PRIVACY POLICY

At Crater Law, we are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This policy explains when and why we collect personal information about you, how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others, how we keep it safe and secure and your rights and choices in relation to your information.

What information we collect, how we use it and when we collect it

We usually need your personal data to be able to provide you with the legal services you have asked us for, or to consider a case that you may wish us to take on. We collect data that may include your name, gender, date of birth, address, national insurance number, telephone number, email address, registration and reference numbers, as well as the same information in relation to other members of your family and any other information necessary in order to deal with your case for you. We may also have copies of documents that you use to provide proof of your age or identity or address such as passports, birth certificates, marriage certificates, driving licences or utility bills.

We use your personal data to see if we can deal with an enquiry that you make regarding legal services you may wish us to provide. We also use your personal data to deal with your case if we take it on. We do not need your consent to use your personal data to deliver legal services you have requested or in relation to an enquiry about taking on your case but we ask you to sign a Client Authority form and/or our Terms and Conditions to give us your permission to use your personal data. We may from time to time ask you to take part in a client satisfaction survey or to give permission for us to use your words of thanks on our website (which can be anonymous or initials or first name only as you prefer). We do not use your personal data for marketing.

We collect your information when you contact us by telephone, email, through our website or by visiting our office to deal with your case or to make an enquiry about using our services.

Apart from our dealings with the Home Office and other authorities that are necessary to your case, such as expert witnesses, other professional advisers and similar third parties, if the law requires us to collect and process your data, for example to pass on details of people involved in fraud or other criminal activity to law enforcement, we have to do this.

>How we protect your personal data

We know that the safety and security of personal data is very important to all our clients. We therefore treat your data with the greatest possible care and take all appropriate steps to protect it. Data you send us by email on Outlook and Hotmail is encrypted via TLS/SSL and once received in the office can only be opened by authorised people with passwords to access the computer system. All client data is stored in a secure European location and we only hold your personal data for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected. Where we have dealt with a legal query or case for you, your data will usually be kept for a minimum period of 7 years. Files containing your personal data and copies of documents relevant to your case are held in locked cabinets in a locked office when not being used.

Who we share your personal data with

We sometimes share your personal data with trusted third parties. These include barristers and experts assisting with your case, as well as Lexcel and legal aid auditors. Most of them are, like Crater Law, regulated to protect your personal data. When we provide your data to them, we make it clear that the information is only to be used for the specific purpose for which we have sent it to them, and will be held only for as long as necessary for them to comply with their contractual obligations to us.

We do not use cookies to collect personal data