Privacy & Cookies
Jobling Gowler Privacy Notice
Protecting your personal information and privacy
This policy sets out the basis upon which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide, is processed by us.
If you are a client of the firm, the whole statement is relevant to you; otherwise, only parts of it will apply.
Your personal data- what is it?
Personal data relates to an individual who can be identified, directly or indirectly, from that data. The processing of personal data is governed by the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) and the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Identity and contact details of the Data Controller
For the purpose of the GDPR regulations, Jobling Gowler Solicitors (‘We’) are the data controller of personal data we hold about you.
We have a nominated Data Protection Officer, Emily Raw, who can be contacted via enquiries@jobling-gowler.co.uk. Alternatively, you can call Emily on (01625) 614250.
Information we may collect from you
Jobling Gowler Solicitors complies with its obligations under the GDPR by endeavouring to keep personal data up-to-date; by storing and destroying it securely; by not collecting or retaining excessive amounts of data; by protecting personal data from loss, misuse and unauthorised access and disclosure; and by ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data.
As a visitor to our website
In general, you can visit our website without revealing any personal data about yourself. When you visit this website, we do not collect personal information about you unless you voluntarily submit the data using one of the forms on the website (referred to within this policy as ‘Registration Pages’) and give your consent to the collection and use of your personal data for the specified purposes. On these Registration Pages we may collect various pieces of your personal information that you provide including, for example, your name, address, email address and phone number.
Cookies
A ‘cookie’ is a small file stored on the user’s computer. The file contains a modest amount of non-personally-identifiable information about the user and the website. This file can be accessed by either the web server or the client computer.
There are three types of cookies in use on our website. Visitors to our website are able to adjust what cookies we collect. The three types of cookies are :-
-
Essential Cookies
These are required for the website to function correctly (e.g. to generate an enquiry form submission). These are enabled by default and can only be
disabled by changing your browser settings. Most browsers can be set to notify you when you receive a new cookie and how to disable cookies completely. The help menu of your web browser will be able to give you further details. Or visit www.aboutcookies.org for information about how you can control and delete cookies. -
Google Analytics Cookies
These are the cookies necessary to track a user’s visit via Google Analytics. These are disabled by default and will require consent before they are set. We may use these cookies to identify your computer when you revisit our website to recall your authentication information or track statistical information related to navigation throughout the website. While our web server is able to log certain technical aspects of your communications with our website, none of this data is associated with personal information about you. We use this information on an aggregate basis to ensure that our website operates efficiently and effectively, and for measurement purposes. We do not use cookies to collect information about individual user behaviour on our website, and usage of a cookie is in no way linked to any personal information while on our website.
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Third-Party Cookies
These include other third-party code that we use on our site. These will be disabled by default and will require consent before they are set.
Our website may, from time to time, contain links to and from other websites. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.
As a Client
We routinely collect personal information, necessary for us to undertake your instructions and meet the associated regulatory requirements. The type of data collected may include, but is not limited to:
- Your contact details
- Information that you provide to us to confirm your identity when you first instruct us
- Information collected from third parties necessary for us to carry out your instructions. Such information may include:
- medical records
- information included in witness statements
- information provided by experts
- Information contained in emails or other correspondence from you and records of telephone calls or meetings with you
- Information contained in documents provided by you in the course of your instructions
- We may also ask you to complete surveys that we use for research purposes, although you do not have to respond to them and you can answer them anonymously.
- Details of transactions you carry out through us in the course of your instructions and in the settlement of your account with us.
- Your interests and preferences so we can select what briefings and event notifications we send you.
Purpose of collecting and processing your personal data
- To provide you with advice and carry out your instructions
- To carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us
- To issue bills and arrange payment with you
- To provide you with details of any changes in the law that may affect you
- To provide you with information about events, products or services and news that you request from us or which we feel may interest you, where you have consented to be contacted for such purposes
- To conduct appropriate anti-fraud or credit reference checks necessary to ensure our compliance with anti-money laundering regulations
- To notify you about changes to our service
- To perform bookings and associated administration when you book to attend any of our events
- We may also be obliged to disclose personal information about you to agreed third parties, in order to meet our obligations, as identified above. This may include sharing information with, for example, experts, the courts, and regulators.
Further processing
If we wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this data protection notice, then we will provide you with the new notice explaining this new use prior to commencing the processing and setting out the relevant purposes and processing conditions. Where and whenever necessary, we will seek your prior consent to the new processing.
Further reading
The legal basis for processing your personal data
It is necessary to process the data identified within this notice, in the manner described, for the performance of our contract with you. In some cases, it is necessary for us to take steps, at your request, prior to entering into a contract with you. This may include, for example, responding to a Registration Page, that you have completed, on our website.
Where the information we hold about you is deemed under the GDPR to be of a special category (e.g. data concerning your health), you will be asked to provide explicit consent for its collection.
