Please read the following information carefully. This privacy notice contains information about what data we collect and store about you and why. It also tells you who we share this information with, the security mechanisms we have put in place to protect your data and how to contact us if you have a complaint.
Berkson Family Law collects, uses and is responsible for personal information about you. When we do this, we are the ‘controller’ of this information for the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation and other applicable data protection laws.
What do we do with your information?
When carrying out legal services on your behalf we collect personal information from you, including via our website.
Telephone enquiries
If you make a telephone enquiry, initial details will be taken from you: Name, date of birth, contact details, names of other parties involved (in order for us to complete a conflict check). If you decide not to go ahead with a meeting, your data will be confidentially shredded following the telephone call.
Enquiry via the website
If you make an enquiry via our website you will be asked for the following details: Name, telephone number, email address and details of your enquiry. You will then be contacted by a member of the team. If you decide not to progress your enquiry, your email will be destroyed.
Cookies
Our website uses Google Analytics which uses Cookies to obtain details of visitor trends.
Initial meeting with the client
The personal details to be taken from you during your initial meeting would be:
- Name, Address, Gender, Date of Birth, National Insurance number, Contact Details
- Financial Information
- Confirmation of identification, Passport, Driving license
Sensitive Personal Data
We would not normally request such information unless it is relevant to the legal service we are providing for you. This may include information about your health, racial or ethnic origin, sexual orientation.
Recruitment for employment with Berkson Family Law
If you are applying for a position with Berkson Family Law, we would ask for the following personal information:
- Name
- Contact details – address, telephone number and email address
- CV
How we use your personal information –
We use your personal information for the following purposes:
- Verifying your identity
- Communicating with you
- To clarify the funding of your case
- To progress your case through the legal process
- Referral to Counsel and Experts to progress your matter
- To keep a record of transactions you make to the company
This list is not exhaustive
Whether information must be provided by you, and why?
This personal information name, address, gender, date of birth, contact details, financial information must be provided by you to us, to enable us to carry out legal work. When we collect information from you, we will inform you whether you are required to provide this information to us.
Lawful basis for processing your personal information
We may use your personal information as follows:
Contractual Obligations
It is necessary for us to process your personal information to provide you with details on the services you have requested.
- Recruitment- we request personal information in connection with the potential to entering into a contract with the individual.
Legitimate Interest
- When you make an enquiry via the web, telephone or appointment we will request personal details in order respond to your enquiries.
- Training and development of staff and to improve our service to clients.
- Auditing of our files
Legal Obligations
- We are legally compelled to disclose information to comply with legal obligations imposed on us.
- Verify the identity clients for money laundering purposes
- To comply with Data Protection regulations
Who will we share your personal information with?
We have relationships with a number of third parties that, when necessary we would share your data with. This enables us to progress your legal case. This includes:
- Government and regulatory authorities such as the Legal Aid Authority
- Other government bodies such as HM Land registry
- Professional Indemnity Insurers
- Experts and Counsel such as: opposing party and their lawyers, Costs draftsmen and Medical experts
- Third parties whom we outsource some of our services to: IT services, confidential waste, document storage provider
Please note this list is non-exhaustive
We will share personal information with law enforcement agencies if required by applicable law.
We will not share your personal information with any other third parties without your consent.
Transfer of your information outside the European Economic Area (EEA)
In the event there is an element of your case that goes outside of the EEA we will inform you.
These countries do not have same data protection laws as the United Kingdom and EEA.
How long will we store your personal data?
Finance and Divorce files are stored for 6 years. All other others are stored for 2 years.
Consent
We are relying on your explicit consent to carry out the legal service for you. By signing this document, you are providing consent. Should you not sign this document but continue to engage with us in relation to your matter, you are agreeing to the terms of this policy.
You have the right to withdraw this consent at any time, but this will not effect the lawfulness of any processing activity we have carried out prior to you withdrawing your consent. You can opt-out by contacting us at the following email address a.schofield@berksonglobe.com.
Your Rights
Under the General Data Protection Regulation, you have a number of important rights that you can exercise free of charge. In summary, these rights are:
- [Transparency over how we use your personal data and fair processing of your information];
- Access to your personal information and other supplementary information;
- Require us to correct any mistakes or complete missing information we hold on you;
- Require us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances;
- Receive a copy of the personal information you have provided to us or have this information be sent to a third party, this will be provided to you or the third party in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format;
- Object at any time to processing of your personal information for direct marketing;
- Object in certain other situations to the continued processing of your personal information;
- Restrict our processing of your personal information in certain circumstances;
- Request not to be subject to automated decision making which produce legal effects that concern you or affect you in a significantly similar way;
If you want more information about your rights under the GDPR please see the Guidance from the Information Commissioners Office on Individual’s rights under the GDPR.
If you want to exercise any of these rights, please:
- Email, call or write to us
Adele Schofield
Berkson Family Law
2nd floor, Granite Building
6 Stanley Street
Liverpool
L1 6AF
Tel: 0151 236 1234
Email: a.schofield@berksonglobe.com
- Provide another information so that we can identify you. We may need to contact you to request further information to verify your identity;
- Let us have proof of your identity and address;
- State the right or rights that you wish to exercise;
We will respond to you within one month from the date we receive your request.
How to make a complaint?
We hope that you are happy with our service and that Adele Schofield can resolve any issues or complaints that arise. Please get in touch if you have any concerns (see ‘Get in touch’).
The General Data Protection Regulation also gives you the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the European Union (or European Economic Area) state where you work, normally live or where the alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The UK supervisory authority if the Information Commissioner’s Office who can be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/.
Our Security
We are committed to ensuring your personal information is secure with us and third parties against loss, misuse and unauthorised access.
Future Processing
We do not intend to process your personal information for any reason other than stated within this privacy notice. If this changes we will inform you by letter or email.
Changes to this privacy notice
This privacy was published on 21st May 2018
We constantly review our internal privacy practices and may change this policy from time to time. When we do we will inform you by letter or email.
Get in touch
If you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information we hold about you, please contact us.
The best way to reach us is to email Adele Schofield a.schofield@berksonglobe.com or alternatively, please telephone 0151 236 1234.
Alternative formats
If it would be helpful to have this notice provided in another format (for example: in another language, audio, braille) please contact us (see ‘Get in touch’ above).