Purpose
It is important that you read this privacy notice. It aims to give you information on how AM International Solicitors collects and processes your personal data either when you contact us in person, via telephone, email, post or other communication method including through your use of our website, and any data you provide when you sign up to any of our newsletters or publications, or if you send your details via our website enquiry form. It also provides you with information as to your rights in relation to your personal information, and on how to contact us and supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.
Who we are
We are AM International Solicitors, a law firm authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. References to “the firm”, “we”, “us” or “our” are references to AM International Solicitors . We collect, use and are responsible for certain personal information about you. When we do so we are regulated under the Data Protection Act 2018 and we are responsible as “controller” of that personal information for the purposes of those laws.
Controller and processor
AM International Solicitors is registered with the ICO as a data controller and processor and is responsible for your personal data. We have appointed a Director to be responsible for data protection and will take responsibility for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the Director responsible for data protection using the details set out below.
Contact details
The Director responsible for Data Protection is Anna Matelska
email: amatelska@amisolicitors.co.uk
Tel: 0203 865 1824
Address: AM International Solicitors
Central Court
25 Southampton Buildings
London
WC2A 1AL
Key terms
Personal data – Any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual.
Special category personal data – Personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, philosophical beliefs or trade union membership; Genetic and biometric data; Data concerning health, sex life or sexual orientation.
The data we collect
In the course of the legal services, we provide to you, we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:
| Personal data we collect | Personal data we collect depending on why you have instructed us |
Your name, address and telephone number Information to enable us to check and verify your identity, e.g. your date of birth or passport details Electronic contact details, e.g. your email address and mobile phone number Information relating to the matter in which you are seeking our advice or representation. Information about your use of our IT, communication and other systems. | Your financial details so far as relevant to your instructions, e.g. the source of funds if you are instructing on a purchase transaction. Your National Insurance and tax details Your bank and/or building society details Details of any online presence, e.g. where relevant to your matter Details of your spouse/partner and dependents or other family members, e.g. if you instruct us on a family matter or a will Your employment status and details including your salary and benefits, e.g. if you instruct us on matter related to your employment or in which your employment status or income is relevant. Details of your pension arrangements, e.g. if you instruct us in relation to financial arrangements following breakdown of a relationship Your employment records including, where relevant, records relating to sickness and attendance, performance, disciplinary, conduct and grievances (including relevant special category personal data), e.g. if you instruct us on matter related to your employment or in which employment records are relevant. Your racial or ethnic origin, gender and sexual orientation, religious or similar beliefs, e.g. if you instruct us on a discrimination claim. Your trade union membership, e.g. if you instruct us on a discrimination claim. Personal identifying information, such as hair or eye colour or your parents’ names where relevant to your matter Your medical records, where relevant to your matter. |
The personal data is required to enable us to provide our service to you. If you do not provide personal data we ask for, it may delay or prevent us from providing services to you.
Information collected from other sources
Most of this information will be provided by you directly to us however, we may also need to collect information:
- from publicly accessible sources, e.g., Companies House or HM Land
- directly from a third party, e.g., client due diligence
- from a third party with your consent, g.
- your bank or building society, another financial institution or advisor
- consultants and other professionals we may engage in relation to your matter
- your employer and/or trade union, professional body or pension administrators
- your doctors, medical and occupational health professionals
- via our website – we use cookies on our website (for more information on cookies, please see our website for our cookies policy)
- via our information technology(IT) systems, g.:
- case management, document management and time recording systems
- automated monitoring of our website and other technical systems, such as our computer networks and connections, communications systems, email and instant messaging
How and why, we use your personal information
Under data protection law, we can only use your personal data if we have a proper reason for doing so, e.g.:
- to comply with our legal and regulatory
- for the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract.
- for our legitimate interests of those of a third party; or
- where you have given
A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your information, so long as this is not overridden by your own rights and interests.
