Privacy Policy - VM Family Law

1. VM Family Law privacy policy

VM Family Law Limited is a law firm which is a limited company registered in England under number 12777521 and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under number 809780. It’s registered office is Grasmere Suite, Paragon House, Chorley New Road, Bolton, BL6 6HG.

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

Further information about data privacy may be found in our engagement letter with you.

Victoria Melling is our data protection manager and she can be contacted on 01204 582 128 or at victoria@vmfl.co.uk or at the following address: VM Family Law Limited, Grasmere Suite, Paragon House, Chorley New Road, Bolton, BL6 6HG.

The basis on which we can process your data

Data Protection law states we are allowed to use personal information (i.e. your personal data) only if we have a proper reason for doing so.

We have the following legal reasons for processing data:

· to fulfil a contract we have with you and to provide legal services to you

· 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)

· when it is our legal duty; for example, when 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

We use your personal information for the following purposes:

· to 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 perform legal proceedings on your behalf

· 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 legislation

· 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

Sources of personal information

Data is collected in a variety of ways.

For example, you give us personal data:

· When you enquire about our services

· When you communicate with us by either telephone, email, letters & texts

· When you use our website

· When you apply for vacancies directly

· When you send us unsolicited personal data

Also, we may collect personal data 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.

Data from third parties we work with:

· Individuals that introduce you to us

· Other parties involved in the legal proceedings (such as the solicitor acting on the other side, CAFCASS etc)

· Financial institutions

· Other professional services firms

· Public information sources and government bodies

· Law enforcement agencies

Retention of your data

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

· Perform legal services

· To maintain records

· Establish a defence in respect of legal claims (for example negligence claims) that could be made against us

· Compliance with legal obligations under EU/UK

When we have completed your matter we retain your data in accordance with our file retention policy which is generally seven years

Sharing your 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 family matter

· 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 CAFCASS, pension companies)

· Any disclosures to law enforcement agencies where required by law (in particular the prevention of financial crime and terrorism)

· The SRA in connection with any ongoing regulatory investigation

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

How you can access and update your information

You have a right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you. This is called 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 Victoria Melling who can be contacted on 01204 582 128 or at victoria@vmfl.co.uk or at the following address: VM Family Law Limited, Grasmere Suite, Paragon House, Chorley New Road, Bolton, BL6 6HG.

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.

There may be legal or other official reasons why we need to keep or use your data. We will advise you of these circumstances.

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

· It is not accurate.

· It has been used unlawfully but you do not want us to delete it.

· It is 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 Victoria Melling at victoria@vmfl.co.uk or at the following address: VM Family Law Limited, Grasmere Suite, Paragon House, Chorley New Road, Bolton, BL6 6HG.

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 raising the issue with Victoria Melling at victoria@vmfl.co.uk or at the following address: VM Family Law Limited, Grasmere Suite, Paragon House, Chorley New Road, Bolton, BL6 6HG.

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 (https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/).

Our website uses cookies. Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit our website. Our website uses both session cookies and persistent cookies. Session cookies enable you to move from page to page within our website and any information you enter to be remembered. A session cookie is deleted when you close your browser or after a short time. Persistent cookies allow our website to remember your preferences and settings when you visit our website in the future. Persistent cookies expire after a set period of time. Cookies are used in the following ways on our website:

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics to provide us with information about how you use our website. We use this information to compile statistics and to help us to improve our website and the services we offer. Google uses cookies as part of this process to collect anonymous information, including the number of visitors to the website, where they have come to the website from, the pages they visit and the length of time they have spent on the website

Online application system

We use session cookies on our online application system to assist in the navigation around the site.

We use a session cookie on our contact us page to allow you to contact us via our website The use of cookies in these ways is to improve the functionality of our website and your experience when using it. Cookies can be disabled by changing the settings on your browser. If you do decide to disable cookies, you may not be able to access some areas of our website. By using our website, you consent to our use of cookies as described above.

Website and disclaimer

We will collect information supplied by you via this Website, such information may include, but is not limited to, your name, home and/or work addresses, email address and telephone numbers. We gather this information in order to respond to your enquiry. Information provided to us is subject to confidentiality and will not be disclosed without your prior consent to any third party, other than to an employee or member of the firm for the purpose of providing you with the service you require, or to comply with any applicable laws or lawful government and/or regulatory request.

This site is maintained for information purposes only. This site is not intended to be comprehensive and should not be treated as legal advice for any particular purpose. We accept no responsibility for any loss which may occur in reliance of the information contained on the site. Separate legal advice needs to be obtained for any particular situation. The contents of the site are governed by copyright and apart from the permission already given on particular pages, written permission from the firm must be obtained before any copying of the contents can be undertaken

How we protect your information

We have put in place various security procedures to protect your information including the instalment of firewalls to the computer system, limited employee access and system password protection.

Updating your details

If any of the information that you have provided to us changes, for example if you change your name or email address, please let us know the correct details by sending an email to victoria@vmfl.co.uk or at the following address: VM Family Law Limited, Grasmere Suite, Paragon House, Chorley New Road, Bolton, BL6 6HG.

How to contact us

If you would like to contact us with any queries or comments please call us on 01204 582 128 or at victoria@vmfl.co.uk or at the following address: VM Family Law Limited, Grasmere Suite, Paragon House, Chorley New Road, Bolton, BL6 6HG.

2. COOKIES

Google Analytics

Online application system

We use session cookies on our online application system to assist in the navigation around the site.

Website and disclaimer

We will collect information supplied by you via this Website, such information may include, but is not limited to, your name, home and/or work addresses, email address and telephone numbers. We gathers this information in order to respond to your enquiry. Information provided to us is subject to confidentiality and will not be disclosed without your prior consent to any third party, other than to an employee or member of the firm for the purpose of providing you with the service you require, or to comply with any applicable laws or lawful government and/or regulatory request.

Unhappy with our service?

We want to give you the best possible service.

However, if at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service, we have provided then you should inform us immediately, so that we can do our best to resolve the problem.

In the first instance it may be helpful to contact the person who is working on your case to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues. If you would like to make a formal complaint, then you can read our full complaints procedure here [please put a link to our complaints process]. Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case.

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint

The Legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case.

Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:

Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint

and

No more than six years from the date of act/omission; or
No more than three years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them.

Contact details

Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9.00 to 17.00.

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ

What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.

Visit their website to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.’