About us

We are Morrish Solicitors LLP. We are a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with company number 6173275, whose registered office is at Oxford House, Oxford Row, Leeds, LS1 3BE. In this privacy notice we will refer to ourselves as ‘we’, ‘us’ or ‘our’.

You can contact us in any of the following ways:

  1. By phoning us on 033 3344 9600;
  2. By emailing us at [email protected];
  3. By writing to us at Oxford House, Oxford Row, Leeds, LS1 3BE.

We have appointed David Sorensen as our Data Protection Officer (DPO). You can contact him using the details set out above.

About this privacy notice

We take the privacy, including the security, of personal information we hold about you seriously. This privacy notice is designed to inform you about how we collect personal information about you and how we use that personal information. You should read this privacy notice carefully so that you know and can understand why and how we use the personal information we collect about you.

This privacy notice describes how we collect and use personal information in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Scope of this privacy notice

We may process your personal information (where we have received this directly from you or from another source) if:

  • You are a client or prospective client;
  • You use our website or other services we may provide through our website;
  • You are an individual within any third party we engage with such as our suppliers or other service providers or agencies;
  • A client has provided us with your information.
  • You have been referred to us from a third party or we have collected information about you from another third party.

Key definitions

The key terms that we use throughout this privacy notice are:

Data Controller: under UK data protection law, this is the organisation or person responsible for deciding how personal information is collected and stored, and how it is used.

Data Processor: a Data Controller may appoint another organisation or person to carry out certain tasks in relation to the personal information on behalf of, and on the written instructions of, the Data Controller.

Personal information: in this privacy notice we refer to your personal data as ‘personal information’. Personal information means any information from which a living individual can be identified. It does not apply to information which has been anonymised. Personal information includes name, title, addresses, telephone numbers and personal email addresses, date of birth, National Insurance number, casework information and details of advice given to you.

Special information: certain very sensitive personal information requires extra protection under data protection law. Sensitive data includes information relating to health, racial and ethnic origin, political opinions, religious and similar beliefs, trade union membership, sex life and sexual orientation and also includes genetic information and biometric information.

Data protection principles

We will comply with data protection law. This says that the personal information we hold about you must be:

  1. Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way;
  2. Collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purpose;
  3. Relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes.
  4. Accurate and kept up to date;
  5. Kept only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about;
  6. Kept securely.

How is your personal information collected?

We collect personal information about clients when we are instructed, directly from clients or third parties who refer clients to us.

We will collect additional personal information in the course of providing legal services to you throughout the time you are a client.

How we will use information about you

We are only able to use your personal information for certain legal reasons set out in data protection law. There are legal reasons under data protection law other than those listed below, but in most cases, we will use your personal information for the following reasons:

  1. Contract reason: this is in order to perform our obligations to you under a contract we have entered into with you;
  2. Legitimate Interests reason: this is where the use of your personal information is necessary for our (or a third party’s) legitimate interests, so long as that legitimate interest does not override your fundamental rights, freedoms or interests;
  3. Legal Obligation reason: this is where we have to use your personal information in order to perform a legal obligation by which we are bound and;
  4. Consent reason: this is where you have given us your consent to use your personal information for a specific reason or specific reasons.

We may also use your personal information in the following situations, which are likely to be rare:

  1. Where we need to protect your interests (or someone else’s interests);
  2. Where it is needed in the public interest or for official purposes.

Situations in which we will use your personal information

We need all the categories of information in the list above (see the above definitions of personal and special information) primarily to allow us to perform our contract with you and to enable us to comply with legal obligations. In some cases, we may use your personal information to pursue legitimate interests of our own or those of third parties, provided your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. The situations in which we will process your personal information are:

  • Making a decision about your status as a client or your case or matter;
  • Determining fees payable by you;
  • Providing advice and representation to you;
  • Administering the contract we have entered into with you;
  • Business management and planning, including accounting and auditing;
  • To prevent fraud;
  • To ensure network and information security, including preventing unauthorised access to our computer and electronic communications systems and preventing malicious software distribution;
  • Equal opportunities monitoring;
  • Marketing and communications.

If you fail to provide personal information

If you fail to provide certain information when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have entered into with you (such as advising you), or we may be prevented from complying with our legal obligations (such as to ensure we comply with anti-money laundering obligations).

Change of purpose

Under data protection laws we can only use your personal information for the purposes we have told you about, unless we consider that the new purpose is compatible with the purpose(s) we told you about. If we want to use your personal information for a different purpose which we do not think is compatible with the purposes(s) which we told you about then we will contact you to explain this and what legal reason is in place to allow us to do this.

Please note that we may process your personal information without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

How we might use special information

Special information (formally, “special category data”) requires higher levels of protection. We need to have further justification for collecting, storing and using this type of personal information. We may process special information in the following circumstances:

  1. In limited circumstances, with your explicit written consent;
  2. Where we need to carry out our legal obligations and in line with our data protection policy;
  3. Where it is needed in the public interest, such as for equal opportunities monitoring or in relation to our occupational pension scheme, and in line with our data protection policy.

Less commonly, we may process this type of information where it is needed in relation to legal claims or where it is needed to protect your interests (or someone else’s interests) and you are not capable of giving your consent, or where you have already made the information public. We may also process such information in the course of legitimate business activities with the appropriate safeguards.