In such circumstances where we have been instructed to act on behalf of a vulnerable individual who is unable to provide consent, we will only collect and process data necessary to protect the vital interests of the that individual and will do so in accordance with GDPR and Court of Protection Regulations.
Sharing your personal data
Your data is treated as strictly confidential and will only be shared with:
- Identified and agreed third parties necessary for the fulfilment of our contract with you. This may include, but is not restricted to:
- defendants
- legal team (Counsel)
- experts
- insurers
- The Courts
- Regulators, this may include, but is not restricted to:
- Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
- Government organisations. This may include, but is not restricted to:
- HMRC
- Social Services
- Professional bodies required to audit our professional practices. This may include, but is not restricted to:
- The Legal Aid Agency
- Law Society Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence Panels
- The Society for Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP)
- Law Society Lexcel assessors – Lexcel is the Legal Practice Quality Mark
- Our nominated company accountants
We use a cloud-based legal software package to help us ensure the efficient progression of your matter and the safe storage and management of your data. The software meets the current standards for security and data protection. We have carefully selected this outsourced provider to ensure that they can meet and uphold the standards outlined within this policy. A copy of their privacy notice is held by Jobling Gowler Solicitors.
Storing your personal Information
We keep your personal data for no longer than is reasonably necessary in order for us to fulfil our obligations. All files will be securely stored until any risk of a potential claim has passed.
The retention dates correspond with the dates of limitation for any potential claim and vary according to the nature of the file and the client’s individual circumstances. The table below identifies the general principles for storage of documents. As a client you will be notified at the end of your matter of how long we will store the file and your personal information.
| Type of File | Data | Period of Retention |
| Will |
|
118 years |
| LPA |
|
118 years |
| Any file relating to a person lacking capacity |
|
118 years |
| Conveyancing (Acting for the purchaser or for the vendor if retaining part of the title) |
|
Indefinitely |
| Any file relating to a minor |
|
Until the child’s 21st Birthday or 7 years (whichever is later) |
| Litigation File |
|
7 years |
| Conveyancing (Acting for the vendor on the sale of the whole property) |
|
7 years |
| Probate and Estate Administration (Where the whole estate is wound up and distributed) |
|
7 years (unless it involves a property transfer in which case 12 years) |
| Enquiry only (from any source) involving advice being given | · Electronic File only | 7 years |
| Completion of Website Registration Pages | · Electronic information entered by the user into the Registration Pages and received electronically by the firm and any subsequent enquiry. | Contact details and other data supplied in the course of a general enquiry are retained only whilst the enquiry is being dealt with. If the enquiry involves the giving of advice and becomes a client file, one of the file categories above will apply |
The data that we control, whether electronic or in paper form, is stored within the European Economic Area (‘EEA’). In practice, your data is held within the UK.
In accordance with this policy, your data may be transferred to a third party and stored at a destination within the EEA. By consenting to us using your personal data, you agree to this transfer, storing and/or processing. We will take reasonable, necessary steps to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy.
Security of your information
Jobling Gowler Solicitors have established a secure framework within which its electronic data is stored:
- Electronic Information Assets are stored within a secure Windows Domain environment or in a secure cloud-based solution
- Data is protected by file structure permissions
- Data is backed up locally and remotely with encrypted backups
- Data is secured in transit via an SSL certificate
- All devices are password protected
- The infrastructure of the firm’s IT incorporates an active password protection policy
- Following partner approval, solicitors and managers may have remote access to data held by the controller, via encrypted VPN access (IPSEC VPEN).
Your rights
In order that Jobling Gowler Solicitors can successfully undertake your instructions, it will be necessary for us to collect and process your data.
You have a right to access your personal information, to object to the processing of your personal information, to rectify, to erase, to restrict and move your personal information.
Unless subject to an exemption under GDPR, you have the following rights with respect to your personal data:
- the right to request a copy of your personal data which we hold about you. This is known as Subject Access Request (SAR). Specific guidance about how to make an SAR, can be found from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website at https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/;
- the right to request that Jobling Gowler corrects any personal data if it is found to be inaccurate or out of date;
- the right to request that your data is erased. (Please note the exception to this right, where there is a lawful reason to retain the information, e.g. in order for us to comply with regulatory requirements and/or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims);
- the right to withdraw your consent to the processing of data at any time;
- the right to request that the data controller provide the data subject with his/her personal data and where possible, to transmit that data directly to another data controller (known as the right to data portability);
- the right, where there is a dispute in relation to the accuracy or processing of your personal data, to request that a restriction is placed on further processing;
- the right to launch a complaint with the ICO. Specific guidance about how to make such a complaint can be found on the ICO website https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/
- the right to ask us not to process your personal data for marketing purposes.
Contact details
To exercise all relevant rights, queries or complaints please contact Emily Raw via email at enquiries@Jobling-Gowler.co.uk or call on (01625) 614250.
Questions, comments and requests regarding this privacy statement are welcomed and should be addressed to: enquiries@jobling-gowler.co.uk
