Alexander Shaw Solicitors ("we", "us") of 552 Harrow Road, London W9 3QG is the data controller for personal information collected through www.alexandershaw.co.uk and in the course of providing our legal services. We process your data in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).
1. Why we process your data
We only hold and process your data where the law allows us to. The main reasons are:
- contractual obligations — to provide you with legal services under our agreement with you, including obligations to the Legal Aid Agency where relevant;
- legitimate interests — for example to satisfy our external quality auditors or our regulators;
- legal compliance — where the law requires us to collect or share data;
- consent — for example when you sign up to receive our newsletter.
2. Information we collect
We collect the information you give us when you contact us through our website, by email, telephone, post or face to face, and information provided by others during your matter (such as an opponent's solicitors). This may include your name and contact details, identification and proof of address, information about your case and, where required, financial information. We also collect technical information automatically when you visit our website.
3. How we use your information
- to deliver our legal services and manage our relationship with you;
- to make and manage payments;
- to respond to complaints and seek to resolve them;
- to train our staff and measure the quality of our service;
- to communicate with our regulators and comply with the law;
- to tell you about our other services, but only where you have consented.
4. Sharing your information
We only share your data with trusted third parties where it is necessary to provide our legal services or run our practice effectively — for example barristers, experts, translators, costs draftsmen, process servers, auditors and secure storage providers. Where data is transferred outside the UK, we ensure it receives an equivalent level of protection. We never sell your personal data.
5. Security and retention
We have clear data protection and information security policies in place and regularly monitor our systems. We normally keep client data for six years after your matter ends, as required by our regulator; enquiries where we do not take on your case are kept for 18 months. If we need to keep data for longer, we will tell you.
6. Your rights
You have the right to access the personal data we hold about you, to have it corrected, to restrict or object to processing, to withdraw consent and, in certain circumstances, to have it deleted. Our Data Protection Officer is Zahid Choudry, who can be contacted at zchoudry@alexandershaw.co.uk, on 0203 7738 738 or in writing at 552 Harrow Road, London W9 3QG. If you are unhappy with how we handle your data, you may complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.
7. Links to other websites
Our website may contain links to other websites. We have no control over those sites and are not responsible for the privacy of any information you provide while visiting them.
8. Changes to this policy
Alexander Shaw Solicitors may update this privacy policy from time to time. The current version will always be available on this page.