Privacy Policy

Who are we?

Kevin Shearn Family Law Practice Limited is a limited company incorporated in England and Wales under reference number 8853617. We are a “controller” under the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018

Whose data do we hold?

We may hold data about the following people:-

• Employees
• Clients
• Suppliers and service providers
• Advisers, consultants and other professional experts
• Complainants and enquirers

What data will we collect?

We will only collect data from you that is relevant to the matter that we are dealing with. In particular, we may collect the following information from you which is defined as “personal data”:-

• Personal details
• Family, lifestyle and social circumstances
• Financial details
• Business activities

Special Categories

We may also collect information that is referred to as being in a “special category”. This could include:-

• Physical or mental health details
• Racial or ethnic origin
• Religious beliefs or other beliefs of a similar nature
• Criminal convictions
• Sexual orientation

Basis for processing

The basis on which we process your personal detail is one or more of the following:-

• It is necessary for the performance of our contract with you
• It is necessary to comply with a legal obligation
• It is in our legitimate interest to do
• You have given your consent (this can be withdrawn at any time by advising our data protection officer but does not affect the fact that we will continue to hold your personal details for any or all of the other three categories)

How will we use your data?

We may use your information for the following purposes:-

• Provision of legal services including advising and acting on behalf of our clients
• Proper performance of a contract of employment
• Promotion of our services
• Provision of education to our employees
• Maintaining accounts and records
• Supporting and managing employees

Who will we share your information with?

Under our Code of Conduct there are very strict rules about who we can share your information with and this will normally be limited to other people who will assist with your matter. This may include:-

• Barristers
• The Court and other parties to your proceedings
• Accountants
• The Official Solicitor or your litigation friend
• Court appointed experts including medical experts
• Process servers/enquiry agents
• Healthcare professionals, social and welfare organisations
• Courts and tribunals
• Professional bodies and other outside auditors and assessors including the Law Society, the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Legal Aid Agency

Where you authorise us we may also disclose your information to your family, associates or representatives and we may also disclose your information to debt collection agencies or to our solicitors if you do not pay our bills.

How long will we keep this information for?

• We will normally keep this information throughout the period of time that we do work for you and afterwards for a period of at least six years as we are required to do so by law and also by the regulations that apply to us. Often in children cases, we will keep the information until the youngest child is 21, particularly where there is an adoption.
• In some cases (for example where we have prepared a Will for you) we may retain your information for a longer period and we will advise you of this at the time

Transfer to third countries

• We may from time to time transfer your personal data to a country outside the EEA. This might be because of cloud computing
• Normally this will be necessary for the performance of your contract with us or for the exercise or defence of legal claims on your behalf
• Sometimes we may transfer for other reasons and we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place at all times

Security arrangements

• We shall ensure that all the information that you provide to us is kept secure using appropriate technical and organisational measures
• We are accredited under the Lexcel Legal Practice Quality Mark
• In the event of a personal data breach we have in place procedures to ensure that effects of such a breach are minimised and shall liaise with the ICO and with you as appropriate

What rights do you have?

You have the following rights under GDPR:-

• Right to be informed
• Right of access
• Right to rectification
• Right to erasure
• Right to restriction of processing
• Right to data portability
• Right to object
• Rights concerning automatic decision-making and profiling

Right of access

• You have a right to see the information that we hold about you
• To access this you need to provide a request in writing to our data protection officer together with proof of identity
• We will usually process your request free of charge and within 30 days but reserve the right to charge a reasonable administrative fee and to extend the period of time by a further two months if the request is manifestly unfounded or vexatious and/or is very complex

Right to erasure

• You have a right to ask us to erase your personal data in certain cases (details may be found in Article 17 of the GDPR)
• We will deal with your request free of charge and within 30 days but reserve the right to refuse to erase information that we are required to retain by law or regulation or that is required to deal with a complaint or to exercise or defend legal claims
• To exercise your right to erasure please contact out data protection officer

Data Protection Officer and how to complain

• If you are unhappy about how we are using your information or how we have responded to your request then initially you should contact our data protection officer, Marie Justice.
• If your complaint remains unresolved then you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office, details available at www.ico.org.uk

Electronic information

Some information about website users is collected automatically and this may be used by us to monitor and analyse how our site is used by visitors. The process does not, however, identify any individual person using the site.

About cookies

Cookies are information packets sent by web servers to web browsers, and stored by the web browsers. The information is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. This enables a web server to identify and track web browsers.

There are two main kinds of cookies: session cookies and persistent cookies. Session cookies are deleted from your computer when you close your browser, whereas persistent cookies remain stored on your computer until deleted, or until they reach their expiry date.

Cookies on our website

KSFLP uses Google Analytics tracking cookies to collect anonymous information about how visitors use our website. It allows us to identify trends, popular types of content and make informed decisions on how to improve the site. It is not linked to any data that that personally identifies you. Google's privacy policy is available here.

You may control the cookies used by our website by modifying the settings in your browser - view the help menu to change your cookie preferences.

To access the Google Analytics opt out browser, please visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. By choosing this option, you will block Google Analytics across all websites.

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