Privacy Policy

You should read this notice alongside our Cookie Policy which can be found here: https://hadidlaw.co.uk/cookie-policy and our Terms of Use which can be found here: https://hadidlaw.co.uk/terms-of-use

If you are a client of Hadid Law Solicitors Limited, you should read this Policy alongside our Cookie Policy which can be found here: https://hadidlaw.co.uk/cookie-policy and our Terms of Use which can be found here: https://hadidlaw.co.uk/terms-of-use and the  general terms and conditions which provide further information on data protection and file storage etc.

This notice does not apply to any websites that may have a link to ours.

Who we are

Data is collected, processed and stored by Hadid Law Solicitors Limited; and we are what is known as the ‘data controller’ of the personal information you provide to us and the information we gather and process. 

As an essential part of our business, we collect and manage client and non-client data. In doing so, we observe the UK data protection legislation and are committed to protecting and respecting clients’ and non-clients’ privacy and rights.

Hadid Law Solicitors Limited is a private limited company, authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under number 656805.

Our Data Protection Officer is Mr Ali Chishty.  You can contact us about data protection by writing to us or by email info@hadidlaw.co.uk

Children

Our website and services are not aimed specifically at children because in legal work children are generally represented by their parent or guardians. If you are a child and need further advice or explanation about how we would use your data, please email info@hadidlaw.co.uk

What we need / What we collect

The exact information we will request from you will depend on what you have asked us to do or what we are contracted to do for you.

There are two types of personal data (personal information) that you may provide to us:

• Personal data: this is the general information you supply about yourself – such as your name, address, phone number, driving licence number, passport number, national insurance number, gender, date of birth, contact details, occupation, other financial information, etc.  
• Sensitive personal data: this is, by its nature, more sensitive information and may include your racial or ethnic origin, sex life or sexual orientation, political opinions, health data, trade union membership, religious or philosophical beliefs, biometric and genetic data, and other classified information. 

In the majority of cases personal data will be restricted to basic information and information needed to complete ID checks. However some of the work we do may require us to ask for more sensitive information. 

Sources of information

Information about you may be obtained from a number of sources; including:

• You may volunteer the information about yourself
• You may provide information relating to someone else – if you have the authority to do so
• Information may be passed to us by third parties in order that we can undertake your legal work on your behalf. Typically these organisations can be:
  • Banks or building societies
  • Panel providers who allocate legal work to law firms
  • Medical or financial institutions – who provide your personal records / information
  • Department of Work and Pensions (DPW)
  • Your employer
  • Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
  • Customer Due Diligence (CDD) agencies 
  • Other Government departments

Why we need it 

The primary reason for asking you to provide us with your personal data, is to allow us to carry out your requests – which will ordinarily be to represent you and carry out your legal work.

The following are some examples, although not exhaustive, of what we may use your information for:

• Verifying your identity
• Verifying source of funds
• Communicating with you
• To establish funding of your matter or transaction
• Obtaining insurance details on your behalf
• Processing your legal transaction including:
  • Providing you with advice; carrying out litigation on your behalf; attending hearings on your behalf; preparing documents or to complete transactions
• Keeping financial records of your transactions and the transactions we make on your behalf
• Seeking advice from third parties; such as legal and non-legal experts
• Responding to any complaint or allegation of negligence against us
• Enabling business development
• Responding to your enquiries
• Obtaining payment from you 
• Auditing usage of our website

Who has access to it

We have a data protection regime in place to oversee the effective and secure processing of your personal data. We will not sell or rent your information to third parties. We will not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.

