Welcome to MRC Legal Ltd’s privacy policy.
We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data which may be provided via our website or through our contact with you (whether during telephone calls, correspondence, at meetings or otherwise).
This privacy policy will inform you as to how we collect, use and look after your personal data. It will also tell you about your privacy rights and how we comply with our obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation.
- Important information and who we are
We provide legal services and in doing so and operating our business, we collect personal data. Most of which comes directly from the person to whom it relates and the data collected is used to provide our services.
We are also required to carry out certain regulatory functions such as Client identification and money laundering avoidance verification.
Controller
MRC Legal Ltd (England and Wales company registration number 09416108) whose registered office is at West One, 114 Wellington Street, Leeds LS1 1BA is the controller and responsible for your personal data (collectively referred to as “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy policy).
We are registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our privacy practices, please contact us in the following ways:
Address: West One, 114 Wellington Street, Leeds LS1 1BA
Telephone number: 0113 212 3550
Email: [email protected]
You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.
Changes to the privacy policy and your duty to inform us of changes
We may change this privacy policy from time to time by updating this policy or by updating our terms of business.
It is important 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.
- The data we collect about you
Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).
We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:
- Identity Data includes first name, maiden name, last name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth and gender.
- Contact Data includes billing address, delivery address, email address and telephone numbers.
- Financial Data includes bank account details.
- Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you and our services.
- Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access this website.
- Usage Data includes information about how you use our website and services.
- Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and your communication preferences.
We do not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health, and genetic and biometric data). Nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.
If you fail to provide personal data
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 perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with our services). In this case, we may not be able to provide our services until such data is provided. We will notify you if this is the case at the time.
- How is your personal data collected?
We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:
- Direct interactions. You may give us your Identity, Contact and Financial Data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you enter into a retainer with us to provide legal services.
- Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we may automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. If so, we collect this personal data by using cookies and other similar technologies.
- Third parties or publicly available sources. We may also receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources such as analytics providers.
- How we use your personal data
We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:
- Where we need to perform the contract for legal services we are about to enter into or have entered into with you.
- Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
- Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.
Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data although we will get your consent before sending third-party direct marketing communications to you. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us.
Purposes for which we will use your personal data
We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we may use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.
Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.
Purpose/Activity | Type of data | Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest |
To accept your instructions (client take-on) | (a) Identity
(b) Contact |
Performance of our contract for legal services with you |
To provide our services:
(a) Manage payments, fees and charges (b) Collect and recover money owed to us |
(a) Identity
(b) Contact (c) Financial (d) Transaction (e) Marketing and Communications |
(a) Performance of a contract with you
(b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to recover debts due to us) |
To manage our relationship with you which will include:
(a) Notifying you about changes to our terms or privacy policy (b) Asking you to provide feedback |
(a) Identity
(b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Marketing and Communications |
(a) Performance of our contract with you
(b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation (c) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how clients use our services) |
To administer and protect our business and this website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data) | (a) Identity
(b) Contact (c) Technical |
(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise)
(b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation |
To deliver relevant website content and advertisements to you and measure or understand the effectiveness of the advertising we serve to you | (a) Identity
(b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Usage (e) Marketing and Communications (f) Technical |
Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how customers use our services, to develop them, to grow our business and to inform our marketing strategy) |
To use data analytics to improve our website, products/services, marketing, customer relationships and experiences | (a) Technical
(b) Usage |
Necessary for our legitimate interests (to define types of customers for our products and services, to keep our website updated and relevant, to develop our business and to inform our marketing strategy) |
Third-party marketing
We will get your express opt-in consent before we share your personal data with any third party for marketing purposes.
Opting out
You can ask us or third parties to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by contacting us at any time.
Cookies and Third Parties
You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of our website may become inaccessible or not function properly. Information about this is contained in our Cookie Policy
Our website may include links to third party websites and accessing those websites may allow those parties to collect information about you. Please read any third party policies carefully.
Change of purpose
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.
If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.
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.
- Disclosures of your personal data
We may share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table.
We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.
- International transfers
We do not routinely transfer your personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA). From time to time, we may deal with matters involving other jurisdictions which is likely to involve the transfer of data to other lawyers who are governed by their own professional code of conduct. We will notify you in advance if this is to take place.
Please contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the EEA.
- Data security
We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.
- Data retention
How long will you use my personal data for?
We will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.
To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements.
- Your legal rights
Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. These include:
You have the right to:
- Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “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. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you 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. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of 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 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.
- Withdraw consent at 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.
- Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that 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.
- 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:
- If you want us to establish the data’s accuracy.
- Where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it.
- 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.
- You have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us.
No fee usually required
You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.
What we may need from you
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.
Time limit to respond
We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.