This Privacy Notice was last updated on 12 October 2021.

Summary

This Privacy Notice explains what personal information Hunters Law LLP (in our capacity as Data Controller) may hold about you, what we use that information for, and who we share that information with.  It also sets out your rights in relation to your information and who you can contact for more information or if you have any queries or concerns about the use of your data.

Any reference to ‘we’, ‘our’ or ‘us’ means Hunters Law LLP (the LLP).  Hunters is the trading name of Hunters Law LLP.

Scope

We take data protection very seriously and we are committed to safeguarding your personal information. This Privacy Notice describes how we use your personal information that we obtain through:

• Assisting you with a legal matter and related services, such as mediation;
• Meeting you in conferences and other events;
• You having signed up for marketing communications including on our website www.hunterslaw.com;
• An employment relationship or via a contract for services, and
• Any other means.

In this Privacy Notice your personal information is sometimes called “personal data”.  We refer to handling, collecting, protecting or storing your personal information as ‘processing’.  Although you do not have to provide any of your personal  to us, if we ask you to do so and you decline, we may be unable to provide you with some or all of the service(s) or contractual arrangements you want from us.

Personal information will be held and processed at our offices and those of our third-party service providers and by other representatives or appointed agents (see the section below on ‘Sharing personal information‘).  Personal data will also be processed outside our offices where necessary, for example, if we have to represent you at Court or travel to meet you at your own home.

Personal information

Personal data is anything that enables you to be identified or identifiable, such as your name, address, email address and telephone number.

Additionally, in legal matters and in employment relationships, for example, we may need to process what is known as “special category personal data”.  This means information which reveals any of the following: racial or ethnic origin; political opinions; religious or philosophical beliefs; trade union membership; genetic or biometric data; information concerning health, sex life or sexual orientation.  If we have to process this kind of data about you, we may ask for your consent.  However, your consent is not required where, for example, the details are necessary to pursue legal claims, defend legal rights or obtain legal advice; the information has already been made public by you; it relates to the statutory provisions of the LLP’s employees; or, it is necessary for reasons of public health (such as in a pandemic), or public interest (such as to prevent crime and for the publication of legal judgments).

Collection of personal information

Below are some examples of how you may provide personal information to us:

• Giving us instructions or being identified as a beneficiary (e.g. of a trust or a will);
• Contacting us (e.g. by mail, email, or telephone);
• Searching and browsing our website for content (which allows us to see your IP address);
• Submitting information via our website;
• Subscribing to newsletters and/or publications;
• Registering for or participating in events and conferences;
• Providing us with business cards or other contact information;
• Providing us with personal identification documentation (or electronic ID checks);
• Submitting CVs, resumes or work history information; and
• Employment records (including sickness and disciplinary matters, etc).

We collect most of this information from you direct.  However, we may also collect information from:

• Publicly accessible sources, e.g. Companies House, HM Land Registry, a company website or bankruptcy searches;
• Client due diligence and sanctions screening providers;
• A third party with your agreement, e.g. your financial adviser or your doctor; or
• Publicly available information in the media, on the internet or via social media.

We may also need to record and retain information about criminal allegations, proceedings, convictions, or any related security measures.

Use of personal information

When you provide personal information to us, we may use it for any of the purposes described in this Privacy Notice or as stated at the point of collection (or as obvious from the context of collection), including to:

• Provide legal advice and services;
• Update and enhance our records;
• Manage our practice, statutory returns, and legal and regulatory compliance;
• Monitor and enforce compliance with our Terms of Business;
• Manage contracts of employment or for services;
• Market our services to new and existing contacts (see ‘Marketing‘ section below);
• Use for any other purposes for which you provided the information to us, including any of the purposes given in the ‘Collection of personal information’ section above; and/or
• Administer and manage our website.

Legal grounds for processing personal information

We rely on one or more of the following processing conditions to:

• Perform our contractual obligations to you (or taking requested steps before entering into a contract);
• Satisfy any legal and regulatory obligations to which we are subject;
• Satisfy our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) in the effective delivery of information and services to you and in the effective and lawful operation of our businesses (provided these do not infringe your rights); or
• (Where no other condition for processing is available) if you have agreed to us processing your personal information.

If you provide us with any personal data about a third party (including special category data) which is relevant to your relationship with us, for example an employee or beneficiary in relation to your legal matter, we will have a lawful basis for processing that information. However, you should ensure that you are entitled to disclose those personal details to us before doing so.

Security of personal information

We have implemented generally accepted standards of technology and operational security to protect personal data from loss, misuse, alteration, or destruction.  Only authorised persons who are subject to confidentiality agreements are allowed access to personal data.

Although we use appropriate security measures once we have received your personal data, the transmission of data over the internet (including by email) is never completely secure.  We therefore cannot guarantee the security of data transmitted to or by us via email.

