THIS    PRIVACY   POLICY   APPLIES   TO   ALL   DATA   SUBJECTS   WHO INSTRUCT RIGHTS LAW SOLICITORS OR ASK FOR A REFERENCE

This privacy notice contains information about how we collect, store and otherwise process information about you and the reasons for it. It also tells you who we share this information with, the security mechanisms we have put in place to protect your data and how to contact us in the event you need further information. Therefore, please read the following information carefully.

Who are We?

Your instructed Rights Law Solicitors collects, uses and is responsible for personal information about you. When we do this, we are the ‘controller’ of this information for the purposes of the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

If you need to contact us about your data or the processing carried out, you can use the contact details at the end of this document.

What do we do with your information?

Information collected.

When carrying out the provision of legal services or providing a reference we collect some or all the following personal information that you provide:

• Personal details

• Family details

• Lifestyle and social circumstances

• Goods and services

• Financial details

• National Insurance, tax details

• Education, training and employment details

• Racial or ethnic origin

• Political opinions

• Physical or mental health details

• Religious, philosophical or other beliefs

• Trade union membership

• Sex life or sexual orientation

• Genetic data

• Biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person

• Details of your online presence; Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, other social media accounts and information publicly available

• Criminal proceedings, outcomes and sentences, and related security measures

• Other personal data relevant to instructions to provide legal services, including data specific to the instructions in question.

Information collected from other sources

The same categories of information may also be obtained from third parties, such as other legal professionals or experts, members of the public, your family and friends, witnesses, investigators, or other organisations such as follows:

• Organisations that have referred work to us.

• Courts or tribunal

• Contracted suppliers

• Translation agencies

• HM Land Registry

• HM Revenue & Customs

• Insurance companies

• Providers of identity verification

• Client feedback review platforms

• Financial institutions such as banks, mortgage lenders, creditors

• Disclosure received as required by law or regulations

• NHS, GP or other medical or health related organisations

• Government departments

• Regulators

• Public records and registers

How we use your personal information

Purposes

We may use your personal information for any of the following purposes:

• To provide legal services including the provision of legal advice and representation in courts, tribunals, arbitrations, and mediations

• To keep accounting records and carry out office administration

• To take or defend legal or regulatory proceedings or to exercise a lien

• To respond to potential complaints or make complaints

• To check for potential conflicts of interest in relation to future potential cases

• To promote and market our services

• To carry out anti-money laundering and terrorist financing checks

• To train other solicitors and when providing work-shadowing opportunities

• To instruct agents or other professionals on your behalf

• To respond to requests for references

• When procuring goods and services

• To publish legal judgments and decisions of courts and tribunals

• A s required or permitted by law

Whether information has to be provided by you, and why?

If we have been instructed by you or on your behalf on a case or if you have asked for a reference, your personal information has to be provided, to enable us to provide you with advice or representation or the reference or when acting as mediator or arbitrator, and to enable us to comply with our professional obligations, and to keep accounting records.

The legal basis for processing your personal information

We rely on the following as the lawful bases on which we collect and use your personal information:

• If you have consented to the processing of your personal information, then we may process your information for the purposes set out above to the extent to which you have consented to us doing so.

• If you are a client, processing is necessary for the performance of a contract for legal services or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract.

• In relation to information which is in categories (g) to (o) above (these being categories which are considered to include particularly sensitive information and which include information about criminal convictions or proceedings) we rely on your consent for any processing for the purposes set out in purposes (ii), (iv), (vi), (viii) and (ix) above. We need your consent to carry out processing of this data for these However, if you do not consent to processing for purposes (iv) and (ix) (responding to potential complaints and providing a reference) we will be unable to take your case or to provide a reference. This is because we need to be able to retain all the material about your case until there is no prospect of a complaint and to provide an informed and complete reference.

