We at Crystal Law Solicitors are committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected, the way in which we collect and use data is in accordance with this privacy policy, so it is important that you read this privacy policy along with our terms of use, so that you understand how your data is collected and used.

This policy will explain areas of this website that may affect your privacy and personal details, how we process, collect, manage and store those details, and how your rights under the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), the DPA (Data Protection Act) [pre-GDPR enforcement] and the PECR (Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations).are adhered to.

Who we are

Our website address is: https://www.crystallaw.co.uk.

Changes

We may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes. 

It is essential that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.

What personal data we collect and why we collect it

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site, we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Cookies

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select "Remember Me", your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.

Analytics

We may use Analytics software to collect information about how you use this website. We do this to help make sure the site is meeting the needs of its users and to help us make improvements.

Analytics stores information about:

  • the pages you visit
  • how long you spend on each page
  • how you got to the site
  • what you click on while you’re visiting the site

We don’t collect or store your personal information (for example your name or address) so this information can’t be used to identify who you are. We don’t share our analytics data.

Other

We may also collect the following information:

  • Your name
  • Contact information including email address and phone number
  • Demographic information such as postcode
  • Other information relevant to enquiries made through our site

We require this information to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons:

  • Internal record keeping;
  • We may use the information to improve our services;
  • Where we have clearly stated and made you aware of the fact, and where you have given your express permission, except for where we have legitimate interests in doing so, we may use your details to send you information related to our services/products through a mailing list system. This is done in accordance with the regulations named above.

We collect this personal data in a number of ways

  • Direct interactions
  • Automated technologies or interactions
  • Third party of publicly-available sources

Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you, and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to provide you with our services. In this case, we may have to cancel our retainer with you, but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

Who we share your data with

We routinely share personal data with:

  • Professional advisers who we instruct on your behalf or refer you to, e.g. barristers, medical professionals, accountants, tax advisers or other experts;
  • other third parties where necessary to carry out your instructions, e.g. your mortgage provider or HM Land Registry in the case of a property transaction or Companies House;
  • credit reference agencies;
  • our insurers and brokers;
  • external auditors, e.g. in relation to accreditations and the audit of our accounts;
  • our bank;
  • external service suppliers, representatives and agents that we use to make our business more efficient, e.g. typing services, support services, marketing agencies, document collation or analysis suppliers;

We only allow our service providers to handle your personal data if we are satisfied they take appropriate measures to protect your personal data. We also impose contractual obligations on service providers to ensure they can only use your personal data to provide services to us and to you.

We may disclose and exchange information with law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.

We may also need to share some personal data with other parties, such as potential buyers of some or all of our business or during a re-structuring. Usually, information will be anonymised, but this may not always be possible. The recipient of the information will be bound by confidentiality obligations.

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.

Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

How long we retain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

How we keep your data safe

While we hold your information, we are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. For this purpose, we will not hold your personal data for any longer than is reasonable. Further, we have taken reasonable steps to protect your information against unauthorised access and against unlawful processing, accidental loss, damage, and destruction. Nevertheless, any personal data submitted by you is at your own risk.

We will not transfer your personal details to any third party for the purpose of direct marketing without your permission. We use certain third-party service providers who may have access to your personal data so that they can provide services to us. When this occurs, we have a data protection compliant contract in place with these third parties. If you provided your details through our website, then Creative Asset Ltd, who manage our online strategy, may have access to your details.

What rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. These rights are:

Request access to your personal data (‘data subject access request’)

This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.

Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you

If we hold inaccurate or incomplete data about you, this enables you to have it corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.

Request erasure of your personal data

This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Please note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request for erasure for specific legal reasons, which will be notified to you if applicable, at the time of your request.

Object to the processing of your personal data

You can object to the processing of your personal data 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 as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.

Request restriction of processing of your personal data

This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios:

  1. if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy;
  2. where our use of the data is unlawful, but you do not want us to erase it;
  3. where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or
  4. You have objected to our use of your data, but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party

This right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you: We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. 

Withdraw consent

You can withdraw consent any time, where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us: enquiries@crystallaw.co.uk

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

Where we send your data

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

Marketing

We may use your personal data to send you updates (by email, text message, telephone or post) about legal developments that might be of interest to you and/or information about our services, including exclusive offers, promotions or new services or products.

We will always treat your personal data with the utmost respect and never share it with other organisations outside our group for marketing purposes unless you have specifically consented to this.

You have the right to opt out of receiving promotional communications at any time by:

  • emailing us
  • using the ‘unsubscribe’ link in emails you receive from us or ‘STOP’ number in texts

We may ask you to confirm or update your marketing preferences if you instruct us to provide further services in the future, or if there are changes in the law, regulation, or the structure of our business.

International transfers

Unless we are required to engage with third parties outside the European Economic Area (EEA) in connection with providing our services to you or if you are based outside the EEA, we do not transfer your personal data outside the EEA.

If we engage third parties outside the EEA and transfer your personal data to them, we will take measures to ensure that your data is handled with the appropriate care.

Complaints

Should you have any concerns or issues regarding your privacy, please see our complaints policy. Alternatively, the General Data Protection Regulation also gives you right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority where you work, normally live or where any alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The supervisory authoring in the UK is the Information Commissioner, who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/

Contact

To get in touch with us regarding our privacy policy or any of our terms of use please contact us by:

Email:
enquiries@crystallaw.co.uk

Phone:
Leicester: 0116 255 1650

Post:
Crystal Law Solicitors
181 Charles Street
Leicester
LE1 1LA