This firm is the data controller (for the purposes of The Data Protection Act 2018) of personal data that you provide to us. This means that the firm has a duty to comply with the provisions of The Data Protection Act 2018 when processing your personal data.

We may use the information which you provide, or which we obtain through our dealings with you, or others for the provision of Services to fulfil our contractual obligations to you or the legitimate interests of you, ourselves and others.  We may give it on a confidential basis to our Partners, employees and agents. We may use it to administer your account with us, including tracing and collecting any debts.  Further information is provided within our Privacy Policy which can be made available on request.

If you are an individual, you have rights under The Data Protection Act 2018. These rights are:

• The right to be informed– To request a ‘subject access request’ (SAR) please email the file handler with the details of the data that you want to have access. We will ensure that the subject access request has been completed within 30 days.
• The right of access– To request a ‘subject access request’ (SAR) please email the file handler with the details of the data that you want to have access. We will ensure that the subject access request has been completed within 30 days.
• The right to rectification– Please contact the file handler to rectify any information that we hold. In some cases, we may ask to see proof of this change of data.
• The right to erase– To request to erase any data that we hold on you please contact your file handler. Please also bear in mind if we are in the middle of a matter this may affect our capability to act for you. If this is the case, we will discuss this with you.
• The right to restrict processing– To request a restriction of processing please notify your file handler who will contact you to discuss the requirements of your requested restriction. Please bear in mind that some restrictions may prevent us from acting on your behalf. If this is the case, we will discuss this with you.
• The right to data portability– To request this please contact your file handler who will discuss the format you would like your data in when you make a SAR.
• The right to object– If you wish to the objection of any processing (irrelevant if consent has been provided previously). Please contact the file handler who will discuss your needs with you and action your request. Bear in mind, depending on the extent of the request this may prevent us from acting on your matter.
• Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling– The firm does not conduct any automated decision making or profiling. 

We may also wish to contact you by letter, telephone, e-mail or otherwise about our services and about events/offers etc. We may also refer publicly to your name as a client of ours, but we will not disclose any information which is confidential to you. For this type of activity we will require your specific consent. 

FILE AUDITING AND VETTING 

The firm may become subject to periodic audits or quality checks by external firms, companies or organisations. This could mean that your file is selected for checking. It is a specific requirement imposed by us that these external firms, companies or organisations fully maintain confidentiality in relation to any files and papers which are audited/ quality checked by them. If You do not wish to disclose your details and file to be released, you must notify Us in writing and discuss this with us when signing and returning a copy of the Client Care Letter/ Terms of Business/ Instruction Form/ Form of Authority/ other such document. Your refusal will not affect the way your matter is handled in any way. 

CUSTODY, RETENTION AND TRANSFER OF DOCUMENTS

After completing the work, we will be entitled to keep all your papers and document whilst there is still money owed to us for fees and expenses.  We will keep our file of your papers including emails and any hardcopies thereof, for up a minimum of six (6) years, except those that you ask to be returned to you. We keep files on the understanding that we can destroy them six (6) years after the date of the final bill.

If we take papers or documents out of storage in relation to continuing or new instructions to act for you, we will not normally charge for such retrieval. However, we may charge you both for time spent producing stored papers that are requested as well as reading correspondence or other work necessary to comply with your instructions in relation to the retrieved papers. We will ask you to confirm that any personal data we have retrieved remains current and up to date if we are to act upon such data as part of our duties under data protection legislation.