Brian Watters Solicitors – Privacy Policy
Please read the following carefully. It gives important information about how we will use the personal information that you give to us.
Brian Watters Solicitors (“we”) will collect and hold certain information about clients, visitors to our website and those who make enquiries, either by using this website or in other ways. Examples are email, SMS, other electronic communication, phone or in writing.
We are an innovative solicitors’ practice based in Cornwall. We specialise in personal injury matters only, giving a personal service to private individuals.
To do this we need to hold certain data relating to clients and others. We comply with all relevant data protection legislation, including particularly, the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). Protection of clients and others whose data we hold is paramount. We act as a Data Controller in respect of information held by us. We are registered with the Information Commissioner. Our registration number is Z9793805.
This Privacy Notice sets out the ways in which we may gather, process, store and share information when we act on your behalf or you visit our website.
If you have any questions concerning our use of your data, please email our Data Protection Officer, Brian Watters, at bws@brianwatters.co.uk Alternatively, you can write to him at Brian Watters Solicitors, 53 Osborne Parc, Helston, Cornwall TR13 8TZ or phone him on 01326 565975.
What information do we collect about you?
In general terms, we collect information about you so that we can, as appropriate:
- Act on your behalf
- Process applications for employment
- Provide you with information about our services
- Prepare bills for work carried out
- Meet all our legal and regulatory obligations
- Review how our website is used.
This information is personal data. It includes your name, home address, email address, phone and other contact numbers. If relevant, it may include sensitive information such as, racial or ethnic origin, financial and medical information, including information about mental health. This is collected in various ways, such as in person, online, over the phone or by correspondence.
Generally, we will need to keep in our records the personal data which you give to us.
You should also be aware that when you visit our website, cookies will be used to collect information about you. This may include the IP address of your computer or other device and information about, for example, which pages you visited on our website. This enables us to review our website and consider what improvements we may make to it. Cookies are also used to improve the functionality of the website. This may include sharing data with third party organisations. You are able to control this by changing the cookies settings as set out in our Cookies Policy.
How will we use the information?
We may use the data for the specific purposes below:
- Keeping in contact with you while acting for you and answering your enquiries
- Billing work we have carried out and obtaining payment
- Dealing with any concerns or complaints about our service
- Monitoring and recording information about how our services are used and the use of our website
- Dealing with all internal Human Resource administration.
The legal basis for processing your data:
- To fulfil our contract with you
- To comply with other contractual obligations
- To improve the services and experience when visiting our website, in the legitimate interests of individuals
With your consent, we may wish to use your personal data to send marketing information and other information which may be relevant to you.
Who we share data with:
- Medical experts, other lawyers, other service providers, insurers and selected litigation opponents for the purposes of your case
- External and internal auditors
- The Solicitors Regulation Authority and/or other regulators or their agents
- HMRC and any other relevant government departments
- Banks and other financial institutions
- Computer, web service and cookie providers
- The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
- External quality assessors or supervisors in relation to any quality marks or accreditations.
We will never share your data with any organisation to use for their own purposes.
Your Rights
Under the terms of data protection regulations and legislation, you have the following rights as a result of using this website:
Right to be informed
This privacy notice, together with our Cookies Policy, fulfils our obligation to tell you about the ways in which we use your information arising out of your use of our website.
Right to access
You have the right to ask us for a copy of any personal data that we hold about you (known as a Subject Access Request). We reserve the right to charge you a reasonable fee (discussed and agreed with you in advance) for doing this. After the payment of any agreed fee, we will send you a copy of the personal data within 30 days, unless there is a good reason why we cannot do so,
To make a Subject Access Request, please email or write to our Data Protection Officer as above.
Right to rectification
If you think that any of the information which we hold about you is inaccurate, please email, phone or write to our Data Protection Officer as above.
Right to be forgotten
You can ask that we delete all personal information that we hold about you. We will do this within 30 days, where it is appropriate to do so. For further information, please email, phone or write to our Data Protection Officer as above.
Right to object
You have the right to object to the continued use of your data for any purpose for which:
- your consent is needed, in which case you may withdraw your consent at any time
- the lawful basis of processing is that it is legitimate for any other reason.
Right to restrict processing
You may wish us to restrict the use of your data because:
- You think it is inaccurate (but this may take time to validate)
- You believe our data processing is unlawful, but you do not want your data erased
- You want us to retain your data in order to pursue, support or defend a legal claim, or
- You wish to object to the processing of your data, and we are still determining whether this is appropriate.
In any of these instances please email, phone or write to our Data Protection Officer as above.
Right to data portability
If you would like to move, copy or transfer the electronic personal data that we hold about you to another organisation, please email, phone or write to our Data Protection Officer as above.
Rights related to automated decision-making
We do not carry out automated decision making and will inform you if this changes. In that event, if you would like to object to automated decision making without any individual involvement, and to the profiling of your data, please email, phone or write to our Data Protection Officer as above.
Is the processing of information likely to cause individuals to object or complain?
We are not aware of any reason that would constitute a legitimate reason for objecting to the way in which we process or control information.
How long will we retain information for?
We shall usually retain information for a period of at least 7 years. However, this can vary considerably dependent on the type of matter in which we acted for you. Please let us know if you require information more specific to your matter. This is due to regulatory reasons and to ensure that our business records are adequate to maintain the requisite levels of insurance to protect our clients and non-clients.
It may sometimes be necessary for us to retain basic information (such as name, address and date of birth) for longer. This is in case we are in the future instructed by someone else in a matter in which you have a contrary interest and so that we can identify whether there may be a conflict of interest.
Overseas transfers
We will not normally send data outside the European Economic Area (EEA) but in certain cases we may send data to a recipient in a country outside the EEA which has been designated by the relevant authority as providing adequate data protection. If we do need to send the data to a country outside the EEA that has not been so designated, we will have appropriate contract clauses agreed with the recipient place to protect the data.
Data privacy and security
We maintain a Data Protection Policy, which includes procedures for ensuring that data protection is a priority in maintaining systems that hold personal data. Where any concerns or risks are identified, we carry out relevant impact assessments in order to determine any actions that are necessary to rectify this.
We also maintain procedures which seek to protect the availability, confidentiality and integrity of all physical and information assets. Specifically, this helps us to:
- Protect against potential breaches of confidentiality
- Ensure that all IT facilities are protected against damage, loss or misuse
- Increase awareness and understanding of the requirements of information security, and the responsibility of our staff to protect the confidentiality and security of the information that they process, and
- Ensure the security of this website.
Location tracking via our website
We may use Google Analytics, and/or similar, to audit use of our website. This to help us to understand better our user demographic and to improve user experience.
Our use of Google Analytics
Using Google Analytics enables us to monitor how our website is being used so we can make improvements. Our use of Google Analytics requires us to pass to Google your IP address, but no other information. Google uses this information to prepare site usage reports for us, but Google may also share this information with other Google services. In particular, Google may use the data collected to contextualise and personalise the advertisements of its own advertising network.
Related information
Google’s privacy policy –
https://policies.google.com/privacy
How Google uses this information –
https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites
General
Any questions and comments regarding this privacy notice should be sent to our Data Protection Officer as above.
You can also contact our Data Protection Officer if you have any concerns or complaints about the ways in which your personal data has been handled as a result of using this website.
Alternatively, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow SK9 5AF or online at https://ico.org.uk