Privacy and Cookies

TLT LLP collects and uses information for a variety of purposes about its clients and other individuals with whom it comes into contact (including through its website). Some of this information will be 'personal data' (the meaning of 'personal data' is explained in the 'Definitions' section of this Policy). This Policy explains what information TLT LLP collects and what it uses that information for. If you have any questions about this Policy or about how TLT LLP collects and uses information you can contact TLT's Risk Director.

In the rest of this Policy any reference to "we", "our" or "us" means TLT LLP and any legal entity that takes on its rights and/or obligations in the future. In the rest of this Policy any reference to "you" means the individual person in relation to whom we hold personal information.

Legal background

The Data Protection Act 1998 ("the Act") places a number of obligations on us in relation to the way in which personal information is collected, used and disclosed.

Objective

This Policy explains what we do to comply with our obligations under the Act, including by ensuring that we collect and use information fairly, store it safely and do not disclose it to any other person unlawfully.

Definitions

Various terms are used in this Policy which have specific meanings. These include:

"personal data";
"processing";
"sensitive personal data"; and
"Data Protection Officer".

The meanings of these terms are set out below:

"Personal data": this means information about a living individual which can be identified from that information or from that information and other information held by us and can include an opinion about an individual or any indication as to our intentions in respect of an individual. The Act protects personal data which is held electronically and in some manual records;

"Processing": this means obtaining, recording, organising, retrieving, using, disclosing and holding information, and "process" and "processed" have an equivalent meaning;

"Sensitive personal data": this means Personal data which relates to:

racial or ethnic origin;
physical or mental health or condition;
sexual life;
political opinions;
religious beliefs or other beliefs of a similar nature;
trade union membership;
criminal record or proceedings;
the commission or alleged commission of any offence.

"Data Protection Officer": this means the person we have appointed to ensure that we comply with the Act. The Data Protection Officer's role includes assisting and advising our staff with any queries about data protection (including this Policy) and dealing with requests from individuals for access to their personal data we hold.

Scope

This Policy applies to all personal data collected and processed by us.

Data Controller

We are a data controller under the Act and our Data Protection Officer is ultimately responsible for implementation of and compliance with the Act and dealing with day-to-day matters related to that and to this Policy.

In accordance with the requirements of the Act, we are registered as a data controller with the Office of the Information Commissioner under reference: Z5378293.

Legal requirements

Data Protection Principles

In collecting and using personal data, we must comply with the eight Data Protection Principles. These principles state that personal data MUST:

be processed fairly and lawfully;
be obtained only for specified and lawful purposes and shall not be processed in any manner incompatible with those purposes;
be adequate, relevant and not excessive for those purposes;
be accurate and kept up to date;
not be kept for longer than is necessary for those purposes;
be processed in accordance with the individual's rights under the Act;
be kept safe from unauthorised access, accidental loss or destruction; and
not be transferred to a country outside the European Economic Area, unless we ensure that there are measures in place to ensure adequate protection for personal data.

We must ensure that whenever we or any of our staff process or use any personal information that we follow these principles at all times.

TLT's use of cookies

Cookies are small text files. Many websites place cookies on your computer when you visit. Cookies are used to make websites work, or to make them work more efficiently, and to provide useful information to website operators. The following explains what cookies TLT uses on its website and why:

Cookie - Google analytics

Name - utma; utmb; utmc; utmz

Purpose - These cookies collect information about how visitors use our site. We use this information to prepare reports and improve the site. This information is anonymous. The information includes the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited.

Further information - You can read more about Google's privacy policies here.

Many web browsers allow users to control most cookies through their browser settings. More information about cookies, including details on viewing what cookies have been set and how to delete them is available at: http://www.allaboutcookies.org.

You can opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites at http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

Your rights

All individuals whose personal data we process have a number of rights under the Act.