Sharing personal information

We may share (transfer or disclose) the personal data we collect from you with others instructed in or connected with your legal matter and to third parties for the purposes listed above under ‘Use of personal information’ with:

• Counsel (barristers) and experts;
• Other law firms and lawyers;
• Insurers (including brokers);
• Mortgage lenders or funding providers;
• Advisers or agents (such as those with a Power of Attorney and personal representatives);
• Costs draftsmen;
• Electronic identity verification system providers;
• The LLP’s bankers, accountants and other consultant advisers;
• Counterparties and their agents (e.g. in relation to litigation or to the sale of an asset);
• Solicitors for the other party (e.g. sensitive personal data disclosed in relation to family proceedings);
• Assessment bodies for accreditation purposes and legal directories;
• HM Revenue & Customs or banks (in relation to automatic exchange of tax information);
• Outsourced and other external service providers (e.g. translation, secretarial, photocopying or IT and ‘cloud’ services including those IT providers with third party links on our website for data capture);
• Marketing consultants and event organisers;
• Another business (for the purpose of due diligence, e.g. if selling or merging our business); or
• Third party processors (for example where you apply for jobs through our website or enquire about Family advice through our website’s bespoke system).

Where we need to  transfer, share, or disclose personal data to other third parties not already included in this Privacy Notice, we will endeavour not to do so without first informing you of their identity and the reason we believe such disclosure, sharing or transfer is necessary.

It is our policy to use only third parties that we are satisfied will (a) maintain appropriate levels of security and confidentiality; and (b) process personal information only as instructed by us.

Other disclosures

We may also disclose personal data to third parties in the following circumstances:

• When explicitly requested by you;
• To a Court, law enforcement, regulatory and other government agencies and to professional bodies and other third parties, as required by / in accordance with applicable law or regulation; or
• As otherwise set out in this Privacy Notice.

International transfers of personal information

Your personal data may be transferred to and stored outside the European Economic Area (EEA).  If we transfer your personal data outside the EEA to someone or some organisation other than yourself, it will be only:

• To a recipient located in a country which provides an adequate level of protection for your personal information; or
• Under a written agreement which provides appropriate safeguards for you; or
• With your explicit consent; or
• Where it is necessary for the conclusion or performance of a contract that we have with you or another person; or
• It is necessary for the establishment, exercise of defence of legal claims; or
• It is in our legitimate interests (this will only be available to and used by us in very limited circumstances).

Retention of personal information

We will retain your personal information only for as long as we need it, given the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law, or otherwise for a legitimate interest or with your consent.

We retain personal data in order to:

• Respond to any queries, complaints or claims made by you or on your behalf;
• Manage any longer-term relationships or requirements;
• Show that we have treated you fairly; and
• Keep records required by law.

Different retention periods apply for different types of data.  A copy of our retention policy is available on request.

Marketing

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 existing or new services, including events which may be of interest to you.

We will not use your personal data for marketing purposes unless you have given your consent.

We will never sell your personal data. However, we may use it when appropriate with a limited number of third parties for joint marketing purposes, such as for events you sign up to.

You have the right to opt out of receiving any promotional communications at any time by:

• Contacting the person responsible for your legal matter with us;
• Writing to us by post at the above address, or by email (using info@hunterslaw.com), or
• Responding to any email or text stating ‘unsubscribe’ in the Subject box or indicating your marketing preferences.

Where you have given your consent for us to provide you with marketing communications, we will add your contact details to our marketing database.  You may withdraw your consent at any time and if you do so, we will delete most of the personal information we have on our marketing database, but we may keep certain limited information about you so that we may honour your request.

Rights in relation to your information

You have certain rights in relation to the personal information we hold about you.  In particular, you have the right to:

• Request a copy of personal data we hold about you;
• Ask that we update the personal data we hold about you, or correct the information if you think is incorrect or incomplete;
• Ask that we delete personal data that we hold about you, or restrict the way in which we use such personal information (this is not an absolute right and only applies in certain circumstances);
• Object to our processing of your personal information; and/or
• Withdraw your consent to our processing of your personal information.  If you withdraw consent at a later time this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before the withdrawal.

If you would like to exercise these rights or have any queries, please contact us.  You may also contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (see details below) or refer to their online guidance for the public – see https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/.

Automated decision making

We will not use your personal information for automated decision making.

Our website

Our website may link to third-party sites not controlled by us and which do not operate under our privacy practices.  When you link to third-party sites, our privacy practices no longer apply.  We encourage you to review each third-party site’s privacy policy before disclosing any personally identifiable information.  Please see our Cookies policy on our website: www.hunterslaw.com.

Contact us

It is our policy to collect only such information from you to enable us to perform our service to you. If you believe we have collected excessive data about you or breached your rights, please contact us to raise any concerns you may have.

If you have any questions or complaints about this Privacy Notice or the way your personal information is processed by us, or would like to exercise one of your rights set out above, please contact us by one of the following means:

• Contact the person responsible for your legal matter with us; or
• Write to us by post at the above address, or by email (using info@hunters.law.com).

Complaints

We hope that we can resolve any concerns you may raise with us.  You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority in the UK, EEA State where you work, normally live, or where the alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred.  The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).  The ICO can be contacted by the following means:

• Website form: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/
• Telephone from UK: 0303 123 1113
• Telephone outside UK: +44 1625 545 700
• Post: ICO, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

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