We take your privacy very seriously. Please read this privacy notice carefully as it contains important information on who we are and how and why we collect, store, use and share your personal data. It also explains your rights in relation to your personal data and how to contact us or supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.
Our use of your personal data is subject to your instructions, the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, other relevant UK legislation and our professional duty of confidentiality. We are responsible as ‘controller’ of your personal data for the purpose of those laws.
Key terms
It would be helpful to start by explaining some key terms used in this document:
| We, us, our | Hart Reade LLP |
| Personal data | Any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual |
| Special category personal data | Personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, philosophical beliefs or trade union membership
Genetic and biometric data Data concerning health, sex life or sexual orientation |
Personal data we collect about you
The table below sets out the personal data we will or may collect in the course of advising and/or acting for you.
| Personal data we will collect | Personal data we may collect depending on why you have instructed us |
| Your name, address and telephone number
Information to enable us to check and verify your identity, eg your date of birth or passport details Electronic contact details, eg your email address and mobile phone number Information relating to the matter in which you are seeking our advice or representation Information to enable us to undertake a bank account check or other financial checks on you Your financial details so far as relevant to your instructions, eg your bank account details or the source of your funds if you are instructing on a purchase transaction Information about your use of our IT, communication and other systems, and other monitoring information |
Your National Insurance and tax details
Your bank and/or building society details Transaction based information, eg if you pay for our services by card we collect information about the transaction. This may include the payment card used, name associated with the payment card, the fact the payment was made, the date and time of the transaction, transaction amount, and information about the services paid for in the transaction. Details of your professional online presence, eg LinkedIn profile Details of your spouse/partner and dependants or other family members, eg if you instruct us on a family matter or a Will Your employment status and details including salary and benefits, eg if you instruct us on matter related to your employment or in which your employment status or income is relevant Details of your pension arrangements, eg if you instruct us on a pension matter or in relation to financial arrangements following breakdown of a relationship Your employment records including, where relevant, records relating to sickness and attendance, performance, disciplinary, conduct and grievances (including relevant special category personal data), eg if you instruct us on matter related to your employment or in which your employment records are relevant Your racial or ethnic origin, gender and sexual orientation, religious or similar beliefs, eg if you instruct us on a discrimination claim Your trade union membership, eg if you instruct us on a discrimination claim or your matter is funded by a trade union Your medical records, eg if they are relevant to prove mental capacity or are pertinent to a family or employment matter |
This personal data is required from you to enable us to provide our service to you. If you do not provide personal data we ask for, it may delay or prevent us from providing services to you.
How your personal data is collected
We collect most of this information from you eg in person, by telephone, text or email, by forms and documents you are asked to complete and return, and via our website. However, we may also collect information:
- from publicly accessible sources, eg Companies House or HM Land Registry;
- directly from a third party, eg:
- sanctions screening providers;
- credit reference agencies;
- client due diligence providers;
- from a third party with your consent, eg:
- your bank or building society, another financial institution or advisor;
- consultants and other professionals we may engage in relation to your matter;
- your employer and/or trade union, professional body or pension administrators;
- your doctors, medical and occupational health professionals;
- via our information technology systems, eg:
- case management, document management and time recording systems;
- telephone and reception logs;
- relevant websites and applications;
- automated monitoring of our websites and other technical systems, such as our computer networks and connections, CCTV and access control systems, communications systems, email and instant messaging systems;
How and why we use your personal data
Under data protection law, we can only use your personal data if we have a proper reason for doing so, eg:
- to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;
- for the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract;
- for our legitimate interests or those of a third party; or
- you have given consent.
A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your information, so long as this is not overridden by your own rights and interests.
