Welcome to Champion Law’s (We, Us, Our) Privacy Policy. We respect Your privacy and are committed to protecting Your personal data. This privacy policy will inform You as to how We look after Your personal data when You visit Our website (regardless of where You visit it from) and tell You about Your privacy rights and how the law protects You when You become a client.
1. DEFINITIONS
(The singular shall include the plural and vice versa) “Privacy Policy” shall refer to this entire document, and shall also sometimes be referred to as “This Policy”.
“Champion Law” is the trading name of Champion Law Ltd – a company registered in the UK under company number 12560485, and whose registered office is at Broadwalk House, Southernhay West, Exeter, Devon EX1 1TS. For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, Champion Law shall include its employees and subcontractors, unless expressly mentioned otherwise, and shall hereinafter also be known as “Us”, “We”, and “Our”.
“You” and “Your” shall refer to any Individual who provides Us with their Personal Data (website visitors, Clients, or otherwise.)
“Individual” for the purposes of the UK GDPR and PECR shall refer to non-corporates, including sole traders and non-incorporated partnerships.
“Client” shall refer to anybody who starts to receive Our services, either on behalf of a corporate entity or for themselves directly.
“UK GDPR” is the General Data Protection Regulations applicable to the United Kingdom after its exit from the European Union on 31 December 2020.
“PECR” is the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.
“Personal Data” or “Data” shall refer to any Data whatsoever We collect and store on You that can identify You as an individual, as set out in This Policy.
“ICO” shall refer to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office, which oversees Data protection compliance in the UK.
“Data Controller” for the purposes of the UK GDPR, will be Champion Law.
“Data Processor” for the purposes of the UK GDPR, will be Fergus Thompson. For any queries in relation to This Policy, please contact Fergus Thompson at info@championlaw.co.uk.
“Third Parties” shall refer to any other Data Controller or Processor other the Champion Law.
2. GENERAL
2.1. This Policy is for individuals and does not apply to incorporated bodies and other such corporate entities and organisations.
2.2. This Policy was last updated on 20th October 2021 and conforms to the change in Data protection laws, as enacted through the UK GDPR, which came into force on 1st January 2021, accompanying the existing Data Protection Act 2018.
2.3. From time to time, We may update This Policy, but We will notify You of any changes that materially affect the way in which Your Data is processed, using the contact details We hold on file for You. However, You should still check This Policy on Our website on a regular basis to ensure You are happy with any minor changes.
2.4. We do not collect sensitive or special category Data on You, such as race, political opinion, physical or mental health, religious belief, trade union membership, sexuality, or criminal offences. In the event You disclose sensitive Data to Us, We will ensure all such additional rights of Yours are protected, and the Data is appropriately destroyed or held in accordance with clause 4.8.
2.5. Our website does not use cookies (to monitor Your activity on Our website and others) nor any automated technology, but We may use Google Analytics, which anonymises Data and only recognises trends for Us to better understand how Our website is being used.
2.6. We will not sell or pass Your Personal Data on to organisations for reasons not already mentioned in this Privacy Policy.
2.7. We will notify You and the ICO of any suspected breach of This Policy by Us or any Third Party We may pass Your Data on to.
3. PERSONAL DATA WE MAY COLLECT AND STORE
3.1. The Personal Data We collect and store will usually be submitted by You via the following methods:
a) The ‘Contact Us’ page of Our website;
b) Phone, text, email, or in person;
c) Third Parties, such as introducers.
3.2. For Clients, We may also collect and store some of the following Personal Data on You, some of which is dependant on what You have provided Us with to verify Your identity:
i. Full name;
ii. Address(es);
iii. Photo page of passport, or photo driving licence;
iv. Date of birth;
v. Contact details, including any phone numbers, email addresses, or any other forms of contact You wish to disclose to Us;
vi. Title deeds and/or tenancy agreement(s);
vii. Utility bills;
viii. Bank statements;
ix. Two mortgage statements;
x. Telephone and written conversations between You and Us in relation to Your query, matter or services You may be interested in for Our marketing purposes;
xi. Payment transactions and records, documents, and any other information to allow Your matter to be dealt with.
3.3. The above lists are not exhaustive, but any other type of Personal Data collected will still fall within the scope of This Policy, unless set out otherwise to You in writing to compliment this Policy, and to seek Your further consent if necessary.
4. HOW WE PROCESS YOUR DATA
4.1. Subject to Article 6 UK GDPR, We will only process Your Personal Data with Your consent, or to the extent necessary to:
a) Enter into, or perform, a contract with You;
b) Comply with a legal duty;
c) Remember Your preferences e.g. if You ask not to receive marketing material, We will keep a record of this;
d) For Our own lawful interests (such as relevant marketing, internal record keeping, market research, improvement of Our services, or fulfilling Our contractual obligations with introducers, including the disclosure of fees paid by You in order to calculate introducer fees) provided Your rights don’t override these, such as the PECR preventing direct marketing to individuals.
4.2. As well as providing You with Our services when You become a client, We may also use Your Personal Data for Our own marketing purposes and to share with Third Parties connected with Our services to inform You by email, phone, or mail, of any offers You may be interested in based on Our services You have expressed an interest in or have already received from Us. This is known as a ‘soft opt-in’. To receive all other types of marketing, You must actively ‘opt-in’, as indicated in the Contact Us section of Our website, which is better explained in the ‘Your Rights’ section below.
4.3. We may also share Your Personal Data with Our insurers, accountants, software providers, professional advisers, and internet server providers, as necessary for the purposes of obtaining and maintaining insurance coverage, managing risks, obtaining professional advice, managing legal disputes, and ensuring the proper provision of services to You.
