PRIVACY NOTICE

Introduction

Hartley & Worstenholme respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy notice explains how the Firm collects, uses and discloses personal information about you when you visit the website and when you contact the Firm whether by email, post, fax, telephone, using the contact option on the site or accept an invitation to a seminar. This privacy notice also applies to data you may provide when you use our legal services.

  1. Important information and who we are

Hartley & Worstenholme LLB is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority No 50813 with offices based in Pontefract and Castleford.  This privacy notice is issued on behalf of the Firm so when we mention “firm”, “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy notice, we are referring to Hartley & Worstenholme, the Firm responsible for processing your data.  Hartley & Worstenholme is the ‘Controller’ and responsible for the website at http://www.hartley&worstenholme.co.uk and for the services we provide as described on it.

We have appointed a Data Compliance Officer who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the Data Compliance officer using the details set out below.

Contact details

Full name of legal entity:  Hartley & Worstenholme

Data Compliance officer:  Managing Partner

Email address: dataprotection@hartley-worstenhole.co.uk

Postal address: 10 Gillygate, Pontefract, West Yorkshire, WF8 1PQ

Telephone number:  01977 732222

Making a complaint

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.

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

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 by contacting us as set out above.

We will review and update our policy on a regular basis and as required to ensure continued

compliance with our obligations under the Data Protection Act.

  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.

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together 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 and your credit rating.

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 use of our services, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses.

Usage Data includes information about how you use our website, services and products.

Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us, and your communication preferences.

Legal Matter Data includes information about you given to us in relation to your legal matter.

We will not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this 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) unless we are obliged to collect such data for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, or we have your explicit consent.  If we hold information about criminal convictions or offences, we do so in accordance with all applicable laws.

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 (for example, to provide you with services). In this case, we may have to cancel a service you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

  1. How is your personal data collected?

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

Direct interactions. You may give us your Identity, Contact, Financial and Legal Matter Data by filling in forms, completing the contact buttons on our website or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you:

  • make an enquiry, request or use our services;
  • subscribe to our publications or attend a seminar;
  • request marketing to be sent to you;
  • enter a survey; or
  • give us some feedback

Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we may automatically collect Technical 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 on our website for further details.

Third parties or publicly available sources. We may receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources including but not limited to, as set out below:

Technical Data from the following parties:

  • analytics providers such as Google Analytics based outside the EU; and
  • online verification search providers based inside the EU;
  • Contact, Financial and Transaction Data from providers of technical, payment and delivery services based inside the EU.
  • Identity and Contact Data from data brokers or aggregators based inside the EU.
  • Identity and Contact Data from publicly available sources such as Companies House and the Electoral Register, based inside the EU.
  • Legal Matter Data from publicly available sources such as the Land Registry and the Intellectual Property Office, based inside the EU.
  • Legal Matter Data from third parties involved in your legal matter.
  1. 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 we are establishing, exercising or defending legal claims.
  • 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.
  1. How we store your data

All the information you provide to us is stored digitally on our highly secure servers, and manual paper files are stored securely.

Unfortunately the transmission of information via the Internet can never be completely secure.  Although we will use reasonable endeavours to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk.  Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

Marketing

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 and services may be relevant for you.

You will receive marketing communications from us if you have requested information from us, attended one of our events, have used or are using our services, or are a corporate entity and, in each case, you have not opted out of receiving that marketing.

Third-party marketing 

We will never give or sell your data to a third party for marketing purposes.

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 our cookie policy on our website.

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, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

  1. Disclosures of your personal data

We may have to share your personal data with the parties set out below in dealing with your matters.

  • External Third Parties as set out in the Glossary.
  • 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.

  1. 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, 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.

  1. 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.

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data: see ‘request erasure’ below for further information.

In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

  1. What rights do you have to review and amend personal information?

Under UK law you have the right to object to how we use your personal information. You also have the right to see what personal information we hold about you. In addition, you can ask us to correct inaccuracies, delete or restrict personal information or to ask for some of your personal information to be provided to someone else. Further information about your right can be found in the Glossary towards the end of this document.

If you wish to access your personal data, or to contact the Firm in respect of its data processing activities, you can get in touch via email at info@hartley-worstenholme.co.uk, by telephone on +44 (01977 732222 or write to Hartley & Worstenholme, 10 Gillygate, Pontefract, West Yorkshire, WF8 1PQ

Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in circumstances where your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive.

Where the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive we may charge a “reasonable fee” for the administrative costs of complying with the request.

We may also charge a reasonable fee if an individual requests further copies of their data following a request.  This will be based on the administrative costs of providing further copies.

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.

GLOSSARY

– Legitimate Interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best service/product and the best and most secure experience.

The ICO identifies 3 elements as follows:

  • identify a legitimate interest
  • show that the processing is necessary to achieve it
  • balance it against the individuals interests, rights and freedoms

– 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.

– THIRD PARTIES

External Third Parties

  • Professional advisers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers based in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.
  • HM Revenue & Customs, Land registry, lenders regulators and other authorities and bodies based in the United Kingdom or elsewhere who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.
  • Third parties involved in your legal matter, such as courts, barristers, experts, costs draftsmen, official bodies, other solicitors and advisors.

– Your Legal Rights

You have the right to:

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.

 

This privacy notice was last updated on 23.5.2018