You have a right to know and, in most instances, have a copy of the personal data we hold about you. If you want to make such a request you should make it to the Data Protection Officer in writing. We are entitled to request sufficient details to assist us in responding to a request and will make a charge of £10 on each occasion a request is processed.

You also have a right to request that no personal data relating to you should be used for direct marketing. If you do not want to receive marketing communications from us, please contact the Risk Director at One Redcliff Street, Bristol, BS1 6TP.

If you wish to update or amend the personal data which we hold about you please contact the Risk Director at One Redcliff Street, Bristol, BS1 6TP.

Our responsibilities

We maintain personal data in secure conditions and process and disclose personal data only within the terms of our notification to the Information Commissioner.

Where personal data is collected, we will ensure that we:

make the purpose for which it is collected clear to you when we collect it and give you any other information which in the circumstances is required to make the processing fair;
ensure that you have given your consent to the processing of your personal data (unless we are otherwise satisfied that we are processing the personal data lawfully);
collect and process your personal data only to the extent that it is needed to fulfil operational needs (such as ensuring our website works properly when you use it), to comply with legal requirements, or to fulfil any request you have made to us (for example, to receive an e-mail know-how alert);
apply strict checks to ensure we do not hold your personal data for any longer than we reasonably need to hold it;
ensure that you can exercise your rights under the Act;
apply appropriate technical and organisational security measures to safeguard your personal data; and
ensure that your personal data is not transferred outside of the European Economic Area abroad without your consent or without suitable safeguards in place.

In addition, we will ensure that:

one of our senior officers or employees has specific responsibility for data protection as our Data Protection Officer. The person currently nominated is John Verry, Risk Director;
everyone managing and handling your personal data understands that they are responsible for adhering to good data protection practice, including adhering to this Policy;
queries about handling personal data are dealt with promptly and courteously;
a regular review and audit is made of the way personal information is managed; and
methods of handling personal data are regularly assessed and evaluated.

How we use your personal data

We may do any of the following with your personal data:

record and monitor your use of our website for internal purposes, which may include analysis of use, measurement of site performance and generation of marketing reports;
use it to provide agreed services and products to you and disclose it to third parties (including other lawyers who may or may not be part of TLT) where such disclosure is connected with the provision of those agreed services and products;
use it to market TLT's products and services to you in the future, and this may involve contacting you using any of the contact details you give us.

Call recording

Some of our work is regulated by the Financial Services Authority as well as the Solicitors Regulation Authority and they require that we record our telephone calls for certain transactions dealt with by the firm. We also record all calls dealt with by the Risk & Compliance team who handle our complaints. This is so that we can use the calls for training. If we use a recording for training purposes, we will do everything we can to ensure that individuals are not identifiable from the call.

How we share your data

We sometimes use third parties to process data on our behalf. When we do so, we put in place strict obligations to ensure that service providers solely process your personal data in accordance with our instructions. Some of our service providers are located outside of Europe in countries where data protection laws are not as strict as they are in the UK. Where we transfer your personal data to service providers outside of Europe we put safeguards in place to ensure that your data is adequately protected.

We will also share your personal data with third parties in the following circumstances:

Where we are required to do so by law (for example pursuant to a court order or where we have a statutory obligation to disclose your personal data).
If we sell the whole or part of our business and the purchaser needs your personal data in order to continue with the business. In this case, the terms of this Policy will continue to apply to the way in which the purchaser uses your personal data.
Where we have your consent to do so.
Where disclosure of your personal data is necessary in connection with legal proceedings or to establish, exercise or defend legal rights.

Third party websites

This Policy covers personal data we collect about you, including through our website at http://www.tltsolicitors.com. Other websites accessible through links on our website are not covered by this Policy and may not protect your personal data in the same way that we do. You should ensure that you have read and agree with the privacy policy of any website you visit by clicking a link on this website before continuing to use it.

Further information

Any questions or concerns about the interpretation or operation of this Policy should be referred to the Data Protection Officer, John Verry.

Related information

Terms and Conditions