Website Privacy Policy – GDPR Compliant

We ask that you read this website privacy policy carefully as it contains important information on who we are, how and why we collect, store, use and share personal information, your rights in relation to your personal information and on how to contact us and supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.

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This website privacy policy is divided into the following sections:

• Who we are

• Our website

• Our collection and use of your personal information

• Transfer of your information out of the EEA

• Cookies and similar technologies

• Marketing

• Your rights

• Keeping your personal information secure

• How to complain

• Changes to this website privacy policy

• How to contact us

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Who we are

This website is operated by Duncan Blackett Law, a boutique law practice specialising mainly in commercial, corporate and commercial property law and for more information see https://www.duncanblackettlaw.co.uk/.

We collect, use and are responsible for certain personal information about you. When we do so we are regulated under the General Data Protection Regulation which, for the time being, applies in the United Kingdom and across the European Union.  We are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information for the purposes of those laws.

 

Our website

This privacy policy relates to your use of our website https://www.duncanblackettlaw.co.uk only.

Throughout our website we may link to other websites owned and operated by certain trusted third parties to enhance the services available to you. These other third-party websites may also gather information about you in accordance with their own separate privacy policies. For privacy information relating to these other third-party websites, please consult their privacy policies as appropriate.

 

Our collection and use of your personal information

We collect personal information about you when you access our website, register with us, contact us, send us feedback, purchase services via our website, post material to our website and complete customer surveys or participate in competitions via our website.

We collect this personal information from you either directly, such as when you register with us, contact us or purchase services via our website or indirectly, such as your browsing activity while on our website (see ‘Cookies’ below).

 

The personal information we collect about you depends on the particular activities carried out through our website. This information includes:

• your name, address and contact details

• passport and driving licence details for due diligence purposes

• date of birth

• bank account and payment details (if appropriate)

• details of any feedback you give us by phone, email, post or via social media

• information about the services we provide to you

• your account details, such as username, login details

• information about your business, property or items held in your possession

 

We use this personal information to:

• create and manage your account with us

• verify your identity

• provide legal and corporate services to you

• notify you of any changes to our website or to our services that may affect you

• improve our services

 

This website is not intended for use by children and we do not knowingly collect or use personal information relating to children.

 

Our legal basis for processing your personal information

When we use your personal information, we are required to have a legal basis for doing so. There are various different legal bases on which we may rely, depending on what personal information we process and why.

 

The legal bases we may rely on include:

• consent: where you have given us clear consent for us to process your personal information for a specific purpose

• contract: where our use of your personal information is necessary for a contract we have with you, or because you have asked us to take specific steps before entering into a contract

• legal obligation: where our use of your personal information is necessary for us to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations)

• vital interests: where our use of your personal information is necessary to protect you or someone else’s life

• public task: where our use of your personal information is necessary for us to perform a task in the public interest or for our official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law

• legitimate interests: where our use of your personal information is necessary for our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party (unless there is a good reason to protect your personal information, which overrides our legitimate interests)

 

Further information—the personal information we collect, when and how we use it

For further details on when we collect personal information, what we collect as well as how we use it, please read the following sections:

 

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When you register with us

What information we ask for:

• Contact details:  your name, postal and email address, your date of birth, ownership of the business(es), nationality and other business details (if appropriate)

• Due Diligence info: Passport and driving details as part of the due diligence process.  Or any other documentation necessary to prove or support identity

How and why we use this information:

• All the information we collect about you will be stored and used by us in accordance with this privacy statement and in accordance with your rights as described in Section 13 of this statement under the Data Protection Act and the General Data Protection Regulation. 

• We will keep this information until:

          — you close your account with us

          — we close your account

 

When we contact you by telephone 

What information we ask for: 

• We may record telephone conversations to offer you additional security, resolve complaints and improve our service standards;

How and why we use this information:

• using your information is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest (to fulfil our statutory regulatory and representative obligations) which we refer to as the "public task" basis; or you have provided consent to our use of your information; or using your information is necessary to fulfil a contract you have with us, or because you have asked us to take specific steps; Any information pertaining to the matter for which the firm has been engaged. 

