Privacy Policy, Security & Cookies
Who we are
SC Law is a law firm in England & Wales offering legal services in personal injury and clinical negligence claims, wills, probate and lasting powers of attorney to private individuals or businesses.
We are a “controller” under the GDPR.
In order that you are reliably informed about how we operate, this privacy notice sets out the ways in which we collect, manage, process, store and share information about you. The privacy notice also provides you with information about your data privacy rights.
Personal data
Personal data is information that relates to a living individual who can be identified by that data. It does not include information relating to a deceased person, groups, companies, organisations or public authorities.
We will only collect information from you that is relevant to the matter we are dealing with.
We collect and process information about clients, suppliers and service providers, complainants, enquirers, advisers, professional experts and employees.
What information we collect, store and use from you
The personal data we collect from you either as a client or prospective client, can be your name, address, e-mail address and telephone number. It can also include information about your gender, your financial circumstances, your social status and cultural background.
It can include your family details, education and employment details and business activities.
We collect information and data directly from you at the point of your initial enquiry and when you instruct us to carry out work on your behalf. Such information may also be contained in documents you provide to us in accordance with your instructions or enquiry.
Where you have made an initial enquiry but do not wish to proceed with your case immediately, unless you specifically notify us in writing to delete your information, which may be your email address, name or details of your enquiry, we may retain this information for three and up to six years, from when we identify the expiry of any potential limitation period in the event you wish to instruct us at a later date. Our address to provide notification to is ma**@******co.uk.
How we use your personal data
Your personal data is only used for the purposes of meeting our legal obligations and for assisting you in your case. We may need to share your personal information with third parties e.g. other Solicitors/Barristers, your opponent, professionals including translators and experts, government organisations including the Court. However when we use outside service providers, we only disclose the personal information that is necessary to deliver the service and we have contracts in place that requires them to keep your information secure and not to use it for their own purposes.
Security precautions in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of your information
Whilst we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk.
Once we receive your information, we make our best effort to ensure its security on our systems. Where we have given, or where you have chosen a password which enables you to access information, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.
Your data will usually be processed in our offices in the UK. However, to allow us to operate efficient digital processes, we may sometimes need to store information in servers located outside the UK. We take the security of your data seriously and so all our systems have appropriate security in place that complies with all applicable legislative and regulatory requirements.
We invest appropriate resources to protect your personal information, from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. However, no internet-based site can be 100% secure and we cannot be held responsible for unauthorised or unintended access that is beyond our control.
Our security measures include:
- Protecting against potential breaches of confidentiality
- Ensuring all IT facilities are protected against damage, loss or misuse
- Increasing awareness and understanding of the requirements of information security, and the responsibility of our colleagues to protect the
- confidentiality and integrity of the information that they handle
- Ensuring the optimum security of our website
In addition, we limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties on a need-to-know basis.
We have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.
Our security procedures mean that we may occasionally request proof of identity before we are able to disclose personal information to you.
Your choices
We may occasionally contact you by email with details of any changes in legal and regulatory requirements or other developments that may be relevant to your affairs, and where applicable, how we may assist you further. If you do not wish to receive such information from us, please let us know by contacting us at ma**@******co.uk. However, such information may be pertinent to your case and if you decline to receive such information, we may not be able to progress your case.
How long will we keep your information?
We will only retain your personal data for as long as it is necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for. We will retain your personal data for the duration of your transaction/case and thereafter for a further period of six years following completion of your matter. This includes clients who instruct us and prospective enquiries that are made on a general basis. The six-year period is to take into account any statutory limitation periods and to comply with the requirements of our insurers and regulators.
There are exceptions to this in matters of wills and probate and cases where children are concerned. Should this apply to you please contact us at ma**@******co.uk to make your specific enquiry.
What are your rights?
