Privacy Policy

When you deal with us you trust us with your information. We take privacy seriously and we are committed to protecting the data you provide to us.

This notice explains when and why we collect personal data about you, how this data is used, the conditions under which it may be disclosed to others and how it is kept secure.

Who we are

Edwards Vaziraney is the trading name of EV LAW Solicitors Limited, authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Edwards Vaziraney is the controller of your personal data when you engage it to provide services to you; this means that Edwards Vaziraney decides why and how your personal data is processed.

Edwards Vaziraney is registered with the Information Commissioner under registration number ZA002688.

How we collect your personal data

We may collect and process the following information about you in the following ways.

We may receive information about you from you or third parties when we are acting for, or considering acting for, a client and we are required to obtain information about you.

The information we receive may include your contact details, identification information, financial information, employment information, details included in any correspondence and information about you in connection with any matter on which we are engaged or may be engaged to advise our client. Where we receive information about you, we will only use that information for the purposes of your legal matter.

Information that you give to us

You provide information about yourself when you make an enquiry to Edwards Vaziraney or ask us to provide legal services to you, or when entering information via our website (please see our website privacy policy), opt-in/consent forms, apps or by communicating with us by phone, post, email, live chat, social media or otherwise. It includes additional information that you provide to us during the course of any matter.

The information you give to us mainly includes your contact details, identification information, financial or billing information, employment information, details included in any correspondence and information about you in connection with any matter on which we are engaged to advise to help us in the course of your case.

Information we receive from other sources

We may receive information about you from third parties. For example:

• Counsel
• Experts
• Doctors and Hospitals
• Police Station Advisors
• Other Solicitors
• Police Station and Court Officers
• Witnesses
• Introducers and Referrers

The information that we receive about you from others can include both personal and special category data. Special categories of personal data are personal data about an individual’s:

1. race;
2. ethnic origin;
3. politics;
4. religion;
5. trade union membership;
6. genetics;
7. biometrics (when used for ID purposes);
8. health;
9. sex;
10. sexual orientation.

Criminal convictions or offences must be treated in the same way as special category data.

Data about children will be handled carefully as they require particular protection.

Information we collect about you

We may automatically collect information about you that we may observe, detect or create without directly asking you to provide the information to us. In common with most other businesses, this will mainly include information gathered automatically through your use of our website or online services. Please see our website privacy policy for further details.

Mandatory information

If you are a client, please note that your provision of documents for identity verification purposes is necessary for us to comply with our legal and statutory obligations. Failure to provide these documents will result in our being unable to undertake identity verification as required by the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 and, subsequently, we will not be able to act for you or the organisation instructing us, as applicable.

Type of personal data we process about you

As a legal practice dealing with cases and matters, we may process a range of personal data about you. To make it easier to understand the information that we use about you, we have divided this information into categories in the table below and provided a short explanation of the type of information each category covers :

How and why we use your personal data

We may use the information we collect about you in the following ways:

Where it is necessary for us to perform a CONTRACT with you

We may use and process your personal data where we have supplied you (or continue to supply you) with any legal services, where we have arranged for the supply of another firm’s services to you, or where you are in discussions with us about a particular matter on which you are considering taking advice.

We will use your information in connection with the contract for the provision of services when it is necessary to carry out that contract or for you to enter into it.

Where we have a LEGITIMATE INTEREST

We may use and process your personal data where it is necessary for us to pursue our legitimate interests as a business for the following purposes:

to carry out our conflict checks so we are able to provide services to you;

to enter into and perform the contract we have with you or your business;

to assess and improve our service to clients or our clients’ customers (where applicable) through recordings of any calls and livechat sessions;

for the prevention of fraud and other criminal activities;

to verify the accuracy of the data that we hold about you and to create a better understanding of you as a client and our clients’ customers (where applicable);

to undertake analysis to inform our business and marketing strategy;

to manage and deliver internal projects for business improvement;

for network and information security purposes to enable us to take steps to protect your personal data against loss or damage, theft or unauthorised access;

to assist in the management of queries, complaints or claims;

to notify you or your business of changes in the law that might affect you or your business; and for the establishment, exercise or defence of our legal rights.