The table below explains what we use (process) your personal data for and our reasons for doing so:
| What we use your personal data for | Our reasons |
| To provide legal services to you | For the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract |
| Preventing and detecting fraud against you or us | For our legitimate interest (ie to minimise fraud that could be damaging for you and/or us) and to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
| Conducting checks to identify our clients and verify their identity
Screening for financial and other sanctions or embargoes Other processing necessary to comply with professional, legal and regulatory obligations that apply to our business, eg under health and safety regulation or rules issued by our professional regulator |
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
| To check whether there is any conflict of interest between us and you and/or between you and another client | To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
| To enforce legal rights or defend or take legal proceedings | To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations and for our legitimate interests, ie to protect our business, interests and rights |
| Gathering and providing information required by or relating to audits, enquiries or investigations by regulatory bodies | To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
| Ensuring business policies are adhered to, eg policies covering security and internet use | For our legitimate interests or those of a third party |
| Operational reasons, such as improving efficiency, training and quality control | For our legitimate interests or those of a third party |
| Ensuring the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information | For our legitimate interests or those of a third party
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
| Statistical analysis to help us manage our practice, eg in relation to our financial performance, client base, work type or other efficiency measures | For our legitimate interests or those of a third party |
| Protecting the security of systems and data used to provide services, preventing unauthorised access and changes to our systems | For our legitimate interests or those of a third party
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
| Updating and enhancing client records | For the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations For our legitimate interests or those of a third party |
| Statutory returns | To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
| Ensuring safe working practices, staff administration and assessments | To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
For our legitimate interests or those of a third party |
| Marketing our services to:
—existing and former clients; —third parties who have previously expressed an interest in our services; —third parties with whom we have had no previous dealings. |
For our legitimate interests or those of a third party |
| Bank account detail checks via external credit reference agencies | To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
For our legitimate interests or those of a third party |
| To deal with complaints or claims | To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
For our legitimate interests or those of a third party |
| External audits and quality checks, eg for Lexcel accreditation and the audit of our accounts | For our legitimate interests or a those of a third party
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
We may process special categories of highly personal data, for example, when acting for you in a family or litigation/dispute resolution matter. This may include, but is not limited to, data concerning your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, philosophical beliefs, health, sexual history/orientation and criminal records etc.
Special categories of personal data will only be processed when this information has been provided to us by you (or your opponent), or where we have requested this data on your behalf, with your explicit consent. This data is processed for the sole purpose of allowing us to progress your matter/claim.
Promotional communications
We may use your personal data to send you updates (by email or post) about legal developments that might be of interest to you and/or information about our services, including exclusive offers, promotions or new services.
Consent will be requested at the conclusion of your matter to remain in contact via email where appropriate.
We will always treat your personal data with the utmost respect and never sell or share it with other organisations for marketing purposes.
You have the right to opt out of receiving promotional communications at any time by:
- contacting us by emailing privacy@hartreade.co.uk or writing to Privacy Department, Hart Reade LLP, 104 South Street, Eastbourne, BN21 4LW
- using the ‘unsubscribe’ link in emails
We may ask you to confirm or update your marketing preferences if you instruct us to provide further services in the future, or if there are changes in the law, regulation, or the structure of our business.
Who we share your personal data with
We routinely share personal data with:
- professional advisers who we instruct on your behalf or refer you to, eg barristers, medical professionals, accountants, tax advisors or other experts;
- other third parties where necessary to carry out your instructions, eg your mortgage provider or HM Land Registry in the case of a property transaction or Companies House;
- client identification verification services, companies providing services for money laundering checks and other crime prevention purposes, and credit reference agencies;
- our insurers and brokers;
- external auditors, eg in relation to Lexcel accreditation and the audit of our accounts;
- our banks and card payment providers;
- external service suppliers, representatives and agents that we use to make our business more efficient, eg IT support, case management systems, quoting systems, electronic forms and marketing agencies
We only allow our service providers to handle your personal data if we are satisfied they take appropriate measures to protect your personal data. We also impose contractual obligations on service providers to ensure they can only use your personal data to provide services to us and to you.
We may disclose and exchange information with law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.
We may disclose and exchange information with HM Courts and Tribunals Service, your opponent’s legal representatives and third party professional experts if you have instructed us in a family or litigation/dispute resolution matter, for the purpose of progressing your instructions and adhering to any Court Orders you are party to.
