This Privacy & Security Policy explains what happens to any personal data that you provide to us, or that we collect from you whilst you visit our site and how we keep your visit to us secure.We do update this Policy from time to time so please do review this Policy regularly. Your continued use of this site after any change in this Privacy & Security Policy will constitute your acceptance of such change.
E-mail policy
It is our duty as solicitors to keep your affairs as our client confidential. We have the facility to send and receive communications by e-mail. This form of communication is not secure and you should be aware of the risk of the confidential nature of information sent in this way being the subject of attack from the outside.
We will only send e-mails provided you accept the risk associated with this form of communication. This includes the risk of fraud. Increasingly we communicate by e-mail in the course of professional business.
Unless you instruct us to the contrary it is implied that we may conduct your affairs by e-mail.
We cannot accept responsibility once an e-mail with any attachments leaves us. We have an anti-virus system installed in our network and therefore any communication sent by e-mail will be checked for known viruses. We reserve the right not to receive an e-mail until checked for viruses and provision may be made for an incoming e-mail and attachments to be quarantined.
Privacy Policy and GDPR
We endeavour to comply with all aspects of the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act.
1 How and what information is collected about you and/or your organisation
We may collect the following information by e-mail, telephone call, meeting directly with you or by post:
- Full names
- Address
- Tel/Mobile
- Date of birth
- NI Number
In addition, during the course of providing services to you, we may collect other personal and sensitive data pertaining to your matter.
Greens are committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when working with Greens, you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement.
All information you give to us and any knowledge we acquire about your affairs are confidential to you and we shall not divulge these without your express or implied consent. Please read on for further information.
It is often necessary to divulge information in the routine conduct of a matter. Unless you tell us otherwise, we shall assume your instructions permit us to divulge relevant information to others with whom we work on your behalf eg. Estate Agents, witnesses and costs draftsman. In the course of our normal business, we may use external providers of administration services who have signed confidentiality agreements. We will not normally expect to know whether apparently routine information is in fact to be kept confidential. If there is any information concerning you or your affairs which you think we should not divulge, you must inform us.
You do consent to disclosure of your information to our professional indemnity insurers and auditors who make random checks of files.
2 What we do with the information we gather and what it is used for
We use personal data where it is necessary in order to:
- Enter into a contract and deliver services for you
- Comply with a legal duty
- Protect your vital interests or the vital interests of those around you
- For our own lawful interests or those of other organisations, provided your rights do not override these.
We will only use personal data about you for the purpose(s) it was collected for, closely related purposes, and for marketing (see below). We will inform you or seek your consent if we need to use it for other purposes.
For marketing purposes, we may need to correspond with you to offer information on our services, send newsletters or keep you informed about events and seminars. If you tell us that you do not wish to have this information used as a basis for further contract with you, we will of course respect your wishes.
3 Controlling your personal information – who we share your details with
We will not distribute, sell or lease personal information to third parties unless we have your explicit permission or are required by law to do so.
| Name and Contact details of the Data Controller | Andrew Whittle, Principal Tel: 01584 873918 e-mail: andrew@greenssolicitors.com |
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4 Security
We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place highly encrypted electronic systems and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect.
5 How can you access your information
You may request access to the data that we hold about you, and where appropriate we will respond to these requests within the designated timescales. If you would like a copy of the information held about you please write to Andrew Whittle, Greens Solicitors, 9/10 King Street, Ludlow, Shropshire SY8 1AQ.
There is no charge for this service.
Where we do not take action in response to a request, we will inform you why this is the case. If you are not satisfied with the handling of your request, you can ask the Information Commissioner Office: https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/ to consider your complaint.
6 How long we keep your information for
The Data Protection Act and GDPR do not set any specific minimum or maximum periods for retaining personal data. Instead, it says that personal data processed for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes. See this link: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/principle-5-retention/
Greens will retain personal data and files for at least seven years, see Retention of Files.
Information we collect
In running and maintaining our website we may collect and process the following data about you:
- Information about your use of our site including details of your visits such as pages viewed and the resources that you access. Such information includes traffic data, location data and other communication data.
- Information that you provide when you communicate with us by any means.
Use of Cookies
Please refer to our Cookie Policy.
Use of your information
We use the information that we collect from you to provide our services to you. In addition to this we may use the information for one or more of the following purposes:
- To provide information to you that you request from us relating to our products or services.
- To provide information to you relating to other products or services that may be of interest to you. Such additional information will only be provided where you have consented to receive such information.
- To inform you of any changes to our website, products or services.
- If you opened an account and have previously purchased products or services from us we may provide to you details of similar products or services, or other products and services, that you may be interested in. We may also provide to you details of any products or services that are reduced in price.
Where your consent has been provided in advance we may allow selected third parties to use your data to enable them to provide you with information regarding unrelated products and services which we believe may interest you. Where such consent has been provided it can be withdrawn by you at any time.
Storing your personal data
In operating our website it may become necessary to transfer data that we collect from you to locations outside of the European Union for processing and storing. By providing your personal data to us, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing. We do our upmost to ensure that all reasonable steps are taken to make sure that your data is treated and stored securely.
Unfortunately the sending of information via the internet is not totally secure and on occasion such information can be intercepted. We cannot guarantee the security of data that you choose to send us electronically. Sending such information is entirely at your own risk.
Disclosing your information
We will not disclose your personal information to any other party other than in accordance with this Privacy & Security Policy and in the circumstances detailed below:
- In the event that we sell any or all of our business to the buyer.
- Where we are legally required by law to disclose your personal information.
- To further fraud protection and reduce the risk of fraud.
Third party links
We include links to third parties on this website. Where we provide a link it does not mean that we endorse or approve that site’s policy towards visitor privacy. You should review their privacy policy before sending them any personal data.
Access to information
In accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 you have the right to access any information that we hold relating to you. Please note that we reserve the right to charge a fee of £10 to cover costs incurred by us in providing you with the information.
Site Security
The Greens Solicitors website uses 128 bit SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption technology which is strong high-level encryption.
Our whole website is secure, you should see a solid padlock in your browser status bar which indicates that the encryption is taking place. You will also see that the Greens Solicitors address in the browser has https in front of greenssolicitors.com.
Contacting Us
Please do not hesitate to email Andrew regarding any matter relating to this Privacy & Security Policy.
This policy last updated on September 2, 2021 at 7:17 pm.
