Introduction

In this Privacy Policy, “We”, “Us” and “Our” mean E K M Legal Services Ltd.  When we refer to Our website we are referring to any website in the domain ekmlegalservices.co.uk and the website www.ekmlegalservices.co.uk

E K M Legal Services Ltd is a UK firm offering a range of legal services.

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. Specifically, we act as a “Data Controller” in respect of the information gathered and processed by us.

In order that you are reliably informed about how we operate, we have developed this privacy notice, which describes the ways in which we collect, manage, process, store and share information about you as a result of you being our client or visiting this site. The privacy notice also provides you with information about how you can have control over the use of your data. If you have any comments or queries regarding our use of your data, please contact us at [email protected]

1) What Information Do We Collect About You?

In general terms, we seek to collect information about you so that we can:

  • Administer our relationship with you, provide services and respond to enquiries
  • Process applications for employment
  • Deliver requested information to you about our services and our subsidiaries
  • Ensure the billing of any procured services and obtain payment
  • Process and respond to any complaints
  • enable us to meet our legal and other regulatory obligation imposed on us
  • Audit usage of our website. We may also process sensitive classes of information that includes:
  • The information that we need for these purposes is known as your “personal data”. This includes your name, home address, email address, telephone and other contact numbers and financial information. We collect this in a number of different ways. For example, you may provide this data to us directly, online or over the telephone, or when corresponding with us by letter.
  • Physical or mental health details, and
  • Racial or ethnic origin.

2. Personal Information Collection Via Website

We endeavour to collect and use your personal information only with your knowledge and consent.

On our website, we may collect your personal information for the following:

  • General enquiries

The type of personal information we collect could include, for example, your name and postal address, date of birth, telephone number, email address or other general information such as nature of enquiry or other comments.

We will not process any personal data collected through the website unless we have first told you that we are going to do so, and it is clear how we will use it.

Please also be advised that when you visit this website, cookies will be used to collect information about you such as you Internet Protocol (IP) address which connects your computer or mobile device to the internet, and information about your visit such as the pages you viewed or searched for, pages response times, download errors, etc. We do this so that we can measure our website’s performance and make improvements in the future. Cookies are also used to enhance this website’s functionality and personalisation, which includes sharing data with third party organisations. You can control this by adjusting your cookies settings.

Social Media, Blogs, Reviews

Any social media posts or comments you send to us will be shared under the terms of the relevant social media platform (e.g. Facebook/Twitter) on which they are written and could be made public.

Other people, not us, control these platforms. We are not responsible for this kind of sharing. We recommend you should review the terms and conditions and privacy policies of the social media platforms you use. That way, you will understand how they will use your information, what information relating to you they will place in the public domain, and how you can stop them from doing so if you are unhappy about it.

Any blog, review or other posts or comments you make about us, our products and services on any of our blogs, reviews or user community services will be shared with all other members of that service and the public at large.

Any comments you make on these services and on social media in general must be not offensive, insulting or defamatory. You are responsible for ensuring that any comments you make comply with any relevant policy on acceptable use of those services.

How Long Do We Keep Your Information For?

To make sure we meet our legal data protection and privacy obligations, we only hold on to your information for as long as we actually need it for the purposes we acquired it for in the first place.

In most cases, this means we will keep your information for as long as you continue to use our services and are deemed a client, and for a reasonable period of time afterwards if you stop doing so, to see if we can persuade you to come back to us.

After that we will delete it other than where we lawfully can keep any data for audit or legal reasons as per our retention policy.

3) How Will We Use Information

We use the data collected from you for the specific purposes:

  • To administer our relationship with you, provide services and respond to enquiries,
  • To ensure the billing of any procured services by you and obtain payment,
  • To provide enquirers support by telephone
  • To process and respond to complaints
  • To monitor and record information relating to the use of our services, to include our website
  • To capture photographs and videos to be used for marketing and promotional material for the firm, including our website, brochures, bids and tenders,
  • To conduct human resource administration to include assessing suitability, eligibility and/or fitness to work.

*Please note this list is not exhaustive

4) Your Rights

Under the terms of data protection legislation, you have the following rights as a result of using this website:

i) Right To Be Informed

This privacy notice, together with our Cookies Policy, fulfils our obligation to tell you about the ways in which we use your information as a result of you using this website.

ii) Right To Access

You have the right to ask us for a copy of any personal data that we hold about you. This is known as a “Subject Access Request”. Except in exceptional circumstances (which we would discuss and agree with you in advance), you can obtain this information at no cost. We will send you a copy of the information within 30 days of your request.

iii) Right To Rectification

If any of the information that we hold about you is inaccurate, you can contact us on 07786 543813.

iv) Right To Be Forgotten

From 25 May 2018, you can ask that we erase all personal information that we hold about you. Where it is appropriate that we comply, your request will be fully actioned within 30 days . For further information, please contact 07786 543813.

v) Right To Object

You have the right to object to:

  •  The continued use of your data for any purpose listed in section 3 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.
  • The continued use of your data for any purpose listed in section 3 above for which the lawful basis of processing is that it has been deemed legitimate.

vi) Right To Restrict Processing

If you wish us to restrict the use of your data because (i) you think it is inaccurate but this will take time to validate, (ii) you believe our data processing is unlawful but you do not want your data erased, (iii) you want us to retain your data in order to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim , or (iv) you wish to object to the processing of your data, but we have yet to determine whether this is appropriate, please contact us.

vii) 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 us.

viii) Rights Related To Automated Decision-Making

If you would like to object to automated decision making without any individual involvement, and to the profiling of your data, please contact us.

5) Is The Processing Of Information Likely To Cause Individuals To Object Or Complain?

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

6) Overseas Transfers

To the best of our knowledge, none of the information that we collect, process or store as a result of this website is transferred outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). This includes information that is exchanged with any third party organisation as describved above.

7) Data Privacy And Security

We maintain a comprehensive data management work programme, which includes processes for ensuring that data protection is a key consideration of all new and existing IT systems that hold personal data. Where any concerns, risks or issues are identified, we conduct relevant impact assessments in order to determine any actions that are necessary to ensure optimum privacy.

We also maintain an active information security work programme which seeks to protect the availability, confidentiality and integrity of all physical and information assets. Specifically, this helps us to:

  • Protect against potential breaches of confidentiality;
  • Ensure all IT facilities are protected against damage, loss or misuse;
  • Increase awareness and understanding of the requirements of information security, and the responsibility of our colleagues to protect the confidentiality and integrity of the information that they handle; and
  • Ensure the optimum security of this website.