We may also need to share some personal data with other parties, such as potential buyers of some or all of our business or during a re-structuring. Usually, information will be anonymised but this may not always be possible. The recipient of the information will be bound by confidentiality obligations.
Where your personal data is held
Information may be held at our offices, third party agencies, service providers, representatives and agents as described above (see ‘Who we share your personal data with’).
Some of these third parties may be based outside the UK. For more information, including on how we safeguard your personal data when this occurs, see below: ‘Transferring your personal data abroad’.
How long your personal data will be kept
We will keep your personal data after we have finished advising or acting for you. We will do so for one of these reasons:
- to respond to any questions, complaints or claims made by you or on your behalf;
- to show that we treated you fairly;
- to keep records required by law.
We will not retain your data for longer than necessary for the purposes set out in this notice. Different retention periods apply for different types of data. Further details on this are available in our Terms of Business and File Retention Information.
When it is no longer necessary to retain your personal data, we will securely destroy, delete or anonymise it.
Transferring your personal data abroad
To deliver services to you, it is sometimes necessary for us to transfer your personal data outside the UK. This may include countries which do not provide the same level of protection of personal data as the UK. We may share data abroad;
- if you have service providers located outside the UK
- if you are based outside the UK;
- where there is an international dimension to the matter in which we are advising you.
We will transfer your personal data outside the UK only where:
- the UK government (or the European Commission) has decided the recipient country ensures an adequate level of protection of personal data (known as an ‘adequacy decision’)
- there are appropriate safeguards in place, together with enforceable rights and effective legal remedies for data subjects; or
- a specific exception applies under data protection law.
If you would like further information please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ below).
Your rights
You have the following rights, which you can exercise free of charge:
| Access | You have the right to ask for copies of your personal data. You can request other information such as where we get personal data from and who we share personal data with. There are some exemptions which means you may not receive all the information you ask for |
| Rectification | You have the right to ask us to correct or delete personal data you think is inaccurate or incomplete |
| Erasure (also known as the right to be forgotten) | You have the right to ask us to delete your personal data—in certain situations |
| Restriction of processing | You have the right to ask us to limit how we use your personal data—in certain circumstances, eg if you contest the accuracy of the data |
| Data portability | You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal data you provided to us to another organisation or to you—in certain situations |
| To object | You have the right to object:
—at any time to your personal data being processed for direct marketing (including profiling); —in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal data, eg processing carried out for the purpose of our legitimate interests. |
| Not to be subject to automated individual decision-making | The right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (including profiling) that produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you |
| The right to withdraw consent | When we use your consent as our lawful basis, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.
Withdrawing consent will not affect the lawfulness of our use of your personal data in reliance on that consent before it was withdrawn |
If you make a request, we must respond to you without undue delay and in any event within one month.
If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please:
- email, call or write to us —see below: ‘How to contact us’; and
- let us have enough information to identify you (eg your full name, address and client or matter reference number);
- let us have 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 what right you want to exercise and the information to which your request relates.
Keeping your personal data secure
We have implemented appropriate technical and organisational measures to keep your personal data confidential and secure from unauthorised access, use and disclosure. We are Cyber Essentials accredited. We limit access to your personal data to those who have a genuine business need to access it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
We require our business partners, suppliers and other third parties to implement appropriate security measures to protect personal data from unauthorised access, use and disclosure.
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 we can resolve any query or concern you may raise about our use of your information.
You may also have a right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (the UK data protection regulator known as the ICO) The Information Commissioner may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or telephone: 0303 123 1113.
Changes to this privacy notice
We may change this privacy notice from time to time. When we do we will publish the updated version on our website and ask for your consent to the changes if legally required to do so. Alternatively, you can request a copy using the contact details below.
How to contact us
Please contact us by post, email or telephone if you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information we hold about you.
Our Compliance Officer for Legal Practice is Mrs J Penfold, who is also responsible for data protection.
Our contact details are shown below:
| Our contact details |
| Mrs J Penfold, Compliance Officer
Privacy Department, 104 South Street, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN21 4LW 01323 727321 |
Do you need extra help?
If you would like this notice in another format (for example audio, large print, braille) please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ above).
