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WEB PRIVACY POLICY

SUTHERLAND THOMSON LAW PRACTICE PRIVACY POLICY

Our contact details:

Name: Laura Thomson

Address: PO Box 5918, Forres, IV36 9AY

Phone Number: 01309 752022

E-mail: laura@st-law.co.uk

 

What type of information we have

We currently collect and process the following information:

  • Personal identifiers, contacts and characteristics (for example, name and contact details, including telephone numbers and email addresses)

 

How we get the information and why we have it

Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you for one of the following reasons:

  • to enable us to supply professional services to you as our client as set out in our terms of engagement with you;

  • to fulfil contractual or other legal obligations;

  • to maintain our accounts and records;

  • to fulfil our obligations under relevant laws in force from time to time (eg The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (“MLR 2017”));

  •  To comply with professional obligations to which we are subject as a member of the Law Society of Scotland;

  • to use in the investigation and/or defence of potential complaints, disciplinary proceedings and legal proceedings;

  • to enable us to invoice you for our services and investigate/address any attendant fee disputes that may have arisen;

  • to contact you about other services which we provide which may be of interest to you if you have consented to us doing so

 

We may also receive personal information indirectly, from the following sources in the following scenarios:

  • from our clients, relating to third parties, in the process of delivering our professional service to them

 

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are:

(a) Your consent. You are able to remove your consent at any time. You can do this by contacting us.

(b) We have a contractual obligation.

(c) We have a legal obligation.

(d) We have a vital interest.

(e) We need it to perform a public task.

(f) We have a legitimate interest.

 

What we do with the information we have

We use the information that you have given us in order to undertake the services and purposes set out above.  We process your information in the course of our legitimate activities, with appropriate safeguards in place, as a legal firm and on the basis that our processing relates solely to the provision of legal advice and that this information is not disclosed to any third party without your consent.   

 

It is a requirement of our contract with you that you provide us with the personal data which we request.  If you do not provide the information which we request, we may not be able to provide professional services to you. If this is the case, we will not be able to commence acting or will need to cease to act.

 

ST Law employs third party suppliers to provide services including:

 

We will not share any information with any other third party without your consent unless we are obliged or permitted to do so by law.  Examples of persons/organisations we may share your personal data with are:

  • any third parties with whom you require or permit us to correspond;

  • subcontractors;

  • any alternate appointed by us in the event of incapacity or death;

  • professional indemnity insurers;

  • our professional body. 

 

In addition, if the law allows or requires us to do so, we may share your personal data with:

  • the police and law enforcement agencies;

  • courts and tribunals;

  • the Information Commissioner’s Office.

 

How we store your information

Your information is securely stored in a confidential environment, encrypted on our computer system. 

 

We keep personal data for as long as we are obliged to keep it by law or may need it in order to respond to any questions or complaints or to show we treated you fairly.  When the information is no longer needed it will be securely destroyed or permanently rendered anonymous. 

 

Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, you have rights including:

  • Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.

  • Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to rectify information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.

  • Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.

  • Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your information in certain circumstances.

  • Your right to object to processing - You have the the right to object to the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances.

  • Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that we transfer the information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.

 

You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.

 

Please contact us at Sutherland Thomson Law Practice, PO Box 5918, Forres, IV36 9AY, 01309 752022, laura@st-law.co.uk  if you wish to make a request.

 

How to complain

You can also complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data. Our ICO reference is ZA792504.

 

The ICO’s address:       

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113

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