Privacy Notice and Information for Clients – GDPR
This data privacy notice sets out the ways in which we comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It provides information on your rights in respect of your personal data, how we use it and the safeguards we have in place to protect it.
Who we are
Horn [+] Co is as sole practice. The office is at 6 Lloyds Avenue, London, EC3N 3AX. It is a legal practice which is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under number 509890. The firm collects, uses and is responsible for certain personal information about you. When it does so it is also regulated under the GDPR by the Information Commissioner and is responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information.
The personal information we collect, use and share
We collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:
Name, address, date of birth, contact information (telephone and email where appropriate)
National Insurance number (where appropriate)
Identity information and documentation
Additional information in relation to your legal transaction to enable us to advise you and progress your case.
We use your personal information primarily to enable us to provide you with a legal service in accordance with your instructions. We also use your personal information for related purposes including identity verification, administration of files, updating existing records if you have instructed the firm previously and legal and regulatory compliance. The information may be held in hard copy and/or electronic format. You are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of all the personal data you supply to us, and we will not be held liable for any errors unless you have advised us previously of any changes in your personal data.
We will only take instructions from you or someone you authorise in writing. Where you are acting as an agent you agree to advise your principal that their personal information will be dealt with on these terms.
Where we are working on your matter in conjunction with other professionals who are advising you, including experts, barristers etc, unless you notify us otherwise, we may share and disclose relevant personal data and information about your matter to them, if we feel it is appropriate and necessary. All of the personal information you provide to us is kept in the UK; we will not transfer any of your personal data to another country outside the UK unless you specifically instruct us to do so.
There may be occasions when we are under a legal duty to share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities, including the Solicitors Regulation Authority or the Information Commissioner. If we are required to disclose information to the National Crime Agency, we may not be able to tell you that a disclosure has been made. We may have to stop working for you for a period of time and may not be able to tell you why. We cannot be held liable for any loss you suffer due to delay or our failure to provide information in these circumstances. Occasionally some of our client files may be audited strictly confidentially by external auditors or may be disclosed to our professional indemnity insurers and to our financial auditors if required. We may also provide basic details of your case to Legal 500 or Chambers and Partners legal directories, but this information is provided on a strictly confidential basis where this concerns individuals. Unless you tell us otherwise we will assume you have no objection. You may object at any time and refusing your consent will not affect our work for you. We will not submit files for external audit or disclose personal information to directories where there is particularly sensitive material. We will not share your personal information with any other third party and will not issue any publicity material or information to the media about our relationship and the work we are doing for you without your explicit consent.
How long your personal data will be kept
We will hold your personal data including your name, address and contact details plus your file of papers for a
period of time, depending on the nature of your case. We will confirm this to you at the end of your case. After this period of time, your file of papers including the electronic file, will be destroyed confidentially without further reference to you, unless we confirm other arrangements, or you contact us to request your file of papers at an earlier date. Further details about safeguarding your file and our file storage and destruction arrangements are provided in our Retainer letter.
Reasons we can collect and use your personal information
We intend to rely on the following lawful bases to collect and use your personal or sensitive personal data:
(a) Your consent; (b) Contractual obligations;(c) Legal Obligations;(d) Public task; (e) Legitimate interests
Marketing
Information about the firm and up to date articles which may be of interest to you are available on our website www.hornandco.co.uk . If you are an existing client of the firm or we are holding documents for you we may rely on legitimate interests as the reason for contacting you in future. We will only do this where we feel it would be of benefit to you or where we need to update you in relation to our terms and conditions.
Your rights
Under GDPR you have a number of important rights. Further information about these rights can be found on the Information Commissioners Website www.ico.org.uk/for-the-public/. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please: email, call or write to our Data Protection Officer, supplying us with enough information to identify you and proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill), and let us know the information to which your request relates, including any account or reference numbers, if you have them.
Keeping your personal information secure
We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, 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. The GDPR also gives you right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at www.ico.org.uk/concerns/ or telephone 0303 1231113.
How to contact us
Please contact our Data Protection Officer if you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information we hold about you. If you wish to contact our Data Protection Officer, please send a letter marked FAO Data Protection Officer, Horn [+] Co. 6 Lloyds Avenue, London, EC3N 3AX.