• In relation to information in categories (g) to (o) above (these being categories which are considered to be particularly sensitive information and include information about criminal convictions or proceedings), we are entitled by law to process the information where the processing is necessary for legal proceedings, legal advice, or otherwise for establishing, exercising or defending legal rights.

• In relation to information which is not in categories (g) to (o) above, we rely on our legitimate interest and/or the legitimate interests of a third party in carrying out the processing for the Purposes set out above.

• In certain circumstances processing may be necessary in order that we can comply with a legal obligation to which we are subject (including carrying out anti-money laundering or terrorist financing checks).

• The processing is necessary to publish judgments or other decisions of courts or tribunals.

Who will we share your personal information with?

If you are a client, some of the information you provide will be protected by legal professional privilege unless and until the information becomes public during any proceedings or otherwise. As a solicitor firm, we have an obligation to keep your information confidential, except where it otherwise becomes public or is disclosed as part of the case or proceedings.

It may be necessary to share your information with the following:

• Data processors, such as our staff, IT support staff, email providers, data storage providers

• Other legal professionals

• Experts and other witnesses

• Prosecution authorities

• Courts and tribunals

• The staff in our firm

• Trainee solicitors

• Lay clients

• Family and associates of the person whose personal information we are processing

• In the event of complaints, the Complaints Manager, other members of the firm who deal with complaints and the Legal Ombudsman

• Other regulatory authorities

• Current, past or prospective employers

• Education and examining bodies

• Business associates, professional advisers and trade bodies

• The intended recipient, where you have asked us to provide a reference

• The public in relation to the publication of legal judgments and decisions of courts and tribunals.

We may be required to provide your information to regulators, such as the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Financial Conduct Authority or the Information Commissioner’s Office. In the case of the Information Commissioner’s Office, there is a risk that your information may lawfully be disclosed by them for the purpose of any other civil or criminal proceedings, without our consent or yours, which includes privileged information.

We may also be required to disclose your information to the police or intelligence services, where required or permitted by law.

Sources of information

The personal information we obtain may include information which has been obtained from:

• Other legal professionals

• Experts and other witnesses

• Prosecution authorities

• Courts and tribunals

• Trainee solicitors

• Lay clients

• Family and associates of the person whose personal information we are processing

• In the event of complaints, the Complaints Manager, other members of the firm who deal with complaints and the Legal Ombudsman

• Other regulatory authorities

• Current, past or prospective employers

• Education and examining bodies

• Business associates, professional advisers and trade bodies

• The intended recipient, where you have asked us to provide a reference

• The general public in relation to the publication of legal judgments and decisions of courts and tribunals

• Data processors, such as our firm’s staff, IT support staff, email providers, data storage providers, confidential waste processors,

• Public sources, such as the press, public registers and law reports.

Transfer of your information outside the European Economic Area (EEA)

This privacy notice is of general application and as such it is not possible to state whether it will be necessary to transfer your information out of the EEA in any case or for a reference. However, if you reside outside the EEA or your case or the role for which you require a reference involves persons or organisations or courts and tribunals outside the EEA then it may be necessary to transfer some of your data to that country outside of the EEA for that purpose. If you are in a country outside the EEA or if the instructions, you provide come from outside the EEA then it is inevitable that information will be transferred to those countries. If this applies to you and you wish additional precautions to be taken in respect of your information, please indicate this when providing initial instructions.

Some countries and organisations outside the EEA have been assessed by the European Commission and their data protection laws and procedures found to show adequate protection. The list can be found at https://commission.europa.eu  If your information has to be transferred outside the EEA, then it may not have the same protections and you may not have the same rights as you would within the EEA.

We may transfer your personal information to the following which are located outside th European Economic Area (EEA):

• Cloud data storage services based in the USA who have agreed to comply with the EU- U.S. Privacy Shield, to enable us to store your data and/or backup copies of your data so that we may access your data when they need The USA does not have the same data protection laws as the EU but the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield has been recognised by the European Commission as providing adequate protection. To obtain further details of that protection see https://commission.europa.eu/

• Cloud data storage services based in Switzerland, in order to enable us to store your data and/or backup copies of your data so that we may access your data when we need Switzerland does not have the same data protection laws as the EU but has been recognised by the European Commission as providing adequate protection; see https://commission.europa.eu/

If we decide to publish a judgment or other decision of a Court or Tribunal containing your information, then this will be published to the world.

