WEBSITE TERMS OF USE & PRIVACY POLICY
MacHardy Alexander & Whyte are a firm of Solicitors and Estate Agents and are regulated by the Law Society of Scotland. Our place of business is 71 castle Street, Forfar, Angus, DD8 3AG.
The copyright in this website and any material downloaded from it belongs to us. It is not intended to provide legal advice. You should contact us to obtain specific legal advice. We are not responsible for any third party sites that are linked to this site.
Privacy Policy
In the course of our business we will be a “controller” of personal information that you may provide us with when you instruct us to act on your behalf. In this notice we aim to explain how we use your personal information, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others if this is appropriate and how we store your information and keep it secure.
When you instruct us to act on your behalf we may collect, store and use personal information that you provide to us in your instructions and during the course of the work that we undertake for you and in some cases thereafter. It may be necessary for us to ask you for additional personal information during the time we are carrying out the work and all this information will be used and stored in accordance with this privacy notice.
We may also obtain personal information relating to you from third parties as part of our acting on your behalf.
We take privacy very seriously and when we use your personal information we are regulated under the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and in terms of this we are a “controller” of that personal information for the purposes of the GDPR.
We are also a firm of solicitors regulated by The Law Society of Scotland.
Why we need your personal information?
There are a number of basis on which we need to collect and store personal information.
Contractual Purposes
If you instruct us to act on your behalf then we need to collect your personal information so that we can undertake the work that you have contracted with us for us to undertake. In these circumstances we will use the personal information to provide you with legal advice and undertake such work as is agreed. We may correspond with you by email, letter and/or telephone. We are likely to require this information to represent you as your solicitors in the legal matter that you have asked us to undertake.
We may require to obtain sensitive personal data from you depending on what it is you instruct us to undertake. This data refers to your health, sexual orientation, racial or ethnic origin, religion or religious views or such similar sensitive data. In most cases sensitive personal data will not be required and we will only store it where it is necessary or relevant to the matter in which you have instructed us.
Legal Obligations
We may need to obtain and store personal data relating to you in order to comply with legislation. In particular, we require to implement the terms of the UK Anti Money Laundering Legislation and the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and require to store personal information for this purpose.
We are also required to store certain personal information to meet the requirements of the Law Society of Scotland and current Practice Rules.
Legitimate Interest
We also process client personal information in respect of our legitimate interest to communicate with clients by email and post and to keep our clients updated in respect of information regarding the firm and our services.
Source of Information Data
It is likely that you will be the main source of information in respect of personal information. If you have granted authority to somebody else such as an attorney to act on your behalf then they may provide us with such information. We may also obtain information from public sources.
Information may also be passed to us by third parties such as Banks, insurance companies or other firms of solicitors.
Depending on the matter in which you have instructed us we may also obtain information from Doctors or Medical Practitioners.
Access to your Personal Information
We take you privacy very seriously and we will only use your information within our firm except in where we need to share the information with other parties in the course of carrying out the work in which you have instructed us.
In particular we may need to share personal information with statutory or regulatory authorities and organisations to comply with our statutory obligations such as Law Society of Scotland, Police, National Crime Agency, solicitors acting for other parties, Advocates, Bank or Building Societies, insurance companies, Land Register, Books of Council and Session, HMRC and Revenue Scotland.
In the event of our requiring to share information with other parties then we seek to ensure that they comply with their Data Protection obligations. In some cases we will not share your personal data without your specific consent, in which case we will contact you directly about this.
Protection of Information Data
All information is valuable and we take reasonable measures to protect it whilst it is in our care. We have systems and policies in place designed to protect this from loss, misuse, alteration and destruction. In respect of information stored on computers we employ computer safeguards such as Firewall, passwords, virus protection software and Malware software. In respect of information stored in paper form we control access to our buildings and keep files for data in safe storage.
Retention of Data
All personal information will be retained only for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected or as required by law or as recommended by the Law Society of Scotland or as estimated by us as being reasonable depending on the matter in which you instructed us.
In some cases (such as Wills, titles etc) we will keep the information indefinitely. In other cases we will keep the information in accordance with the periods that are required by statute such as in the cases of complying with Money Laundering Regulations.
In other cases we will keep the documentation in accordance with our own Data Retention Policy taking into account the recommendations of the Law Society of Scotland.
Your Rights
You are entitled to access your personal information and data and can do so by making a request to us in writing.
There are also some circumstances in which you have additional rights as follows:-
Marketing Data
Our website may make use of “Cookies” also our service providers may use “Cookies” and these may be stored on your computer when you visit our website.
Most browsers allow you to accept or refuse “Cookies” and to delete “Cookies” and this may vary depending on the type of browser that you are using.
Your Rights
If you wish to complain about how we handle your personal information or data or you wish to exercise any of rights as stated above then you should contact us by phone, letter or email bringing the matter to our attention. Any such requests will be considered under the relevant GDPR Regulations.
If you are not satisfied with our response or believe that we are not processing your personal information correctly you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (www.ico.org.uk)
Updating/Availability of this Privacy Notice
If there are alterations or changes to this privacy notice then these will be included on our website.
We can also provide this Notice in hard copy including large print
Contact
We can be contacted at :
71 Castle Street
Forfar
Angus
DD83AG
01307 463593
[email protected]
Contact- Nicholas Whyte
Our ICO Registration Number is Z5468459
The copyright in this website and any material downloaded from it belongs to us. It is not intended to provide legal advice. You should contact us to obtain specific legal advice. We are not responsible for any third party sites that are linked to this site.
