CLIENT PRIVACY POLICY  (INCLUDING PROSPECTIVE CLIENTS) 

We take your privacy very seriously. Please read this privacy policy carefully as it contains important information on who we are and how and why we collect, store, use and share your personal data. It also explains your rights in relation to your personal data and how to contact us or supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint. 
 
When we use your personal data we are regulated under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which applies across the European Union (including in the United Kingdom) and we are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal data for the purposes of the GDPR. Our use of your personal data is subject to your instructions, the GDPR, other relevant UK and EU legislation and our professional duty of confidentiality. 

Key terms 

It would be helpful to start by explaining some key terms used in this policy: 
 
We, us, our - Spencer Shaw Solicitors Limited 
Personal data - Any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual 
Special category personal data - Personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, philosophical beliefs or trade union membership, genetic and bio-metric data, data concerning health, sex life or sexual orientation 

Personal data we collect about you 

The lists below set out the personal data we will or may collect in the course of advising and/or acting for you. 

Personal data we will collect 

Your name, address and telephone number 
Information to enable us to check and verify your identity, eg your date of birth or passport details 
Electronic contact details, eg your email address and mobile phone number 
Information relating to the matter in which you are seeking our advice or representation 
Information to enable us to undertake a credit or other financial checks on you 
Your financial details so far as relevant to your instructions, eg the source of your funds if you are instructing on a purchase transaction 
Information about your use of our IT, communication and other systems, and other monitoring information, eg if using our secure online client portal 

Personal data we may collect depending on why you have instructed us 

Your National Insurance and tax details 
Your bank and/or building society details 
Details of your professional online presence, eg LinkedIn profile 
Your employment status and details including salary and benefits, eg if you instruct us on matter related to your employment or in which your employment status or income is relevant 
Your nationality and immigration status and information from related documents, such as your passport or other identification, and immigration information, eg if you instruct us on an employment matter 
Details of your pension arrangements, eg were relevant to your matter 
Your employment records including, where relevant, records relating to sickness and attendance, performance, disciplinary, conduct and grievances (including relevant special category personal data), eg if you instruct us on matter related to your employment or in which your employment records are relevant 
Your racial or ethnic origin, gender and sexual orientation, religious or similar beliefs, eg if you instruct us on discrimination claim 
Your trade union membership, eg if you instruct us on discrimination claim or your matter is funded by a trade union 
Your medical records, eg if we are acting for you in a personal injury or discrimination matter 
 
This personal data is required to enable us to provide our service to you. If you do not provide personal data we ask for, it may delay or prevent us from providing services to you. 

How your personal data is collected 

We collect most of this information from you, direct or via our secure online client portal. However, we may also collect information: 
 
from publicly accessible sources, eg Companies House or HM Land Registry; 
directly from a third party, eg: sanctions screening providers, credit reference agencies or client due diligence providers: 
from a third party with your consent, eg: your bank or building society, another financial institution or advisor, consultants and other professionals we may engage in relation to your matter, your employer and/or trade union, professional body or pension administrators, or your doctors, medical and occupational health professionals; 
via our website—we use cookies on our website 
via our information technology (IT) systems, eg: case management, document management and time recording systems. 

How and why we use your personal data 

Under data protection law, we can only use your personal data if we have a proper reason for doing so, eg: 
 
to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations; 
for the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract; 
for our legitimate interests or those of a third party; or 
where you have given consent. 
 
A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your information, so long as this is not overridden by your own rights and interests. 
What we use your personal data for 
Our reasons 
To provide legal services to you 
For the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract 
Conducting checks to identify our clients and verify their identity 
 
Screening for financial and other sanctions or embargoes 
 
Other processing necessary to comply with professional, legal and regulatory obligations that apply to our business, eg under health and safety regulation or rules issued by our professional regulator 
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations 
Gathering and providing information required by or relating to audits, enquiries or investigations by regulatory bodies 
For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, ie to make sure we are following our own internal procedures so we can deliver the best service to you 
Operational reasons, such as improving efficiency, training and quality control 
For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, ie to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service for you at the best price 
Ensuring the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information 
For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, ie to protect our intellectual property and other commercially valuable information 
 
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations 
Statistical analysis to help us manage our practice, eg in relation to our financial performance, client base, work type or other efficiency measures 
For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, ie to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service for you at the best price 
Preventing unauthorised access and modifications to systems 
For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, ie to prevent and detect criminal activity that could be damaging for us and for you 
 
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations 
Updating and enhancing client records. 
For the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract 
 
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations 
 
For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, eg making sure that we can keep in touch with our clients about existing and new services 
Statutory returns 
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations 
Ensuring safe working practices, staff administration and assessments 
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations 
 
For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, eg to make sure we are following our own internal procedures and working efficiently so we can deliver the best service to you 
Marketing our services and those of selected third parties to: 
—existing and former clients; 
—third parties who have previously expressed an interest in our services. 
For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, ie to promote our business to existing and former clients 
Credit reference checks via external credit reference agencies 
For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, ie for credit control and to ensure our clients are likely to be able to pay for our services 
External audits and quality checks, eg for Lexcel, ISO or Investors in People accreditation and the audit of our accounts 
For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, ie to maintain our accreditation so we can demonstrate we operate at the highest standards 
 
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations 
The above does not apply to special category personal data, which we will only process with your explicit consent. 

