Privacy Policy

This notice contains information about what data we collect and store about you and why. It tells you who we share this information with, the security mechanisms we have put in place to protect your data and how to contact us if you have a complaint.  This applies to all clients, prospective clients and business contacts and whether the information has been collected via forms completed direct by you on our website or during the course of discussions with your fee earner and support staff.

DF Legal LLP collects, uses and is responsible for personal information about you. When we do this we are the ‘controller’ of this information for the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation and other applicable data protection laws.   Under the GDPR legislation we must notify you of the information contained within this privacy notice. 

What data about you do we collect?

When carrying out instructed legal work and direct marketing we may collect the following personal information about you:

  • Full Name & Marital Status
  • Current & Previous Address information
  • Gender
  • Contact telephone numbers
  • Email addresses
  • Date of birth
  • National Insurance Number
  • Occupation & Employment Status
  • Formal identification i.e. driving license / passport etc
  • Bank details
  • IP Addresses
  • Product and service selections
  • Orders and other things that identify you individually

How do we collect personal data about you?

Generally we collection information about you in the following manner:

  • You may provide your personal information to us via chat, e ail or other written correspondence, telephone calls, web based forms or other means;
  • We use automated technical means to collect information about all website visitors for example by use of cookies.

We will only ever start to collect, use and store personal information about you if you have consented to it.  In most cases we will collect directly from you, with your consent.  We may gain further information over time from publicly available sources such as your company website or your social media profile, or from any communications with you.

Why will we collect, store and use personal data about you?

We collect, store and use personal data about you in order to:

  • Transact the instructed legal work undertaken on your behalf
  • Ascertain your full identity
  • Prevent legal fraud
  • For reference in subsequent legal matters
  • Internal marketing purposes including:-
  • To inform you about our firm’s services and news
  • To invite you to seminars and workshops on legal topics
  • To invite you to charity and/or corporate hospitality events we are organising.

Will your personal data be shared with third parties?

Privacy is important to us; therefore, it goes without saying that we would never sell, rent or give your personal information to any third party without your consent.

We may in the future use a third party marketing automation platform, in which case your name and email address (but no other personal information) may be stored on that third party’s servers within the European Economic Area.

Any such third-party service provider will be required to take appropriate security measures to protect your personal information in line with our policies. We would not allow any third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes. We would only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

Will we transfer your personal data outside the European Economic Area?

Not without your knowledge and consent.

Website : Information we monitor about our visitors

During any visit to our website the pages you see, along with a short text file called a ‘cookie’ are downloaded to your computer.  Many websites do this, because cookies facilitate useful features such as the ability to identify whether a user has successfully logged into the site or to find out whether the computer (and probably its user) has visited the website before.

Website : IP Addresses

We may collect information about your computer, including where available your IP address, operating system and browser type for system administration and to report aggregate information for internal purposes only.  This is statistical data about our users browsing actions and patterns, and does not identify the individual.

Website : Cookies

We may obtain information about your general internet usage by using a cookie file which is stored on your browser or the hard drive of your computer. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive. They help us to improve the Website and to deliver a better and more personalised service. Some of the cookies we use are essential for the site to operate.

If you register with us or if you continue to use the Website, you agree to our use of cookies. Cookies are widely used in order to make the Website work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site.

You block cookies by activating the setting on your browser which allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of the Website. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies as soon you visit our site.

What choices do you have?

When we collect your information we will give you options as to how you wish to hear from us (e.g. email, post) and for what purposes (e.g. invitations, direct marketing etc). If you wish to change these preferences at any time, or to unsubscribe from communications, please email info@dflegal.com quoting “unsubscribe” in the subject line.

Under the General Data Protection Regulation, you have a number of important rights that you can exercise free of charge. In summary, these rights are:

  • Transparency over how we use your personal data and fair processing of your information;
  • Access to your personal information and other supplementary information;
  • Require us to correct any mistakes or complete missing information we hold on you;
  • Require us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances;
  • Receive a copy of the personal information you have provided to us or have this information be sent to a third party, this will be provided to you or the third party in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format;
  • Object at any time to processing of your personal information for direct marketing;
  • Object in certain other situations to the continued processing of your personal information;
  • Restrict our processing of your personal information in certain circumstances;

How long will we keep your personal data?

We will keep your personal data for the above purposes until either (i) we become aware it is no longer valid, or (ii) you ask us to delete/erase it.

The right to erasure is not absolute and only applies in certain circumstances.  When the right to erasure of your personal data does not apply:

  1. To complete with a legal obligation; and
  2. For the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

What rights do you have?

It is important that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal information changes during your working relationship with us.

Under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to request:

  • access to your personal information (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
  • correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.
  • the erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to stop processing personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground.
  • the restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
  • the transfer of your personal information to another party.

If you want to review, verify, correct or request erasure of your personal information, object to the processing of your personal data, or request that we transfer a copy of your personal information to another party, please contact info@dflegal.com

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal information (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request for access is clearly unfounded or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with the request in such circumstances.

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access the information (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is another appropriate security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.

In the limited circumstances where you may have provided your consent to the collection, processing and transfer of your personal information for a specific purpose, you have the right to withdraw your consent for that specific processing at any time. Once we have received notification that you have withdrawn your consent, we will no longer process your information for the purpose or purposes you originally agreed to, unless we have another legitimate basis for doing so in law.

The firm’s Managing Partner has responsibility for overseeing compliance with this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice or how we handle your personal information, please contact info@dflegal.com. You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues.

 

If you want more information about your rights under the GDPR please see the Guidance from the Information Commissioners Office on https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/ .

If you want to exercise any of these rights, please:

  • Email, call or write to us on info@dflegal.com, or any of our offices, details are available on dflegal.com
  • Let us have proof of your identity and address;
  • State the right or rights that you wish to exercise;

We will respond to you within 21 days from when we receive your request. Please note if you wish to unsubscribe from any email you can do so by replying to the email or selecting the unsubscribe button that will appear on any email. It may take 21 days for this to become effective.

How to make a complaint?

We hope that you are happy with our service and that DF Legal or our Managing Partner, Jo May, can resolve any issues or complaints that arise. Please get in touch if you have any concerns (see ‘Get in touch’ below).

The General Data Protection Regulation also gives you the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the European Union state where you work, normally live or where the alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The UK supervisory authority if the Information Commissioner’s Office who can be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/. 

Our Security

Please contact our Managing Partner if you wish to have a copy of our Data Protection or Risk Management Policy, which will stipulate the measures in place to secure your data.

Changes to this privacy notice

We constantly review our internal privacy practices and may change this policy from time to time.

Get in touch

If you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information we hold about you, please contact the Managing Partner. The best way to reach us is to write, call or email on the contact details found on our website www.dflegal.com

Alternative formats

If it would be helpful to have this notice provided in another format (for example: in another language, audio, braille) please contact us (see ‘Get in touch’ above).