Birkett & Co

Birkett & Co Solicitors (“Birketts”, “we” or “us”) takes your privacy and security of personal information very seriously and is committed to protecting your personal information.  This privacy policy sets out the way in which any personal information you provide to us is used and kept secure. It applies whenever we collect your personal data (including when you use our website or other digital platforms), so please read it carefully.

About Us

For the purposes of the Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR, Birkett & Co Solicitors is the “data controller” (i.e. the company who is responsible for, and controls the processing of, your personal data).

About this privacy policy

This privacy policy explains what information we may collect about you, how we may use it, and the steps we take to ensure that it is kept secure. We also explain your rights in respect of your personal data.

Third party websites

Please note that our website and other digital platforms may contain links to third party websites / digital platforms which are provided for your convenience. We are only responsible for the privacy practices and security of our own digital platforms. We recommend that you check the privacy and security policies and procedures of each and every other website / digital platform that you visit.

Contact Details

If you have any comments or queries regarding our use of your data, please contact our Data Protection Officer by emailing jbirkett@birkettandcosolicitors.co.uk, write to us at Data Protection Officer, 32 Bolton Street, Ramsbottom, BL0 9HX or call us on 01706 824707.

Our ICO registration number is: A8744134

What information do we collect about you and what is it used for?

All personal information that we collect about you will be recorded, used, and protected by us in accordance with applicable data protection legislation and this privacy policy.

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:

(a) Identity data –name, title, job title, address, telephone number, email address, photographic identification, date of birth, credit check

(b) Contact data – billing address, email address and telephone numbers.

(c) Financial Information – bank account or payment card details

(d)Transaction data – details about payments to and from you and other details of products and services you have purchased from us.

(e) Matter information – the categories of personal information that we hold will vary according to the type of matter that we are instructed to advise on.   By way of example this may include (and is not limited to) criminal convictions or offences, medical conditions, surgeries, therapies, medical history or disabilities.

(f) Marketing information – name, title, job title, address, telephone number, email address, company, engagement, event attendance history, and marketing preferences

(g) Website data – when you interact with our digital platforms, we may also automatically collect the following information about your visit. This is primarily to help us better understand how people use our digital platforms to enable us create better content and more relevant communications:

• how you have reached our digital platform and the internet protocol (IP) address you have used
• your browser type, versions and plug-ins, and your operating system
• your journey through our digital platform, including which links you click on and any searches you made, how long you stayed on a page, and other page interaction information
• what content you like or share
• information collected in any online forms you complete

(h) Social media information – username, company details and engagement details (likes, retweets, shares, reactions, comments).

(i) Monitoring – CCTV footage, vehicle details, PC login details, use of our IT and communications systems.

How your data is used

In broad terms, we use your data for the following purposes:

Purpose/Activity	Type of data	Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest
To register you as a new client	(a) Identity (b) Contact	(a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation
To administer and provide any legal services or products you have used, requested or expressed an interest in, including – Managing payments, fees and charges – Collect and recover money owed to us	(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Financial (d) Transaction (e) Matter	(a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to recover debts due to us)
To manage our relationship with you which will include: (a) Notifying you about changes to our terms or privacy policy (b) Asking you to leave a review or take a survey	(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Marketing and Communications (f) Marketing (g) Website	(a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation (c) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how customers use our products/services)
To communicate with you about legal updates, breaking news, newsletters and event invitations which are relevant to your interests and in line with your preferences.	(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Transaction (f) Marketing (g) Website (i) Social media	(a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how customers use our products/services, to develop them and grow our business)
To administer and protect our business and this website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data)	(a) Identity (b) Contact (g) Website	(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise) (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation
To deliver relevant website content and advertisements to you and measure or understand the effectiveness of the advertising we serve to you	a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Transaction (f) Marketing (g) Website (h) Social media	Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how customers use our products/services, to develop them, to grow our business and to inform our marketing strategy)
To use data analytics to improve our website, products/services, marketing, customer relationships and experiences	(g) website (b) Usage	Necessary for our legitimate interests (to define types of customers for our products and services, to keep our website updated and relevant, to develop our business and to inform our marketing strategy)
To conduct human resource administration to process applications for employment	(a) Identity	Performance with a contract with you
To ensure the firms offices and its stored information is secure we use CCTV services.	(i) Monitoring	Necessary for our legitimate interests (for the protection of our staff and prevention of crime)

 

Marketing Communications

This includes contacting you (with your opted in consent) with relevant newsletters, bulletins and other information about our services, inviting you to events and measuring engagement with our communications to ensure that the content that we create is relevant and useful. Our lawful basis for this is your consent. You have the right to withdraw this consent or amend your marketing preferences at any time by contacting enquiries@birkettandcosolicitors.co.uk.

How we collect your data

Client Information

We collect personal information directly from clients as part of our file opening process and may also obtain further information about specific matters from other sources, including publicly available registers, court transcripts, credit searches and private investigators.

We may also collect further information from other sources such as Companies House, the electoral register or market information providers.

Marketing Information

We collect marketing and social media personal information either directly from clients, via consent through our marketing consent form or from social media platforms when clients engage with our social media accounts on Twitter, LinkedIn,  Facebook, YouTube and  Google+,

Disclosure of your personal data

In order to provide our products and services to you or to otherwise fulfil contractual arrangements that we have with you, we may need to use selected third parties to carry out data processing activities on our behalf.

We may share your data with third parties:

• if we are under a legal or regulatory duty to do so
• if it is necessary to do so to enforce our contractual rights
• to lawfully assist the police or security services with the prevention and detection of crime or terrorist activity
• where such disclosure is necessary to protect the safety or security of any persons,
• otherwise as permitted under applicable law.

We will not share your data with any third parties other than when we are legally obliged to do so without prior consent, and we will ensure that your information is appropriately protected if, after your consent, we do.

Data Security

We have put in place appropriate security measures to protect your personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal information to those people who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.

Monitoring

We may monitor and record communications with you (such as telephone conversations and emails) for the purpose of quality assurance to improve the quality of services that we provide to you.

Credit checking

To enable us to make credit decisions about you and for fraud prevention and money laundering purposes, we may search the files of credit reference and fraud prevention agencies (who will record the search). We may disclose information about how you conduct your account to such agencies and your information may be linked to records relating to other people living at the same address with whom you are financially linked. Other credit grantors may use this information to make credit decisions about you and the people with whom you are financially associated, as well as for fraud prevention, debtor tracing and money laundering purposes. If you provide false or inaccurate information and we suspect fraud, we will record this.

Use of cookies

This site uses both functional and cookies to help us improve the performance of our website. To find out more and see a list of cookies used, please see our Cookie Policy

Your rights

You may correct or update your personal information at any time by emailing us at enquiries@birkettandcosolicitors.co.uk

We will securely retain your information for as long as is reasonably necessary and in accordance with applicable law. If you wish to submit a request that your data be deleted, please write to us at the above address. You have the right to receive a copy of the personal information that we hold about you. Please write to us at the address above if you wish to exercise this right.

If you have subscribed to receive marketing communications, you can unsubscribe at any time, please contact enquiries@birkettandcosolicitors.co.uk.

Changes to our privacy policy

Any changes we may make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our privacy policy.

Complaints

If you have any concerns over how we use your data, please contact us in the first instance by either telephoning 01706 824707, emailing enquiries@birkettandcosolicitors.co.uk or by post to 32 Bolton Street, Ramsbottom, BL0 9HX.

In due course if you are not satisfied that we have addressed your concerns adequately, you have the right to make a complaint to the supervisory authority, the details of which will be provided to you as part of the above process.