We will not [otherwise] transfer personal information outside the EEA [except as necessary for providing legal services or for any legal proceedings].

If you would like any further information please use the contact details at the end of this document.

How long will we store your personal data?

We will normally store all your information:

• [Until at least 1 year after the expiry of any relevant limitation period (which will usually be 6 years, but may be 12 years, or longer where the case includes information relating to a minor), from [the date of the last item of work carried out, the date of the last payment received or the date on which all outstanding payments are written off, whichever is the latest/whatever other end point is chosen]. This is because it may be needed for potential legal proceedings/ or another dispute. At this point any further retention will be reviewed and the data will be marked for deletion or marked for retention for a further The latter retention period is likely to occur only where the information is needed for legal proceedings, regulatory matters or active complaints. Deletion will be carried out (without further notice to you) as soon as reasonably practicable after the data is marked for deletion.

• We will store some of your information which we need to carry out conflict checks for the rest of our business However, this is likely to be limited to [your name and contact details/ the name of the case/anything else]. This will not include any information within categories (g) to (o) above.

• Information related to anti-money laundering checks will be retained until five years after the completion of the transaction or the end of the business relationship, whichever is the

• Names and contact details held for marketing purposes will be stored indefinitely or until we become aware or are informed that the individual has ceased to be a potential client.

Consent

As explained above, we are relying on your explicit consent to process your information in categories (g) to (o) above. You provided this consent when [you agreed that we would provide legal services/you asked us to provide a reference].

You have the right to withdraw this consent at any time, but this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing activity we have carried out prior to you withdrawing your consent. However, where we also rely on other bases for processing your information, you may not be able to prevent processing your data. For example, if you have asked us to work for you and we have spent time on your case, you may owe us money which we will be entitled to claim.

If there is an issue with the processing of your information, please contact us using the contact details below.

Your Rights

The Data Protection Act 2018 is the UK’s implementation of the GDPR and controls how your personal information is used by us. Under the GDPR, you have a number of rights that you can exercise in certain circumstances. These are free of charge. In summary, you may have the right to:

• Ask for access to your personal information and other supplementary information;

• Ask for correction of mistakes in your data or to complete missing information we hold on you;

• Ask for your personal information to be erased, in certain circumstances;

• Receive a copy of the personal information you have provided to us or have this information sent to a third party. This will be provided to you or the third party in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, g. a Word file;

• Object at any time to processing of your personal information for direct marketing;

• Object in certain other situations to the continued processing of your personal information;

• Restrict my processing of your personal information in certain circumstances;

• Request not to be the subject to automated decision-making which produces legal effects that concern you or affects you in a significant way.

If you want more information about your rights under the GDPR please see the Guidance from the Information Commissioners Office on Individual’s rights under the GDPR.

If you want to exercise any of these rights, please:

• Use the contact details at the end of this document;

• We may need to ask you to provide other information so that you can be identified;

• Please provide a contact address so that you can be contacted to request further information to verify your identity;

• Provide proof of your identity and address;

• State the right or rights that you wish to exercise.

We will respond to you within one month from when we receive your request.

When information can be withheld?

There are some situations wherein we are permitted to withhold your information, for example if the information is about:

• The prevention, detection or investigation of a crime

• National security or the armed forces

• The assessment or collection of tax

• Judicial or ministerial appointments

We have the right to not state why we are withholding information.

Cookies

A cookie is a text file sent by a web server and placed onto your computer. Our internet services use cookies. We use session cookies in connection with its internet services, particularly for cybersecurity purposes, to provide you with customisations of your experience, to detect and remember your region and language preferences, as well as to track your activities on our website.

