Privacy Policy
May 2018
What information is being collected?
All client data will be held by us in our manual and electronic filing system. The information may include:
- contact details (names, postal addresses, email address, phone numbers etc...
- Bank details
- ID documents, NI # etc...
How is this collected?
Your personal information may be collected directly from you during the process of setting you up as a client of ours or during the course of taking instructions from you or when providing legal advice. This could also occur as a result of your online enquiry form. We may also collect information from third parties including, background check agencies such as Tracesmart, credit reference agencies, and other online sources.
How we will use your personal information?
We will only use your information when it is fair or lawful to do so.
1. Where we need to perform our duty as per the contract that we have entered into with you.
2. Where we need to comply with legal obligations
3. Where it is necessary for legitimate interests, namely to provide you advice or assistance or in facilitating and enabling the management of all matters relating to our business, but only where your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
4. Where you have given your consent and that consent has not subsequently been withdrawn by you.
5. Where we need to protect your or someone’s interest.
6. Where it is needed in the public interest.
To prevent fraud and to satisfy our legal obligations under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 and corresponding financial crime legislations
To provide you with the information about our service
To inform you of relevant firm promotions or updates that may be of interest to you.
For marketing and advertising purposes
The enforcement of legal claims including debt collection including via out-of-court procedures
Failure to provide personal information
Failure to provide certain information when requested may result in us being unable to perform both our legal obligations and our contractual duties to you, such as making payments to or on your behalf etc...
Special Category Information
We may also collect, store and use, to exercise our contractual or legal obligation some more sensitive persona information, such as:
Information about health, including sickness record, medical conditions and other records.
Information about race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, trade union membership, sexual orientation and political opinion.
Information about criminal convictions and offences.
We will only process these “special categories of personal data” in the following circumstances:
to the extent necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or with your explicit written consent which you can withdraw at any time.
Disclosure of data
We may share your personal information with third parties, where this is reasonably necessary, for the purposes set out in the policy. Third parties may include other lawyers, advisers and expert witnesses (including barristers and foreign lawyers), third-party service providers (including contractors and agents), regulatory bodies (such as the SRA), and law enforcement agencies. We may also disclose your personal information with other third parties, for example in the context of the possible sale or restructuring of the business.
Data may also be disclosed if we are under a duty to share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms of business and other agreements from time to time; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Hodkin & Company, our clients, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisation for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
Transfer and storage of data outside the EU
Where any transfer is made to another lawyer, adviser or expert witness outside of the EEA we will usually do this on the basis that the transfer is necessary for the performance of our contract with you.
Your rights
You have a number of rights in relation to your personal information under data protection law. In relation to certain rights, we may ask you for information to confirm your identity and, where applicable, to help us to search for your personal information.
Except in rare cases where additional time may be required, we will respond to you within one month from either (i) the date that we have confirmed your identity, or (ii) where we do not need to do this because we already have this information, from the date we received your request.
- Access your information
You are entitled to request access to the information we hold about you (known as a ‘data subject access request’). You are entitled to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that it is being lawfully processed.
- Correct your information
The accuracy of your information is important to us and we are working on ways to make it easier for you to review and correct the information that we hold about you.
In the meantime, if you change your name or address/email address, or you discover that any of the other information we hold is inaccurate or out of date, please let us know by contacting us.
- Request erasure
Where there are no reasons for continuing the processing of your personal information, you are able to request the removal or deletion of the personal information.
- Object to processing
Where the firm relies on legitimate interest for the processing of your personal information, or for the purpose of direct marketing, you have the right to object to the processing.
- Request the restriction of processing.
You are entitled to request for a suspension for the processing of your personal information, for example, if you are awaiting the reasons for the processing of the information or require us to establish its accuracy.
- Transfer your personal information
You are able to request the transfer of your personal information to another party.
You may not be able to exercise these rights and we may not provide you with a copy of your personal information if this concerns other individuals or if we have another lawful reason to withhold that information.
No fee
These rights are available to you at no cost; however we may charge a reasonable fee where a request is deemed to be excessive or unfounded. In such circumstances, we may otherwise refuse to comply with the request.
How long is your personal data retained?
Our retention period is based on statutory authority and will be held for a minimum of six years, which may be extended dependant on the nature of your relationship with the firm. Personal information may be retained for as long as necessary to comply with our legal obligation, or in order to protect yours or another person’s vital interest.
Security
We understand the importance of protecting your privacy and we will ensure your data is safeguarded and held securely in accordance with our obligations under the Data Protection laws. Appropriate technical and organisational measures have been implemented to ensure personal information is protected and to prevent your personal data from being lost, used, accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. We also limit access to your personal information to those employees, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. This access will be granted on a confidential basis and processing of the information will only take place subject to our instruction.
The firm have in place procedures and a policy to deal with any potential data security breaches, and data subjects and any applicable regulators will be notified where we are legally required to do so.
How to contact us:
By email: office@hodkin.org
or write to : FAO: DP, Hodkin & Company, 42-44 Copthorne Road, Felbridge, West Sussex, RH19 2NS
Changes to policy
We may review this policy from time to time and any changes will be notified to you by posting an updated version on our website. We recommend you regularly check for changes and review this policy whenever you visit our website. If you do not agree with any aspect of the updated policy you must immediately notify us and cease using our services.