Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

What information do we obtain from you?
We may collect personal information from you in the course of our dealings, including through your use of our website, when you contact/request information from us, when you engage our legal or other services or as a result of your relationship with one or more of our staff and clients.

This includes:

• Basic information, such as your name, your employer, your title or position and your relationship to a person
• Contact information
• Payment-related information
• Technical information, such as information from your visits to our website or applications or in relation to materials and communications we send to you electronically
• Information you provide to us for the purposes of attending at our offices
• Identification and background information
• Personal information provided to us by or on behalf of our clients or generated by us in the course or providing services to them, which may include special categories of data
• Any other information relating to you which you may provide to us

How we obtain information

• We collect information from you as part of our due diligence and money laundering checks at the commencement of a matter
• We collect your personal information while monitoring our technology tools and services, including our websites and emails
• We gather information about you when you provide it
• We may collect or receive information about you from other sources

How we use your information
McCarthy Bennett Holland Solicitors LLP collects and processes personal information about you in a number of ways, including through your use of our website and in the provision of services by us. We use that information:

• To provide and improve this website, including auditing and monitoring its use
• To provide and improve our services to you and to our clients, including handling the personal information of others on behalf of our clients
• To provide information requested by you
• To promote our services, including sending legal updates, publications and details of events
• To manage and administer our relationship with you and our clients
• To fulfil our legal, regulatory and risk management obligations, including establishing, exercising or defending legal claims
• For the purposes of recruitment

Use of our website
A number of facilities on our website invite you to provide us with personal information, such as the ‘Contact us’ section of our website, the conveyancing quotation and our email queries facilities. The purpose of these facilities is apparent at the point that you provide your personal information and we only use that information for those purposes.

Legal services
We collect, create, hold and use personal information in the course of and in connection with the services we provide to our clients. We will process identification and background information as part of our business acceptance, finance, administration and marketing processes, including anti-money laundering, conflict, reputational and financial checks. We will also process personal information provided to us by or on behalf of our clients for the purposes of the work we do for them. The information may be disclosed to third parties to the extent reasonably necessary in connection with that work.

On what basis we use your personal information
We use your personal information on the following bases:

• To perform a contract, such as engaging with an individual to provide legal or other services
• For the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or proceedings
• To comply with legal and regulatory obligations
• For legitimate business purposes. Please see ‘How we use your personal information’ for more detail

How long we keep your personal information
our personal information will be retained in accordance with our data retention policy which categorises all of the information held by McCarthy Bennett Holland Solicitors LLP and specifies the appropriate retention period for each category of data. Those periods are based on the requirements of applicable data protection laws and the purpose for which the information is collected and used, taking into account legal and regulatory requirements to retain the information for a minimum period, limitation periods for taking legal action, good practice and our business purposes.

Who we share your personal information with
We may share your personal information with certain trusted third parties in accordance with contractual arrangements in place with them, including:

• Our professional advisers and auditors
• Suppliers to whom we outsource certain support services such as word processing, translation, photocopying and document review
• IT service providers
• Third parties engaged in the course of the services we provide to clients and with their prior consent, such as barristers, local counsel and technology service providers like data room and case management services
• Third parties involved in hosting or organising events or seminars

Where necessary, or for the reasons set out in this policy, personal information may also be shared with regulatory authorities, courts, tribunals, government agencies and law enforcement agencies. While it is unlikely, we may be required to disclose your information to comply with legal or regulatory requirements. We will use reasonable endeavours to notify you before we do this, unless we are legally restricted from doing so.

We do not sell, rent or otherwise make personal information commercially available to any third party, except with your prior permission.

How we protect your personal information
We use a variety of technical and organisational measures to help protect your personal information from unauthorised access, use, disclosure, alteration or destruction consistent with applicable data protection laws.

Which countries we transfer your personal information to
In order to provide our services we may need to transfer your personal information to locations outside the jurisdiction in which you provide it or where you are viewing this website for the purposes set out in this privacy policy. This may entail a transfer of your information from a location within the European Economic Area (the “EEA”) to outside the EEA, or from outside the EEA to a location within the EEA.

The level of information protection in countries outside the EEA may be less than that offered within the EEA. Where this is the case, we will implement appropriate measures to ensure that your personal information remains protected and secure in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

Your rights
The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation and other applicable data protection laws provide certain rights for data subjects.

You are entitled to request details of the information we hold about you and how we process it. You may also have a right in accordance with applicable data protection law to have it rectified or deleted, to restrict our processing of that information, to stop unauthorised transfers of your personal information to a third party and, in some circumstances, to have personal information relating to you transferred to another organisation. You may also have the right to lodge a complaint in relation to our processing of your personal information with a local supervisory authority.

If you object to the processing of your personal information, or if you have provided your consent to processing and you later choose to withdraw it, we will respect that choice in accordance with our legal obligations.

Your objection (or withdrawal of any previously given consent) could mean that we are unable to perform the actions necessary to achieve the purposes set out above (see ‘How we use your personal information’) or that you may not be able to make use of the services and products offered by us. Please note that even after you have chosen to withdraw your consent we may be able to continue to process your personal information to the extent required or otherwise permitted by law, in particular in connection with exercising and defending our legal rights or meeting our legal and regulatory obligations.

We must ensure that your personal information is accurate and up to date. Therefore, please advise us of any changes to your information by emailing us at mbh@wigansolicitors.com.

If you need further information or have any questions or complaints about our privacy policy or practices, please contact our Senior Partner using the details below:

Gillian Lavelle
MBH Solicitors
Wigan Investment Centre, Waterside Drive, Wigan, WN3 5BA
Email: gillianlavelle@wigansolicitors.com
Tel: 01942 206 060