GDPR

GDPR Privacy notice for clients

  1. Who are we?

McIvor Farrell Solicitors Limited is a Limited Company registered in Northern Ireland under company number NI 616159 and is a ‘Data Controller’ under the General Data Protection Regulation. Our central office is located at 129 Springfield Rd, Belfast BT12 7AE.

McIvor Farrell Solicitors Limited are committed to protecting the privacy and security of the personal information of clients, contacts and the other third parties we deal with in the course of the provision of our services to our clients known as ‘Data Subjects’.

Data Subjects may include third parties who are not our clients but whose personal data is processed by us in connection with the provision of our services to our clients.

This notice does not form part of any contract to provide our services to our clients. We may update this notice at any time.

It is important that Data Subjects read this notice, together with any other privacy notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal information about Data Subjects, so that they are aware of how and why we are using such information.

Responsibility for the processing of personal data

Paul Farrell, Director of McIvor Farrell Solicitors, takes ultimate responsibility for data protection. If you have any concerns or wish to exercise any of your rights under the GDPR, then you can contact the data protection lead at our postal address or office@mcivorfarrell.co.uk.

  1. What information will we collect from you?

We will only collect information from you that is relevant to the matter we are dealing with. In particular we may collect the following information from you which is defined as ‘personal data’:

  • Personal contact details such as name, title, addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses.
  • Date of birth.
  • Gender.
  • Marital status, friends, family members and dependants.
  • Lifestyle and social circumstances.
  • Bank account details, tax status information and other financial details.
  • Salary, pension and benefits information.
  • Business affairs.
  • National Insurance number.
  • Copy of passport.
  • Copy of driving licence.
  • Credit history.
  • Education and employment details.
  • Complaints and grievance information.
  • Information about criminal convictions and offences.
  • Information about use of our information and communication systems.

We may also collect information that is referred to as being in a ‘special category’. This could include:

  • Physical or mental health details
  • Racial or ethnic origin
  • Religious beliefs or other beliefs of a similar nature
  • Criminal convictions
  • Sexual Orientation

We typically collect this information directly from you during the course of our contract however this information can also be collected from third parties.

  1. How will we use your information?

We will only use personal information about you when the law allows us to do so. Most commonly, we will use your personal information in the following circumstances:

  • Where the Data Subject is a client of the firm and we need to perform the contract we have entered into with you (being the engagement terms set out in our client care letter and Standard Terms of Business).
  • Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.
  • Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and the interests and fundamental rights of the Data Subject do not override those interests.
  • Where we have obtained your freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous consent by way of a statement or clear affirmative action.
  • Complying with our legal obligations to verify the identity of our clients and to identify any conflicts of interest that may arise in acting for them
  • Complying with our legal, accounting and reporting obligations to the Law Society of Northern Ireland and other regulatory and statutory bodies the jurisdiction of which we are subject
  • Ensuring that we hold accurate contact and other information about you through centralised and secure databases. For these purposes we use software licensed to us by a third party software provider
  • Undertaking reviews of, and auditing, our client and other files, including in accordance with the Law Society’s accreditation schemes (e.g. Lexcel) and for the promotion of good practice. For these purposes we involve external reviewers and auditors from time to time
  • Undertaking internal quality control of our work. This will include maintaining records relating to the same
  • Administering, resolving and/or defending any complaint we may receive, or claim made against us, in relation to our work. This may include sharing personal information with our insurers (and our/their professional advisers (including other solicitors and barristers)) and the courts

We may also use personal information about Data Subjects in the following situations, which are likely to be rare:

  • Where we need to protect the Data Subject’s vital interests (or someone else’s vital interests).
  • Where it is needed in the public interest.

It is important that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and current. We ask that you keep us informed if your personal information changes during the course of the provision of our services to you.

 

  1. If you do not provide us with the information requested

Where a Data Subject is a client of the firm and fails to provide certain information when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have entered into with you (e.g. we may not have sufficient information to undertake the work we have been instructed to undertake), or we may be prevented from complying with our legal obligations (e.g. we may not be able to undertake the anti-money laundering checks we are required to undertake pursuant to The Money Laundering and Law Society of Northern Ireland Regulations) in order to be able to take on, and accept instructions from you).

 

  1. Lawful basis of processing

We will process your information for the following reasons:

  • It is necessary for the performance of the contract we have with you
  • It is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation
  • It is necessary for the provision of legal advice

 

  1. Who will we share this information with?

Under our Code of Conduct there are very strict rules about who we can share your information with and this will normally be limited to other people who will assist with your matter. This may include:

  • Barristers
  • Medical Experts
  • Private Investigators
  • Healthcare professionals, social and welfare organisations
  • Courts and tribunals
  • Law Society of Northern Ireland
  • Financial service providers including banks, mortgage brokers, financial advisors and accountants
  • Estate agents

Where you authorise us we may also disclose your information to your family, associates or representatives.

  1. Which third-party service providers process personal information about you?

The following activities are carried out by third-party service providers:

  • Off-site archiving and storage facilities
  • IT (including back-up) services
  • Banking facilities
  1. How long will we keep your information for?

We will keep your information throughout the period of time that we do work for you and afterwards for a period of six years as we are required to do by law. After this point your paper file will be destroyed however some personal information as detailed in section 2 will be retained on our computer storage system. In some cases your information will be required to be retained in this office for longer periods or even indefinitely to allow us to store items of safekeeping on your behalf. This will be made clear to you in the event this is the case.

  1. Rights of access, correction, erasure, and restriction

Under certain circumstances, you have the right to:

  • Request access to your personal information (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
  • Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.
  • Request the erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it.
  • Object to processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. A Data Subject also has the right to object where we are processing their personal information for direct marketing purposes.
  • Request the restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
  • Request the transfer of your personal information to another party.

If you wish to review, verify, correct or request erasure of your personal information, object to the processing of your personal data, or request that we transfer a copy of your personal information to another party, please contact our office at office@mcivorfarrell.co.uk or send your request to our office in writing

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal information (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request for access is clearly unfounded or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with the request in such circumstances.

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure the right to access the information (or to exercise any of their other rights). This is another appropriate security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.

In the limited circumstances where you may have provided your consent to the collection, processing and transfer of your personal information for a specific purpose, you have the right to withdraw your consent for that specific processing at any time. To withdraw a consent, you should contact our office. Once we have received notification that you have withdrawn your consent, we will no longer process your information for the purpose or purposes originally agreed to, unless we have another legitimate basis for doing so in law. The potential consequences of you withdrawing your consent to the collection, processing and transfer of your personal data are set out under Section 4.

  1. Who can you complain to if you are unhappy about what we have done with your information?

If you are unhappy about how we are using your information then initially you should contact our office in writing or at office@mcivorfarrell.co.uk and if your complaint remains unresolved then you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office, details available at www.ico.org.uk

  1. Marketing

We would like to keep you up to date with our other services and latest news about our firm. If you do not want to receive this information from us please contact us.

I/we acknowledge receipt of the information contained within this notice about how my/our information is collected, processed and stored. I/we give explicit consent to Hunt Solicitors Limited for the collection, processing and storage of my/our personal information.