PRIVACY POLICY

During the course of business it it necessary for us to obtain and process personal information (such as name, address, telephone number etc.) (‘Personal Data’) about a range of individuals. We take the protection of personal data very seriously and this policy statement sets out a summary of how we use this Personal Data. Please contact us using the details below, if you have any questions on this policy or the way in which we process, use and store Personal Data.

We collect Personal Data from our clients and those making enquiries with us to the extent necessary only to provide our service as a conveyancing provider and to comply with legal obligations imposed on us. In addition to Personal Data that you may provide directly to us, we may receive Personal Data about you from other professionals engaged by you, other parties involved in the legal matter, people connected to you and public sources. We will need to obtain Personal Data from you in order to act for you. In order to verify this Personal Data, we may undertake checks with third parties which may include providing them with Personal Data that you have given to us. If you do not provide us with this Personal Data, it will not be possible for us to deliver the service you have contracted us to supply to you.

We will collect Personal Data that you provide to us as part of any enquiry you may make of us to provide you with a conveyancing or other ancillary service or if you apply to work with us. We may also receive information about you from third parties such as ID Verifiers, recruitment consultants, referees and public sources.

We will hold Personal Data that you provide to us in relation to any enquiry that you make with us or if you ask to be added to any of our mailing lists. You can always opt out of receiving further marketing communications from us by contacting us at any time using the contact details below of the unsubscribe instructions in our emails. We will never send marketing materials to you unless you have explicitly consented to receive such communications. Nor will we ever share your Personal Data with any third party marketing body unless you have explicitly consented to such disclose.

We may collect Personal Data from you and others in the course of providing a conveyancing or other ancillary service to our clients. You may be another party in the legal matter on which we are advising our client, or an employee, director, partner, trustee, attorney, beneficiary, witness or other person connected to our client or the legal matter on which we are advising. In addition to Personal Data that you may provide directly to us, we may receive information about you from a variety of sources including our client, others involved in the legal matter and public sources.

• Where it is necessary to perform our contract with you – in other words if we were unable to collect Personal Data from you it would not be possible for us to deliver a service to you.
• Where it is required by law including our obligations under the Solicitors Regulation Authority Code of Conduct, anti-money laundering and criminal financing legislation, court rules and other laws that apply to us from time to time
• Where you have provided consent, provided that you can withdraw this consent at any time
• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests as a business including:
  
  • Providing the service for which we are contracted to supply
  • Dealing with complaints
  • Undertaking conflict checks Improving and developing our services
  • The administration of our business
  • Promoting our business
  • Establishing, exercising or defending our legal rights

It is unlikely but we may need to use information revealing your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, genetic data, biometric data, or information about your health, sex life or sexual orientation.

We will only use this kind of information in the following ways, where we have your explicit consent and/or:

• It is necessary for us to use this information to protect your vital interests or those of another person where it is not possible to obtain consent and/or
• It is necessary for us to do so in connection with the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or whenever courts are acting in their judicial capacity and/or
• In exceptional circumstances, another of the grounds specified in law for processing special categories of personal data are met.

We may disclose your information to others where necessary for the following purposes:

• To our infrastructure and service providers such as our external complaint resolution for them to provide these services to us
• To our regulatory bodies and external auditors
• With our client and others as necessary to progress a matter that we are advising on including insurers, counsel, experts, other professional advisers, courts and other parties involved in the legal matter or connected to our client
• To a third party as part of a sale of some or all of our business
• To law enforcement and regulatory agencies in connection with any investigation to help prevent unlawful activity or as otherwise required by law.
• To third parties such as Will providers where you have given your explicit consent to the release of your Personal Data (this consent can be withdrawn at any time by emailing davidp@mjpconveyancing.com)

We will use appropriate technical and organisational measures to safeguard your personal data, for example we store your personal data on secure servers and access to your personal data is limited to approved staff. Your information is stored by us at physical locations and on computer servers based in the UK. If you require further information please email our Data Protection Officer davidp@mjpconveyancing.com

We do not keep personal information for longer than we need it and maintain a detailed retention policy recording the periods of time categories of information are retained taking into account the reasons that we hold the data and our legal and regulatory obligations. Generally personal information held in relation to a legal matter on which we are advising will be retained for a minimum period of 7 years. If you need further information please email our Data Protection Officer davidp@mjpconveyancing.com

• The right to be informed about the data we hold on you
• The right of accessing the data we hold on you
• The right to rectify data we hold on you
• The right to erase data we hold on you (also known as the ‘right to be forgotten’)
• The right to restrict our processing of your data
• The right to data portability
• The right to object to your data being held
• Rights with respect to automated decision-making and profiling

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, you should put your request in writing addressed to davidp@mjpconveyancing.com and provide us with enough information to identify you. If we need further information we will let you know.

If you have any concerns or questions as to the way in which we process your information please do contact us.

In addition to this you have the right to bring a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office. More information on the Information Commissioner’s Office and your rights is available at www.ico.org.uk

For any questions on this statement or the way that we handle your personal information please contact our Data Protection Officer David Pett on davidp@mjpconveyancing.com