Where you have provided CONSENT

We will seek separate and specific consent from you in circumstances where we wish to include you in a testimonial for our website.

You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Please see ‘Withdrawing your consent’ for further details.

Where required by LAW

Where you engage us to provide legal services to you, we will process your personal data and the personal data of third parties in order to comply with our legal obligations. We also have a legal obligation to comply with the SRA’s Standards and Regulations.

It is also a legal requirement for you to provide us with information to verify your identity in connection with anti-money laundering and criminal financing legislation. We will use that information for the purpose of complying with the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (or such other legislation that may replace or supersede these Regulations from time to time) unless we have obtained your consent to use it for any other purpose.

We may also use and process your personal data in order to comply with other legal obligations to which we are subject, as follows:

to maintain a register of corporate gifts and hospitality to comply with anti-bribery laws;

to maintain a record of undertakings where Edwards Vaziraney is the giver or receiver of an undertaking; and

to comply with our other legal and regulatory obligations, e.g. undertaking conflict checks.

In the VITAL INTERESTS of the individual

From time to time when representing individuals who may be troubled, in danger, very young or otherwise unable to exercise due care for their own safety, we may in extreme circumstances use information about you or a person connected with you in order to take action to protect you or them.

Special categories of personal data

We may have to process sensitive personal data (known as ‘special categories of personal data’) about you or others associated with you, for example your family. We will only use this kind of information where:

we have your explicit consent;

it is necessary for us to use this information to protect your vital interests or those of another person where it is not possible to obtain consent;

it is necessary to do so in connection with the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or whenever courts are acting in their judicial capacity; or

in exceptional circumstances, another ground for processing special categories of personal data is met.

Where you have provided us with explicit consent to use special categories of personal data about you, you may withdraw your consent for us to process this data at any time. Please see ‘Withdrawing your consent’ for further details.

Please note that if you withdraw your consent for us to process special categories of personal data about you, this may impact our ability to provide legal or support services to you.

Others who may receive or have access to your personal data

Our suppliers and service providers

Our work for you, or a client, may require us to provide information to third parties who will use your information for the purposes of providing services to us or directly to you on our behalf.

Others involved in your case or matter

Our work for you, or a client, may require us to provide information to third parties such as counsel, expert witnesses, medical professionals and other professional advisers, who will use your information in connection with the matter. They may provide their own services directly to you.

Any third party to whom we disclose information about you will be under an obligation to keep your information secure and not to use it for any purpose other than that for which it was disclosed unless you agree with them otherwise.

Other ways in which we may share your personal data

We may transfer your personal data if we are under a duty to disclose or share it to comply with any legal obligation, to protect your vital interests, to enforce or apply the terms of our contracts or to protect the rights, property or safety of our visitors and clients. However, we will ensure that your privacy rights continue to be protected.

Where we store your personal data

All information you provide to us for our use is stored on our secure servers, which are located within the UK and the European Economic Area (EEA).

How long we will keep your personal data for

If we collect your personal data, the length of time for which we retain it is determined by a number of factors including the type of data, the purpose for which we use that data and our regulatory and legal obligations attached to its use. We do not retain personal data in an identifiable format for longer than is necessary.

We maintain internally a full schedule of types of data and the specified period of time we will retain this for.

Typically, the retention criteria are as follows for the following data types:

The only exceptions to this are where:

the law requires us to hold your personal data for a longer period or to delete it sooner;

you exercise your right to have the data erased (where it applies) and it is not necessary for our firm to hold it in connection with any of the reasons permitted or required under the law (see ‘Erasing your personal data or restricting its processing’); or in limited cases, the law permits us to keep your personal data indefinitely provided we have certain protections in place.

Your rights

You have various rights in relation to your personal data under data protection legislation. In relation to certain rights, we may ask you for information to confirm your identity and, where applicable, to help us to search for your personal data. Except in rare cases, we will respond to you within 30 days from either (i) the date that we have confirmed your identity; or (ii) where we do not need to do this because we already have this information, from the date we received your request.

Accessing your personal data

You have the right to ask for a copy of the data that we hold about you by emailing or writing to us at the address at the end of this policy. We may not provide you with a copy of your personal data in certain circumstances but we will explain why we are unable to provide the data.

