Privacy Information Notice

Please read the following information carefully.  This Privacy Notice contains information about what data we collect and store about you and why.  It also tells you who we share this information with, the security mechanisms we have put in place to protect your data and how to contact us if you have any questions or a complaint.

WHO ARE WE?

Data is collected, processed and stored by Garrods Law Ltd; we are what is known as the Data Controller of the personal information you provide to us.

Garrods Law Ltd is a limited company registered under number 6230808.  Authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) under number 617991.

Garrods Law Ltd is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) registration reference ZA096313. 

We are not required to appoint a Data Protection Officer.  However, the Compliance Officer of Legal Practice (COLP) is Anita Garrodand she can be contacted by email at [email protected]

WHAT DO WE DO WITH YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

In order to carry out legal services on your behalf, we collect your personal information, which can either be provided by yourself, for example your name, DOB, national insurance number, address, and contact details.

We may also receive personal information from sources such as the Court or Tribunal, the solicitors acting for the other side, as well as from the Prosecuting or Local Authority.

Some data that we may process is classified as Special Data which would include information as to your ethnic origin, race, health, medical records and details of any criminal history.  This information may be necessary for the submission of an application to the Legal Aid Agency (‘LAA’) for legal aid or in some circumstances, for example obtaining medical reports.

In order for us to retain the personal information, we must have a lawful purpose for doing so.  The lawful purpose is that it is necessary to fulfil the contract that we have with you in providing the legal service.  We will only process Special Data if it is necessary in the fulfillment of the legal services that we are engaged to carry out.

WHO HAS ACCESS TO YOUR INFORMATION

We will only use your information within Garrods Law Ltd.  However, there may be circumstances in carrying out your legal work, where we may need to disclose some information to third parties, e.g. where we instruct a barrister, an expert, in court proceedings, other legal processes or at a tribunal, or to the opposing side.

In addition, we are regulated by external auditors, such as SQM (‘Specialist Quality Mark’), SRA (‘Solicitors Regulation Authority’), LAA and ICO.  These audits would give exposure of some of your data.

In the event that any of your information is shared with these third parties, we ensure that they treat your data confidentially, comply strictly with our instructions and they do not use your personal information for their own purposes.  We conduct due diligence on any third parties and seek to obtain a formal contract with them.

We will not share your personal information with any other third parties without your consent, unless we are compelled to do so by Law.

We do not foresee any transfer of your information outside the European Economic Area (EEA).  Cloud based servers, which hold your information are within the EEA.  We will contact you should this change in any way and give advice as to your rights.

OUR SECURITY

We have a Data Protection policy which covers the effective and secure processing of your personal data, that can be made available upon request.

We use computer safeguards, such as firewalls, data encryption and penetration testing; and we enforce, where possible, physical access controls to our building and files to keep data safe.

HOW LONG WILL WE STORE YOUR PERSONAL DATA?

Your personal data will be retained, usually on computer or hard copy files, only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purpose for which the information was collected.  We have a legal obligation to keep data for a minimum of six years from the conclusion of your case. Your paper file may then be destroyed depending up on the nature of your case.

In case you wish to obtain help in the future, as your previous data may be of assistance in relation to a new matter, you may wish us to keep the electronic data beyond any period that we are obliged to do so to comply with our professional obligations.

YOUR RIGHTS

Under the General Data Protection Regulations, you have a number of important rights that you can exercise free of charge.

  • Transparency over how we use your personal data and fair processing of your information;
  • Access to your personal information and other supplementary information;
  • Require us to correct any mistakes or complete missing information we hold on you;
  • Require us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances;
  • Receive a copy of the personal information you have provided to us or have this information sent to a third party, this will be provided to you or the third party in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format;
  • Object at any time to processing of your personal information for direct marketing;
  • Object in certain other situations to the continued processing of your personal information;
  • Restrict our processing of your personal information in certain circumstances;
  • Request not to be subject to automated decision making which produce legal effects that concern you or affect you in a significantly similar way;

If you want more information about your rights under the GDPR please see the Guidance from the Information Commissioners Office on Individual’s rights under the GDPR.

If you want to exercise any of these rights, please:

  • Email, call our write to us faoAnita Garrod
  • Provide other information so that we can identify you e.g. a driving license or passport. We may need to contact you to request further information to verify your identity;
  • Let us have proof of your identity and address;
  • State the right or rights that you wish to exercise;

We will respond to you within one month from when we receive your request.

FUTURE PROCESSING

We do not intend to process your personal information for any reason other than stated within this privacy notice. If this changes, we will inform you by either letter or email. 

We do not use your information for automated decision making.

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY NOTICE

This privacy notice was published on 14.06.23 and was updated on 22.06.23. 

We constantly review our internal privacy practices and may change this policy from time to time. When we do, we will inform you by either letter, email or a general notice on our website. 

GETTING IN TOUCH

If you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information we hold about you, please contact Anita Garrod at at[email protected]

HOW TO MAKE A COMPLAINT

We hope you are happy with our service and that we can resolve any issues of complaint that arise.

If however you wish to make a complaint, initially contact the fee-earner with conduct of your case who will inform you of our complaints policy and the steps that we will take to investigate further.

If you are not satisfied with our response, or believe we are not processing your personal data in accordance with the law, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at:- https://ico.org.uk/concerns