 

Note: We may have to share your personal data with other government agencies such as the Judicial system, HMRC, HM Land Registry   

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Who we share your personal information with

We do not routinely share your data with any third party, without your consent.   However, we will always seek your permission before sharing your data. 

We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law.

We may have to share your personal information with other third parties such as the Judiciary, HMRC, HM Land Registry and any such agencies relating to your contractual relationship with and the purpose for which we were engaged. 

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Whether information has to be provided by you, and if so why

We require you to provide personal data in the form of name, address, delivery address, date of birth, nationality, share ownership to enable us to provide legal services on your behalf without having to contact you each time we need this information.   We will inform you at the point of collecting information from you, whether you are required to provide the information to us.

 

For due diligence purpose, we will require a driving licence or passport, utility bill with personal details.

 

The impact of our use of your personal information

This prevents us from contacting you consistently for such information as this is likely to become an inconvenience.

 

Transfer of your information out of the EEA

Countries outside of the EEA do not have the same data protection laws as the United Kingdom and EEA.  Therefore, unless agreed with you beforehand, we will not transfer your personal information to any countries located outside the European Economic Area (EEA) or to any organisation (or subordinate bodies) governed by public international law or which is set up under any agreement between two or more countries.

 

Cookies and other tracking technologies

A cookie is a small text file which is placed onto your device (eg computer, smartphone or other electronic devices) when you use our website. We use cookies on our website. These help us recognise you and your device and store some information about your preferences or past actions.

For further information on cookies, our use of it and to relevant similar technologies, when we will request your consent before placing them and how to disable them, please see our  Cookie Policy.

 

Marketing

We would like to send you information about our services, competitions and special offers, which may be of interest to you. Where we have your consent or it is in our legitimate interests to do so, we may do this by post, email, telephone, text message (SMS) or automated call.

We will only ask whether you would like us to send you marketing messages when you tick the relevant boxes when you insert details, by completing our online contact form for the first time.  

If you have previously agreed to being contacted in this way, you can unsubscribe at any time by:

—contacting us at email gd@duncanblackettlaw.co.uk or 0203 995 4565

—using the ‘unsubscribe’ link in emails or ‘STOP’ number in texts

It may take up to 3 working days for this to take place.

For more information on your rights in relation to marketing, see ‘Your rights’ below.

 

Your rights

Under the General Data Protection Regulation, you have a number of important rights free of charge. In summary, those include rights to:

• fair processing of information and transparency over how we use your use personal information

• access to your personal information and to certain other supplementary information that this Privacy Notice is already designed to address

• require us to correct any mistakes in your information which we hold

• require the erasure of personal information concerning you in certain situations

• receive the personal information concerning you which you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and have the right to transmit those data to a third party in certain situations

• object at any time to processing of personal information concerning you for direct marketing

• object to decisions being taken by automated means which produce legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affect you

• object in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal information

• otherwise restrict our processing of your personal information in certain circumstances

• claim compensation for damages caused by our breach of any data protection laws

For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under the General Data Protection Regulation.

 

If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please:

• email, call or write to us at gd@duncanblackettlaw.co.uk addressed to our Data Protection Officer

• let us have enough information to identify you  

• let us have proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill), and

• let us know the information to which your request relates including any reference numbers, if you have them

 

Keeping your personal information secure

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

 

How to complain

We hope that can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your information.

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 any alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ or telephone: 0303 123 1113

 

Changes to this website privacy policy

This website privacy policy was published and updated on April 2020    

We may change this website privacy policy from time to time, when we do, we will inform you via our website.

 

How to contact us

Please contact us, or our Data Protection Officer, if you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information, we hold about you.

If you wish to contact us OR Gracie Duncan our Data Protection Officer, please send an email to gd@duncanblackettlaw.co.uk  write to  111 Fairway Avenue, Reading RG30 4QB or call 0203 995 4565 or 07825 705432