We (Samuel Phillips Law) are the data controller and are responsible for your personal data.

If your personal information or circumstances change please keep us informed accordingly.  It is important that we have the most current details for you, especially if we are working on legal transactions for you, and especially if those transactions include money.

Information we require from you differs depending on the type of relationship we have with you and what you have instructed us to do.

We collect information about you for a few specific reasons:

  • To process your enquiry and look after a legal matter on your behalf or that of your colleagues or family.
  • To deliver to you timely and current legal updates, if you have asked us to.
  • Invite you to appropriate events run by Samuel Phillips Law, if you have asked us to.

We will need to collect personal information in order to act for you in a legal matter.  This information may include:

  • Name, address, telephone number(s) and email addresses.
  • Copies of your identification documents such as your passport, driving licence, utility bills etc.
  • Financial information, for example, bank account details and statements.
  • Details of your employer, your job title, education and National Insurance number.
  • Details about your children, or children in your care.

Those responsible for collecting the data are the administration teams working to support our qualified solicitors and managers of key functions such as accounts, compliance and if you have agreed to receive information from us, marketing.

If you do not want to share your data in respect of a legal matter you have instructed us upon, then we may not be able to fulfil our duties to you. We reserve the right to withdraw from the legal matter and cancel our service to you.

How we record your data varies on the type of service provided.  The majority of your information will be processed electronically, using software which is compliant with GDPR, protected by encryption and premium rated cybersecurity.  We only use trusted and certified software to manage our business and data transactions.

How long we keep your data depends on the nature of the work we have carried out.  We are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and they have a set of rules about how long we must keep client files for before they are confidentially destroyed.  This can be 6 years on average.  Some files relating to Trusts, Deeds and Wills must be kept much longer, or in some cases indefinitely.

We only use certified, professional and highly secure methods of file storage and destruction.

We will not email you unless you have provided your consent. We do not send random marketing emails to personal email addresses (Spam).

When you subscribe to our updates, the type of information we will collect about you includes Name, Phone number and Email address.  When we are handling a matter on your behalf we will need to know rather more about you to ensure that we are complying with SRA rules including Anti Money Laundering regulations.  We will, therefore, request identification documentation and collect your full address and contact information for our records.  Your electronic and paper file will be retained for a number of years, dependent on the nature of the work undertaken and corresponding rules concerning such storage.

We will not collect sensitive information about you without your explicit consent and only then in the process of managing a matter on your behalf.  You can check any information that we may hold by emailing a request to informationrequest@samuelphillips.co.uk

If you are unhappy about the handling of your personal information and wish to raise a complaint, you can do so by contacting our Chief Executive, Sharon Boyd sharonboyd@samuelphillips.co.uk

Data Rights

If you wish Samuel Phillips Law to provide you with a copy of the data we hold, we can supply you with this information, without charge if it is a reasonable request. If the request is excessive or repeated we reserve the right to charge a fee to cover the administrative costs. You can check any information that we hold by emailing a request to informationrequest@samuelphillips.co.uk

If you wish this data to be removed from our records and ported to you, or simply deleted you have the right to make such a request and we will comply with any and all such communications. If you are unhappy about the handling of your personal information and wish to raise a complaint, you can do so, by contacting us via admin@samuelphillips.co.uk setting out the reasons for your concern in your message.  Alternatively, you can raise the matter with the UK’s data protection regular, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

What is a Personal Data Breach?

  • Unauthorised access by a third party;
  • Error, inaction or accident by a data controller or processor;
  • Sending personal data to an incorrect recipient;
  • A device containing personal data being lost or stolen;
  • Deliberate alteration of personal data without permission;
  • Any loss of access to personal data.

How we will Respond in the Event of a Personal Data Breach?

  • We take the management of client, staff and supplier information very seriously indeed.  To protect your data, we have ensured that we can detect malicious attacks and have in place a process to assess the likely risk to individuals as a result of such a breach.
  • If a breach has occurred we will, in accord with GDPR regulation, notify the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) within 72 hours of becoming aware of it.
  • We will provide the ICO with full details of the breach at this time and continue to update whilst the matter is investigated.
  • In the unlikely event a breach impacting individuals or organisations associated with our business occurs, we will notify those affected at the earliest possible opportunity.
  • As all the personal data within our systems and third-party platforms is encrypted we are confident that in the unlikely event of a breach there will not be a negative impact on our clients, staff or suppliers, however if necessary, we will provide the appropriate advice to those affected to help protect them from its effects.
  • As a matter of procedure and best practice with cybersecurity, we document all breaches, even if they don’t all need to be reported.

Cookies

See our full cookies policy here.

We use technology to track the patterns of behaviour of visitors to our site.

The Samuel Phillips Law website employs cookies, a technological tool to help identify the browsing behaviour of anonymised visitors.  We use this information to analyse the performance of our website and to make improvements and help our visitors’ online experience.

The application of cookies cannot only help our site perform better but also speed up your experience by recalling pages that you’ve visited.

We can assure you that the analytical data obtained via the use of cookies does not reveal your personal information.