Privacy Policy

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.

We collect, use, and are responsible for certain personal data about you. When we do so we are subject to the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). We are also subject to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) in relation to services we offer to individuals and our wider operations in the European Economic Area (EEA).

It would be helpful to start by explaining some key terms used in this policy:

The table below sets out the personal data we will or may collect in the course of advising and/or acting for you. This may include special category personal data.

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.

We collect most of this information from you, direct. 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;
  • 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;
  • your doctors, medical and occupational health professionals;

• via our website – we use cookies on our website. For more information please ask us for our cookie policy;

• via our information technology (IT) systems, eg:
  
  • case management, document management and time recording systems;
  • door entry systems and reception logs;
  • automated monitoring of our websites and other technical systems, such as our computer networks and connections, CCTV and access control systems, communications systems, email and instant messaging systems;

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 personal data, so long as this is not overridden by your own rights and interests. We will carry out an assessment when relying on legitimate interests, to balance our interests against your own.

The table below explains what we use your personal data for and why:

• we have your explicit consent;

• the processing is necessary to protect your (or someone else’s) vital interests where you are physically or legally incapable of giving consent; or

• the processing is necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims—this includes using special category personal data, where necessary, for:

               - obtaining legal advice; or

               - establishing, exercising or defending legal rights in any other way.

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.

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 marketing information. However, where consent is needed, we will ask for this consent separately and clearly.

You have the right to opt out of receiving promotional communications at any time by:

• contacting us by post or email
• 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.

We will always treat your personal data with the utmost respect and never share it with other organisations for marketing purposes.

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, eg HM Land Registry, other parties in litigation matters, Companies House;
• credit reference agencies;
• our insurers and brokers;
• external auditors, eg in relation the audit of our accounts;
• our bank;
• external service suppliers, representatives and agents that we use to make our business more efficient, eg outsourced legal accounts and cashier services, archive storage facilities, AML/identification verifiers, document collation or analysis suppliers;
• HMRC, courts and tribunals, and other government departments;
• Debt recovery agents or companies who act on our behalf to recover our fees and other charges when our bills have not been paid

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 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 auditors in relation to the audit of our accounts, or 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.

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 UK and EEA’.

We will keep your personal data while we are providing services to you. Thereafter, we will keep your personal data for as long as is necessary:

• 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. Different retention periods apply for different types of data.

To deliver services to you, it is sometimes necessary for us to share your personal data outside the UK/EEA, eg:

• with your and our service providers located outside the EEA;
• if you are based outside the EEA;
• where there is a European and/or international dimension to the services we are providing to you.

Under data protection law, we can only transfer your personal data to a country or international organisation outside the UK/EEA where:

• the UK government or, where the EU GDPR applies, the European Commission has decided the particular country or international organisation ensures an adequate level of protection of personal data (known as an ‘adequacy decision’);
• there are appropriate safeguards in place, together with enforceable rights and effective legal remedies for data subjects; or
• a specific exception applies under data protection law

These are explained below.

Adequacy decision

We may transfer your personal data to certain countries, on the basis of an adequacy decision. These include:

• all European Union countries, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway (collectively known as the ‘EEA’);
• Gibraltar; and
• Andorra, Argentina, Canada, Faroe Islands, Guernsey, Israel, Isle of Man, Japan, Jersey, New Zealand, Switzerland and Uruguay.

The list of countries that benefit from adequacy decisions will change from time to time. We will always seek to rely on an adequacy decision, where one exists.

If other countries or international organisations we are likely to transfer personal data to do not have the benefit of an adequacy decision this does not necessarily mean they provide poor protection for personal data, but we must look at alternative grounds for transferring the personal data, such as ensuring appropriate safeguards are in place or relying on an exception, as explained below.

Transfers with appropriate safeguards

Where there is no adequacy decision, we may transfer your personal data to another country or international organisation if we are satisfied the transfer complies with data protection law, appropriate safeguards are in place, and enforceable rights and effective legal remedies are available for data subjects.

The safeguards will usually include using legally-approved standard data protection contract clauses.

To obtain further information please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ below).

Transfers under an exception

In the absence of an adequacy decision or appropriate safeguards, we may transfer personal data to a third country or international organisation where an exception applies under data protection law, eg:

• you have explicitly consented to the proposed transfer after having been informed of the possible risks;
• the transfer is necessary for the performance of a contract between us or to take pre-contract measures at your request;
• the transfer is necessary for a contract in your interests, between us and another person; or
• the transfer is necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims

We may also transfer information for the purpose of our compelling legitimate interests, so long as those interests are not overridden by your interests, rights and freedoms. Specific conditions apply to such transfers and we will provide relevant information if and when we seek to transfer your personal data on this ground.

Further information

If you would like further information about data transferred outside the UK[/EEA, please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ below).

You have the following rights, which you can exercise free of charge:

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) and any additional identity information we may reasonably request from you; and
• let us know what right you want to exercise and the information to which your request relates.

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.

This privacy policy was published on 25 June 2021.

We may change this privacy policy from time to time and when we do we will inform you.

You can contact us by post, email or telephone if you have any questions about this privacy policy or the information we hold about you, to exercise a right under data protection law or to make a complaint.

Our contact details are shown below:

Address: Milton Hall, Ely Road, Milton, Cambridgeshire CB24 6WZ
Email: dkiddy@petersfields.comTelephone: 01223 653210

If you would like this policy in a different format (eg large print) please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ above).