Privacy Policy
In the course of our business we will be a “controller” of personal information that you may provide us with when you instruct us to act on your behalf. In this notice we aim to explain how we use your personal information, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others if this is appropriate and how we store your information and keep it secure.
When you instruct us to act on your behalf we may collect, store and use personal information that you provide to us in your instructions and during the course of the work that we undertake for you and in some cases thereafter. It may be necessary for us to ask you for additional personal information during the time we are carrying out the work and all this information will be used and stored in accordance with this privacy notice.
We may also obtain personal information relating to you from third parties as part of our acting on your behalf.
We take privacy very seriously and when we use your personal information we are regulated under the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and in terms of this we are a “controller” of that personal information for the purposes of the GDPR.
We are also a firm of solicitors regulated by The Law Society of Scotland.
Why we need your personal information?
There are a number of basis on which we need to collect and store personal information.
Contractual Purposes
If you instruct us to act on your behalf then we need to collect your personal information so that we can undertake the work that you have contracted with us for us to undertake. In these circumstances we will use the personal information to provide you with legal advice and undertake such work as is agreed. We may correspond with you by email, letter and/or telephone. We are likely to require this information to represent you as your solicitors in the legal matter that you have asked us to undertake.
We may require to obtain sensitive personal data from you depending on what it is you instruct us to undertake. This data refers to your health, sexual orientation, racial or ethnic origin, religion or religious views or such similar sensitive data. In most cases sensitive personal data will not be required and we will only store it where it is necessary or relevant to the matter in which you have instructed us.
Legal Obligations
We may need to obtain and store personal data relating to you in order to comply with legislation. In particular, we require to implement the terms of the UK Anti Money Laundering Legislation and the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and require to store personal information for this purpose.
We are also required to store certain personal information to meet the requirements of the Law Society of Scotland and current Practice Rules.
Legitimate Interest
We also process client personal information in respect of our legitimate interest to communicate with clients by email and post and to keep our clients updated in respect of information regarding the firm and our services.
Source of Information Data
It is likely that you will be the main source of information in respect of personal information. If you have granted authority to somebody else such as an attorney to act on your behalf then they may provide us with such information. We may also obtain information from public sources.
Information may also be passed to us by third parties such as Banks, insurance companies or other firms of solicitors.
Depending on the matter in which you have instructed us we may also obtain information from Doctors or Medical Practitioners.
Access to your Personal Information
We take you privacy very seriously and we will only use your information within our firm except in where we need to share the information with other parties in the course of carrying out the work in which you have instructed us.
In particular we may need to share personal information with statutory or regulatory authorities and organisations to comply with our statutory obligations such as Law Society of Scotland, Police, National Crime Agency, solicitors acting for other parties, Advocates, Bank or Building Societies, insurance companies, Land Register, Books of Council and Session, HMRC and Revenue Scotland.
In the event of our requiring to share information with other parties then we seek to ensure that they comply with their Data Protection obligations. In some cases we will not share your personal data without your specific consent, in which case we will contact you directly about this.
Protection of Information Data
All information is valuable and we take reasonable measures to protect it whilst it is in our care. We have systems and policies in place designed to protect this from loss, misuse, alteration and destruction. In respect of information stored on computers we employ computer safeguards such as Firewall, passwords, virus protection software and Malware software. In respect of information stored in paper form we control access to our buildings and keep files for data in safe storage.
Retention of Data
All personal information will be retained only for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected or as required by law or as recommended by the Law Society of Scotland or as estimated by us as being reasonable depending on the matter in which you instructed us.
In some cases (such as Wills, titles etc) we will keep the information indefinitely. In other cases we will keep the information in accordance with the periods that are required by statute such as in the cases of complying with Money Laundering Regulations.
In other cases we will keep the documentation in accordance with our own Data Retention Policy taking into account the recommendations of the Law Society of Scotland.
Your Rights
You are entitled to access your personal information and data and can do so by making a request to us in writing.
There are also some circumstances in which you have additional rights as follows:-
- The right to be informed. Details of our Privacy Policy are contained in this notice and any changes made to this will be publicised on our website.
- The right to rectification. If we hold personal information data which is inaccurate then you have the right to have this rendered accurate or complete.
- The right to be forgotten. In some cases you have the right to ask us to delete or remove personal information that we hold on you where there is no good reason for it to be retained.
- The right to object. If we are holding information on you based on legitimate interest then you can object to this and ask us to stop processing personal information for marketing purposes in which case we will cease to do so.
Marketing Data
Our website may make use of “Cookies” also our service providers may use “Cookies” and these may be stored on your computer when you visit our website.
Most browsers allow you to accept or refuse “Cookies” and to delete “Cookies” and this may vary depending on the type of browser that you are using.
Your Rights
If you wish to complain about how we handle your personal information or data or you wish to exercise any of rights as stated above then you should contact us by phone, letter or email bringing the matter to our attention. Any such requests will be considered under the relevant GDPR Regulations.
If you are not satisfied with our response or believe that we are not processing your personal information correctly you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (www.ico.org.uk)
Updating/Availability of this Privacy Notice
If there are alterations or changes to this privacy notice then these will be included on our website.
We can also provide this Notice in hard copy including large print
Contact
We can be contacted at :
71 Castle Street
Forfar
Angus
DD83AG
01307 463593
[email protected]
Contact- Nicholas Whyte
Our ICO Registration Number is Z5468459