Generally, we will only use your information within Hadid Law Solicitors Limited. However, there may be circumstances, in carrying out your legal work, where we may need to disclose some information to third parties; for example:

• Court or Tribunal
• Solicitors acting on the other side
• Asking an independent Barrister or Counsel for advice; or to represent you
• Non legal experts to obtain advice, assistance, or opinions
• Medco legal experts to provide opinions
• Medical agencies 
• Treatment providers
• Translation Agencies
• Contracted Suppliers
• Our Regulator; e.g. Lexcel, SRA, ICO etc.
• Bank or Building Society; or other financial institutions or brokers
• Insurance companies
• Insurance database agencies / motor insurance industry 
• Providers of identity verification
• Any disclosure required by law or regulation; such as the prevention of financial crime and terrorism
• If there is an emergency and we think you or others are at risk
• Tax inspectors, HMRC, Government and auditors (internal and external)
• Indemnity insurance providers
• Legal ombudsman
• Web service provers, cookie providers
• Anti-money laundering search providers
• Disclosure and Barring services

In the event any of your information is shared with the aforementioned third parties, we will endeavour to ensure that they comply, strictly and confidentially, with our instructions and they do not use your personal information for their own purposes unless you have explicitly consented to them doing so.

There may be some uses of personal data that may require your specific consent. If this is the case we will contact you separately to ask for your consent which you are free to withdraw at any time.

How do we protect your personal data

We recognise that your information is valuable and we take all reasonable measures to protect it whilst it is in our care. It is our policy to ensure, in so far as is reasonably practicable, that our systems and records are secure and not accessible to unauthorised third parties in line with contemporary practice.

We have standards of technology and operational security in order to protect personally identifiable data from loss, misuse, alteration or destruction. Similarly, we adopt a high threshold when it comes to confidentiality obligations and both internal and external parties have agreed to protect confidentiality of all information; to ensure all personal data is handled and processed in line with our stringent confidentiality and data protection policies.

We use computer safeguards such as security passwords and firewalls; and we enforce, where possible, physical access controls to our buildings and files to keep data safe.

How long will we keep it for

Your personal information will be retained, usually in computer or manual files (or both), only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which the information was collected; or as required by law; or as long as is set out in any relevant contract you may hold with us. For example:

• As long as necessary to carry out your legal work
• 6 years from the conclusion or closure of your legal work this is due to regulatory reasons and to ensure our business records are adequate to maintain the requisite levels of insurance to protect clients and non-clients. Further, it is retained for 6 years in case you, or we, need to re-open your case for the purpose of defending complaints or claims against us
• For the duration of a trust
• Some information or matters may be kept for 16 years – such as commercial transactions, sales of leasehold purchases, matrimonial matters (financial orders or maintenance agreements etc.)
• Probate matters where there is a surviving spouse or civil partner may be retained until the survivor has died in order to deal with the transferable Inheritance Tax allowance
• Wills and related documents may be kept indefinitely
• Deeds related to unregistered property may be kept indefinitely as they evidence ownership
• Personal injury matters which involve lifetime awards or Personal Injury Trusts may be kept indefinitely
• Personal injury matters relating to children under the age of 18 will be kept until the child reaches the age of 21

None of the information that we collect, process or store is transferred outside of the European Economic Area (EEA)

What are your rights?

Under GDPR, you have the following rights:

1. The right to access: you are entitled to access your personal data (otherwise known as a ‘subject access request’).  You can obtain this information at no cost. We will send you a copy of the information within 30 days of your request. If you wish to make a request, please do so in writing addressed to our Data Protection Officer, Mr Ali Chishty; or contact the person dealing with your matter. A request for access to your personal data means you are entitled to a copy of the data we hold about you – such as your name, address, contact details, date of birth, information regarding your health etc. - but it does not mean you are entitled to the documents that contain this data. 
2. The right to be informed: which is fulfilled by way of this Privacy  Notice, our Cookie Policy and our transparent explanation as to how we use your personal data 
3. The right to rectification: you are entitled to have personal data rectified if it is inaccurate or incomplete. Please contact our office if you wish to exercise this right
4. The right to erasure / ‘right to be forgotten’: you have the right to request the deletion or removal of your personal data where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing. Where it is appropriate that we comply with your request, your request will be actioned within 30 days. For further information please contact our office or email info@hadidlaw.co.uk 
5. The right to object: you have the right to object to the continued use of your data for any purpose listed above for which consent is identified as the lawful basis for processing, i.e. you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. You have the right to object to processing based on legitimate interests; and direct marketing. This right only applies in the following circumstances:
   • An objection to stop processing personal data for direct marketing purposes is absolute – there are no exemptions or grounds to refuse – we must stop processing in this context
   • You must have an objection on grounds relating to your particular situation
   • We must stop processing your personal data unless:
     • We can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms; or
     • The processing is for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims

