Introduction

Here at Lonsdale & Mayall Solicitors, we take your privacy seriously and will only use your personal information to contact you as agreed, in order to provide the products or services you have requested from us.

About This Privacy Policy

This privacy policy explains what information we collect about you, how we use it, and the steps we take to ensure that it is kept secure. We also explain your rights in respect of your personal data.

Who We Are

Lonsdale & Mayall Solicitors is a law firm which specialises in Family Matters, Children Matters, Wills and Probate, Immigration Matters, Conveyancing, Landlords & Tenants, Civil Litigation and Employment Matters.

In this document, "we", "our", or "us" “The Firm” refer to Lonsdale & Mayall Solicitors.

The Firm is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority SRA number 518599.

Our registered office is at 40 High Street, Swanley, Kent BR8 8BQ.

Information We Collect and What We Use It For

All personal data that we collect about you will be recorded, used, and protected by us in accordance with applicable data protection legislation and this privacy policy. We may supplement the information that you provide with other information that we obtain from our contacts with you.

Your Personal Data:

What We Require

Lonsdale & Mayall Solicitors will be what’s known as the ‘Controller’ of the personal data you provide to us. We only collect personal data about you which enables us to provide the services we have offered to you or you have requested from us and enable us to contact you as agreed. This includes name, address, email address, phone number, day and year of birth, proof of ID, proof of address, nationality, occupation, national insurance number, gender, etc.

Why We Require It

To Provide Services as Instructed

We require your requested personal data in order to:

• To provide you with the services we offered you at the point of collection of your data.
• For record keeping purposes

We will not collect any personal data from you that we do not need in order to meet these requirements.

For Marketing Purposes

• To provide information about the variety of other services we offer
• To share local community news with you and keep you up to date with the legal news update relating to your matter
• To share any other information which we believe may be of beneficial use to you.

We will not send you marketing communication without your expressed consent. Furthermore, we will not collect any personal data from you that we do not need in order to meet these requirements.

You can opt out of these communications at any time - just let us know by contacting our Practice Manager at the address provided below.

What We Do With It

All the personal data we collect is processed by our staff. The data enables us to contact you via the agreed method of communication in order to provide you with our services.

Disclosure of Your Information

The data we collect is not shared with third parties for any marketing purposes. However for the purposes of IT hosting and maintenance, this information may be located on servers within the European Union. No third parties have access to your personal data unless the law allows them to do so.

In order to provide our services to you or to otherwise fulfil contractual arrangements that we have with you, we may need to appoint other organisations to carry out some of the data processing activities on our behalf.

We may share your data with third parties if:

1. We are under a legal or regulatory duty to do so
2. It is necessary to do so to enforce our contractual rights
3. To lawfully assist the police or security services with the prevention and detection of crime or terrorist activity, where such disclosure is necessary to protect the safety or security of any persons, and/or
4. Otherwise as permitted under applicable law

We have a Data Protection regime in place to oversee the effective and secure processing of your personal data. More information on this framework is available upon request.

Monitoring

We record telephone calls in accordance with our client care contractual agreement, for security purposes and to improve the quality of services that we provide to you.

How Long We Keep It

We will keep your personal data which you have provided to us for a minimum of 6 year once you are no longer instructing us, after which time it may be destroyed.

What Are Your Rights?

You have the right to request to see the information we hold about you, to have it corrected, updated or deleted.

We encourage you to promptly update your personal information if it changes.

We will securely retain your information for as long as is reasonably necessary and in accordance with applicable law. If you wish to submit a request that your data be collected, updated or deleted, please write to us at the address below:

Lonsdale & Mayall Solicitors
40 High Street
Swanley
Kent
BR8 8BQ

You have the right to receive a copy of the personal information that we hold about you. Please write to us at the address above if you wish to exercise this right.

If you have an enquiry on how we have handled your personal data, you can contact our Practice Manager who will investigate the matter via the postal address provided above.

Where to Make a Complaint

In the unlikely event that you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are not processing your personal data in accordance with the law, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

You can also contact the Information Commissioner’s Office using their online form: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We aim to meet high standards and so our policies and procedures are constantly under review. From time to time we may change this privacy policy.

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards. If you have a complaint, please contact us with the details.

What will happen next?

1. We aim to resolve your complaint within eight weeks of your notification.  We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within five days of receiving it, enclosing a copy of this procedure.
2. We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to the Principal, Mrs Iyabo Eferakorho, who will review your matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.
3. Mrs. Iyabo Eferakorho will then invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. She will do this within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
4. Within three days of the meeting, Ms Iyabo Eferakorho will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions she has agreed with you.
5. If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, Ms. Iyabo Eferakorho will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including her suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter. 
6. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for someone unconnected with the matter at the firm to review the decision.
7. We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
8. If your complaint concerns the Principal Mrs Iyabo Eferakorho, your complaint will be dealt with by our Consultant Miss Lola Sarah Odofin and the procedure detailed in paragraphs 3-6 would apply.
9.  If you are still not satisfied, you can then contact the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) at PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH about his complaint. You can also e-mail the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) at enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk or telephone them on 0300 555 0333 or +44 121 245 3050 if calling from overseas. You can also access further information on the Legal Ombudsman (LeO)’s website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk.
10. You will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman on the expiry of the 8 weeks of your bringing your complaint to us or within twelve months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint. However, there are also exceptions when you can bring your complaints earlier to the Legal Ombudsman which is detailed on the Legal Ombudsman website:  www.legalombudsman.org.uk.

If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.