Privacy Policy

Middletons is a law firm and limited liability partnership registered in England under number OC308993 and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under number 424168. Its registered office is East Gate House, 94 East Street, Warminster, Wiltshire, BA12 9BG.

Middletons is a ‘Data Controller’ under the UK General Data Protection Regulations and Data Protection Act 2018.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully to understand why data is being collected and what we do with that data once in our possession.

We may change the privacy policy of the terms of business from time to time by amending this page. Further information about data privacy may be found in our standard Terms & Conditions of Business.

Please contact 01264 810910or lmowbray@middletonslegal.com should you wish to speak with our Risk Manager, Luke Mowbray.

On what basis we can process your information

Data Protection law states we are allowed to use personal information only if we have a proper reason for doing so.  This includes sharing it outside Middletons.  The law states we must have one or more reasons for processing it:

• to fulfil a contract we have with you – it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party, or to take steps prior to entering into a contract with you. The retainer between you and Middletons, which is made up of our terms of business and engagement letter, sets out the terms of the contract and the services we will provide, or
• when it is in our legitimate interest, except where our interests are overridden by the interests, rights or freedoms of affected individuals (such as you). To determine this we shall consider a number of factors, such as what you were told at the time you provided your data, what your expectations are about the processing of the data, the nature of the data, and the impact of the processing on you.
• when it is our legal duty, it is necessary in order to comply with mandatory legal obligations to which we are subject under EU or UK law, or
• when you consent to it

What we use your personal information for

• verify your identity and establish the source of funding in any transaction
• carry out appropriate anti-fraud checks (by conducting online searches using a third-party identity provider).  Please note that this will not affect your credit rating
• communicate with you during the course of providing our services, for example providing you with advice and dealing with your enquiries and requests
• prepare documentation to complete transactions and commence legal proceedings on your behalf.
• carry out obligations arising from any contract entered into between you and third parties as part of your legal matter
• seek advice from third parties in connection with your matter, such as Experts and Legal Counsel
• prevent money laundering or terrorist financing in accordance with financial crime regulations.
• to develop and carry out marketing activities
• to make and manage client/supplier payments
• to collect and recover money that is owed to us
• to manage risk for us and our clients
• to obey laws and regulations that apply to us
• to respond to complaints and seek to resolve them
• to run our business in a proper and efficient way which includes managing our financial position, business capability, planning communications, audit and governance
• to exercise our rights set out in agreements or contracts

Where we collect personal information from

Data you give to us:

• When you enquire about our services
• When you communicate with us by either telephone, emails and letters
• When you use our website
• When you apply for vacancies directly
• When you send us unsolicited personal data

We may collect personal information about you from third parties during the course of providing our legal services.  The processing of this information will be necessary for the progression of your legal matter and to enable us to act in your best interests as your legal representative.

As a law firm we have an obligation to make you aware of anything that is relevant to your matter. When we obtain information about you from a third party rather than from you directly, we will notify you of any relevant information within a reasonable period and provide you with details including the type of data and source it came from. Data from third parties we work with:

• Individuals that introduce you to us
• Recruitment agencies
• Social networks
• Other parties involved in the legal proceedings (such as the solicitor acting on the other side)
• Financial institutions (such as banks involved in financing the transaction)
• Other professional services firms (such as accountants and tax specialists)
• Public information sources (such as Companies House)
• Government bodies (such as HM Land Registry for details of your property)
• Law enforcement agencies

How long we keep your data for

We will only retain your information for as long as is necessary to:

• Carry out the legal work
• To maintain records according to rules that apply to us
• Establishment or defence of legal claims (for example negligence claims) that could be made against us
• Compliance with legal obligations under EU/UK law (anti-money laundering regulations say your identification and source of funds information must be kept for a minimum period from conclusion of the matter).

Typically we will store the information for fifteen years from when your matter is closed.

As regards the recruited applicants whose data are stored in their personal file, the retention period of their data related to the selection procedure follows the period of storage of the personal file, which is six years.

The retention period for data relating to the non-recruited applicants, and unsolicited personal data,  the documents related to these candidates are kept for a period of up to 12 months after which time they are destroyed.

Who your information will be shared with

Based upon the services you need we may pass your details to selected people or organisations (data processors) to carry out certain activities on our behalf. For example, personal information you provide may be disclosed to our agents, who may keep a record of that information.

