The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which comes into force on 25 May 2018 introduces changes to the information that an organisation must provide to individuals relating to how it uses and stores personal data.
Paramount Legal Costs Ltd promises to protect and respect yours and your client’s privacy. This Privacy Policy relates to all our websites, use of emails for correspondence & marketing purposes, your client’s files that you send to us either electronically or paper and any other ways we collect information. It covers how we process any personal information you provide to us, how we keep it safe and manage it.
We realise that’s it’s long but please take the time to read this Privacy Notice. We aim to be clear and transparent with how we use, keep and destroy any personal data that you have given us.
When we collect information
There are a number of instances when we may collect information from you, including:
- When you let us know you are interested in the services Paramount Legal Costs offer.
- When you send us your client’s file with your instructions to cost it.
- When you give us any information via our website, in writing, face to face, social media conversations, or over the phone (our calls are not recorded).
- When you make a complaint.
How we collect your information
- When you provide the information directly
- When you sign up to receive our newsletters.
- When you email us directly.
- When you send us anything via Royal Mail or DX directly
- When you enter any of our prize draws at events.
- When you provide information indirectly
- Your information maybe shared with us by some third parties and you should read their Privacy Policy on how they will process your data.
- Information which is publicly available
- Credit rating companies such as Experian
- Companies House
- Social Media channels such as LinkedIn or Twitter for example.
What Information do we collect?
Paramount Legal Costs Ltd collects and processes the following information:
- Your contact information including your name, your business address (or home address if you are a litigant in person), business telephone number & business email address.
- Your bank details if required by a third party for your payment.
- If you are sending us your client’s file to be costed we will also process the following information:
- Your client’s full name
- Your client’s address
- Your client’s date of birth
- Your client’s medical records (You can read about when we process sensitive personal data in ‘Our Legal Basis for Using Your Information’.)
- Any police incident reports relating to your client’s case
- Your client’s insurance details
How we protect your information
Paramount Legal Costs Ltd take a number of steps to protect privacy and security of your information, which are reviewed on an annual basis. These include but are not limited to:
- Encryption of all laptops supplied to staff at Paramount Legal Costs
- Firewall protection for our server
- Email encryption facilities
- Clear desk & screen policies for office and homeworking
How we use your information
Paramount Legal Costs Ltd uses your information for the purposes of:
- Communicating with you including any marketing you have consented to and that we think you will be interested in, either by post or by email. Please note you can withdraw your consent at any time for these.
- Recording our communications with you including telephone calls, written correspondence and Emails.
- Complying with any Legal obligations.
- Requests from any third parties in relation to files we are costing for you under your instructions, for example;
- The other sides Law Costs Draftsman, Costs Lawyer, Insurance Company, NHS litigation department.
- Requests for further information from Barrister Chambers and the Legal Aid Agency in relation to files we are costing for you under your instructions.
- Performing our internal business functions including auditing our records.
- Requests from regulatory bodies for example the SRA.
Who else has access to your information
Paramount Legal Costs Ltd will never sell or pass on your information to any third parties for their marketing purposes.
Paramount Legal Costs Ltd may share your personal information with:
- Third parties in relation to files we are costing for you under your instructions, for example;
- The other sides Law Costs Draftsman, Costs Lawyer, Insurance Company, NHS litigation department.
- Government Departments including the Legal Aid Agency.
- Regulatory bodies including the SRA.
- Any service providers that need to know certain information to provide us with assistance for example IT providers (Logic Business Systems and IT support))
- Our Data Destruction company.
- Our advisers, in order for us to better manage, support or develop the business for example our accountants (Armstrong Watson LLP)
Before we work with any external parties we will make checks on these companies especially in relation to how they manage the personal data they collect or have access to.
How we will communicate with you
- Paramount Legal Costs Ltd will contact you so that we can up date you with any news about Paramount and news within the industry.
- You can update your communication preference or unsubscribe from these communications at any time by clicking the link provided in every email message or by contact us (see Contact Us section below).
- We will not use your personal information to contact you for marketing purposes if you have indicated that you do not wish to be contacted by us for such purposes. However, we will keep your details on an unsubscribed list to ensure that we do not continue to contact you.
- Our marketing newsletter communications tend to be quarterly at most.
- Paramount Legal Costs Ltd will contact you after an event/seminar/conferences
- Paramount Legal Costs Ltd will contact you in response to enquiries you have made about our services via our website or Email.
- Paramount Legal Costs Ltd will contact you in relation to any files we are working on after receiving instructions from you.
- Paramount Legal Costs Ltd will contact you in response to any complaints you make.
How long do we retain your information for?
Paramount Legal Costs Ltd retention periods are:
- If you have signed up to our newsletters your information will stay on the subscribed register until you have unsubscribed. Once you have unsubscribed you will stay on this list for the lifetime of Paramount Legal Costs Ltd so that we make sure we do not contact you again.
