Privacy Policy

Specialist solicitors to the construction and engineering industries

HAWKSWELL KILVINGTON LIMITED PRIVACY POLICY

Our website www.hklegal.co.uk is the property of Hawkswell Kilvington Limited, a limited company registered in England and Wales (with registered number 5582371) and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. More information about Hawkswell Kilvington Limited can be found at https://www.hklegal.co.uk/legal-and-regulatory/.

This privacy policy together with our Terms of Engagement and Terms and Conditions explains how Hawkswell Kilvington Limited will collect, use or otherwise process and protect the personal data we collect from you or that you provide to us (‘your personal data’). “Personal data” is information relating to you as a living, identifiable individual.

All references to ‘we’ ‘us’ ‘our’ or ‘Firm’ means Hawkswell Kilvington Limited and includes any Partner and/or employee of Hawkswell Kilvington Limited.

Data protection

We are committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected, respected and dealt with in accordance with applicable laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).

For the purpose of all data protection legislation applicable to it, Hawkswell Kilvington Limited is the data controller of your personal data. The Firm is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office Register of Data Controllers under registration number Z2722427.

Information we collect about you and how we collect it

We collect personal data in many ways. The personal data collected will be determined by the method used to collect it. We may collect and process the following information about you:

Method of collection Personal Data collected
Enquiry forms Your name, address, telephone number, email address and the specific information you enter in relation to your enquiry.
Application (including speculative ones) for employment The contents of your CV which are likely to include your name, address, telephone number, email address.
Business cards The information contained on it but likely to be a name, employer’s address or your business’s address, telephone number, email address, position.
Attending a Seminar or Event When you attend one of our seminars or events, you may provide us with your personal information (including name, email address, mailing address).

Why we collect your personal data and how it is used

We collect your personal data for a variety of reasons which will depend upon your relationship with us. We are always mindful that we are under an obligation to only process your personal data where there is a legal basis for it.

The primary legal basis for processing your personal data is to provide you with our specialist services and to provide information about our specialist services which is of interest to you.

Processing of your personal data may also be necessary for compliance with our legal and professional obligations to third parties. This includes, for example, our professional and contractual duties to the courts and our obligations to regulators (for example reporting data breaches to the Information Commissioner).

Further, processing may be necessary in pursuit of our legitimate interests. We have a legitimate interest:

  • In the case of somebody requesting our electronic updates or registering for our events or seminars, and our clients, in establishing and maintaining a two-way enduring and mutually beneficial relationship, including providing information about our services which are or may be of interest.
  • In processing your personal data to measure and improve the performance of our website in order to provide you with the best possible visitor experience in circumstances where your personal data is appropriately protected from misuse by technical measures, policies and procedures

You can update your preferences at any time by contacting us and will be able to easily unsubscribe from anything that you do not wish to receive.

We specifically use (process) your personal data in the following ways.

Person Utilisation
Potential client If you have opted in to do so, we will send you marketing communications. We will use data you have provided to obtain initial instructions from you to determine the nature of the matter to which you have approached us.
Client To provide legal services to you and to obtain the advice of third-party legal Counsel where appropriate. If you have opted in to do so, we will send you marketing communications.
Potential Employee To process your application for employment with us.
Employee To administer your employment with us in accordance with our HR Policy
Supplier To perform the contract with you for your supply of goods or services to us.

Occasionally we will be required to use information that is provided to us to comply with our overriding obligations to external authorities. As such we may, in certain circumstances be required to disclose your information in the prevention of a crime or to comply with any legal or regulatory compliance obligations imposed upon us, for example by the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority.

If you submit sensitive personal data to us (being information concerning your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, trade union membership, physical or mental health, sexuality, commission of criminal offences and/or involvement in criminal proceedings) we will keep this information confidential and only use where there is a legal basis to do so or where you have provided your consent.

Any third-party suppliers instructed on our behalf will be required to process your personal data in accordance with our instructions. This should ensure that your personal data is stored within a system that is at least as secure as our own, to ensure that all necessary steps are taken to protect it.