4.4. As part of standard practice across all organisations that collect and process Personal Data, We may pass Your Personal Data on to Third Parties for any fraud prevention purposes and to comply with all other laws, regulations or requirements.
4.5. Some of the Third Parties to whom We may send Your Personal Data to may be based, or have links to, other Data Processors outside the European Economic Area, but We will endeavour to take all necessary precautions to ensure that such parties comply with the requirements of the UK GDPR. As an example of this, Clio is Our firm management software where We store Your personal data in line with clause 4.1. Clio is based in Canada but We have verified their data protection practices as compliant with the UK GDPR. Their privacy policy can be found here. Another example is Our accountancy software Xero, which is based in New Zealand, but We have verified their data protection practices as compliant with the UK GDPR. Their privacy policy can be found here.
4.6. We will obtain Your express written consent before we post any written reviews and comments of Our services on Our website and any other marketing material, identifying You and the nature of Your matter. We reserve the right to edit any such reviews for the purposes of coherency.
4.7. For the avoidance of doubt, “written reviews and comments” in clause 4.6 also includes anything written by You relating to Our services on:
i. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and any other social media channels, irrespective of whether We have a profile with those channels or not;
ii. Reviews and feedback We have invited You to give by You filling out Our surveys;
iii. Any other comments and feedback (excluding Google reviews).
4.8. Your Personal Data is securely held in digitally encrypted cloud software. Using Our best endeavours, and contractually binding all other Data Processors to do the same in upholding the terms of This Policy, We take all necessary measures and precautions to afford You the utmost confidentiality to ensure none of your Personal Data is stolen, damaged, lost or accessed, and to not, at any time, whether during the term of any matter or at any time thereafter, without Your prior written consent, directly or indirectly, use, disclose, exploit, copy or modify any Personal Data, or authorise or permit anybody else to do the same, other than for the sole purpose of the performance of any agreement between You and Champion Law.
4.9. We and any other Data Processor responsible or aware of a breach of This Policy, will notify the ICO and You if such a breach affects Your rights and freedoms under UK data protection law.
5. YOUR RIGHTS
5.1. Owing to the change in Data protection laws brought about by the UK GDPR, and the existing PECR, if You are an individual You must notify Us if You would like to receive any direct marketing from Us or Our Third Party associates, as better explained in clause 4.2. If You are contacting Us through Our website, We give You the following ‘opt-in’ options:
a) “I would like to receive marketing emails from Champion Law and their Third Party affiliates on news and offers I may be interested in based on the nature of my enquiries with Champion Law”;
b) “I would only like to receive marketing from Champion Law on news and offers I may be interested in based on the nature of my enquiries with Champion Law”;
c) “I would not like to receive marketing from Champion Law or their third party affiliates.”
5.2. If You are making enquiries with Us over the phone, by email, or in person, then We may take You through the same three options listed in clause 5.1. and seek Your consent in writing.
5.3. Once You have disclosed to Us any of Your Personal Data, Your principal rights under Data protection law are as follows:
i. Request access to know what Personal Data We hold on You, the purposes for processing, and any Third Party recipients. Please note that, upon such request, We will verify Your identity by asking You to confirm information We already hold on You;
ii. Request rectification or erasure of Your Personal Data;
iii. Impose restrictions on processing Your Personal Data. Please note that, should You choose to do this, it may prevent Us from dealing with Your matter, but We will notify You in such an event;
iv. Opt-out of any direct marketing;
v. Data portability (the right to have Your Data transported to a Third Party);
vi. The right to complain to a supervisory authority, like the ICO.
5.4. Please note that We may not be able to comply with such requests in clause 5.3 if You are yet to fulfil any contractual obligations or agreements, such as paying an invoice, or if the processing is for legal claims or government purposes.
5.5. If You have any disabilities which may prevent You from complying with any formalities of making such a request in clause 5.3, then please let Us know and We can make concessions to accommodate You where possible.
5.6. If You have received what You believe to be ‘spam’ email or any other communications sent by any Third Parties masquerading as Champion Law, then please notify Us at info@championlaw.co.uk.
5.7. We may have to disclose some of Your Personal Data to Third Parties to uphold Our legal obligations, protect Your vital interests or the vital interests of others, or for debt recovery purposes. This is something You cannot opt-out of without Us being unable to assist You any further with Your matter.
5.8. Please note that any links to Third Party websites displayed on Our website, or any of Our communications, may be subject to separate privacy policies, which We can accept no responsibility or liability for. It shall be Your responsibility to check the privacy policies of such Third Party websites.
5.9. If You are unsatisfied with the way We or any other Data Processor has dealt with any of Your complaints about the way Your Personal Data has been collected or processed, then please contact the ICO.
6. DATA RETENTION
6.1. We only hold essential Personal Data for a necessary period of time after dealing with Your matter in order to uphold legal obligations and vital interests. For any Personal Data relating to Our accounting records, such as payment transactions and personal identity, We will retain these for 6 years. For any other type of Data, such as correspondence, the retention period could be significantly less.
6.2. When the time comes to destroy Your Personal Data, We do so in a controlled and secure manner, strictly upholding clause 4.8.
7. CONTACT
7.1. Should You have any questions regarding Our Privacy Policy, together with Your rights and obligations under This Policy, please do not hesitate to contact Us on 0117 336 2127 or via email at info@championlaw.co.uk, or write to Us at: Champion Law, Broadwalk House, Southernhay West, Exeter, Devon EX1 1TS.