1. The right to restrict processing: you have the right to request the restriction or suppression of your data. When processing is restricted, we can store the data but not use it. This right only applies in the following circumstances:
   • Where you contest the accuracy of the personal data – we should restrict the processing until we have verified the accuracy of that data
   • Where you object to the processing (where it was necessary for the performance of a public interest or purpose of legitimate interests), and we are considering whether our organisation’s legitimate grounds override your right, or where we are yet to determine whether this is appropriate 
   • Where processing is unlawful and you request restriction
   • If we no longer need the personal data but you require the data to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim

Complaints about the use of personal data

We are not aware of any justifiable reason that would constitute a reasonable a legitimate reason for objecting or complaining about the way we process or control information 

However, if you wish to raise a complaint, you can contact our office in writing or by email to info@hadidlaw.co.uk

If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are not processing your personal data in accordance with the law, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), who may be contacted at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow SK9 5AF or via their website https://ico.org.uk/

Marketing data

We may contact you for the purpose of direct marketing. This means that we may use your personal data that we have collected in accordance with this Privacy Policy to contact you about our products or services, events etc. which we feel may interest you. The direct marketing communications may be provided to you by social media channels, email or post. We will never send marketing communications via SMS or call you without your specific consent; nor do we ever pass on or sell your details to a third party.

How we may use your details

The following are examples, although not exhaustive, of how we may use your personal information for our legitimate business interests:

• fraud prevention
• direct marketing
• network and information systems security
• data /analytics /enhancing, modifying or improving our services
• identifying usage trends
• determining the effectiveness of promotional campaigns and advertising

We may use your personal information for legitimate interests such as direct marketing or under reasonable expectation to provide you with information you would expect to receive or that would benefit and enhance our relationship. This information will help us review and improve our products, services and offers

How we collect personal data

The following are examples, although not exhaustive, of how we collect your personal information; when:

• You telephone us with an enquiry
• Submit an online enquiry
• Follow/like/subscribe to our social media channels/posts
• Take part in one of the competitions or promotions we run on the website or on our social media channels
• Agree to fill in a questionnaire, survey or form for us (i.e. in person, via our website, etc.)
• Ask us a question or submit any queries or concerns you have via email or on social media channels
• Post information to the our website or social media channels, for example when we offer the option for you to comment on, or join, discussions
• You leave a review about us on Trustpilot.com or Google Reviews
• You post information to us
• You meet us face to face

Whenever we collect your personal data, you will be provided the opportunity to ‘opt in’ to receiving marketing communications from us. We hope you will provide this information so you find our communications useful but if you choose not to this will have no effect on accessing our legal services.

How we protect your personal information 

We will only ever use non sensitive personal information to target individuals with marketing materials; such as name, address, telephone, email, job description and previous buying behaviours. Sensitive information or specific details will never be used to target marketing communications. We may use personalisation to collect analytics to inform marketing and produce relevant content for the marketing strategy to enable it to enhance and personalise the “consumer experience”.

If you do not wish for us to continue to contact you in this way, you can contact our office or email info@hadidlaw.co.uk. 

You can unsubscribe from our emails by responding with the word ‘unsubscribe’ to info@hadidlaw.co.uk and your details will be removed immediately. Once unsubscribed, you may still receive transactional emails from us regarding your legal case.

General questions and comments regarding our Privacy Policy are welcomes and should be sent to our office or to info@hadidlaw.co.uk