Promotional communications 

We may use your personal data to send you updates (by email, text message, telephone or post) about legal developments that might be of interest to you and/or information about our services, including exclusive offers, promotions or new services or products. 
We have a legitimate interest in processing your personal data for promotional purposes (see above ‘How and why we use your personal data’). This means we do not usually need your consent to send you promotional communications. However, we will ask for this consent separately and clearly before sending you promotional material. 
 
We will always treat your personal data with the utmost respect and never sell OR share it with other organisations for marketing purposes. 
 
You have the right to opt out of receiving promotional communications at any time by: 
 
contacting us 
using the ‘unsubscribe’ link in emails or ‘STOP’ number in texts 
 
We may ask you to confirm or update your marketing preferences if you instruct us to provide further services in the future, or if there are changes in the law, regulation, or the structure of our business. 

Who we share your personal data with 

We routinely share personal data with: 
 
professional advisers who we instruct on your behalf or refer you to, eg barristers, medical professionals, accountants, tax advisors or other experts; 
other third parties where necessary to carry out your instructions 
credit reference agencies; 
our insurers and brokers; 
external auditors, eg in relation to ISO or Lexcel accreditation and the audit of our accounts; 
our bank; 
external service suppliers, representatives and agents that we use to make our business more efficient, eg typing services, marketing agencies, document collation or analysis suppliers. 
 
We only allow our service providers to handle your personal data if we are satisfied they take appropriate measures to protect your personal data. We also impose contractual obligations on service providers relating to ensure they can only use your personal data to provide services to us and to you. 
 
We may disclose and exchange information with law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations. 
 
We may also need to share some personal data with other parties, such as potential buyers of some or all of our business or during a re-structuring. Usually, information will be anonymised but this may not always be possible. The recipient of the information will be bound by confidentiality obligations. 

Where your personal data is held 

Information may be held at our offices and those of our third party agencies, service providers, representatives and agents as described above (see ‘Who we share your personal data with’). 
 
Some of these third parties may be based outside the European Economic Area. For more information, including on how we safeguard your personal data when this occurs, see below: ‘Transferring your personal data out of the EEA’. 

How long your personal data will be kept 

We will keep your personal data after we have finished advising or acting for you. We will do so for one of these reasons: 
 
to respond to any questions, complaints or claims made by you or on your behalf; 
to show that we treated you fairly; 
to keep records required by law. 
 
We will not retain your data for longer than necessary for the purposes set out in this policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data. 
 
When it is no longer necessary to retain your personal data, we will delete or anonymise it. 

Transferring your personal data out of the EEA 

To deliver services to you, it is sometimes necessary for us to share your personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA), eg: 
 
with your service providers located outside the EEA; 
if you are based outside the EEA; 
where there is an international dimension to the matter in which we are advising you. 
 
These transfers are subject to special rules under European and UK data protection law. 
 
If you would like further information please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ below). 

Your rights 

You have the following rights, which you can exercise free of charge: 
 
The right to be provided with a copy of your personal data 
The right to require us to correct any mistakes in your personal data 
The right to require us to delete your personal data—in certain situations 
The right to require us to restrict processing of your personal data—in certain circumstances, eg if you contest the accuracy of the data 
The right to receive the personal data you provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and/or transmit that data to a third party—in certain situations 
The right to object:—at any time to your personal data being processed for direct marketing (including profiling);—in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal data, eg processing carried out for the purpose of our legitimate interests. 
The right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (including profiling) that produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you. 
 
For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, please contact us or see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under the General Data Protection Regulation. 
 
If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please: 
 
email, call or write to us —see below: ‘How to contact us’; and 
let us have enough information to identify you (eg your full name, address and client or matter reference number); 
let us have proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill); and 
let us know what right you want to exercise and the information to which your request relates. 

Keeping your personal data secure 

We have appropriate security measures to prevent personal data from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed unlawfully. We limit access to your personal data to those who have a genuine business need to access it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality. 
 
We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so. 
 
If you want detailed information from Get Safe Online on how to protect your information and your computers and devices against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other online problems, please visit www.getsafeonline.org. Get Safe Online is supported by HM Government and leading businesses. 

How to complain 

We hope that we can resolve any query or concern you may raise about our use of your information. 
 
The General Data Protection Regulation also gives you right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the European Union (or European Economic Area) state where you work, normally live or where any alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns or telephone: 0303 123 1113. 

Changes to this privacy policy 

This privacy policy was published on 1st May 2018 and last updated on 1st May 2018. 
 
We may change this privacy policy from time to time, when we do we will inform you via our website. 

GET IN TOUCH 

Do you have a legal matter you'd like to discuss with us? Get in touch using the details below or use the form here and a member of our team will be in touch to discuss your enquiry. 
Phone: 0121 817 0520 
Address: Spencer Shaw Solicitors Limited 
St Mary's House, 68 Harborne Park Road,  
Harborne, Birmingham, B17 0DH 
Opening hours: 
Monday - Friday 9:00AM - 5:00PM 
Saturday, Sunday & Bank Holidays - Closed 
Keep in touch 

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