Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy and Cookies

Pinniger Finch and Co Limited is a law firm with its registered office at 35 Church Street, Westbury, Wiltshire BA13 3BZ.  It is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under number SRA8007061.

Please read this privacy policy carefully to understand why data is collected and what we do with the data once we have it.

We may change the privacy policy of the terms of business from time to time by amending this page. Further information about data privacy may be found in our terms of business.

Pinniger Finch and Co Limited’s Data Protection Officer is the Director of the firm, who can be contacted  at info@pinnigerfinch.co.uk. Alternatively, if you have any queries regarding the policy please write to  the following address: 35 Church Street, Westbury, Wiltshire, BA13 3BZ

On what basis we can process your information

Data Protection law states that we are allowed to use personal information only if we have a proper reason for doing so. This includes sharing it outside of Pinniger Finch and Co Limited. The law states we must have one or more reasons for processing it:

  • to fulfil a contract we have with you; it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party, or to take steps prior to entering into a contract with you. The retainer between you and Pinniger Finch and Co Limited, which is made up of our clientcare letter and terms of business sets out the terms of the contract and the services we will provide
  • when it is in our legitimate interest, except where our interests are overridden by the interests, rights or freedoms of affected individuals (such as you). To determine this we shall consider a number of factors, eg. what you were told at the time you provided your data, the nature of the data, what your expectations are about the processing of the data and the impact of the processing on you.
  • when it is our legal duty, ie. it is necessary in order to comply with mandatory legal obligations to which we are subject under EU or UK law.
  • when you consent to it

What we use your personal information for

  • to verify your identity and establish the source of funding in any transaction
  • communicate with you during the course of providing our services, eg. providing you with advice and dealing with your queries and requests
  • prepare documentation to complete transactions and commence legal proceedings on your behalf
  • carry out obligations arising from any contract entered into between you and third parties as part of your legal matter
  • seek advice from third parties in connection with your matter, eg. experts and legal Counsel
  • prevent money laundering and/or terrorist financing in accordance with financial crime regulations
  • carry out appropriate anti-fraud checks
  • to make and manage client/supplier payments
  • to collect and recover money that is owed to us

to carry out marketing activities

  • to manage risk for us and our clients
  • to obey laws and regulations that apply to us
  • to respond to complaints and to seek resolution
  • to run our business in a proper and efficient manner which includes managing our financial status, business capability, communications, governance and audit
  • to exercise our rights set out in contracts and/or agreements

Where we collect personal information from

Data you give to us:

  • When you enquire about our services
  • When you communicate with us by telephone, emails and/or letters
  • When you use our website
  • When you apply for vacancies directly
  • When you send us unsolicited personal data

We may collect personal information about you from third parties during the course of providing our legal services. The processing of this information will be necessary for your legal matter to progress and to enable us to act in your best interests as your legal representative.

As a law firm we have an obligation to make you aware of anything that is relevant to your matter. When we obtain information about you from a third party rather than from you directly, we will notify you of any relevant information within a reasonable period and provide you with details including the type of data and source it came from. Data from third parties we work with (this list is not exhaustive but includes):

  • Individuals that introduce you to us
  • Other parties involved in the legal proceedings eg. solicitor on other side, legal counsel
  • Financial institutions eg. banks, building societies
  • Other professional services firms eg. stockbrokers, accountants, tax specialists
  • Public information sources eg. Companies House
  • Government bodies eg. HM Land Registry, HM Revenue & Customs
  • Law enforcement agencies
  • Recruitment Agencies
  • Social networks

 

How long we retain your data

We will only retain your information for as long as is necessary to:

  • Carry out the legal work
  • To maintain records according to rules that apply to us
  • Compliance with legal obligations under EU/UK law (anti-money laundering regulations say your identification and source of funds information must be kept for a minimum period from conclusion of the matter).
  • Assess legal claims (eg. negligence claims) that could be made against us

 

Usually once your matter is closed, we will store the information in accordance with advice issued to us by our regulator, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Law Society and our professional indemnity insurance providers.

As regards the recruited applicants whose data are stored in their personal file, the retention period of their data related to the selection procedure follows the period of storage of the personal file, which is six years.

The retention period for any data or documents relating to non-recruited applicants, and unsolicited personal data, is twelve months.

Who your information will be shared with

Based upon the services you need, we may share your details with selected people or organisations (data processors) to carry out certain activities on our behalf, eg. personal information you provide may be disclosed to our agents, who may keep a record of that information.

