Privacy Policy
Hawkins Hatton Corporate Lawyers Limited (HH) is a limited company with registered company number 07151902 and its registered office at Castle Court 2, Castlegate Way, Dudley, DY1 4RH.
Hawkins Hatton is a controller of personal data and we are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
We are committed to protecting your privacy and personal information you may provide us or we may collect on your behalf during the course of our dealings with you.
What personal information we collect about you
We may collect personal information from you in the course of our business, including through your use of our website, when you contact or 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.
The personal information that we process includes:
- Basic information, such as your name (including name prefix or title), the company you work for, your title or position and your relationship to a person
- Contact information, such as your postal address, email address and phone number(s)
- Financial information, such as 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 meetings and events
- Identification and background information provided by you or collected as part of our business acceptance processes
- 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 your personal information
- We collect information from you as part of our business acceptance processes and about you and others as necessary in the course of providing legal services
- We collect your personal information while monitoring our technology tools and services, including our websites and email communications sent to and from Hawkins Hatton
- We gather information about you when you provide it to us, or interact with us directly, for instance engaging with our staff or registering on one of our digital platforms or applications
- We may collect or receive information about you from other sources, such as keeping the contact details we already hold for you accurate and up to date using publicly available sources
- We may collect information about you from financial institutions where you are their customer
Documents we collect for identity verification are necessary for us to comply with our regulatory and legal obligations including in relation to the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, as amended by the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020. Failure to provide the requisite identify documents will result in Hawkins Hatton being unable to act on your behalf.
How we use your personal information
We collect 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 fulfill our legal, regulatory and risk management obligations, including establishing, exercising or defending legal claims
- For the purposes of recruitment
- Where we have a legitimate interest for the following purposes:
- to carry out our conflict checks to ensure that we are able to provide services to you;
- to enter into and perform the contract we have with your business;
- for the prevention of fraud, money laundering, terrorist financing and other criminal activities;
- to comply with our legal obligations to make disclosures to relevant bodies including government, tax authorities, regulatory, the National Crime Agency or other public authorities where disclosure is required in relation to a criminal investigation;
- to verify the accuracy of the data that we hold about you;
- for network and information security purposes to enable us to take steps to protect your personal data against loss or damage, theft or unauthorised access;
- to comply with a request from you in connection with the exercise of your rights
- to assist in the management of queries, complaints or claims; and
- for the establishment, exercise or defence of our legal rights.
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
Your personal information will be retained in accordance with our data retention policy which categorises all of the information held by Hawkins Hatton 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 Hawkins Hatton’s business purposes. Typically data will kept for 6 years unless the law requires us to hold it for a longer period or delete it sooner, we no longer require the data for a specified purpose or you have exercised your right to have the data erased.
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
- IT service providers to Hawkins Hatton
- 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 (which may be based outside of the EEA) and case management services
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.
Your rights
- Upon your request and within a reasonable time thereafter we shall provide you with details of all the personal information which we hold about you at no cost to you. We may request that you provide proof of identification and/or such other relevant information as may be necessary for verification purposes before handling such request.
- If any personal information which we hold about you is incorrect or out of date you may contact us in order to rectify such data.
- You may object to us processing your personal information if we are not entitled to use it any more, to have such information deleted if we are keeping it too long or have its processing restricted in certain circumstances.
- You may unsubscribe from receiving newsletters by contacting us directly by telephone or email.
How we keep your personal data secure
- We take all necessary steps and precautions to protect your personal information and put in place the relevant measures both in terms of physical security and electronic to safeguard the personal data we hold.
Contact Details
- Should you have any questions or concerns regarding your personal data please contact Colin Rodrigues at the Dudley office or by calling 01384 216840.
- If you have a complaint about any of your rights, this privacy policy or how we handle your personal information, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK regulator, the Information Commissioner. You can visit ico.org.uk/concerns or call 0303 123 1113 to find out more.