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.
Personal data we collect about you and how we use it
In order to provide you with legal services we will be collecting and using your personal data. This includes information that identifies you (e.g. your name, address, telephone number, email address, date of birth, passport) and allows us to process our regulatory obligations. For some legal services we may need to collect special categories of personal data, which can include your National Insurance & tax details, bank/building society details, and details of your spouse/partner & dependants or other family members.
We collect most of this information from you direct. However, we may also collect information from publicly accessible sources (eg Companies House or HM Land Registry), directly from a third party (eg sanctions screening providers, credit reference agencies, client due diligence providers), from a third party with your consent (eg your bank or building society, another financial institution or advisor), consultants and other professionals we may engage in relation to your matter.
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 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.
Promotional communications
We will not use your personal data for promotional purposes. We will always treat your personal data with the utmost respect and never sell OR share it with other organisations outside Simmons Stein 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, 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), our insurers and brokers, external auditors (e.g. in relation to the audit of our accounts, our banks). We may disclose and exchange information with law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.
We will not use your personal data for promotional purposes. We will always treat your personal data with the utmost respect and never sell OR share it with other organisations outside Simmons Stein for marketing purposes.
Where your personal data is held
Information may be held at our offices, third party agencies, service providers, representatives and agents as
described above.
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. When it is no longer necessary to retain your personal data, we will delete or anonymise it.
Information may be held at our offices, third party agencies, service providers, representatives and agents as described above.
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). This can be because you are based outside of the EEA, where there is an international dimension to the matter in which we are advising you, or your and our service providers are located outside the EEA. 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 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 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 email, call or write to us providing enough information to identify you (eg your full name, address and matter reference number), including proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill), and 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.
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.
How to contact us
Please contact us 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:
Simmons Stein Solicitors
Winston House, 2 Dollis Park, Finchley, London, N3 1HF, England
Telephone: 020 8371 9600
Email: enquiries@simmons-stein.co.uk