Privacy Policy

This privacy policy is directed not only to our clients, but to all other people we may deal with in the course of our business.

We take your privacy very seriously. Please read this privacy policy 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.

When we use your personal data we are regulated under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which applies across the European Union (including in the United Kingdom) and we are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal data for the purposes of the GDPR. Our use of your personal data is subject to your instructions, the GDPR, other relevant UK and EU legislation and our professional duty of confidentiality.

Key terms

It would be helpful to start by explaining some key terms used in this policy:

We, us, our	Evolve Family Law Ltd
Our data protection officer	Robin Charrot E: robin@evolvefamilylaw.co.uk T: 01625 728015
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 our clients.

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 the identity of our clients or the payer of any monies to us, e.g your date of birth or passport, or driving licence (or similar identity document) details. Electronic contact details, e.g your email address and mobile phone number. Information relating to the matter in which our clients are seeking our advice or representation. Your financial details so far as relevant to our clients’ instructions. Information about your use of our IT, communication and other systems, and other monitoring information, eg if using our secure online client portal ‘LawConnect’. We may collect the content of telephone calls between you and us. We may collect the content of Teams calls between you and us.

Your National Insurance and tax details. Your bank and/or building society details. Details of your professional online presence, e.g LinkedIn profile. Details of your spouse/partner and dependents or other family members. Your employment status and details including salary and benefits. Your nationality and immigration status and information from related documents, such as your passport or other identification, and immigration information. Details of your pension arrangements. Your racial or ethnic origin, gender and sexual orientation, religious or similar beliefs. Personal identifying information, such as your parents’ names. Your medical records. Information to enable us to undertake a credit or other financial checks on our clients.

This personal data is required to enable us to provide our service to our clients. If you do not provide personal data we ask for, it may delay or prevent us from providing services to our clients, or it may delay or prevent the progression of any matter with which we are dealing.

How your personal data is collected

We collect most of this information from you direct, or via lawyers representing you (if you are not our client), or via our secure online client portal. However, we may also collect information:

• from publicly accessible sources, eg Companies House or HM Land Registry;
• directly from a third party, e.g:
  • sanctions screening providers;
  • credit reference agencies (only in relation to clients);
  • client due diligence providers (only in relation to our clients);
• from a third party with your consent, e.g:
  • via Engage (intelligent questionnaires for most new clients of Evolve Family Law) operated by Family Law Lab;
  • your bank or building society, another financial institution or advisor;
  • consultants and other professionals we may engage in relation to your matter;
  • your employer, professional body or pension administrators;
  • your doctors, medical and occupational health professionals;
• via our website—we use cookies on our website (for more information on cookies, please see our https://www.evolvefamilylaw.co.uk/cookies-policy/ cookie policy)
• via our information technology (IT) systems, e.g:
  • case management, document management and time recording systems;
  • automated monitoring of our websites and other technical systems, such as our computer networks and connections, CCTV and access control systems, communications systems, email, text 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, e.g:

• to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;
• for the performance of our contract with our clients or to take steps at our clients’ request before entering into a contract;
• for our legitimate interests or those of our clients or a third party; or
• where 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 our clients	For the performance of our contract with our clients or to take steps at their request before entering into a contract
Conducting checks to identify our clients or payers of any monies to us, and to 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, e.g under health and safety regulation or rules issued by our professional regulator	To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
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, e.g policies covering security and internet use	For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e to make sure we are following our own internal procedures so we can deliver the best service to our clients
Operational reasons, such as improving efficiency, training and quality control	For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e to be as efficient as we can so we can delivery the best service for our clients at the best price
Ensuring the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information	For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e to protect our intellectual property and other commercially valuable information To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
Statistical analysis to help us manage our practice	For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service for our clients at the best price
Preventing unauthorised access and modifications to systems	For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e to prevent and detect criminal activity that could be damaging for us and for our clients. To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
Updating and enhancing client records	For the performance of our contract with our clients or to take steps at our clients’ request before entering into a contract To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, e.g making sure that we can keep in touch with our clients about existing and new services
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, e.g to make sure we are following our own internal procedures and working efficiently so we can deliver the best service to our clients
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, i.e to promote our business to existing and former clients, and to third parties who may have an interest in becoming our clients
Credit reference checks via external credit reference agencies	For our legitimate interests or a those of a third party, i.e for credit control and to ensure our clients are likely to be able to pay for our services
External audits and quality checks, e.g for Lexcel, ISO or Investors in People accreditation and the audit of our accounts	For our legitimate interests or a those of a third party, i.e to acquire or maintain accreditations so we can demonstrate we operate at the highest standards. To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations

We will only use (process) any Special Category Personal data if it is necessary for the performance of our contract with clients, and only for the purpose of giving legal advice or whenever courts are acting in their judicial capacity.

Promotional communications

We may use your personal data to send our clients updates (by email, text message, telephone or post) about legal developments that might be of interest to them and/or information about our services, including exclusive offers, promotions or new services.

We have a legitimate interest in processing your personal data for promotional purposes (see above ‘How and why we use your personal data’). This means we do not usually need our clients’ consent to send them promotional communications. However, where consent is needed, we will ask for this consent separately and clearly.

