Privacy and Cookie Policy

Ashton Bond Gigg Solicitors, Pearl Assurance House, Friar Lane, Nottingham NG1 6BX (ABG) is committed to protecting the privacy and security of the personal information that we receive from our clients and process on their behalf.

This Privacy Notice sets out the types of personal information we collect, how we collect and process that information, who we may share it with in relation to the services we provide and certain rights and options that clients have in this respect.

ABG is responsible for a client’s personal data. “You” or “Your” includes you, and/or any entity which you represent which instructs us in this Notice, direct or through you.

ABG may collect and process the following personal data from clients:

Identity and Contact Data, Your name, address, time at address, telephone number, date of birth, marital status, passport number, employment history, educational or professional background, tax status, job title and function, and other personal data concerning Your preferences related to our services;
Financial and Payment Data, including Your bank account;
Business Information, including information provided in the course of the contractual or client relationship between You and ABG, or otherwise voluntarily provided by You;
Physical Access Data, relating to details of Your visits to our offices;
Sensitive personal data: In the course of our client services, we may represent You in legal matters that require us to collect and use sensitive personal information relating to You (that is, information about Your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, trade union activities, physical or mental health, sexual life, or details of criminal offences, or genetic or biometric data). Where we process sensitive personal information in the course of these and other similar client services, we do so to assist You to establish, exercise or defend legal claims or to assist You in fulfilling the rights and obligations of applicable employment or social security laws.

If You provide information to us about any person other than You, You must ensure that they understand how their information will be used, and that they have given their permission for You to disclose it to us and for You to allow us, and our outsourced service providers, to use it.

The circumstances in which we may collect personal data about You includes:

when You seek legal advice from us or use any of our online client services;
when You offer to provide, or provide, services to us;
when You correspond with us by phone, email or other electronic means, or in writing, or when You provide other information directly to us, including in conversation with our lawyers, consultants and staff;
when You browse, complete a form or make an enquiry or otherwise interact on our website or other online platforms;
when You attend our seminars or other events or sign up to receive personal data from us, including training;
by making enquiries from You, other organisations with whom You have dealings such as former employers and educational institutions, or from third party sources such as government agencies, a credit reporting agency, information service providers or from publicly available records.

Where we need to collect personal data by law or in order to process Your instructions or perform a contract we have with You and You fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to carry out Your instructions or perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with You. In this case, we may have to cancel our engagement or contract You have with us, but we will notify You if this is the case at the time.

We may use Your personal data only for the following purposes:

to register You as a client of ABG;
to provide and administer legal services or other services or solutions, as instructed by you;
to administer and manage our relationship with you, including processing payments, accounting, auditing, billing and collection and taking other steps linked to the performance of our business relationship including identifying persons authorised to represent our clients, suppliers or service providers;
to carry out background checks, where permitted;
compliance with our legal obligations, including maintaining records, compliance checks or screening and recording (e.g. anti-money laundering, financial and credit checks, fraud and crime prevention and detection, trade sanctions and embargo laws).This may include automated checks of personal data You provide about Your identity against relevant databases and contacting You to confirm Your identity, or making records of our communications with You for compliance purposes;
to analyse and improve our services and communications and to monitor compliance with our policies and standards;
to manage access to our premises and for security purposes;
to protect the security of our communications and other systems and to prevent and detect security threats, frauds or other criminal or malicious activities;
for insurance purposes;
to exercise or defend our legal rights, or to comply with court orders;
for any other purposes related and/or ancillary to any of the above or any other purposes for which Your personal data was provided to us;
to communicate with You to keep You up-to-date on the latest developments, announcements, and other information about our services and solutions (including briefings, newsletters and other information), events and initiatives; to send You details of client surveys, marketing campaigns, market analysis, or other promotional activities; and
to collect information about Your preferences to personalise and improve the quality of our communications with you.

We may process Your personal data in connection with any of the purposes set out above on one or more of the following legal grounds:

because it is necessary for us to do so to perform Your instructions or another contract with You;
to comply with our legal obligations as well as to keep records of our compliance processes or tax records;
to protect Your vital interests;
because our legitimate interests, or those of a third party recipient of Your personal data, make the processing necessary, provided that those interests are not overridden by Your interests or fundamental rights and freedoms;
because You have expressly given us Your consent to process Your personal data in that manner.

