Privacy Policy

Gorvins Solicitors is the “data controller” and is responsible for your personal data.

We have appointed a Data Protection Partner (DPP) who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the DPP using the details set out below.

Our full details are: Gorvins Solicitors is a trading name of Gorvins LLP a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales under company number: OC: 430834

Registered Office and postal address: Dale House, Tiviot Dale, Stockport, Cheshire, SK1 1TA

Name of Data Protection Partner: Christian Mancier

Email address: dataprotection@gorvins.com

Telephone number: 0161 930 5151

ICO registration number: ZA767572

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 Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.

This privacy notice aims to give you information on how we, Gorvins Solicitors, collects and processes your personal data which we may collect from you, whether that be in the process of providing legal services to you or any organisation you represent, when we meet you, communicate with you via e-mail or hard copy correspondence, engage with us via social media, when you attend (or register to attend) one of our events or through your use of the Gorvins website or the Gorvins app, including any data you may provide through our website and/or app when you sign up to our newsletter or  take part in a competition.

It is important that you read this privacy notice together with any other privacy notice or fair processing notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This privacy notice supplements the other notices and is not intended to override them.

We collect information from you when you fall into one (or more) of the following categories:

“Clients” means any individual natural person who has engaged us to provide legal advice to them (alone or jointly) in their personal capacity.

“Instructing Officers” means individual natural persons who have instructed us to provide legal services either on behalf of another person (e.g. a minor or individual lacking mental capacity) or to a company, partnership, trust, estate, agency, department, other forms of corporate entities or any other group or organisation (whether incorporated or unincorporated) whom they represent.

“Subscribers” means any individual natural person who has signed up to one of our newsletters or bulletins, has attended (or registered to attend) any of our events (whether those events be put on by Gorvins or by Gorvins in conjunction with a third party), follows us on social media or has made an enquiry to Gorvins relating to the possible provision of legal services, whether via our website, app or otherwise, either in their capacity as a potential Client or a potential Instructing Officer.

Please note you may fall into one or more of the above categories and as a result we may hold your personal information in a number of different capacities.

This version was last updated on 1st April 2023 and historic versions can be obtained by contacting us.

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 Gorvins website and app may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website or app, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.

We have a separate privacy notice for those who are (or have been) employees, consultants or partners of Gorvins which sets out the additional information we may hold about employees, consultants or partners of Gorvins. If you are (or were) an employee, consultant or partner of Gorvins then please contact the DPP via dataprotection@gorvins.com for further information.

(a) Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way.
(b) Collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes.
(c) Relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes.
(d) Accurate and up to date.
(e) Kept as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about.
(f) Kept securely.

We are responsible for and must be able to demonstrate compliance with the data protection principles listed above.

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 follows:

• Identity Data includes first name, maiden name, last name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth, gender, job title, photographic identification, proof of address identification, credit check and electronic ID verification.
• Contact Data includes billing address, correspondence address, email address and telephone numbers.
• Financial Data includes bank account and payment card details.
• Matter Data includes details we may hold about you which are connected to the specific matter where we are instructed to provide legal advice to you or the organisation or person(s) you represent, whether in your capacity as a Client or Instructing Officer. This will vary depending on the nature of the matter and legal advice you are seeking. By way of example this may include information such as employment information, tax details, marriage/relationship information, directorship and/or shareholding details, personal correspondence and personal financial information.
• Relationship Data includes Identity Data and Contact Data along with other information regarding your relationship with Gorvins which will include details of the length of relationship with Gorvins, those matters where you have instructed Gorvins, members of staff at Gorvins you have worked with, details of your attendance at events run by Gorvins and dietary information where you have attended a Gorvins event.
• Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you and other details of products and services we have provided you with.
• 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 our website and/or app.
• Profile Data includes your username and password used to log into our website or app, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses.
• Usage Data includes information about how you use our website or app, products and services.
• Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties, your communication preferences, information on click throughs, open rates, bounce rates and return to sender notifications relating to e-mail communications and details of your attendance at events run by Gorvins.
• Social Media Data including usernames, company details and engagement information (such as likes, shares, retweets, comments) when you engage with our social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and You Tube.
• Monitoring Data includes CCTV images and visitor registration data (name, company, person you are seeing, vehicle registration details, time in and time out) when you visit our offices.

We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website or app feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy notice.

We may collect 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, genetic and biometric data and criminal convictions and offences). This will be collected only to the extent it is relevant to the legal advice you are asking us to provide. For example where we are acting on a personal injury matter we will need to process medical details relating to your injury. If we are providing advice in relation to a matrimonial matter we may need to process details relating to your sexual life, sexual orientation, medical and health records and criminal convictions and offences. If we are acting on a matter relating to an alleged criminal offence, then we may need to process details of that alleged criminal offence and any prior criminal offences and/or convictions. Where we collect any of this information from a third party we will always ask you to confirm the accuracy of the information.

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 goods or services). In this case, we may have to cancel a product or service you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:

• • Direct interactions. You may give us your Identity, Contact, Marketing and Communications, Social Media 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:
    • ask us to provide you with legal services;
    • make an enquiry via our website;
    • use our app;
    • visit our offices or meet with us;
    • subscribe to our online services or publications;
    • request marketing to be sent to you;
    • enter a competition, promotion or survey;
    • engage with us via social media; or
    • give us some feedback.

• • Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website or app, we may automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. We may also receive Technical Data about you if you visit other websites employing our cookies. Please see our cookie policy (www.gorvins.com/cookie-usuage-and-data-collection/) for further details.

