us.

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity. This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.