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and allows us to improve our site.

Although we use the services of third parties together with these cookies, we do not allow the third-party service providers to use the personal information of users from our website.

Some of the ways we use your information are as follows: 

• Providing legal advice

• Ensuring our adherence to our policies

• Improving our website and ensuring that it remains user friendly.

• Keeping our website safe and secure

• Marketing our business

• Updating client’s records

• Ensuring safe working practices, administration of staff and assessments

• Administering our website and for internal operations such as troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, and statistical surveys

• Allowing service users to participate in interactive features.

We will use this information for –

• Complying with our legal and regulatory obligations

• Performance of obligations towards our clients

• Ensuring delivery of best services

• Providing information about other similar services

• Notifying about changes to our service

Information we receive from other sources

We may combine both the information you give to us and that which we collect from you, for the purposes set out above (depending on the types of information we receive).

Disclosure of your information

We may disclose your personal information to third parties:

• If we sell or buy any business or assets, we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets.

• If we are under the duty to disclose your personal data to comply with any legal obligation, or to enforce or apply our terms of business and other agreements or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Rights Law Solicitors, our customers, or others.

• If Rights Law Solicitors or substantially all of our assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by it about its customers will be one of the transferred assets.

Do Not Track Signals

‘Do not track’ signals are options available on your browser to tell operators of websites that you do not wish to have your online activity tracked. Our websites operate the same if these ‘do not track’ signals are enabled or disabled. In addition, our firm’s internet services do not allow any third parties to collect personal information regarding your online activities over time or across websites for their own purposes.

Children

For the privacy of minors to be respected, we may unknowingly collect, maintain, or process personal information submitted online through our internet services by individuals under 18 years of age.  To the extent we collect personal information on minors in the context of one of the purposes mentioned in this policy, the firm will only do so with the appropriate consent or as otherwise permitted under applicable laws.

How to protect your personal data

We acknowledge that your personal information is important and valuable, and we take all reasonable measures to protect it whilst it is within our care.

We use computer safeguards such as; firewalls, data encryption and annual penetration testing. We also enforce physical access controls to our site and files to keep data safe and protected.

Moreover, we seek to use appropriate, technical, and organizational measure to; prevent personal data from being lost accidentally, or used and accessed in an unlawful manner, ensure that those processing your personal information will be carrying out in an authorised manner and have appropriate procedures in place to deal with any breach of suspected data security. We will notify you regarding any suspected data security breach which we are legally required to do so.

Changes to our privacy policy

We may make changes to this policy without any advance notice given to you. However, where appropriate we shall notify you via email. Any changes or update policy will be posted onto our website and the relevant internet services.

Your rights

You have the right to ask us not to process your personal data for marketing purposes. Although before collecting your data, we will inform you if we intend to use your data for such purposes or disclose your personal data to third parties. You have the right to exercise the prevention of this process, you could do this by contacting us at awk@rightslawsolicitos.com

How to make a complaint?

The GDPR also gives you the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners’ Office if you are in the UK, or with the supervisory authority of the Member State where you work, normally live or where the alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The Information Commissioner’s Office can be contacted at http://ico.org.uk/concerns/.

Future Processing

We do not intend to process your personal information except for the reasons stated within this privacy notice. If this changes, this privacy notice will be amended and placed on www.rightslawsolicitors.com

Changes to this privacy notice

This privacy notice was published on 3^rd July 2023 and last updated on n/a.

We continually review our privacy practices and may change this policy from time to time. When we do it will be placed on the Rights Law Solicitors website.

Contact details

If you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information we hold about you, please contact us at  info@rightslawsolicitors.com.

You could also write to us at our firm’s address: Rights Law Solicitors, First Floor Office 21, Heron House, 2A Heigham Road, London, E6 2JG

You may also contact us on 0208 076 0155

Dated 3rd July 2023