Privacy Policy

Purpose of this privacy notice

This privacy notice tells you how Gotelee Solicitors LLP collects and processes personal data when contact us to make a service enquiry or when we provide our services.

Controller

Gotelee Solicitors is the controller of your personal data, “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy notice.

Further details about Gotelee Solicitors LLP

For further details about Gotelee Solicitors LLP, including how to contact us, please see our Terms and Conditions.

Gotelee Solicitors LLP is the successor practice to Margary + Miller in Melton, Woodbridge and Felixstowe. If you were a client of Margary + Miller in those areas and you have not objected to your files being transferred to us then we will hold your data in accordance with this Privacy Notice.

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

This version was last updated on 23 May 2018 and historic versions may be obtained by contacting us.

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.

Third-party links

This website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you.

We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.

1. 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 as follows:

• Identity Data includes first name, maiden name, last name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth and gender.
• Contact Data includes billing address, delivery address, email address and telephone numbers.
• Financial Data includes bank account and payment card details.
• Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you and other details of services you have purchased from us.
• Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, 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 your username and password (if any), the types of services we have provided to you, your preferences, feedback and survey responses.
• Usage Data includes information about how you use our website, products and services.
• Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.
• Special Categories of Data and Criminal Offences 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) together with information about any criminal convictions you may have and or offences you may have been accused of or committed. We collect this data when it is necessary to provide our services to you or where you have volunteered that data to us as it may be relevant to your matter or enquiry.

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. In this case, we may not be able to provide our services to you but we will let you know if this happens.

2. How is your personal data collected?

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

• Directly from you. You may give us your details by filling in forms or by writing to us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you:
  • ask if we will provide services;
  • engage us to provide services;
  • subscribe to any of our publications;
  • request marketing to be sent to you;
  • enter a competition, promotion or survey; or
  • give us some feedback.
• Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we may automatically collect data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. Please see our cookie policy for further details.
• Third parties or publicly available sources. We may receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources as set out below:
  • Technical Data from the following parties from:
  • (a) analytics providers such as Google based outside the EU;
  • (b) search information providers based inside or outside the EU.
• Identity and contact data from your agents and other service providers (for example, estate agents, accountants, financial advisers and business brokers).
• Identity and contact data from publicly available sources such as Companies House and the Electoral Register based inside the EU.
• Medical data from doctors and other health and social care providers.
• Expressions of opinion in relation to you and data which is narrative in relation to you from witnesses and other third parties (such as experts) if such data is relevant to your matter.
• Identity and contact data together with data relevant to a matter from authorities such as the police, Crown Prosecution Service, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, the Health & Safety
• Executive and courts and tribunals.

3. How we use your personal data

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

• 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 (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
• Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
• For the purposes of legal claims.

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. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us.

Purposes for which we will use your personal data

We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.

Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground 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 where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.

Marketing

We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising.

Promotional offers from us

We may use your Identity, Contact, Technical, Usage and Profile Data to form a view on what we think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. This is how we decide which products, services and offers may be relevant for you (we call this marketing).

You will receive marketing communications from us if you have requested information from us or purchased services from us and you have not opted out of receiving that marketing or where you have given your express opt-in consent.

Third-party marketing

We will get your express opt-in consent before we share your personal data third party for marketing purposes.

Opting out

You can ask us or third parties to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by contacting us. <hyperlink>

Cookies

You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly. For more information about the cookies we use, please see the link to Cookie Policy.

Change of purpose

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason 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.

If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent where this is required or permitted by law.

4. Disclosures of your personal data

We may share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table in paragraph 4 above.

• Service providers acting as processors such as IT system providers, shredding services providers and locums, bailiffs, private investigators, tracing service providers, credit reference agencies. We may also disclose your information to debt collection agencies if you do not pay our bills.
• Professional advisers acting as processors or joint data controllers including other solicitors and barristers, bankers, auditors and insurers who provide.
• Healthcare professionals and other social and welfare organisations.
• HM Revenue & Customs as a joint data controllers.
• The Solicitors Regulation authority as a joint data controller.
• Other public bodies such as Police forces and the National Crime Agency.
• Courts, tribunals, adjudicators and mediators.
• Where you authorise us we may also disclose your information to your family, associates or representatives.
• Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy notice.

We require all third parties 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.

5. International transfers

We do not transfer your personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA) unless:

• You have provided your consent;
• It is necessary to provide our services to you, in which case we will check that the person or entity who whom we transfer the data provides an appropriate level of protection for your data. If we do not know whether they will provide an appropriate level of protection for your data we will let you know and decide with you what to do next.

6. 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, though our staff policies and disciplinary procedures, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business 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.

7. Data retention

How long will you use my personal data for?

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.

Details of retention periods for different aspects of your personal data are available in our retention policy which you can request from us by contacting us.

No fee usually required

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.

What we may need from you

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). 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.

Time limit to respond

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.

8. Glossary

LAWFUL BASIS

Legitimate Interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business. 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. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). You can obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by contacting us.

Performance of Contract means processing your data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or to take steps at your request before entering into such a contract.

Comply with a legal or regulatory obligation means processing your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal or regulatory obligation that we are subject to.

YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS

You have the right to:

Request access to your personal data (commonly known as 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. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of 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 makes you want to 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 products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

HOW TO MAKE A COMPLAINT

If you are unhappy about how we are using your data then initially you should contact our Data Protection Officer, Claire Barritt, and if your complaint remains unresolved then you may contact the Information Commissioner’s Office, details available at www.ico.org.uk