WHO WE ARE

We are Altion Law Limited of 9 Shirwell Crescent, Furzton, Milton Keynes MK4 1GA. We are the data controller of your personal information we are responsible for complying with data protection laws. For the purpose of this privacy policy (“Policy”), references to “we” or “us” or “our” shall refer to Altion Law Limited.

This Policy (together with our Terms Of Use and any other documents referred to on it) sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us. Please read the following carefully to understand what data we collect, why we collect it and what we do with it. This Policy also explains the controls you have to manage your data.

CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

From time to time we may need to make changes to this Policy, for example, as the result of government regulation, new technologies, or other developments in data protection laws or privacy generally. You should check our website (www.altion-law.co.uk) periodically to view the most up to date version of this Policy.

OUR PRIVACY PRINCIPLES

This Policy applies to all persons whose personal information we collect and use when acting as a controller. It does not apply where we are acting as an employer or as a processor for a client. If we are acting as a processor our client’s privacy policy applies.

When we collect and use your personal information in line with the above, we will make sure that we look after it properly and use it in accordance with our privacy principles, which are as follows:

  1. Personal information you provide to us is processed fairly, lawfully and in a transparent manner.
  2. Personal information you provide to us is collected for a specific purpose and we will not process it in a way which is incompatible with the purpose for which we collected it.
  3. Your personal information is adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which it is collected.
  4. Your personal information is kept accurate and, where necessary kept up to date.
  5. Your personal information is kept no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which we process it.
  6. We will take appropriate steps to keep your personal information secure.
  7. We will process your personal information in accordance with your rights.
  8. We do not sell your personal information.
  9. We endeavour to be transparent and clear with the way we use your personal information.
  10. We will hold your information in the strictest confidence. We will only provide this information to a third party if we have to by law; because of the work we are doing for you; to the extent we are allowed to do so in our contract with you, if you told us that we can disclose it, or if we are otherwise required to do so to comply with the law or other regulatory obligation. If we ever need to transfer your personal information to another country or an international organisation, and they are outside of the European Economic Area, we will only do so where we have taken the required steps to ensure that your personal information is protected. Such steps may include placing the party we are transferring information to under contractual obligations to protect it to adequate standards.

HOW WE COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Whilst there may be other ways that we could collect your personal information, the main way we will collect personal information about you are from things you tell us in connection with our legal services. This could include conversations our staff have with you over the phone, face to face or by email.

We may also collect information about you as a result of performing our legal services, for example you may give us documentation containing your personal information, or information about you may be provided to us by third parties in the course of us representing you.

WHAT WE COLLECT VIA OUR WEBISTE

If you visit our website (www.altion-law.co.uk) you may give us information about you by filling in forms on our website, or reporting a problem with it. The information you give us on our website may include your name, address, e-mail address, telephone number and a summary of your matter.

Each time you visit our website we will collect the following information:

  • Information about your visit, including clickstream to, through and from our site (including date and time),
  • Services you viewed or searched for
  • Page response times, download errors,
  • Length of visits to certain pages,
  • Page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs),
  • Methods used to browse away from the page, and
  • Any phone number used to call our office number.

LIVE CHAT FUNCTION ON OUR WEBSITE – Third Party Processor

We use a live chat service on our website provided by a third party called Chat Heroes. Their privacy policy is available here: https://chatheroes.com/privacy-policy/

When you use our live chat service, Chat Heroes automatically collect the following information: IP address, browser type and operating system.

Chat Heroes will also collect your name, phone number, email address and any other information which you provide to us in order to follow up on an enquiry. If your enquiry is dependent on location, we may also need to confirm a postcode.

Chat Heroes Legal basis for processing is under legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) of the General Data Protection Regulation).

Chat Heroes have a legitimate interest in collecting your IP address, browser information and device to better understand our customers’ requirements whilst accessing the live chat service. Chat Heroes have a legitimate interest in collecting your name, email address, phone number and any additional information you provide in order for Altion Law to be able to respond to your enquiry via our live chat service. Chat Heroes ask for your phone number and email address to ensure that Altion Law is able to respond to your enquiry as quickly and effectively as possible. Chat Heroes ask for your name so that Altion Law knows who we will be contacting, to allow us to ensure we are contacting the correct person and for legal and evidential purposes so that Altion Law can identify what Chat Heroes have said to whom and when.

Legal basis for processing: necessary to perform a contract or to take steps at your request to enter into a contract with you (Article 6(1)(b) of the General Data Protection Regulation).

How Long Chat Heroes Retain Your Information

Live chat transcripts: Chat Heroes store the information from our live chat service for a maximum period of seven (7) years in order to defend against legal claims.

COOKIES

Our website and the Live Chat service use cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site. For detailed information on the cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them see our Cookie Policy.

HOW WE USE THE INFORMATION THAT WE COLLECT

We collect, use and disclose your personal information in order for us to provide our services as a regulated supplier of legal services. This includes:

  • Providing our legal and related services to you so we can perform our contract with you, for example managing court or other legal proceedings; establishing exercising or defending legal claims; providing legal advice; advising on and negotiating legal contracts;
  • Complying with our legal obligations or making disclosures to government, regulatory or other public bodies where in our reasonable opinion the disclosure is appropriate and permitted by law;
  • Providing access to our files for audit or review by our regulator or professional advisers to comply with our legal or regulatory obligations;
  • Carrying out identity or related checks with selected third parties in order to meet our legal and regulatory requirements in respect of matters such as the prevention of money laundering;
  • Providing information to our insurers to ensure that we comply with the terms of our policies and therefore discharge the insurance obligations we are required to meet by our regulator;
  • Notifying you about changes to our services so as to protect your interests and enable us to continue to perform our services for you as effectively as possible.

