We are responsible as a ‘controller’ of personal data for the purposes of the UK GDPR. AS Solicitors is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA Firm Number 423968). Office: James House, 382 Lee High Road, Lewisham, Lee Green, London, SE12 8RW. For privacy enquiries contact us at enquiries@as-solicitors.com or call 020 8318 4345. Dated 23 July 2024.
The personal information that we collect
Personal information (personal data) means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. What we collect is very varied and includes:
- Identity and contact data — including name, date of birth, email address, postal address, telephone numbers, passport details and information provided or collected as part of our client take-on or employee recruitment processes and as a result of individuals’ interactions with us in the course of our business;
- Financial and transaction data — including bank account details, payment card details and details of payments from and to individuals;
- Information used to provide our services — including information provided to us by or on behalf of our clients or otherwise provided to us or generated by us in the course of providing services to our clients.
How we obtain personal information
We obtain personal information in different ways, including through:
- Direct contact — individuals may give us their personal information by corresponding with us by post, email or telephone or otherwise;
- Clients — our clients may give us personal information of individuals (for example a client’s employees) to enable us to provide our services;
- Third parties or publicly available sources — we may receive personal information from third parties (for example disclosure by the police or CPS in connection with a prosecution) or from publicly available sources such as Companies House and HM Land Registry.
How we use personal information
We use personal information in a variety of ways including:
- To provide our services to our clients;
- To promote our services and to manage our relationships with clients, prospective clients and business contacts;
- To meet our legal and regulatory obligations;
- To meet our audit and insurance obligations.
The basis upon which we use personal information
We will only use personal information (including special category data and data relating to criminal convictions and offences) when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use personal data in the following circumstances:
- Where we have supplied you (or continue to supply you) with any legal services, where we have arranged for the supply of another firm’s services to you, or where you are in discussions with us about a particular matter on which you are considering taking advice;
- Where it is necessary to comply with any legal or regulatory obligation;
- When we use special category data and data relating to criminal convictions and offences it will normally be when this is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or where we need to do so as an employer.
How long we keep personal information
We will keep personal information in accordance with our data retention practices — only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law or professional rules.
Who we share personal information with
We may share personal information with third parties including:
- In the course of providing services to our clients — for example when instructing a medical expert to produce a report or counsel to provide advice;
- Our professional advisers — for example our auditors, bankers and insurers;
- Regulatory authorities, courts, tribunals and law enforcement agencies — for example our regulator the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Third parties to whom we transfer personal information are required to respect the security of the information and treat it in accordance with the law. We do not sell personal data to third parties.
Which countries we transfer personal information to
In the course of providing services to our clients we may need to transfer personal information outside the UK. If we do so, we put in place one of the ‘appropriate safeguards’ referred to in the UK GDPR.
How we protect personal information
We limit access to your data to those who have a genuine business need to access it. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected security breach where we are legally required to do so.
Your legal rights
Individuals have the rights set out below. If you wish to exercise any of these rights please contact our Data Protection Officer using the contact details above.
- Request access to their personal information (a data subject access request);
- Request correction of the personal information that we hold about them;
- Request erasure of their personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it;
- Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process the personal information (this will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent is withdrawn).
Individuals have a 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 any concerns before the ICO is approached — please contact us first.