Professional Legal Services
Professional Legal Services
LAUREN WRIGHT SOLICITORS
PRIVACY NOTICE
Your privacy is important to us and as solicitors we owe our clients a duty of confidentiality.
This notice explains our information practices and policies, together with the choices you can make about the way your information is used by us.
1. WHO WE ARE
Lauren Wright Solicitors is a law firm offering personal and high quality legal services in respect of a variety of legal areas from its office in Elgin. Lauren Wright Solicitors is the trading name of LMW Legal Services Moray Ltd, being a company registered under the Companies Acts under Company Number SC724696 and having its registered office at Level 1, 26 Thunderton Place, Elgin, Moray, IV30 1BG.
2. INFORMATION WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU
To be able to provide a legal service to you, you will disclose personal data to us. The processing of personal data is regulated in the UK by the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679, and the Data Protection Act 1998, together with other provisions which relate to privacy and electronic communications (the “DP Requirements”).
In providing a legal service to you we act as an independent controller and are, therefore, responsible for complying with the DP Requirements in respect of any personal data we process in providing the Services to you. This privacy policy explains how we process personal data.
In your role as our client, you are also a Data Controller as you will to a certain extent determine the purpose for which any personal data you provide us with, is, or will be, processed.
Where you are an organisation that we work with, you may also be an independent controller responsible for complying with DP Requirements in respect of the personal data you process and, accordingly, where you disclose personal data to us you confirm that such disclosure is fair and lawful and otherwise does not contravene DP Regulations.
Information collected from others
We can collect information about you from others in the following situations:
•We act for more than one client (if and when applicable): When dealing with a transaction on behalf of more than one person, information may be provided by one individual about another. Where acting for married couples and civil partners, it will be presumed that authority has been provided for any such personal data to be disclosed to us by one party that relates to the other. Where we act for more than one person and those parties are not married or in a civil partnership, we may ask for a mandate which permits one client to provide us with information and instructions on behalf of the other clients. Where a mandate has been provided we will presume the information being provided to us is correct and has been provided with the data subject’s consent. Otherwise we will contact each client directly for information.
•Fraud prevention, law enforcement or government agencies and other data sources used to prevent or detect fraud or provide details to us about criminal convictions or offences.
•HM Treasury and other authorities in relation to regulatory issues e.g. where someone is subject to a financial sanction they will appear on HM Treasury's asset freezing list.
•Information obtained via external organisations relevant for money laundering checks and managing your legal transaction. For example, we may use Veriphy to verify your identification documentation, and we use First Scottish Searching Services for legal reports which contain information about whether there is any entry relating to you in the Register of Inhibitions.
•Family members
Sometimes, we may be contacted upon your request by family members whom you wish to assist you with any legal matter. This may be because you are not comfortable using the telephone, or because you would wish to appoint someone to deal with your affairs directly for you. In that situation, those parties may provide us with information about you. In this situation we will always arrange to contact you directly to confirm any information provided and your consent for any family member to continue contacting us on your behalf.
Sensitive personal information
We collect information that is sensitive, such as your marital or other status, children, information about your health, financial information and other personal details which could include unspent past criminal convictions or offences. We will obtain this information either directly from you by request, or it may be obtained through verification of your ID.
We will collect and use this information as part of any work that we are assisting you with and where it is necessary for us to comply with our legal obligations in relation to anti-money laundering and anti- terrorist financing regulations, or otherwise as part of any legal advice we are providing you with or concerning any defence of a legal claim.
3. WHAT WE DO WITH INFORMATION COLLECTED AND WHY
We will treat your files, papers and any electronic information which is confidential to you, and which you provide us with, or we obtain whilst acting for you, as strictly confidential.
We will use your personal information to meet our obligations to you and to provide you with advice and assistance in relation to your legal matter(s). We and other companies that we use to assist us in providing a legal service to you may use your personal information in the following ways:-
(a) to administer your account with us, including tracing and collecting any debts;
(b) for fraud prevention purposes (including verification checks for our money laundering
obligations);
(c) for undertaking business for your benefit and providing legal advice to you, including without prejudice to the foregoing generality:
(i) to advise the Moray Council about any change in ownership status of a property and to assist with obtaining a refund of Council Tax;
(ii) to register your legal title to a new property or land with the Registers of Scotland;
(iii)to submit any necessary Land & Building Transaction Tax Returns to Revenue Scotland on your behalf and deal with payment of any tax due;
(iv) to liaise with your doctor or other medical qualified practitioner in relation to provision of legal advice and assistance pertaining to preparation of a Will or Power of Attorney, or in relation to any Power of Attorney coming into effect;
(v) in assisting you with obtaining mortgage finance and completing all relevant registration formalities relating to that mortgage.
We are professionally and legally obliged to keep your affairs confidential, however, solicitors may be required by statute to make a disclosure to:
(a) the Serious Organised Crime Agency where they know or suspect that a transaction may involve money laundering or terrorist financing;
(b) to assess client satisfaction (such as by asking you to participate in surveys); and
(c) to help improve our services.
We can use your personal information in this way because we are given consent by you, under our terms of engagement, to do so in line with assisting you with any relevant legal matter you have instructed us to assist you with. We will always ensure that we keep the amount of your personal information that we collect and the extent of any processing to the absolute minimum to meet this legitimate interest.
Where we have a legitimate to do so, or where necessary and you have given us your consent under our terms of engagement, we will pass on your personal information to third parties such as the Registers of Scotland, Revenue Scotland or other companies which are pertinent and directly applicable to dealing with your legal transaction. We do not pass on your details to any third-party companies involved in marketing or sales of products directly to you.
