Privacy Policy

We, us, our: Acharyas Solicitors of 2 Kensington Street, Leicester LE4 5GL.

Our Data Protection Officer is Jitendra Acharya, Acharyas Solicitors, 2 Kensington Street, Leicester LE4 5GL, telephone 0116 251 7520.

Personal data we will collect includes:

Depending on why you have instructed us, we may also collect National Insurance and tax details, bank details, employment and immigration status information, family details, medical records where relevant, and special category data such as racial or ethnic origin, religion, health or trade union membership where necessary for your matter.

This 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.

We collect most of this information from you directly. We may also collect information from publicly accessible sources (eg Companies House or HM Land Registry), from third parties such as sanctions screening providers, credit reference agencies and client due diligence providers, and from third parties with your consent such as your bank, employer, doctors, the Home Office, or previous solicitors.

We may also collect information via our website and IT systems, including case management, document management and communications systems.

Under data protection law, we can only use your personal data if we have a proper reason for doing so — for example to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations; for the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract; for our legitimate interests or those of a third party; or where you have given consent.

We use your personal data to provide legal services, conduct identity and sanctions checks, comply with professional and regulatory obligations, manage our practice efficiently, protect confidential information, prevent unauthorised access to systems, update client records, market our services where appropriate, and carry out audits and quality checks.

The above does not apply to special category personal data, which we will only process with your explicit consent (or another lawful basis where available).

We may use your personal data to send you updates about legal developments and our services. We have a legitimate interest in processing your personal data for promotional purposes, though where consent is needed we will ask for it separately and clearly.

We will always treat your personal data with the utmost respect and never sell or share it with other organisations outside our firm for marketing purposes. You may opt out at any time by contacting us by email, post or telephone.

We routinely share personal data with professional advisers we instruct on your behalf (eg barristers, medical professionals, accountants), other third parties where necessary to carry out your instructions (eg the Court or Home Office), credit reference agencies, our insurers and brokers, external auditors, and our bank.

We only allow service providers to handle your personal data if we are satisfied they take appropriate measures to protect it. We may also disclose information to law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.

We will keep your personal data after we have finished advising or acting for you where needed to respond to questions, complaints or claims; to show that we treated you fairly; and to keep records required by law. We will not retain your data for longer than necessary. When it is no longer necessary, we will delete or anonymise it.

To deliver services to you, it may sometimes be necessary to share your personal data outside the UK or EEA — for example with service providers located abroad, if you are based abroad, or where there is an international dimension to your matter. We will ensure any such transfer complies with data protection law and that personal data remains secure.

You have rights including access, rectification, restriction of processing, data portability, the right to object (including to direct marketing), and rights in relation to automated decision-making. For further information see guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

To exercise any of those rights, contact our Data Protection Officer with enough information to identify you, proof of identity and address, and details of the right you wish to exercise.

We have appropriate security measures to prevent personal data from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed unlawfully. We limit access to those who have a genuine business need to access it, and we have procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach.

We hope that our Data Protection Officer can resolve any query or concern you may raise. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk/concerns or by telephone on 0303 123 1113.

This privacy policy was published on 1 May 2018. We may change this privacy policy from time to time; when we do we will inform you via our website.

Please contact our Data Protection Officer by post, email or telephone if you have any questions about this privacy policy or the information we hold about you: Acharyas Solicitors, 2 Kensington Street, Leicester LE4 5GL. Email: email@acharyas.co.uk. Telephone: 0116 251 7520.