The table below explains what we use your personal data for and our reasons for doing so:
| What we use your personal data for | Our Reasons |
| To provide legal services to you | For the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract. |
Conducting checks to identify our clients and verify their identity Screening for financial and other sanctions or embargoes Other processing necessary to comply with professional, legal and regulatory obligations that apply to our business, e.g. under health and safety regulations or rules issued by our professional regulator | To comply with our legal, statutory and regulatory obligations |
| Gathering and providing information required by or relating to audits, enquiries or investigations by regulatory bodies | To comply with our legal, statutory and regulatory obligations |
| Statistical analysis to help us manage our practice, e.g. in relation to our financial performance, client base, work type, or other efficiency measures. | For our legitimate interest or those of a third party, i.e. to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service for you at the best price. |
| Updating client records | For the provision of legal services to you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract. To comply with our legal, statutory and regulatory obligations. For our legitimate interest or those of a third party, e.g. making sure we can keep in touch with our clients about existing and new services. |
| Statutory returns | To comply with our legal, statutory and regulatory obligations |
| Ensuring safe working practices, staff administration and assessments | To comply with our legal, statutory and regulatory obligations. For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, e.g. to make sure we are following our own internal procedures and working efficiently so we can deliver the best service to you. |
| Marketing our services to existing and former clients, and third parties who have previously expressed an interest in our services. | For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to promote our business to existing and former clients. |
| Credit reference checks via external credit reference agencies | For our legitimate interest or those of a third party, i.e. for credit control |
| External audits and quality checks, e.g. SRA Audit, Quality Audits and audit of our accounts. | For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to maintain our accreditations so we can demonstrate we operate at the highest standards. To comply with our legal, statutory and regulatory obligations. |
The above table does not apply to special category of personal data, which we will only process with explicit consent.
Promotional Communications
We may use your personal data to send you updates by email or post about legal developments that might be of interest to you and/or information about our services.
We have a legitimate interest in processing your data for promotional purposes (see above “How and why we use your personal data”). This means we do not usually need your consent to send your promotional communications. However, where consent is needed, we will ask for this consent separately and clearly.
We will always treat your data with the utmost respect and will never sell it to other organisations for marketing purposes.
You have the right to opt out of receiving promotional communications at any time by contacting us at info@amisolicitors.co.uk and letting us know your preference. We may ask you to confirm or update your marketing preferences if you instruct us to provide further services in the future, or if there are changes in the law, regulation, or the structure of our business.
Sharing your personal information
We will only share your personal information where necessary in the provision of services to you or to improve our service provision. This could be: :
- professional advisors who we instruct on your behalf or refer you to, e.g., barristers, medical professionals, accountants, tax advisers or other
- other third parties where necessary to carry out your instructions, e.g., Home Office, Courts, Companies House or HM Revenue and Customs.
- credit reference agencies
- our insurers and brokers
- external auditors, e.g., in relation to SRA Audit, Quality Audits and the audit of our
- our banks
- external service suppliers, representatives and agents that we use to make our business more efficient, e.g., typing services, marketing agencies, document collation or analysis suppliers
We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law.
We will not share your personal information with any other third party.
How long your personal information will be kept
We will keep your personal data after we have finished advising or acting for you. We will do so for one of these reasons:
- to respond to any questions, complaints or claims made by you or on your behalf.
- to show we treated you fairly
- To keep records required by law.
- To ensure we are able to identify any potential conflicts of interest
Retention Periods
Client records will ordinarily be kept for at least the periods in the following tables before they are securely destroyed or deleted:
| Information | Retention Period |
| Client Case Files | 6 years after the last activity on the file (typically payment of bill, closure and archive). If the organisation has acted for a person under 18, the file should be kept for 6 years after the client has turned 18. |
| Client Enquiry Forms | 18 months (unless a full client file was opened in which case in line with that file) |
| Client Complaints | 6 years (with client file) |
Your rights
Under Data Protection Regulations you have a number of important rights free of charge. In summary, those include rights to:
- fair processing of information and transparency over how we use your personal information
- access to your personal information and to certain other supplementary information that this Privacy Notice is already designed to address
- require us to correct mistakes in your information which we hold
- require the erasure of personal information concerning you in certain situations
- receive the personal information concerning you which you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and have the right to transmit those data to a third party in certain
- object at any time to processing of personal information concerning you for direct
- object to decisions being taken by automated means which produce legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affect
- object in certain situations to our continued processing of personal
- otherwise restrict our processing of your personal information in certain
For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under the General Data Protection Regulation at www.ico.org.uk
If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please:
- email, call or write to Anna Matelska using the contact details as given above.
- Please ensure you provide us with enough information to identify you
- We will need proof of your identity and address which we will use for verification (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill), and
- Do let us know the information to which you request relates, including any account or reference numbers, if you have
Keeping your personal information secure
We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.
How to complain
We hope that we can resolve any query or concerns you may have about our use of your information. You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues who may be contacted at www.ico.or.uk or telephone: 0303 1231113.
We would, however, appreciate the opportunity to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact Anna Matelska in the first instance using the contact details as given above.
This notice was updated 15.04.21
