Marketing

 

We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising.

 

We may use your Identity, Contact, Technical, Usage and Profile Data to form a view on what we think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. This is how we decide which services and offers may be relevant for you (we call this marketing).

 

You will receive marketing communications from us if you have requested information from us or purchased services from us and, in each case, you have not opted out of receiving that marketing.

 

We do not collect or compile personally identifying information for the dissemination of or sale to outside parties for consumer marketing purposes, or host mailings on behalf of third parties.

 

You can ask us to stop sending you marketing messages at any by contacting us at any time.

 

Where you opt out of receiving these marketing messages, this will not apply to personal data provided to us as a result of services purchased from us.

 

Cookies

 

A cookie is a tiny element of data that a website can send to the computer browser of a visitor, so that this computer will be recognised by the site on their return. Cookies allow our web server to recognise a computer on connection to the website, which in turn allows the server to make downloading of pages faster than on first viewing. In addition, cookies may also be used by us to establish statistics about the use of the website by internet users by gathering and analysing data such as: most visited pages, time spent by users on each page, site performance, etc. By collecting and using such data our aim is to improve the quality of the website.

 

The data collected by our servers and/or through cookies that may be placed on your computer will not be kept for longer than is necessary to fulfil the purposes mentioned above. In any event, such information may not be kept for longer than one year.

 

Navigation data about website viewers is automatically collected by our servers. If you do not wish to have this navigation data collected, we recommend that you do not use the website. A visitor can also set their browser to block the recording of cookies on their hard drive to minimise the amount of data that may be collected about your navigating on the website. The browser on a computer can be set to notify the user when a cookie is being recorded on their computer’s hard drive. Most browsers can also be set to keep cookies from being recorded on their computer. However, for optimal use of the website, we recommend that visitors do not block the recording of cookies on their computer.

 

Our servers and computer systems are protected from outside intrusions. As a result, all data that may be collected about website viewers through the use of cookies will be protected from unauthorised access.

 

Cookies used on the website are only active for the duration of the visit. Cookies used on this site are not stored on a visitor’s computer once you have closed your web browser. Information generated by the use of cookies may be compiled into an aggregate form so that no individual can be identified.

 

We may at some stage use cookies to identify users when they visit the website to use personalised services. In such circumstances these cookies may be kept on the hard drive of their computer following closure of the web browser. Cookies used in connection with such services enable us to build up a profile of our users and to develop personalised versions of the website.

 

For more information about cookies, please see the Information Commissioner’s website home page or the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

 

A visitor may choose to not receive a cookie file by enabling your web browser to refuse cookies. The procedure for refusal of cookies may vary for different software products. Please check with your internet browser software help or your software supplier if you wish to refuse cookies.

 

Change of purpose

 

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.

If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

 

Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

 

Disclosures of your personal data

 

Your personal data will only be shared with third parties including other data controllers where it is necessary for the performance of the data controllers’ tasks or where you first give us your prior consent. It is likely that we will need to share your data with:

 

• Members of our staff.

• Professional advisers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.

• HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other authorities.

• HM Courts and Tribunal Service, barrister’s chambers and other legal representatives.

• Online service providers such as Companies House, HM Land Registry and search agencies.

• Suppliers and service providers who we may ask to send out newsletters on our behalf, or to maintain our database software, or to provide us with administration, IT and other related services.

 

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.

 

Any personal data transferred to countries or territories outside the European Union will only be placed on systems complying with measures giving equivalent protection of personal rights either through international agreements or contracts approved by the European Union.

 

Data security

 

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

 

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

 

Data retention

 

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

 

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

 

Typically, we are required to keep your personal data for a minimum of 6 years, after which time it will be destroyed if it is no longer required for the lawful purpose(s) for which it was obtained. If you consent to marketing, any information we use for this purpose will be kept with us until you notify us that you no longer wish to receive this information.

 

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data.

 

Your legal rights

 

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data as set out below:

 

• Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a "data subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.

 

• Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. 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.

 

• Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove 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 (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.

 

• Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. 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.

 

• Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the data's accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

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• Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.

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• Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

 

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us.

 

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

 

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

 

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

 

Consent

 

By continuing to use this website and by providing any personal data (including sensitive personal data) to us via the website or email addresses provided on the website, visitors are consenting to our use of your personal data in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Please do not send us any personal data if you do not want that information to be used by us in this manner.

 

© Cotterhill Hitchman Solicitors LLP