We will only provide You with marketing related information after You have, where legally required to do so, opted in to receive those communications and having provided the opportunity for You to opt out at any time.

We will not use Your personal data for taking any automated decisions affecting or creating profiles other than as described above.

We may share Your personal data:

with third parties including certain service providers we have retained in connection with the legal services we provide, such as barristers, consultants, mediators, or experts and other legal specialists such as law firms for obtaining specialist or foreign legal advice, translators, education evaluation services, couriers, or other necessary entities;
if we have collected Your personal data in the course of providing legal services to any of our clients, we may disclose it to that client, and where permitted by law to others for the purpose of providing those services;
with companies providing services for money laundering and terrorist financing checks, credit risk reduction and other fraud and crime prevention purposes and companies providing similar services, including financial institutions, credit reference agencies and regulatory bodies with whom such personal data is shared;
with TransUnion International UK Limited, which is a credit reference agency providing services such as credit risk and affordability checking, fraud prevention, anti-money laundering, identity verification and tracing. More information about TransUnion and the ways in which it uses and shares personal information can be found in its privacy notice at https://www.transunion.co.uk/legal-information/bureau-privacy-notice;
with courts, law enforcement authorities, regulators, government officials or attorneys or other parties where it is reasonably necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal or equitable claim, or for the purposes of a confidential alternative dispute resolution process;
with service providers who we engage within or outside of ABG, domestically or abroad, to process personal data for any of the purposes listed above on our behalf and in accordance with our instructions only;

When we transfer Your information to other countries, we will use, share and safeguard that information as described in this Notice. To provide legal and other services, we may transfer the personal information we collect to countries outside of the EEA which do not provide the same level of data protection as the country in which You reside and are not recognised by the European Commission as providing an adequate level of data protection. We only transfer personal information to these countries when it is necessary for the services we provide You, or it is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or subject to safeguards that assure the protection of Your personal information, such as European Commission approved standard contractual clauses.

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent Your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. We have also put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify You and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

If any of the personal data that You have provided to us changes, please let us know by sending an email to our Practice Partner ([email protected]). We will not be responsible for any losses arising from any inaccurate, inauthentic, deficient or incomplete personal data that You provide to us.

You have various rights with respect to our use of Your personal data:

Access: You have the right to request a copy of the personal data that we hold about You. There are exceptions to this right, so that access may be denied if, for example, making the information available to You would reveal personal data about another person, or if we are legally prevented from disclosing such information. You are entitled to see the personal data held about You. If You wish to do this, please contact us using the contact details provided below.
Accuracy: We aim to keep Your personal data accurate, current, and complete.
Objecting: In certain circumstances, You also have the right to object to processing of Your personal data and to ask us to block, erase and restrict Your personal data.
Porting: You have the right to request that some of Your personal data is provided to You, or to another data controller, in a commonly used, machine-readable format.
Erasure: You have the right to erase Your personal data when the personal data is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or when, among other things, Your personal data have been unlawfully processed.
Complaints: If You believe that Your data protection rights may have been breached, You have the right to lodge a complaint with the applicable supervisory authority, or to seek a remedy through the courts.

You may, at any time, exercise any of the above rights, by contacting our Practice Partner ([email protected]) together with a proof of Your identity, i.e. a copy of Your passport, or any other valid identifying document.

If You have provided Your consent to the collection, processing and transfer of Your personal data, You have the right to fully or partly withdraw Your consent. To withdraw Your consent please contact our Practice Partner ([email protected]). Once we have received notification that You have withdrawn Your consent, we will no longer process Your information for the purpose(s) to which You originally consented unless there are compelling legitimate grounds for further processing which override Your interests, rights and freedoms or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims. Withdrawal of consent to receive marketing communications will not affect the processing of personal data for the provision of our legal services.

We will only retain Your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements and, where required for ABG to assert or defend against legal claims, until the end of the relevant retention period or until the claims in question have been settled. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of Your personal data, the purposes for which we process Your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements. Upon expiry of the applicable retention period we will securely destroy Your personal data in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.

We reserve the right to update and change this Notice from time to time in order to reflect any changes to the way in which we process Your personal data or changing legal requirements. Any changes we may make to our Notice in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to You by email. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our Notice.

June 2021