Your data is processed in accordance with the GDPR. We want to ensure that you remain in control of your personal data. Part of this is making sure you understand your legal rights, which are as follows:
• Access to your information – you have the right to access your personal information that we hold
• Rectification of your personal data – you have the right to have inaccurate or incomplete personal data rectified
• Deletion of your information – you have the right to have your data erased in certain circumstances (though this will not apply where it is necessary for us to continue to use the data for a lawful reason, such as to progress your case, a potential enquiry or by law where we are obliged to keep client files for six-years)
• Restricting how we may use your information – you have the right to restrict to the use of your data in certain circumstances for example where we are checking the accuracy of your personal data or assessing the validity of your objections of how we may use your information
• Objecting to how we may use your information – you have the right to object to the use of your data for example for marketing or profiling in which case we may only use your data with your consent
The table below states the likely instances where we will collect data about you and why:
| Data we will collect about you | Who will see it | Why they will see it |
| Name Address Date of Birth National Insurance Number |
Your insurer Defendant Barrister Medical Experts Liability experts Court/judge |
To provide insurance cover So they can deal with your claim To advise and represent you in Court To report on your condition/illness Evidence to support your claim To make decisions about the case |
| GP notes Hospital Records |
Medical/care/rehab experts Barrister Defendant
Court/judge |
To prepare medical/care report To advise/represent you For their own experts, to assess any pre-existing issues or establish causation To help decide the case outcome |
| Wages/pension details (if relevant to your case) |
Defendant Pensions expert Barrister Court |
To prove wage loss To prove pension loss To advise/represent you To decide the case outcome |
| Benefits Information | Barrister Court |
To advise/represent you To decide the case outcome |
| Family information – spouse/children details (if they are witnesses/carers) | As above | As above |
You are an individual within any third party we engage with such as our suppliers or other service providers such as marketing agencies
As part of our business dealings, we engage with third party service providers and their workforce to enter into agreements or other services and products. If you are an individual within such third-party service providers, we will process your personal information as set out in this privacy notice.
A client has provided us with your information
A client may give us personal information about you as part of asking us to provide advice to them. This may include your name, address, contact details, NI number, passport/driving licence details, financial information (including bank details, state benefits, tax and residency, savings and loan information, and expenditure), details of dependants and spouse. We may also collect, store and use more sensitive special category personal information that may include marital, civil partnership or relationship status, details of your partner, civil partner or spouse, physical or mental health details, religious and other beliefs, and racial or ethnic origin.
We will use this personal information in order to carry out our compliance checks or to give advice to our client or to trustees where you are a beneficiary.
You have been referred to us from a third party or we have collected information about you from another third party
If the firm or any other related third party has obtained your consent we may contact you in relation to our services or any other matter that you have consented to. We will use your personal data for this purpose on the basis of your consent.
We may record our telephone conversation with you therefore any information captured via this medium will automatically be processed for managing and developing our contract with you, regulatory, training and monitoring purposes.
Queries and complaints
We seek to directly resolve all complaints about how we handle your personal data. Please contact Saffora Choudri, the firm’s Data Controller, if you have any complaints or questions.
If we are unable to resolve your complaints, you have a right to register a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
Updates
We will keep this Privacy Policy under review and make updates from time to time.
Contact
Phone
020 8966 1299
Address
192 Whittington Way
Pinner
Middlesex
HA5 5JY
Authorised and Regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority: SRA Number 518688 SC Law is a trading name of SC Law Solicitors Limited. Registered in England and Wales.
Company number 06860473.
COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
We want to give you the best possible service. However, if at any point you become concerned about the service we have provided, then you should inform us immediately, so that we can do our best to resolve the issue.
Procedure:
We will acknowledge your complaint within 2 working days and investigate straightforward matters within 7 working days. If we consider that it may take longer than 7 working days to investigate, we will advise you of the likely timescales of when you can expect our final assessment.
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 are still not satisfied you should address your concerns directly to the Principal Saffora Choudri or Ian-Austen Jones, who is another senior solicitor at the firm. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) require that a client gives us 8 weeks in which to deal with the complaint.
Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case. Your complaint will be investigated fully and fairly by someone independent, such as another senior lawyer not related to the case, who will offer a suitable solution where possible.
What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint:
In the first instance please let us know if you are willing for an independent law firm or the local Law Society Group to review your complaint.
Alternatively, 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 the 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 directly, using the contact information below:
Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9.00 to 17.00.
Email: en*******@****************rg.uk
Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ
If you are unhappy with our behaviour:
The SRA 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.
