Privacy Policy - Anthony Morris Family Law, Crawley

PRIVACY POLICY UPDATED UNDER GDPR

Anthony Morris Solicitors (AMS) is committed to respecting and protecting the privacy of all personal data received or collected during the course of conducting
business in strict adherence the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018). This privacy statement explains what
personal data we collect from you and how we use it. We encourage you to read the information below.

About us

Anthony Morris Limited is a registered company (Company Registration Number 7108008) and trades as Anthony Morris Solicitors (AMS). Our registered office
address is: 49 High Street, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 1BQ. AMS is registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO registration number
Z3420956). Anthony Morris is the data protection manager for AMS and can be contacted by email on adm@anthonymorris.co.uk

What personal data or information do we collect?

AMS obtains and uses personal data (i.e. information relating to an individual or identifiable living individual) from clients, potential clients, contacts and third parties.
The personal data we collect may include your name, address, contact information, and information relating to your legal matter. In addition to this, our website collects
personal data from visitors to the site, such as IP address and information relating to their use of the site.

How we use your personal data

The personal information we collect is necessary for us to be able deliver legal services to you on your instruction as our client. We will also collect certain personal
data before you instruct us, which helps us answer your initial enquiry, assess your matter and how we can support you. We also use personal data to avoid any conflict
of interest as we represent you. These are the only reasons we collect your personal data and how we intend to use it. As such the processing of client data is a matter of
contract and this is the lawful basis we rely on to process your personal data. During the course of delivering legal services to you, we may need to obtain your
personal data from a third party. In these circumstances, we will seek your consent to obtain your personal data in this way and will only use personal data obtained in this
way in accordance with the consent you have given.

Data sharing

Any and all information we obtain or hold about you is and remains confidential whether or not you are a current or past client of AMS. This overriding duty of
confidentiality is subject to restrictions imposed by law (e.g. in relation of money laundering) or imposed by order of the Court.
In the course of completing your instructions AMS may instruct third parties, such as experts and Counsel. However, we disclose only the personal information necessary
for the third party to fulfil the instructions and will ensure that any personal data is transferred securely and safely to such third parties. We will never share your
data/details with any third parties for marketing purposes.

In the course of conducting our business as family law solicitors and mediators, AMS is regularly audited by LEXCEL and the Legal Aid Agency as a requirement under
our Legal Aid Franchise. As part of the audit, it is necessary for individual files to be seen by the auditors employed by these organisations to check for quality and
compliance. The auditors are bound by the same duty of confidentiality. We believe it is in our legitimate interests to provide controlled access to requested files to meet
the audit requirements. If you wish to object, please contact us directly.

Data Security

When you give us personal information, we take appropriate steps to ensure that it’s treated securely and strive to protect it on our internal systems, so it is not at risk from
accidental loss, alteration or disclosure or unauthorised use and access. We use UK- based cloud services to store your information and we do not transfer your data
outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). We ensure that access to your personal data is only allowed to our employees or third parties, such as Counsel or experts, 
who have a need to know for the purposes of providing a service required. We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify
you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

Personal Data Retention

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting or reporting requirements.
The period of time we retain your personal data is in accordance with AMS retention procedures, which are determined in accordance with our regulatory obligations and best practice.
We will retain client matter files for a minimum of 7 years after the close of the matter and then securely destroy them.
Maximum periods depend on the nature of the matter, for example we may need to retain matters relating to Wills for a much longer period. We will always retain
minimal personal data about clients (e.g. name, date of birth, contact information) in order to enable us to check for conflict of interest, which is a legal requirement.

Cookies

This website stores cookies. Cookies are small files stored within your web browser and they usually only contain anonymous data like where a user has visited from or which pages are most popular. Web sites use cookies for a variety of reasons. You can control which cookies are allowed through your browser settings. Be aware that some cookies are required in order for a site function properly and if you block or disable them sites may not function correctly. We do not seek to collect or use any personal data using cookies.

Your Rights

Under certain circumstances you have rights under Data Protection legislation in relation to your personal data. These include the right to:

Request access to your personal data;
Request correction of your personal data;
Request erasure of your personal data;
Object to processing of your personal data;
Request restriction of processing of your personal data;
Request transfer of your personal data;
Right to withdraw consent.

Please note that the above may be subject to certain exemptions as defined by the GDPR regulations.

How you can access your personal information

You have the right to ask for a copy of the personal information AMS hold relating to you. To do this, please contact the Data Protection Manager:
adm@anthonymorris.co.uk or by post at: 49 High Street, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 1BQ

How you can update your personal information

The accuracy of your information is important to us. If you change your contact details or if you want to update any of the information we hold on you, please email
the Data Protection Manager at: adm@anthonymorris.co,uk or by post at: 49 High Street, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 1BQ

What to do if you have concerns about how we process your data

In the first instance, please contact us to discuss your concerns with the Data Protection Manager either via email: adm@anthonymorris.co.uk or by post: 49 High
Street, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 1BQ. If we are unable to resolve your concerns, you also have the right to lodge a complaint about our processing of your personal data with the UK’s Information
Commissioner’s Office.

Further information is available here: www.ico.org.uk

We regularly review this Privacy Notice to ensure it remains accurate and up to date. Last reviewed and updated on: See foot of page.

Complaints Procedure

We hope you are satisfied with our service, but if you have any concerns please discuss the problem with the person handling your case. 

If you are not satisfied, this firm has a complaints procedure that you may use.  You should write to the Supervisor and Senior Partner Anthony Morris with details of your complaint.  Once we receive this letter, we aim to acknowledge your letter within 2 working days sending you details of our complaints procedure. You can also obtain a copy of our complaints procedure at any time by request.

Please note that there are organisations who offer Alternative Dispute Resolution and we will provide you with details of such if you are not satisfied with the outcome of our internal complaints procedure.  We do not currently offer ADR.

If after you have exhausted our internal complaints process you still remain dissatisfied with the outcome then you can contact The Legal Ombudsman on 0300 555 0333.  For minicom call 0300 555 1777. Or you can email them at enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk or write to them at Legal Ombudsman, P O Box 6167, Slough, SL1 OEH. For the SRA you can find details about how and when a complaint can be made to the SRA at https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/standards-regulations/glossary/#SRA

The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints about poor service from lawyers and they will look independently at your complaint if we cannot agree a resolution between us.  You should aim to raise your complaint with the Ombudsman within 6 months of the date of our final written response on your complaint when matters are still fresh in everyone’s mind. 

From the 01 April 2023, the time limits for referring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman will be not later than:

• one year from the date of the act or omission being complained about; or
• one year from the date when the complainant should have realised that there was cause
  for complaint.

The Legal Ombudsman will retain the ability to exercise discretion to extend the 1-year time limit for specific customers if, on the evidence, it was fair and reasonable to do so.

If you object to a bill and are not satisfied after discussing the problem with the person handling your case and completing our complaints procedure, you may be entitled to apply to the Court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974.

We regularly review this Complaints Procedure to ensure it remains accurate and up to date.  Last reviewed and updated 19 February 2024.