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 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
We, us, our – ACA Law Ltd and our group companies
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 and data concerning health, sex life or sexual orientation.
Personal data we collect about you
Personal data we will collect
-Your name, address and telephone number
-Information to enable us to check and verify your identity, e.g. your date of birth or passport details
-Electronic contact details, e.g. your email address and mobile phone number
-Information relating to the matter in which you are seeking our advice or representation
-Information to enable us to undertake a credit or other financial checks on you
-Your financial details so far as relevant to your instructions, e.g. the source of your funds if you are instructing on a purchase transaction
Personal data we may collect
-Your bank and/or building society details
-Your national insurance and tax details
-Details of your professional online presence, e.g. LinkedIn profile
-Details of your spouse/partner and dependants or other family members
-Your employment status and details including salary and benefits
-Details of your pension arrangements
-Your medical records
This personal data is required to enable us to provide our service to you. If you do not provide personal data we ask for, it may delay or prevent us from providing services to you.
How your personal data is collected
We collect most of this information directly from you, however, we may also collect information:
-from publicly accessible sources, e.g. Companies House or HM Land Registry;
-directly from a third party, e.g. sanctions screening providers, credit reference agencies or client due diligence providers;
-from a third party with your consent, e.g. your bank or building society, consultants, other professionals, your employer or your doctors/medical professionals;
-via our information technology (IT) systems, e.g. case management, document management and time recording 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 you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract;
-for our legitimate interests or those of 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.
What we use your personal data for and why
-To provide legal services to you – for the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract
-Conducting checks to identify our clients and verify their identity – 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 – for our legitimate interests or those of a third party
-Operational reasons, such as improving efficiency, training and quality control – for our legitimate interests or those of a third party
-Ensuring the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information – for our legitimate interests or those of a third party
-Statistical analysis to help us manage our practice - for our legitimate interests or those of a third party
-Preventing unauthorised access and modifications to systems - for our legitimate interests or those of a third party
-Updating client records – for the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract, to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, for our legitimate interests or those of a third party
-Statutory returns – to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
-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
-Marketing our services and those of selected third parties to existing and former clients, third parties who have previously expressed an interest in our services and third parties with whom we have had no previous dealings - for our legitimate interests or those of a third party
-External audits and quality checks - for our legitimate interests or those of a third party
The above does not apply to special category personal data, which we will only process with your explicit consent.
Promotional communications
We may use your personal data to send you updates (by email, text message, telephone or post) about legal developments that might be of interest to you 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. This means we do not usually need your consent to send you 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 share it with other organisations for marketing purposes.
You have the right to opt out of receiving promotional communications at any time by contacting us by emailing lawyers@acalaw.co.uk.
We may ask you to confirm or update your marketing preferences if you instruct us to provide further 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 your data with:
-professional advisers who we instruct on your behalf or refer you to
-other third parties where necessary to carry out your instructions
-courts and HMRC
-our insurers and brokers
-our IT providers
-external auditors
-our bank
We only allow our service providers to handle your personal data if we are satisfied that they take appropriate measures to protect your personal data. We also impose contractual obligations on service providers relating to ensure they can only use your personal data to provide services to us and to you.
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 of 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.
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.
Some of these third parties may be based outside the European Economic Area.
How long your personal data will be kept
We will keep your personal data after we have finished advising or acting for you. We will do so for one of these reasons:
-to respond to any questions, complaints or claims made by you or on your behalf;
-to show that we treated you fairly;
-to keep records required by law.
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.
When it is no longer necessary to retain your personal data, we will delete it.
Transferring your personal data out of the EEA
To deliver services to you, it is sometimes necessary for us to share your personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA). These transfers are subject to special rules under European and UK data protection law. These non-EEA countries do not have the same data protection laws as the United Kingdom and EEA. We will, however, ensure the transfer complies with data protection law and all personal data will be secure.
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 circumstances
-To object – the right to object at any time to your personal data being processed for direct marketing and in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal data
-Not to be subject to automated individual decision making – the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing that produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you
For further information on each of those rights, please see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under the General Data Protection Regulation.
If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please:
-email, call or write to us
-let us have enough information to identify you
-let us have proof of your identity and address
-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, or 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 also gives you the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the European Union 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.
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:
Privacy Officer’s contact details:
Trushar Punatar
0207 485 6677
21 Bonny Street
Camden
London
NW1 9PE
This company is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Company No 05867552. Company Registered in England & Wales. Registered Office: 21 Bonny Street, Camden, London, NW1 9PE
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