• Third parties or publicly available sources. We may receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources as set out below:

• Technical Data from the following parties:
  (a) analytics providers such as Google based outside of the United Kingdom:
  (b) advertising networks such as Google Ads, Facebook and Twitter-based outside of the United Kingdom and:
  (c) search information providers such as Experian (via its 192.com service), Credit Safe, CRIF and Legalinx as well as credit reference agencies and other background check agencies based outside of the United Kingdom.

• Contact, Financial and Transaction Data from providers of technical, payment and delivery services such as National Westminster Bank plc and Worldpay based outside of the United Kingdom.

• Identity and Contact Data from publicly availably sources such as Companies House and the Electoral Register based inside the United Kingdom.

Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

• Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you (whether that be in your capacity as a Client or where you are an Instructing Officer on behalf of our ultimate client).
• 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 or regulatory obligation.

Please see the Glossary section at paragraph 11 of this Privacy Policy to find out more about the types of lawful basis that we will rely on to process your personal data.

Generally we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data other than in relation to sending third party direct marketing communications to you via email or text message. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us using the contact details set out at paragraph 1 of this Privacy Policy.

We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to 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 using the contact details set out at paragraph 1 of this Privacy policy 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.

We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising. You have the right to withdraw your consent or amend your marketing preferences at any time by contacting dataprotection@gorvins.com

We may use your Identity, Contact, Technical, Usage, Profile, Relationship, Marketing and Communications and Social Media Data to form a view on what we think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. This is how we decide which products, services and offers may be relevant for you (we call this marketing).

You will receive marketing communications from us if you have requested information from us or purchased services from us or have attended one of our events or if you provided us with your details when you entered a competition or registered for a promotion and, in each case, you have not opted out of receiving that marketing.

We will get your express opt-in consent before we share your personal data with any organisation outside of Gorvins for marketing purposes.

You can ask us or third parties to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by following the opt-out links on any marketing message sent to you or by contacting us using the contact details set out at paragraph 1 of this Privacy Policy at any time.

Where you opt-out of receiving these marketing messages, this will not apply to personal data provided to us as a result of the provision of legal advice (where this is necessary for the performance of a contract) or on a legitimate interest basis.

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 this website may become inaccessible or not function properly. Please see our cookie policy for further details.

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 using the contact details set out at paragraph 1 of this Privacy Policy at any time.

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.

• Gorvins Residential LLP (company number OC430833) who provide central support services to Gorvins LLP on an outsourced basis. This includes, amongst others, reception, accounting, credit control, HR, marketing, IT, management and central support services.

• External Third Parties as set out in the Glossary (see below).

• Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy notice.

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.

Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the United Kingdom, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following adequate safeguards is implemented:

• We will only transfer your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the European Commission.

• Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved for use in the United Kingdom which give personal data the same protection it has in the United Kingdom. These can include contracts known as “binding corporate rules” or standard clauses in regulations made by the Secretary of State or in a form adopted by the Information Commissioner

Please contact us using the contact details set out above in this Privacy Policy at any time if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the United Kingdom.

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.

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, regulatory or reporting requirements.

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 requirements.

Details of retention periods for different aspects of your personal data are available in our retention policy which you can request from us by contacting us using the contact details set out at paragraph 1 of this Privacy Policy at any time.

By law, we have to keep basic information about our customers (including Contact, Identity, Financial and Transaction Data) for six years after they cease being customers for tax and regulatory purposes.

In some circumstances, we may anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

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 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: (a) if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) 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 (d) 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. 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.

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.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us using the contact details set out at paragraph 1 of this Privacy Policy at any time.

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 may 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 may 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.

Legitimate Interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best service/product and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). You can obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by contacting us using the contact details set out at paragraph 1 of this Privacy Policy at any time.

Performance of Contract means processing your data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or to take steps at your request before entering into such a contract.

Comply with a legal or regulatory obligation means processing your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal or regulatory obligation that we are subject to.

External Third Parties

• Service providers acting as processors based inside and outside of the United Kingdom who provide IT and system administration services.
• Professional advisers acting as processors or joint controllers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers based within the United Kingdom who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.
• Third parties who introduce matters to us where we are contractually obliged to provide updates on how the matter is progressing. This will included, amongst others, other law firms or organisations such as insurance companies or police federations who have agreed to be responsible for the payment of our fees.
• HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other authorities acting as processors or joint controllers based in the United Kingdom who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.
• The National Crime Agency (based in the United Kingdom) where we are under a legal or regulatory obligation to report issues relating to fraud and fraud prevention.
• The Law Society of England and Wales, The Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Legal Ombudsman, all based in the United Kingdom, for the purposes of regulatory compliance and complaints handling.
• Our insurers for matters relating to our professional indemnity insurance in relation to any legal advice we may give you.
• Third party service providers who perform ancillary legal activities on our behalf which are necessary to progress matters where we are providing legal advice to you. This would include company formation agents, expert witnesses, virtual data room providers, process servers, costs draftspersons, medical agencies, tracing agents, legal expense insurers, barristers and other solicitors.
• Third party organisations who we may have to work in conjunction with to progress legal activities on your behalf. This would include estate agents, surveyors, accountants, independent financial advisors, stock brokers, mortgage brokers, insurance brokers, corporate finance advisors and other brokers.
• Third party service providers who require access to your data in the course of providing their services to us. This would include organisations providing the following services: public relations and marketing, IT support, digital dictation services, practice/case/document management systems, printing and reprographics support, event hosting services, e-mail marketing management systems (e.g. mailchimp), survey, polling and market research/insights services (e.g. survey monkey).