Our Privacy Policy

This Privacy Notice explains, in detail, the types of personal data we may collect about you when you interact with us.  It also explains how we’ll store and handle that data and keep it safe.

We know that there’s a lot of information here, but we want you to be fully informed about your rights, and how the Leicestershire Law Society uses your data.  We hope the following sections will answer any questions you have but if not, please do get in touch with us.

The Data we Process

We hold and process several different types of personal data.  These include:

  • Member’s Data: including name, address, contact details and limited other information (for instance details about award nominations of positions held). We use this information for providing member services (updates etc.) and for awards ceremonies and events.
  • Non-member data: this may include information about non-members who were previously members or who have been nominated for awards or whose data has otherwise been given to or obtained by the Law Society. This data is typically used for considering and giving awards or for event organisation.  Sometimes non-members may be contacted about joining or about other membership benefits.

Conditions for Processing Data

We are only entitled to hold and process your data where the law allows us to.  The current law on data protection sets out a number of different reasons for which a law firm may collect and process your personal data.  These include:

Legitimate Interests

In specific situations, we require your data to pursue our legitimate interests in a way which might reasonably be expected as part of properly running the Law Society and which does not materially impact your rights, freedom or interests.

Consent

Primarily, particularly with regard to membership data, we believe that we have your consent, as part of the membership process, to process members’ personal data.  We believe that this consent covers all normal membership related activity (for instance being notified of events and being provided with updates). When collecting your personal data, we’ll always make clear to you which data is necessary in connection with a particular service.

When do we collect your data?

We normally collect your data when you provide it to us or when it is provided to us by others (where you are nominated for an award).  You may give us your data by email; over the telephone; face to face; or by post.

What sort of data do we collect?

Generally, we collect limited personal data.  This is normally:

  • Name
  • Address
  • Telephone number
  • Email address
  • Area of practice
  • Firm / employer

Occasionally, where we are for instance processing an award nomination, we may hold more information about your work or activities.

How do we use your data?

We only use your data for the purposes dealing with your enquiries and / or for providing you with membership services or for processing award nominations etc.

We may use your data to notify you of our other services but only where we have your consent to do so.

How do we protect your data?

We take protecting your data very seriously.  The data you give us may be subject to Legal Professional Privilege and is often extremely sensitive and confidential.

With this in mind we will treat your data with the utmost care and take all appropriate steps to protect it.   We have clear data protection and information security policies and procedures in place and these are regularly reviewed.

We protect our IT system from Cyber Attack.   Access to your personal data is password-protected, and sensitive data is secured by encryption.

We regularly monitor our system for possible vulnerabilities and attacks, and we carry out penetration testing to identify ways to further strengthen security.

How long will we keep your data?

We only keep your data for as long as is necessary for the purpose(s) for which it was provided.   Normally this is for the period of your membership and up to 18 months after your membership ends.

All awards nominations are destroyed after 18 months.

Who do we share your personal data with?

We sometimes share your personal data with trusted third parties.

For example, we may share your data with event sponsors and with our patrons and business partners.  This is so that they can offer you appropriate services and other benefits of membership.

Here’s the policy we apply to those organisations to keep your data safe and protect your privacy:

  • We provide only the information they need to perform their specific services.
  • They may only use your data for the exact purposes we specify in our contract with them.
  • We work closely with them to ensure that your privacy is respected and protected at all times.
  • If we stop using their services, any of your data held by them will either be deleted or rendered anonymous.

Where is your data processed?

Your data is stored and processed within the European Economic Area (EEA).  If we ever have to share your personal data with third parties and suppliers outside the EEA we will seek your specific consent to do so.

The EEA includes all EU Member countries as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

What are your rights

You have the right to request:

  • Access to the personal data we hold about you, free of charge in most cases.
  • The correction of your personal data when incorrect, out of date or incomplete.
  • The deletion of your personal data, for example when you withdraw consent, or object and we have no legitimate overriding interest, or once the purpose for which we hold the data has come to an end.
  • That we stop any consent-based processing of your personal data after you withdraw that consent.

To ask for your information, please contact Leicestershire Law Society on:

office@wordpress-152391-1869361.cloudwaysapps.com

If we choose not to action your request, we will explain to you the reasons for our refusal.

Your right to withdraw consent

Whenever you have given us your consent to use your personal data, you have the right to change your mind at any time and withdraw that consent.

Where we rely on our legitimate interest

In cases where we are processing your personal data on the basis of our legitimate interest, you can ask us to stop for reasons connected to your individual situation. We must then do so unless we believe we have a legitimate overriding reason to continue processing your personal data.

