Information That We Collect

Elite Law Solicitors processes your personal information to meet our legal, statutory and contractual obligations and to provide you with our services. We will never collect any unnecessary personal data from you and do not process your information in any way, other than as specified in this notice.

The personal data that we collect can include your name, date of birth, postal and email address, telephone number, National Insurance number, passport number, driving license number and special category data (i.e. health/medical information).

How We Use Your Personal Data

We take your privacy very seriously. Our lawful basis for holding your personal information is contractual i.e. to meet the requirements of a contract, namely the specific instruction you give us as your Solicitor.

In relation to your legal matter we collect other specific personal data from you, including more sensitive information in so called ‘special categories’ This is lawfully based on ‘legitimate interest’, primarily your own legitimate interest and the interests of us in representing you.

Some categories of personal data must be processed by us for statutory reasons and our lawful basis for processing such data is a ‘legal obligation’, this includes data which we must report to (for example) the Law Society and the SRA (the Solicitors Regulatory Authority). This data is collected only on the condition that reporting to these authorities is necessary.

For some matters, particularly family and private client related, we may require medical information for the purpose of assessing the matter.

Your Rights

You have the right to access any personal information that we process about you and to request information about:

• What personal data we hold about you
• The purposes of the processing
• The categories of personal data concerned
• The recipients to whom the personal data has/will be disclosed
• How long we intend to store your personal data

If you believe that we hold any incomplete or inaccurate data about you, you have the right to ask us to correct and/or complete the information and we will strive to do so as quickly as possible; unless there is a valid reason for not doing so, at which point you will be notified.

You also have the right to request erasure of your personal data or to restrict processing (where applicable) in accordance with the data protection laws; as well as to object to any direct marketing from us. Where applicable, you also have the right to data portability of your information.

How Long Will We Retain Information For?

We will retain your personal data for six years after your file is closed. All your special category personal data held by us will be destroyed at the latest, after six years (for many matters much earlier). For statutory reasons we will retain your key personal identifiers after that period, but most personal information will no longer be accessible.

Safeguarding Measures

We take every reasonable measure and precaution to protect and secure your personal data. We work hard to protect you and your information from unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or destruction and have several layers of security measures in place, including SSL, restricted access, IT authentication, firewalls and anti-virus/malware.

Transfers Outside the EU

Personal data in the European Union is protected by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) but some other countries may not necessarily have the same high standard of protection for your personal data. We do not transfer or store any personal data outside the EU.

Consequences of Not Providing Your Data

You are not obligated to provide your personal information to us, however, as this information is required for us to provide you with our services, we will not be able to offer you any of our services without it.

Contact & Complaints

Questions and comments regarding this Privacy Notice are welcomed, and should be sent to our Data Protection Manager at Elite Law Solicitors, 57 Hill Avenue, Amersham, Bucks, HP6 5BX.

We only process your personal information in compliance with this privacy notice and in accordance with the relevant data protection laws. If, however you wish to raise a complaint regarding the processing of your personal data or are unsatisfied with how we have handled your information you can contact our Data Protection Manager.

Alternatively, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office who may be contacted at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow SK9 5AF or https://ico.org.uk.

Our Website

By providing Personal Data via our website you agree to us contacting you with regard to the information provided.

Some forms on our website also include a check box asking you for permission to add you to our mailing list. This is an opt-in mailing list and your personal information will be used solely by us (and all such emails include a link for opt-out).

We use the data you provide via this website to:

communicate with you, for example: we use contact details such as email address or phone number when responding to enquiries made via online forms

monitor website trends, for example: we use Google Analytics to help us aggregate traffic so we can monitor how the website is being used

When you visit our website, cookies will be used to collect information about you such as your 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. 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 as described in our Cookie Policy.

We use Google Analytics to monitor how our website is being used so we can make improvements. Our use of Google Analytics requires us to pass to Google your IP address (but no other information) – Google uses this information to prepare site usage reports for us, but Google may also share this information with other Google services. In particular, Google may use the data collected to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network.