- If you have sent us an enquiry we will keep your details for no longer than 12 months from the last date of contact with you.
- If you have instructed us we will keep
- The physical archiving papers for no more than 18 months from the month we settled the file and sent our final invoice to you. These will be destroyed with P & W Confidential.
- An Electronic copy of the Bill/Schedule/Budget along with any letters and invoices we have created for no more than 6 years.
- An Electronic register of files we have received for the lifetime of Paramount Legal Costs Ltd.
- If you have made a complaint we will keep some of your information such as your name and contact details on our complaints register for the lifetime of Paramount Legal Costs Ltd.
Our Legal Basis for Using Your Information
Paramount Legal Costs Ltd uses the data to meet its legitimate interests such as performing its main business function of legal costs service
Paramount Legal Costs Ltd may process special categories of data, such as information about health We process such information to carry out its obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to our costing services.
Sending you marketing communications about our news that we think will be of interest to you. Paramount Legal Costs Ltd will only contact you in the ways you have given it permission to do so and you can withdraw your consent at any time
Special protection is given to certain kinds of personal information that is particularly sensitive. This includes information about health, racial or ethnic origin, political views, religious beliefs, sex life or sexual orientation, genetic or biometric identifiers, trade union membership or criminal convictions. We will only use this kind of personal information where:
- It is necessary for us to do so to perform our business function of legal costs service.
Visiting Third Party Websites
This website contains links to other websites that we believe may be of interest to you. This Privacy Policy only applies to our website, so if you link to another website, we recommend you read the privacy policy of that website before sharing any personal data.
Cookies
Like most websites, Paramount Legal Costs Ltd’s website uses cookies. Cookies mean that a website will remember you. They can make the interaction on the website easier, for example autofilling your name and contact details in text fields.
www.paramountlegalcosts.co.uk (the “Site”) also uses cookies and similar technical tools to collect information about your access to the Site and the services we provide.
A cookie is a small text file that contains a unique label or cookie ID number. When you visit a website that uses cookies, the website sends a cookie to you browser’s software and it is stored on your computer even after you leave the site. When you visit the website at a later date the cookie’s ID number is sent back to the website, allowing the website to recognise the user which can be really useful for you. This remembers you on repeat visits effectively letting you move around the Site without having to keep re-introducing yourself.
We use cookies to:
- Remember that you have used the Site before; this means we can identify the number of unique visitors we receive to different parts of the Site. This allows us to make sure we have enough capacity for the number of users that we get and make sure that the Site runs fast enough;
- Store your preferences or your user name and password so that you do not need to input these every time you visit the Site;
- Customise elements of the layout and/or content of the pages of the Site for you;
- Collect statistical information about how you use the Site so that we can improve the Site; and
- Gather information about the pages on the Site that you visit, and also other information about other websites that you visit, so as to place you in a “market segment”.
This information is only collected by reference to the IP address that you are using, but does include information about the county and city you are in, together with the name of your internet service provider.
Some of the cookies used by our Site are set by us, and some are set by third parties who are delivering services (such as interest based advertising directed at your market segment) on our behalf.
Most web browsers automatically accept cookies but, if you prefer, you can change your browser to prevent that or to notify you each time a cookie is set.
Visiting www.allaboutcookies.org will provide information on settings within your browser as well as other useful information on cookies.
Please note however, that by blocking or deleting cookies used on the Site you may not be able to take full advantage of the Site if you do so.
If you continue using this Site we will assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and similar technical tools from this Site and reserve the right to amend, remove or add new cookies and similar technical tools at any time.
If you would like to disable and or prevent any cookies from this Site from being saved in your browser, then please follow the links below or consult with your internet browser provider.
General cookie management resources
Browser specific cookie management resources
Your individual rights
The GDPR has put you in control of how companies like us, use, retain and delete your personal information.
You have the right to:
- Be informed as to how your data will be used.
- Access the information we hold about you.
- Update or amend the information we hold about you if it’s wrong.
- Change your consent and communication preferences at any time.
- Ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information if there is a disagreement about it’s accuracy or legitimate use.
- Ask us to remove your personal data from our records
- Request an electronic copy of your data to be sent to you or another organisation.
- Challenge any decision where we have taken some automated decisions in relation to your personal information. For example, recruitment.
- Raise a concern or complaint to how your information has been used.
If you wish to find out more about your individual rights or obtain a copy of the information we hold about you, please contact Karen Walsh the Data Manager at:
Paramount Legal Costs Ltd
Atlantic House
Parkhouse
Carlisle
CA3 0LJ
Email [email protected]
You can also find out more information on the ICO’s website https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/
Contacting us
If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Notice please contact Karen Walsh the Data Manager at:
Paramount Legal Costs Ltd
Atlantic House
Parkhouse
Carlisle
CA3 0LJ
Email [email protected]
