Privacy Policy

Family Law Partners really values your privacy and cares about the way in which your personal information is treated and we have thought really hard about how we protect it.

Data Protection is a really hot topic and we are very committed to respecting the privacy of all visitors to our website, our clients and contacts. We have created a privacy policy to help you understand how we use and protect the information that you provide to us or that we obtain or hold about you and to understand what your rights are in relation to information that we hold. This policy applies to information about living identifiable individuals only, i.e. a real person to you and us!

By clicking on the following links it will reveal our policy on that subject. We hope you will find it helpful and informative.

What personal information do we collect about you?

Basic information e.g. your name, the company you work for, your title or position, and your relationship to a person
Contact information e.g. your postal address, email address, and phone number(s)
Financial information, such as payment-related information
Technical information, such as information from your visits to our website or in relation to materials and communications we send to you electronically
Identification and background information provided by you or collected as part of our business acceptance processes
Personal information provided to us by or on behalf of our clients or generated by us in the course or providing services to them, which may include special categories of data
Any other information relating to you which you may provide to us

How we obtain your personal information

As part of our business acceptance processes and about you and others as necessary in the course of providing legal services
While monitoring our technology tools and services, including our websites and email communications sent to and from Family Law Partners
When you provide it to us, or interact with us directly, for instance engaging with our services
Other sources, such as keeping the contact details we already hold for you accurate and up to date using publicly available sources

How we use your personal information

To provide and improve this website, including auditing and monitoring its use
To provide and improve our services to you and to our clients, including handling the personal information of others on behalf of our clients
To provide information requested by you
To manage and administer our relationship with you and our clients
To fulfil our legal, regulatory and risk management obligations, including establishing, exercising or defending legal claims
For the purposes of recruitment

For legal work
We collect, create, hold and use personal information in the course of and in connection with the services we provide to our clients. We will process identification and background information as part of our business acceptance, finance, administration and marketing purposes, including anti-money laundering, conflict, reputational and financial checks. We will also process personal information provided to us by or on behalf of our clients for the purposes of the work we do for them. The information may be disclosed to third parties reasonably necessary in connection with that work.

On what basis we use your personal information

We will use your information for the specific purpose(s) for which it has been provided to or collected by us, for example:

to provide information that you may request regarding the services that we offer e.g. whether we can assist with certain legal advice
to contact you to introduce you to our expert lawyers
to provide our clients with legal services including referring them to other specialist advisers both in the UK and overseas
to comply with our statutory and regulatory obligations
to verify your identity for anti-money laundering or anti-fraud purposes
to administer your application for a vacancy
to deal with your feedback, query or complaint
to contact you for feedback on our services
we are carrying out necessary steps in relation to a contract to which you are party or prior to you entering into a contract e.g. because you wish to instruct us to carry out legal services for you
Compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject e.g. anti-money laundering requirements including carrying out electronic ID checks
to protect your vital interests e.g. if you were unfortunate enough to fall ill or suffer an injury on our premises
for legitimate business purposes

If we process any special categories of information i.e. information revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs or trade union membership, processing of genetic or biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying individuals, health data, or data concerning your sex life or sexual orientation, we must have a further lawful basis for the processing. We assert that the lawful basis is provided by GDPR Art. 9(2)(f) which permits us to process your data for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims. This may include:

where you have given us your explicit consent to do so
where the processing is necessary to protect your vital interests or someone else’s vital interests
you have made the information public
the processing being necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims
the processing being necessary for reasons of substantial public interest

We also use your information to administer, support, improve and develop our business generally and to enforce our legal rights.

How long we keep your personal information

Your personal information will be retained based on the applicable data protection laws and the purpose for which the information is collected, used, taking into account legal and regulatory requirements to retain the information for a minimum period, limitation periods for taking legal action, good practice and Family Law Partners business purposes.

Who we share your personal information with

Third party organisations which process data for us and on our behalf.
Other organisations or professional advisers who we are working on client matters or who we are referring you for additional or separate advice.
Disclosure, if required, under certain laws or by court order or other competent regulatory body
Under applicable data protection laws

We take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy.

We do not sell, rent or otherwise make personal information commercially available to any third party, except with your prior permission.

How we protect your personal information

Administrative, technical and physical measures on our website and internally designed to guard against and minimise the risk of loss, misuse or unauthorised processing or disclosure of the personal information that we hold.
Where data is transferred to third parties we ensure they meet or exceed the relevant legal or regulatory requirements for transferring data to them and keeping it secure.
If data is transferred to an organisation outside of the UK/EEA we will comply with the relevant legal rules governing such transfers
We keep your personal information no longer than is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected. Information for clients is provided in our engagement letter and terms of business including details on how we keep secure personal data received from clients about their tenants, employees, third parties or similar individuals.

Transfer of your data outside of the EEA

Our Website is hosted on servers in the United Kingdom so none of the information that we collect, process or store as a result of this website is transferred outside of the European Economic Area (EEA).
If data is transferred to an organisation outside of the UK/EEA during the course of your matter or relationship with us we will comply with the relevant legal rules governing such transfers.
All of the firm’s IT systems are located in the UK.

Your rights regarding your personal information

Provide you with a copy of your personal information that we hold
Update your personal information where it is out-of-date or incorrect
Delete personal information that we hold
Restrict the way in which we process your information
Consider any valid objections to our processing of your personal information
Provide information you have given to us to a third party provider of services (where our lawful basis for processing is consent and where processing is automated)

We will respond to your request (including providing information on whether the rights apply in the particular circumstances) within the applicable statutory time period. If we are not sure of your identity, we may require you to provide further information in order for us to confirm who you are.

Changes to this policy

We may make changes to this policy from time to time as our business and internal practices and/or applicable laws change. We will not make any use of your personal information that is inconsistent with the original purpose(s) for which it was collected or obtained (if we intend to do so, we will notify you in advance wherever possible) or otherwise than is permitted by applicable law.

Want to discuss our privacy policy?

If you would like to get in touch to discuss this policy, how we use your personal information, to exercise your rights or to provide feedback or make a complaint about use of your information, please contact us as follows:

Robert Williams, Family Law Partners, 5 Clifton Mews, Clifton Hill, Brighton BN1 3HR

You can also contact the Information Commissioner’s Office via https://ico.org.uk/ for information, advice or to make a complaint.