Be aware that if we think that a transaction may involve criminal activity (e.g. money laundering or terrorist activity), we may have to make a disclosure to the National Crime Agency. If we make a disclosure, we may not be able to tell you. We may also have to stop working on your file for a period of time and not be able to tell you why, nor will we be able to accept responsibility to you for the consequences of having to do so.

When you use our website, we use the information that we collect:

  • To administer our website and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes;
  • To improve our site to ensure that content is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer;
  • As part of our efforts to keep our site safe and secure;
  • To measure or understand the effectiveness of any advertising we may use;
  • Where your enquiry relates to our services, we will collect your information in order to enter into a contract with you or take steps to enter into a contract with you. This includes the collection of your name, email address and phone number so we know who we are contracting with and so that we can provide you with the information you need in order to be able to enter into a contract with you.

WHERE WE STORE YOUR PERSONAL DATA

All information you provide to us is stored on our secure servers located in the United Kingdom.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to us or our site electronically. Any transmission initiated by you is at your own risk and you should ensure that you have appropriate security measures in place such as up to date antivirus and where required email encryption. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

LINKS

If our website contains links to any other website, these are third party website that are not owned or controlled by us. If you follow any such link 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 information to these websites, and we accept no responsibility whatsoever for any information that you submit.

HOW LONG WE KEEP RECORDS

We will retain your personal information for so long as is reasonably necessary for us to fulfil the relevant purposes set out in this Policy and in order to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations. The time period we retain your personal information for will differ depending on the nature of the personal information and what we do with it. How long we keep personal information is primarily determined by our regulatory obligations.

YOUR RIGHTS

You can ask us to do various things with your personal information. For example, at any time you can ask us for a copy of your personal information, ask us to correct mistakes, change the way we use your information, or even delete it. We’ll either do what you’ve asked, or explain why we can’t – usually because of a legal or regulatory issue.

You have a number of rights in relation to our use of your personal information;

The Right To Access Your Personal Information

You are entitled to a copy of the personal information we hold about you and certain details of how we use it. There will not usually be a charge for dealing with these requests. Your personal information will usually be provided to you in writing, unless otherwise requested, or where you have made the request by electronic means, in which case the information will be provided to you by electronic means where possible.

The Right To Rectification

We take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and complete. However, if you do not believe this is the case, please contact us and you can ask us to update or amend it.

The Right To Erasure

In certain circumstances, you have the right to ask us to erase your personal information, for example where the personal information we collected is no longer necessary for the original purpose. However, this will need to be balanced against other factors, for example according to the type of personal information we hold about you and why we have collected it, there may be some legal and regulatory obligations which mean we cannot comply with your request.

Right To Restriction Of Processing

In certain circumstances, you are entitled to ask us to stop using your personal information, for example where you think that the personal information we hold about you may be inaccurate or where you think that we no longer need to process your personal information.

Right To Data Portability

In certain circumstances, you have the right to ask that we transfer certain personal information that we hold to another provider. This right only applies to certain types of personal information: (i) data processed by automated means where the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract (ii) personal data processed on the basis of your consent. If any personal information that is transferred to another provider pursuant to this right, the new provider will be responsible for looking after your personal information.

Right To Object To Direct Marketing

We will never give or sell your personal information to anyone else for marketing purposes. We may contact you directly using an email address that you have provided to us in order to inform you of information or service areas that we feel may be relevant to you. You have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purpose.

Right Not To Be Subject To Automated-Decision Making

When we are verifying your identity as a client of ours we use a database to verify the personal information that you give to us regarding your identity. This verification is done automatically by our staff inputting your personal information into a verification system website and results in a pass or fail outcome that is delivered automatically rather than by our employees making that decision. Please note however that this is just part of our verification checks. Our staff will always make further enquiries in the event of a ‘fail’ outcome, and will conduct further checks using their own judgement and other resources. They will not simply rely on the automated outcome. You do however have a right not to be subject to the automated decision-making element of the process described above.

The Right To Withdraw Consent

For certain uses of your personal information, we may ask for your consent. Where we do this, you have the right to withdraw your consent to further use of your personal information.

The Right To Lodge A Complaint

You have a right to complain to the ICO at any time if you object to the way in which we use your personal information. More information can be found on the UK Information Commissioner’s Office website: https://ico.org.uk

You can make any of the requests set out above by using the contact details you have been provided with for our services or alternatively as set out later in this Policy. Please note that in some cases we may not be able to comply with your request for reasons such as our own obligations to comply with other legal or regulatory requirements. However, we will always respond to any request you make and if we can’t comply with your request, we will tell you why.

Contact Details Of The Data Protection Officer

If you wish to contact the Data Protection Officer the details are below: Data Protection Officer

Altion Law Limited 9 Shirwell Crescent, Furzton, Milton Keynes MK4 1GA

Email: hello@altion-law.co.uk

Date of Policy: January 2022