Our obligations as a law firm

We will use your special information in the following ways:

  • We will use information about your race or national or ethnic origin, religious, philosophical or moral beliefs, or your sexual life or sexual orientation, to ensure meaningful equal opportunity monitoring and reporting;
  • We will use trade union membership information to register the status of a protected employee and to advise about employment law obligations and to confer union-specific benefits as appropriate.

Do we need your consent?

We do not need your consent if we use your special information in accordance with our written policy to carry out our legal obligations or exercise specific rights in the field of employment law. In limited circumstances, we may approach you for your written consent to allow us to process certain particularly sensitive data. If we do so, we will provide you with full details of the information that we would like and the reason we need it, so that you can carefully consider whether you wish to consent. You should be aware that it is not a condition of your contract with us that you agree to any request for consent from us.

Automated decision-making

Automated decision-making is where a decision is made without human intervention.

You will not be subject to decisions that will have a significant impact on you based solely on automated decision-making unless we have a lawful basis for doing so and we have notified you.

We do not envisage that any decisions will be taken about you using automated means, however we will notify you in writing if this position changes.

Data sharing

We may have to share your data with third parties, including third-party service providers and regulators. Depending on the circumstances, the organisations or people who we share your personal information with will be acting as either Data Processors or Data Controllers. Where we share your personal information with a Data Processor, we will ensure that we have in place contracts, which set out the responsibilities and obligations of us and them, including in respect of security of personal information.

We do not transfer personal information outside the EEA.

Sharing personal information with third parties

We will share your personal information with third parties where required by law, where it is necessary to administer the working relationship with you or where we have another legitimate interest in doing so.

‘Third parties’ includes third-party service providers (including contractors and designated agents) and regulators. They include medical and other experts, accountants, pensions providers, IT support providers, other lawyers and service providers.

All our third-party service providers are required to take appropriate security measures to protect your personal information in line with our policies. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes. We only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

We may share your personal information with other third parties, for example in the context of the possible merger or restructuring of the firm. We may also need to share your personal information with a regulator or to otherwise comply with the law.

Data security

We have put in place measures to protect the security of your information. Details of these measures are available upon request.

Third parties will only process your personal information on our instructions and where they have agreed to treat the information confidentially and to keep it secure.

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.

Data retention

We will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting or reporting requirements. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal information so that it can no longer be associated with you, in which case we may use such information without further notice to you. Once you are no longer a client we will retain and securely destroy your personal information in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.

Your duty to inform us of changes

It is important that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal information changes during your working relationship with us.

Your rights in connection with personal information

Under data protection laws you have certain rights in relation to your personal information, as follows:

  • Right to request access: (this is often called ‘subject access’). This is the right to obtain from us a copy of the personal information which we hold about you. We must also provide you with certain other information in response to these requests to help you understand how your personal information is being used.
  • Right to correction: this is the right to request that any incorrect personal data is corrected and that any incomplete personal data is completed.
  • Right to erasure: (this is often called the ‘right to be forgotten’). This right only applies in certain circumstances. Where it does apply, you have the right to request us to erase all of your personal information.
  • Right to restrict processing: this right only applies in certain circumstances. Where it does apply, you have the right to request us to restrict the processing of your personal information.
  • Right to data portability: this right allows you to request us to transfer your personal information to someone else.
  • Right to object: you have the right to object to us processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes. You also have the right to object to us processing personal information where our legal reason for doing so is the Legitimate Interests reason and there is something about your particular situations which that you want to object to us processing your information. In certain circumstances you have the right to object to processing where such processing consists of profiling (including profiling for direct marketing).

In the limited circumstances where you may have provided your consent to the collection, processing and transfer of your personal information for a specific purpose, you have the right to withdraw your consent for that specific processing at any time. To withdraw your consent, please contact us using the details at the start of this privacy notice. Once we have received notification that you have withdrawn your consent, we will no longer process your information for the purpose or purposes you originally agreed to, unless we have another legitimate basis for doing so in law.

If you want to review, verify, correct or request erasure of your personal information, object to the processing of your personal data, or request that we transfer a copy of your personal information to another party, please contact us using the details at the start of this privacy notice.

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal information (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request for access is clearly unfounded or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with the request in such circumstances.

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access the information (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is another appropriate security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.

Marketing

You may receive marketing from us about similar services, where either you have consented to this, or we have another legal reason by which we can contact you for marketing purposes.

However, we will give you the opportunity to manage how or if we market to you. On any email which we send to you, we provide a link to either unsubscribe or opt out, or to change your marketing preferences.

If you do request that we stop marketing to you, this will not prevent us from sending communications to you which are unrelated to marketing, for example in relation to services we are providing to you.

We do not pass your personal information on to third parties for marketing purposes.

Complaints

If you are unhappy about the way that we have handled or used your personal information, you have the right to complain to the UK supervisory authority for data protection, which is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Please do contact us in the first instance if you wish to raise any queries or make a complaint in respect of our handling or use of your personal information, so that we have the opportunity to discuss this with you and to take steps to resolve the position. You can contact us using the details set out at the start of this privacy notice.

Changes to this privacy notice

We reserve the right to update this privacy notice at any time, and we will provide you with a new privacy notice when we make any substantial updates. We may also notify you in other ways from time to time about the processing of your personal information.

If you have any questions about this privacy notice, please contact the DPO.