Where we store your information and how we protect it

We store and retain information in the United Kingdom. We retain your personal data in various forms:

Method of Storage Data Protection
Paper Client and employee files are stored in cabinets.  Some of the archiving of completed matter files is outsourced to a third party.
Electronic copies and E-mail We store all client information on secure servers which have been confirmed as being fully GDPR compliant.

Note: We cannot guarantee the security of information in transit to us electronically as transmission of such information is not completely secure or under our control.

How long we will keep your information

We will keep your information for as long as is reasonably necessary. This is dependent upon the nature of the information provided.

Data subject Duration retained
Prospective employee We will retain your data and the information that you provide us on your CV until 31st December in the second full year after receipt by us of it. Where you have been selected for interview we shall retain your information for 2 years.
Employees Personal data will be retained in accordance with our HR Policy
Potential client enquiries If you are seeking legal advice and ultimately decide not to instruct us, we will retain your information for a period of 12 months and will delete it securely and confidentially thereafter. If your enquiry becomes an instruction, we will retain your information in accordance with our internal archiving policies and procedures. We will advise you of the same in correspondence
Clients Appropriate personal data will be stored for a period of 6 years or such period we deem appropriate after we have closed your particular matter depending on the nature of the retainer between the Firm and the client.
Suppliers Appropriate personal data will be stored for a period of 6 years or such period we deem appropriate after the end of the contract period depending on the nature of the contract between the Firm and the client.

All personal data that is disposed of by us will be carried out in a secure manner. Paper-based files will be securely shredded; electronic copies of information will be permanently deleted from our systems.

Your rights

Data protection legislation provides individuals with the right to see what information organisations hold about them. This is known as a ‘subject access request’. If you would like to make a subject access request please write to Louise Tankard, Hawkswell Kilvington Limited, 2nd Floor, 3150 Century Way, Thorpe Park, Leeds, LS15 8ZB. Please note that we charge a £10 fee for this to cover our costs.

You may have the right to request that we delete the information that we hold about you. This doesn’t apply in all circumstances, in particular, these in which we may require your information to enable us to comply with a legal or compliance obligation.

In circumstances where you believe that the information that we hold about you is incorrect, please advise accordingly and we will update our records within one month (or two months if your request is complex).

Cookies

A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive.

If you are using our website we will automatically obtain information from you as part of that visit. This information will not identify you, however, will allow us to:

  • to administer our site and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes;
  • improve our site to ensure that content is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer;
  • allow you to participate in interactive features of our service when you choose to do so;
  • as part of our efforts to keep our site safe and secure;

You can restrict or block the cookies used by our site through your browser settings but this will impact your user experience. The ‘Help’ function within your browser should tell you how.

Alternatively, you can visit www.aboutcookies.org which provides directions on how to block cookies on all major browsers. The site also explains how you can delete cookies that have already been stored on your computer and provides general information about cookies.

You should be aware that restricting cookies may impact on the functionality of websites you visit.

Restricted areas

Certain areas of our website may be restricted to access by authorised persons only. If you believe that you have been granted access to any document or file by mistake please leave the restricted area immediately and contact us by email at ltankard@hklegal.co.uk as soon as possible.

Documents and files hosted on the restricted areas of this website are confidential. If you believe that you have been granted access to a document or file by mistake you must not download it or use it and you must not disclose the contents to any other person. We reserve the right to remove you from the authorised list of users for any restricted area of this website at any time.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites. These websites will have their own privacy policies for which we do not accept any responsibility. This policy does not extend to your use of any other website or to any information you may provide or may be collected by any other website.

Marketing

Hawkswell Kilvington Limited issues communications to contacts and clients by email.  We will only do this where you have opted in to receive them or a legitimate interest has been identified. If at any time you wish to opt-out of receiving these materials, you are able to so by emailing us at ltankard@hklegal.co.uk, by mailing us at Hawkswell Kilvington Limited, 2nd Floor, 3150 Century Way, Thorpe Park, Leeds , LS15 8ZB or by calling us on 0113 543 6700

Changes to this policy

This policy may change at any time. You should check this page periodically in order to ensure that you are aware of any changes. If we make any substantial changes we will notify you by posting a prominent notice on our website