We may share your information with any third parties where required to do so in the course of providing legal services, or where we are obliged by law. This list is not exhaustive but may include:

  • A court or tribunal where we are acting for you in a dispute or litigation
  • Solicitors acting on the other side of your matter
  • Expert witnesses or legal Counsel to obtain advice or assistance with your matter
  • HM Revenue & Customs, HM Land Registry, Probate Registry, regulators and other authorities
  • Our professional indemnity insurer in the event a claim is made against us in order to defend ourselves
  • Other professionals and service providers eg. Stockbrokers, insurance brokers
  • Any disclosures to law enforcement agencies where required by law (in particular the prevention of financial crime and terrorism)
  • Our regulators including the SRA and the Law Society in connection with any ongoing regulatory investigation
  • Banks, building societies and/or a lender
  • External auditors who may carry out independent checks of your file as part of our accreditations

We may also share your personal information if the status of Pinniger Finch and Co Limited changes in the future:

  • We may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business, or our assets, or we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them.
  • During any such process, we may share your data with other parties. We will only do this if they agree to keep your data safe and private.
  • If the change to our firm happens, then other parties may use your data in the same way as set out in this notice.

At the outset of your matter we may not be aware of all the other parties involved as this will depend on the specific nature of the work and how your matter progresses.

Security of your data

Your data will be held on our files and our server with all reasonable technological and operation measures put in place to safeguard it from unauthorised access.

How you can access and update your information

You have a right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.  This is known as a subject access request. You also have the right to request that information we hold about you which may be incorrect, or which has been changed since you first told us, is updated or removed. Any subject access request should be sent to Pinniger Finch and Co Limited, 35 Church Street, Westbury, Wiltshire, BA13 3BZ.

How you can object to us using your personal data or withdraw consent

You have the right to object to our use of your personal information, or to ask us to delete, remove, or stop using your personal information if there is no need for us to keep it. This is known as the ‘right to object’ and ‘right to be forgotten’, or the ‘right to erasure’.

There may be legal or other official reasons why we need to keep or use your data but please inform us if you think that we should not be using it.

If you want us to restrict or stop processing your data, this may impact on our ability to provide our services. Depending on the extent of your request, we may be unable to continue acting for you and be forced to immediately cease acting. In these situations you would remain liable for all fees and disbursements incurred to date.

You can ask us to restrict the use of your personal information if:

  • It is not accurate.
  • It has been used unlawfully but you don’t want us to delete it.
  • It is not relevant any more, but you want us to keep it for use in legal claims.
  • You have already asked us to stop using your data, but you are waiting for us to tell you if we are allowed to keep on using it.

If you want to object to how we use your data or ask us to delete it or restrict how we use it, please contact us.

Moving your information to another organisation

You have the right to request that we send a copy of the personal data we hold about you to another organisation for your own purposes, eg. when you are dealing with a different service provider. If you would like us to move, transfer or copy your information to another organisation please let us know. We will respond to you within one month after assessing whether or not this is possible, taking into account the technical compatibility with the other organisation in question.

Automated decision making

We do not use your information for automated decision making.

Complaints about the use of your personal data

If you wish to raise a complaint regarding the way we have handled your personal data, you can contact us to have the matter investigated by writing to Pinniger Finch and Co Limited, 35 Church Street, Westbury, Wiltshire BA13 3BZ.

If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are not processing your personal data in accordance with the law, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Officer.  For further information, see their website www.ico.org.uk.

 

Cookies

Our website uses cookies. Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit our website. Our website uses both session cookies and persistent cookies. Session cookies enable you to move from page to page within our website and any information you enter to be remembered. A session cookie is deleted when you close your browser or after a short time. Persistent cookies allow our website to remember your preferences and settings when you visit our website in the future. Persistent cookies expire after a set period of time. Cookies are used in the following ways on our website:

Contact us

We use a session cookie on our contact us page to allow you to contact us via our website
The use of cookies in this way is to improve the functionality of our website and your experience using it. Cookies can be disabled by changing the settings in your browser. If you should decide to disable cookies, you may not be able to access some of the information on our website.

By using our website, you consent to our use of cookies.

Website and disclaimer

We will collect information supplied by you via this website, such information may include, but is not limited to, your name, home and/or work addresses, email address and telephone numbers. We gather this information in order to respond to your enquiry. Information provided to us is subject to confidentiality and will not be disclosed without your prior consent to any third party, other than to an employee or member of the firm for the purpose of providing you with the service you require, or to comply with any applicable laws or lawful government and/or regulatory request.

This site is maintained for information purposes only. This site is not intended to be comprehensive and should not be treated as legal advice for any particular purpose. We accept no responsibility for any loss which may occur in reliance of the information contained on the site. Separate legal advice needs to be obtained for any particular situation. The contents of the site are governed by copyright and apart from the permission already given on particular pages, written permission from the firm must be obtained before any copying of the contents can be undertaken

How Pinniger Finch and Co Limited protects your information

We have put in place various security procedures to protect your information including the instalment of firewalls to the computer system, limited employee access and system password protection.

Updating your details

If any of the information that you have provided to us changes, eg. your name, contact number or email address etc, please let us know the correct details by sending an email to info@pinnigerfinch.co.uk