Privacy Policy/Cookies

Simpson Millar Privacy Policy

We take your privacy very seriously and we ask that you read this privacy policy carefully as it contains important information on who we are, how and why we collect, store, use and share personal information, your rights in relation to your personal information and on how to contact us and supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.

Who we are

Simpson Millar LLP Solicitors (SM) is a data controller bound by the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. Our registered office is 21-27 St Paul’s Street, Leeds West Yorkshire LS1 2JG.

Please address any questions, comments or requests regarding how we process your information to our Data Protection Officer (DPO) Paul Bradley, Direct Dial telephone number: 0113 306 2835 Email: paul.bradley@simpsonmillar.co.uk.

The personal information we collect and use

Information we will or may collect

In the course of conducting SM legal services we may collect the following personal information:

Personal data we will collect	Personal data we may collect depending on why you have instructed us
Your name, address and telephone number Information to enable us to check and verify your identity, e.g. your date of birth or passport details Electronic contact details, e.g. your email address and mobile phone number Information relating to the matter in which you are seeking our advice or representation Your financial details so far as relevant to your instructions, e.g. the source of your funds if you are instructing on a purchase transaction	Your National Insurance and tax details Your bank and/or building society details Details of your spouse/partner, marital status and dependants or other family members, e.g. if you instruct us on a family matter or a will Your employment status and details including salary and benefits, e.g. if you instruct us on matter related to your employment or in which your employment status or income is relevant Your medical history or records, e.g. if we are acting for you in a personal injury claim Details of disabilities you have if relevant to your case Information to enable us to undertake a credit or other financial checks on you Your nationality and immigration status and information from related documents, such as your passport or other identification, and immigration information Your employment records including, where relevant, records relating to sickness and attendance, performance, disciplinary, conduct and grievances (including relevant special category personal data), e.g. 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, e.g. if you instruct us on discrimination claim Your trade union membership, e.g. if you instruct us on discrimination claim or your matter is funded by a trade union

How your personal data is collected

We collect most of this information from you direct. However, we may also collect information:

from publicly accessible sources, e.g. Companies House or HM Land Registry;
directly from a third party, e.g. insurance providers, estate agents, trade unions or other introducers, credit reference agencies, client due diligence providers;
from a third party with your consent, e.g. your bank or building society, another financial institution or advisor, insurance companies, consultants and other professionals we may engage in relation to your matter, your employer, professional body or pension administrators, your doctors, medical and occupational health professionals;
via our website — we use cookies on our website.

How we use your personal information

We will only use your personal data if we have a proper reason for doing so. The information that you provide to SM will be used to provide services you request from us and also to enable us to deal with your enquiry. We will therefore need to process that information either:

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; 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.

If we need to process your sensitive information, for instance we need to see your health records or trade union information to proceed with your case, we will do so on the basis that processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of your legal claim.

You acknowledge that we are entitled to obtain, use, process and disclose your personal information to enable us to discharge the services which we have agreed to provide, and for other related purposes including updating client records, analysis for management purposes, crime prevention and legal and regulatory compliance.

As stated above we will need to process your personal data in order to conduct your claim or matter under our retainer. If you do not provide us with this data we will not be in a position to assist you with your matter.

We will not use your personal data to carry out automated decisions about you i.e. to use technology alone to make any processing decisions that carry legal effect.

Sharing your information

Whilst acting for you, in order to assist with your case we may share your personal information including your name, contact details, personal circumstances and relevant information about your case with selected third party suppliers to enable us to discharge the services which we have agreed to provide. We routinely share personal data with:

professional advisers who we instruct on your behalf or refer you to, e.g. barristers, medical professionals and agencies, accountants, tax advisors or other experts;
other third parties where necessary to carry out your instructions, e.g. your mortgage provider estate agent HM Land Registry and HMRC in the case of a property transaction or Companies House, a court, tribunal, third party insurers or defendant solicitor on a litigated matter;
to the person or organisation that referred you to us such as a trade union or claims management company;
to any insurance company that is providing financial assistance for your claim such as a provider of legal expenses insurance or other third party funders;
our insurers and brokers;
external auditors, e.g. Law Society to verify the quality of service provided by us under independent accreditations like Lexcel and the audit of our accounts;
our bank;
external service suppliers, representatives and agents that we use to make our business more efficient, e.g. legal costs draftsman, typing services, PR/marketing agencies, document collation or analysis suppliers;
to the Legal Aid Agency if you are publicly funded;
to property search companies on conveyancing transactions;
to online ID checking services in order to verify your identity under the Money Laundering Regulations or to meet other regulatory requirements.

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 will not transfer, store and process the data that we collect from you at a destination outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”) without your express 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, where consent is needed, we will ask for this consent separately and clearly.

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 by calling 0345 357 9977;
using the ‘unsubscribe’ link in emails in any communication we may send you.

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.

How long will we hold your information

Where we have acted for you or your information relates to a matter we have acted in we will usually keep paper records for 7 years and electronic records for 15 years. Exceptions to this include property transactions, commercial litigation, wills, clients who are minors or who may lack capacity. Where we have not acted in a matter we will usually keep electronic and written records for 2 years.

Your rights

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

Access	The right to be provided with a copy of your personal data
Rectification	The right to require us to correct any mistakes in your personal data
To be forgotten	The right to require us to delete your personal data—in certain situations
Restriction of processing	The right to require us to restrict processing of your personal dataâ€”in certain circumstances, e.g. if you contest the accuracy of the data
Data portability	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
To object	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, e.g. processing carried out for the purpose of our legitimate interests.
Not to be subject to automated individual decision-making	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

If you would like to see the information we hold or enforce any of the other above rights please contact our DPO.

Keeping your personal information secure

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know 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.

How to complain

We hope that our Data Protection Officer can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your information.

If you have a complaint about how we process your personal data or our compliance with the GDPR you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) who are independent and impartial and who have official powers to resolve complaints. Details of how to contact the ICO appear below:

Website: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/

Email: casework@ico.org.uk

Helpline no: 0303 123 1113