Introduction

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HKS Solicitors is one of the brightest law firms based in the North West providing a wide range of services throughout England.

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As a vital part of our business we comply with the Data Protection Act 2018 and related data protection legislation, including the EU General Data Protection Regulation. This is in order show our commitment to protecting and respecting our clients’ and non-client’s privacy and rights. Specifically, we act as a “Data Controller” in respect of the information gathered and processed by us. Our privacy policy explains how we use the information and personal data that you give to us and the ways we collect, manage, process, store and share information about you as a result of you being our client.

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Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it.

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What information do we collect?

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You may give us information about you by filling in forms on our website or by corresponding with us by phone, e-mail or otherwise. Most of the information that we collect from you will be done so directly. We may collect information from certain third parties. The information you give us may include your name, address, e-mail address and phone number, financial and credit card information, personal description and photograph.

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Telephone calls may be recorded for monitoring and training purposes and shall be stored for a limited period, which will depend on the nature of the call. Unless you notify us in writing otherwise, you consent to the exclusive electronic storage by us (or by third parties on our behalf) of all such telephone recordings.

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How do we protect your information?

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We implement a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your information when you access your personal information. We do not share your data or sell your information to third parties for marketing purposes. We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions. We also process sensitive classes of information that includes; physical or mental health details, racial or ethnic origin. We will seek your permission if we need to record any of your sensitive personal data on our systems.

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How will we use your information?

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We use the data collected from you for the specific purposes listed in the table below which explains:

• The legal basis of using your data, linked to each specific purpose

• When your data will be shared with a third-party organisation.

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Purpose for processing data

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To manage our relationship with you, provide services and respond to enquiries

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To ensure the billing of any obtained services by you and acquire payment.

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To communicate with you about legal updates, breaking news, newsletters and event invitations which are relevant to your interests and in line with your preferences.

To seek clear consent prior to sending people the information and in line with preferences.

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To offer enquirers support by telephone.

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To achieve contractual obligations this includes acting before entering into a contract.

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To process and respond to complaints.

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To monitor and record information relating to the use of our services.

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To capture photographs and videos to be used for marketing and promotional material for the firm, including our website, brochures, bids and tenders.

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Legal basis for processing data

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To meet the requirements of a contract.

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To meet the requirements of a contract

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To seek clear consent prior to sending people the information and in line with preferences.

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To achieve contractual obligations this includes acting before entering into a contract.

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To meet a legal obligation

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To meet a legitimate interest in order to improve the services and experience and website for individuals.

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To seek explicit consent prior to collecting and using this information.

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Disclosure of your information

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We may disclose your personal information to third parties:

• In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the seller or buyer of such business or assets.

• If HKS Solicitors or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by it about its customers will be one of the transferred assets.

• If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms and conditions and other agreements; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of HKS Solicitors, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

 

Your Rights:

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Right to rectification of inaccurate data – This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.

Right to be forgotten – This enables you to ask us to delete or remove any personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing your information.

Right to restriction of processing to verify accuracy of data – This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data. This is where the processing of your information is unlawful but the you do not want your data to be erased, even when we no longer need the data but you may require us to keep the data for defence of legal claims.

Right to data portability – If you would like to move, copy or transfer the electronic personal data that we hold about you to another organisation, please contact enquiries@hks.law

Right to object – You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.

Right to make a Subject Access Request regarding the nature of information held and to whom it has been disclosed. Please contact enquiries@hks.law.

Right to request the supervisory authority to assess whether any provision of the GDPR has been contravened.

Right to sue for compensation if you have suffered damage by any contravention by us of GDPR.

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How long will we keep hold of your data?

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We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary, we typically retain all of your information for a period of six years. This is in order to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, insurance or reporting requirements.

Do we use cookies on our website?

Please see our cookies policy.

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Updated 19/09/2021

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