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:

• calling us on 0345 222 8 222
• using the ‘unsubscribe’ link in emails or ‘STOP’ number in texts

We may ask you to confirm or update your marketing preferences if you instruct us to provide  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 behalf of our clients or refer them to, e.g other solicitors, barristers, medical professionals, accountants, tax advisors or other experts;
• other third parties where necessary to carry out our clients’ instructions, e.g mortgage provider, or HM Land Registry in the case of a property search or transaction, or Companies House;
• our insurers and brokers;
• external auditors, e.g in relation to accreditation and the audit of our accounts;
• our banks;
• external service suppliers, representatives and agents that we use to enable our business to function or make it more efficient, e.g accountancy services, IT services, marketing agencies, document collation or analysis suppliers. We will only allow these external service providers to handle your personal data if we are satisfied they take appropriate measures to protect your personal data. We will also impose contractual obligations on these service providers to ensure they can only use your personal data to provide services to us and to our clients.

We may disclose and exchange information with law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.

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.

We will not share your personal data with any other third party without your consent.

Where your personal data is held

Information may be held at our offices and those of our 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 European Economic Area. For more information, including on how we safeguard your personal data when this occurs, see below: ‘Transferring your personal data out of the EEA’.

How long your personal data will be kept

We will keep your personal data after we have finished advising or acting for our client in the matter/s to which your personal data relates. We will do so for one of these reasons:

• to respond to any questions, complaints or claims made by your or on your behalf;
• to show that we treated our client fairly;
• to keep records required by law;
• to keep records required to fulfill our professional obligations, such as conflict checking on all new enquiries

We will not retain your data for longer than necessary for the purposes set out in this policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data. The minimum retention period would be 7 years from the last element of work carried out by us on a matter. However, in certain cases, it may be necessary to retain data for a much longer period of time, for example until a youngest child is 18, or until an indefinite maintenance period is likely to end.

When it is no longer necessary to retain your personal data, we will delete or anonymise it. However, it will not be possible to delete the bare minimum of data to fulfill our professional obligations, namely your name, address and other contact details.

Data received by us for the specific purpose of preventing money laundering or criminal financing

Any personal data that we receive from our clients or third parties for the specific purpose of preventing money laundering or criminal financing will only be used for that purpose.    

You expressly consent to us keeping (for more than five years) your personal data relating to anti money laundering verification checks and searches. That personal data will be deleted when the other personal data on our file relating to the matters on which we are instructed is deleted (in accordance with our data retention periods).    

Transferring your personal data out of the EEA

To deliver services to our clients, it is sometimes necessary for us to share your personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA), eg:

• with our clients’ or our service providers located outside the EEA;
• if you or our client are based outside the EEA;
• where there is an international dimension to the matter in which we are advising our client.

These transfers are subject to special rules under European and UK data protection law.

The following countries to which we may transfer personal data have been assessed by the European Commission as providing an adequate level of protection for personal data:

• Andorra
• Argentina
• the Faroe Islands
• Guernsey
• the Isle of Man
• Israel
• Japan
• Jersey
• Switzerland
• New Zealand, and
• Uruguay

The Commission has also made partial findings of adequacy in respect of:

• Canada—limited to commercial organisations where the personal data is subject to Canada’s Personal Information and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).
• the United States of America—in respect of transfers of personal data covered by the EU-US Privacy Shield framework.

Except for the countries listed above, non-EEA countries do not have equivalent data protection laws to the United Kingdom and EEA. We will, however, ensure the transfer complies with data protection law and all personal data will be secure. Our standard practice would be to use standard data protection contract clauses which have been approved by the European Commission.

If you would like further information, please contact our Data Protection Officer (see ‘How to contact us’ below).

Your rights

You have the following rights, which you can exercise free of charge:

Access	The right to be provided with a copy of your personal data
Rectification	The right to require us to correct any mistakes in your personal data
To be forgotten	The right to require us to delete your personal data—in certain situations
Restriction of processing	The right to require us to restrict processing of your personal data—in certain circumstances
Data portability	The right to receive the personal data you provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and/or transmit that data to a third party—in certain situations
To object	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, e.g 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

For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, please see https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/

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, e.g. your full name, address, other contact details and our client name (if you are not our client) and matter reference number;
• let us have proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving license 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 appropriate security measures to prevent personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed unlawfully. 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 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.

The General Data Protection Regulation http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679&from=EN also gives you right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the European Union (or European Economic Area) state where you work, normally live or where any alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ or telephone: 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this privacy policy

This privacy policy was published in July 2019.

We may change this privacy policy from time to time, when we do we will inform our clients via direct communication, and anyone else by an updated version of this policy on our website.

How to contact us

Please contact us by post, email or telephone if you have any questions about this privacy policy or the information we hold about you.

Our contact details are shown below:

 

Our contact details	Our Data Protection Officer’s contact details
4 The Clocktower, Manor Lane, Holmes Chapel Cheshire CW4 8DJ T: 0345 222 8 222	Robin Charrot Same postal address E: robin@evolvefamilylaw.co.uk T: 01625 728015