We may pass your information to any third parties where required to do so in the course of providing legal services, or where we are obliged by law.  This will include, but is not limited to:

• A court or tribunal where we are acting for you in a dispute or litigation
• HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other authorities
• Our professional indemnity insurer in the event a claim is made against us in order to defend ourselves.
• The solicitors acting on the other side of your matter
• Expert Witnesses or Legal Counsel to obtain advice or assistance on your matter
• Other professionals and service providers (such as insurance brokers, where you wish to take out an insurance policy as part of a transaction)
• Any disclosures to law enforcement agencies where required by law (in particular the prevention of financial crime and terrorism)
•  Our regulators including the SRA, Law Society of Scotland, and Law Society of Northern Ireland in connection with any ongoing regulatory investigation
• The bank or building society or other lender providing finance in the transaction
• External auditors who may carry out independent checks of your file as part of our accreditations
• Search providers (including companies providing Anti-Money Laundering verification checks)

We may also share your personal information if the make-up of Middletons changes in the future:

• We may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business, or our assets. Or we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them.
• During any such process, we may share your data with other parties. We’ll only do this if they agree to keep your data safe and private.
• If the change to our firm happens, then other parties may use your data in the same way as set out in this notice.

At the outset of your matter we may not be aware of all the other parties involved as this will depend on the specific nature of the work.

Security of your data

Your data will be held on secure servers within the European Economic Area (“EEA”) with all reasonable technological and operation measures put in place to safeguard it from unauthorised access. Where possible your identifiable information will be encrypted or minimised when stored in our systems.

Sending data outside of the EEA

We will only send your data outside of the European Economic Area (‘EEA’) to:

• Follow your instructions
• Comply with a legal duty

If we do transfer information to agents outside of the EEA, we will make sure that during the transfer process it is protected in the same way as if it was being used in the EEA. We’ll use one of these safeguards:

• Where possible transfer it to a non-EEA country with privacy laws that give the same protection as the EEA. Learn more on the European Commission Justice website.
• Where possible transfer it to organisations that are part of Privacy Shield. This is a framework that sets privacy standards for data sent between the US and EU countries. It makes sure those standards are similar to what is used within the EEA. You can find out more about data protection on the European Commission Justice website.

How you can access and update your information

You have a right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you, known as a data subject access request. You also have the right to request that information we hold about you which may be incorrect, or which has been changed since you first told us, is updated or removed. These requests are free of charge and can be sent to the Risk Manager, Middletons, East Gate House, 94 East Street, Warminster, Wiltshire, BA12 9BG, or to compliance@middletonslegal.com.

How you can object to us using your personal data or withdraw consent

You have the right to object to our use of your personal information, or to ask us to delete, remove, or stop using your personal information if there is no need for us to keep it. This is known as the ‘right to object’ and ‘right to erasure’, or the ‘right to be forgotten’.

There may be legal or other official reasons why we need to keep or use your data. But please tell us if you think that we should not be using it.

Please note that if you want us to restrict or stop processing your data this may impact on our ability to provide our services. Depending on the extent of your request we may be unable to continue acting for you and be forced to immediately cease acting. In these situations you would remain liable for the fees and disbursements incurred to date.

You can ask us to restrict the use of your personal information if:

• It is not accurate.
• It has been used unlawfully but you don’t want us to delete it.
• It not relevant any more, but you want us to keep it for use in legal claims.
• You have already asked us to stop using your data, but you are waiting for us to tell you if we are allowed to keep on using it.

If you want to object to how we use your data or ask us to delete it or restrict how we use it or, please contact us.

Moving your information to another organisation

You have the right to request that we send a copy of the personal data we hold about you to another organisation for your own purposes, for example when you are dealing with a different service provider. If you would like us to move, copy, or transfer your information to another organisation please let us know. We will respond to you within one month after assessing whether or not this is possible, taking into account the technical compatibility with the other organisation in question.

Automated decision making

We do not use your information for automated decision making.

Complaints about the use of your personal data

If you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal data, you can contact us to have the matter investigated by writing to our Risk Manager, Middletons, East Gate House, 94 East Street, Warminster, Wiltshire, BA12 9BG.

If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are processing your personal data not in accordance with the law, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Find out on their website how to report a concern.

Cookies

To find out more about how we use cookies, please see our Cookie policy.