The Regulator

If you feel that your data has not been handled correctly, or you are unhappy with our response to any requests you have made to us regarding the use of your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

You can contact them by calling 0303 123 1113.

Or go online to www.ico.org.uk/concerns (opens in a new window; please note we can’t be responsible for the content of external websites)

———————————————————-

Privacy Protection IT incl. Cookies

This policy establishes how we handle information we learn about you when you visit our website. Protecting the privacy and personal data of our visitors is of utmost importance to us. Protecting your privacy and your personal data is an important aspect of the way we create, organise and implement our activities on-line and off-line.

Linkages Characteristics

The specific practices outlined in this privacy statement apply to the Leicestershire Law Society website. Other bodies/entities linked to the Leicestershire Law Society website may have different practices, though the commitment to your privacy will always be the same. You are encouraged to review the privacy statements of other bodies/entities when visiting their website(s).

Purpose Specifications and Data Collection

In general, you can browse the Leicestershire Law Society website without disclosing any information about yourself. If you visit the Leicestershire Law Society website to read or download information, we collect and store only the following information that is automatically recognised: the date and time, the originating IP address, the domain name, the type of browser and operating system used (if provided by the browser), the URL of the referring page (if provided by the browser), the object requested and the completion status of the request.

Cookies and Other Technologies

As described above, we sometimes collect anonymous information from visits to our site to help us provide better customer service. For example, we keep track of the domains from which people visit and we also measure visitor activity on the Leicestershire Law Society website, but we do so in ways that keep information anonymous. We use the information that we collect to measure the number of visitors to the different areas of our site, and to help us make the site more useful to visitors. This includes analysing these logs periodically to measure the traffic through our servers, the number of pages visited and the level of demand for pages and topics of interest. The logs may be preserved indefinitely and used at any time and in any way to prevent security breaches and to ensure the integrity of the data on our servers.

We collect the anonymous information we mentioned above through the use of various technologies, one of which is called “cookies”. A cookie is an element of data that a website can send to your browser, which may then be stored on your hard drive. For example, on a website with a login system (if users register for it), cookies are used to save the visitor’s password so that it does not have to be entered at each new visit.

This anonymous information is used and analysed only at an aggregate level to help us understand trends and patterns. None of this information is reviewed at an individual level. If you do not want any transaction details used in this manner, you can disable your cookies.

Visitor’s Choice

Registering on the Leicestershire Law Society website is optional. If you choose not to register or provide personal information, you can still use the Leicestershire Law Society website. However, you may be restricted to what you can do. Leicestershire Law Society views the customer information that it collects as a valuable and confidential asset of which we take great care to ensure its safety.

You may choose to register and receive promotional or marketing information from Leicestershire Law Society, by selecting the appropriate option when you register personal data.

We use the information for three general purposes: to fulfil your requests for certain areas of the website, to contact you if needed, and to help us maintain the website software and hardware.

If you choose to register, your information will no longer be anonymous and will be available to Leicestershire Law Society staff and to delegations for the purpose of marketing. If you do not wish to continue receiving promotional or marketing information, please notify us by email at office@wordpress-152391-1869361.cloudwaysapps.com.

Individual Participation / Access

You can ask us whether we are keeping personal data about you, and you can also request to receive a copy of that personal data. Before sending you any personal data, we will ask you to provide proof of your identity. If you are not able to provide proof of identity, we reserve the right to refuse to send you the personal data.

We will make a sincere effort to respond in a timely manner to your requests to the previous questions or to correct inaccuracies in your personal information. At any time, you may request that we delete or correct your personal information in our logs. For such requests please contact office@wordpress-152391-1869361.cloudwaysapps.com.

Security

We intend to protect the quality and integrity of our personal information. Leicestershire Law Society has implemented technologies and security policies to protect the stored personal data of our users from unauthorised access, improper use, alteration, unlawful or accidental destruction and accidental loss. Leicestershire Law Society employees and processors who have access to personal data are obliged to respect the privacy of our visitors and the confidentiality of their personal data.

Leicestershire Law Society will not sell or rent your personal information to anyone.

We will only send personally identifiable information about you to other companies or people when:

  • We respond to court orders, or any legitimate request by authorities with which we must comply for legal process; or
  • We find that your actions on our website violate these instructions.

Links

Throughout the Leicestershire Law Society website, you will find links to third party websites. Please note that Leicestershire Law Society is not responsible for the privacy policies or content on third party websites.

Privacy Support

If you have any enquiries about our privacy statement, please contact office@leicestershirelawsociety.org.uk.