Correcting and updating your personal data

The accuracy of your data is important to us.

If you change your name or address/email address, or you discover that any of the other data we hold is inaccurate or out of date, please contact us using the details at the end of this policy.

Withdrawing your consent

Where we rely on your consent as the legal basis for processing your personal data, as set out under ‘How we use your personal data’, you may withdraw your consent at any time by emailing Edwards Vaziraney (please use ‘Withdrawal of consent’ as the subject heading of your email).

If you withdraw your consent, our use of your personal data before you withdraw your consent is still lawful.

Objecting to our use of your personal data and automated decisions made about you

Where we rely on our legitimate interests as the legal basis for processing your personal data for any purpose as set out under ‘How we use your personal data’, you may object to our using your personal data for these purposes by emailing or writing to us at the address at the end of this policy. Except for the purposes for which we are satisfied we can continue to process your personal data, we will temporarily stop processing your personal data in line with your objection until we have investigated the matter. If we agree that your objection is justified in accordance with your rights under data protection legislation, we will permanently stop processing your data for those purposes. Otherwise, we will provide you with our justification as to why we have to continue processing your data.

Erasing your personal data or restricting its processing

In certain circumstances, you may ask for your personal data to be removed from our systems by emailing or writing to us at the address at the end of this policy. Provided we do not have any continuing lawful basis to continue processing or holding your personal data, we will make reasonable efforts to comply with your request.

You may also ask us to restrict processing your personal data where you believe our processing is unlawful, you contest its accuracy, you have objected to its use and our investigation is pending, or you require us to keep it in connection with legal proceedings. We may only process your personal data while its processing is restricted if we have your consent or are legally permitted to do so, for example for storage purposes, to protect the rights of another individual or company or in connection with legal proceedings.

Transferring your personal data in a structured data file

Where we rely on your consent as the legal basis for processing your personal data or have to process it in connection with your contract, as set out under ‘How we use your personal data’, you may ask us to provide you with a copy of that data in a structured data file. We will provide this to you electronically in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable form, such as a CSV file.

You can ask us to send your personal data directly to another service provider, and we will do so if this is technically possible. We may not provide you with a copy of your personal data in certain circumstances but we will explain why we are unable to provide the data.

Complaining to the UK data protection regulator

You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you are concerned about the way we have processed your personal data. Please visit the ICO’s website (ico.org.uk) for further details.

Security and links to other sites

Security measures we put in place to protect your personal data

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 our website, and any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your personal data, we have in place reasonable and appropriate controls to ensure that it remains secure against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration or unauthorised access.

Cookies

Use of cookies

Like many other websites, our website uses cookies (including Google Analytics cookies to obtain an overall view of visitor habits and visitor volumes to our website). Cookies are small pieces of information sent to your computer and stored on its hard drive to allow our website to recognise you when you visit.

It is possible to switch off cookies by setting your browser preferences.

Contact us

The person responsible for data protection at Edwards Vaziraney is Miss Karmenah Vaziraney. She is a director and solicitor at Edwards Vaziraney. Please direct any queries about this policy or about the way we process your personal data to her at the contact details below.

Please write to Miss Karmenah Vaziraney at Edwards Vaziraney, Provident House, Burrell Row, High Street, Beckenham, BR3 1AT. Our email address for data protection queries is contact@edwardsvaziraney.co.uk. If you would prefer to speak to us on the phone, please call Miss Vaziraney at the office 020 8249 6536.

Data Protection

This Firm is committed to ensuring personal data is dealt with in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) and to protect the rights of the individuals (data subjects) about whom this Firm holds personal data.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner as a data controller. The person responsible for data protection compliance is Karmenah Vaziraney. The Deputy is Tim Edwards. Both are Solicitors and Directors of the Firm.

We must keep certain information on our clients, employees, third parties and suppliers to carry out our day to day operations, to meet our objectives and to comply with legal obligations. The data protection legislation applies to personal data but we must keep all client and employee information confidential and secure.

The GDPR and DPA 2018 give individuals a range of rights including the right to access personal data held about them. Any person wishing to exercise these rights should apply in writing to Karmenah Vaziraney.

Personal data includes name, address, date of birth, financial records and may also include special categories of personal data or criminal conviction and offences data.