By instructing us, you consent to us using your information for these purposes. If you prefer not to
receive legal updates from us, please advise the Partner who has overall supervision of your transaction.
4. WHO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION WITH AND WHY
We may share your personal information with third parties and organisations in line with Section 3 above to enable us to comply with any legal matter you have instructed us to assist you with, or where required by the law to do so.
We may share your personal data with:
a) The Law Society of Scotland that regulates our conduct;
b) Our staff who will be acting for you and assisting you;
c) Agents and service providers who have signed relevant data protection agreements with us and whom we require services to assist you with your legal matter and to enable us to comply with anti- money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regulations;
d) With relevant government bodies or law enforcement organisations as required by law should this be necessary for fraud, cyber-crime purposes or for protecting our website, the rights and/ or personal safety of other persons;
e) Your spouse or civil partner if we are also acting for that person in the same transaction;
You should make sure everything you tell us about you is correct because your records may be checked in the following circumstances:
(i) When you contact us for legal advice or assistance;
(ii) By police and other law enforcement issues.
5. PERSONAL INFORMATION SENT OVERSEAS
Please note we do not send any of your information overseas to any part of the world, unless you have specifically given us consent to contact a family member who is not resident in the EU, or you authorise us to do so for the purposes of providing legal assistance to you whilst abroad.
6. STORAGE OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
Generally, your information will be held within our Clio case management system and other tools such as Microsoft, both having their servers within the EU, both as sub-processors of your data. Both This system is a password protected database which will only be accessed and used by staff within Lauren Wright Solicitors, as well as By The Books, our external cashroom services provider. The information held is within the United Kingdom and Europe.
We may hold paper files and other legal documents for you. These will be retained in locked filing cabinets for their security and to protect your confidentiality.
7. HOW LONG IS YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION HELD FOR?
We are only allowed to keep your personal information if we need it for assisting you with your legal transaction, or for compliance with any other legislative provisions affecting your information.
As a rule, we will keep your personal data for a period of 7 years from the completion of the legal matter which we are assisting you with, and any such additional period from completion of that matter to the close of the next financial year. In some cases, we will keep your general transactional information for longer, in keeping with Law Society rules and recommendations pertaining to your legal matter and our internal policy and procedure concerning file retention and destruction.
If you would wish a copy of this policy and procedure, please contact Lauren Wright as the Principal dealing with your legal matter.
8. CAN YOU ASK US TO STOP USING YOUR INFORMATION?
We rely on your consent to collect and process your personal information, you can ask us to stop using your personal information at any time by withdrawing that consent and we will stop using your personal information for those purposes. Please be aware however, that by withdrawing your consent, we may be unable to continue providing a legal service to you or be unable to complete your transaction.
Where required to do so, we may need to continue using your personal information for compliance with anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regulations, or for compliance with law enforcement agencies or our governing body’s rules and regulations.
We may rely on your consent to tell you about legal updates or new services which may be of interest to you.
At any time, you can tell us to stop using your personal information to tell you about legal updates or new services that may be of interest to you. To find out how to do this, see section 10.
9. WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DON’T GIVE US SOME OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?
Where you do not provide the personal information that we need to provide the service you are asking for, or to fulfil a legal requirement, we will not be able to provide the service that you are asking us to give you.
We will tell you about why we need the information when we ask for it.
10. DO WE USE COMPUTERS TO MAKE DECISIONS ABOUT YOU?
No. Whilst we will collect information about you and put this into our computer systems, the computer system does not make automated decisions. Any decisions relating to your legal matter or the information that is held about you will be made by the relevant solicitor, paralegal or other relevant member of staff whom you have instructed to assist you with your legal matter.
11. CONTACTING US ABOUT THIS PRIVACY NOTICE
Our Director, Lauren Wright, oversees general queries about this privacy notice or any request to exercise your rights which are set out below. Lauren Wright may be contacted at our operational office at
30 Springfield Gardens
Elgin
Moray
IV30 6XX
and by telephone on 07359384969 or 01343 612500.
You may contact us at the above address for one or more of the following reasons:
a) To ask us to correct information about you that is inaccurate or incomplete, or to delete personal information about you (the so-called "Right to be Forgotten").
b) To tell us you no longer agree to, that you object to, or that you wish to restrict us using information about you and ask us to stop.
c) To tell us to stop using your personal information to tell you about legal updates or services that may be of interest to you (direct marketing).
d) A right of access, namely to ask us to provide you with a copy of all the personal information that we have about you. To receive this information please write to the Office Manager on the above address details.
e) A "data portability" right, namely to obtain and reuse the information that you have provided to us for your own purposes across different services. You may ask for this information to be provided directly to you or directly to another organisation. We will provide the information in a machine-readable format so that another organisation's software should understand that information.
Sometimes we will not be able to stop using your personal information when you ask us to (e.g. where we need to use it because the law requires us to do so, or we need to retain the information for regulatory purposes).
In other cases, if we stop using your personal information, we will not be able to provide a legal service to you, such as completing your Will or registering your title to your new home.
We will tell you if we are unable to comply with your request, or how your request might impact upon you, when you contact us.
12. COMPLAINTS
If you have any concerns about the way in which we are using your personal information, please contact our Lauren Wright in the first instance, and we will endeavour to resolve your concern. You do also have, however, the right to complain about how we treat your personal information to the Information Commissioner's Office ("ICO"). The ICO can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
ICO website: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/
ICO telephone: 0303 123 1113 (local) or 01625 545 745 (national)
ICO textphone: 01625 545 860
ICO fax: 01625 524 510