Privacy Policy & Complaints Procedure | Donaldson West LLP

Our Complaints Policy

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards.

Our Complaints Procedure

If you have a complaint, please write to us with the details.

What will happen next?

When a formal complaint is made by you, we will confirm this in writing and also:

• send you a copy of this complaints handling procedure;
• tell you who will investigate the complaint; and
• set out details of the complaint that has been made.

We anticipate that this will take us up to five working days.

We will also give you a timescale for completing the investigation. However, if it will help to progress the investigation, the person dealing with your complaint will contact you for additional information or invite you to a meeting. We aim to give you a firm timescale for completing the investigation within five working days of receiving that additional information. 

If the timescale for responding is to be exceeded, the person dealing with the complaint will advise you, confirm the new timescale and explain the reason for the delay.

The person dealing with your complaint will investigate your complaint thoroughly and fairly. Having completed their investigation, they will write to you to set out this firm’s response (“Final Written Response”). 

You should allow us eight weeks to resolve your complaint.

We will not charge you for investigating your complaint. 

If you still feel that your complaint has not been resolved satisfactorily then, within six months of our Final Written Response, you may refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman at:

Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6806
Wolverhampton
WV1 9WJ

www.legalombudsman.co.uk
Telephone: 0300 555 0333
E-mail: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk 

The Legal Ombudsman may not deal with a complaint about this firm’s invoice if you have separately applied to the Court for an assessment of that bill. 

The time limits for the Legal Ombudsman accepting a complaint are:

•  six years from the date of act/omission.
• three years from when the complainant should have been aware of the act/omission.               

The Solicitors’ Regulation Authority deals with complaints concerning professional standards such as acting independently, fairly and with integrity:

SRA Visit: Reporting a solicitor or firm to us

PRIVACY POLICY

This section explains how and why we collect, store, use and share your personal data. We confirm that our use of your personal data complies with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

The main reason for collecting and holding personal data is to enable us to act on your behalf in accordance with your instructions. The type of personal data we hold includes your name, address, email address and telephone numbers. We also collect and store documents to verify your identity and information necessary and relevant to the legal work on which you have instructed us.

How we collect your personal data

We collect most of this information from you directly or from public sources.

Our ‘Lawful Reasons’ for processing your personal data

The GDPR is the primary legislation defining the right you have with regard to our processing your personal information. We are required to declare six ‘lawful reasons’ on which we rely when processing your personal data.

We operate on the following:

• The basis of ‘consent’ when we send newsletters to you provided you have expressly opted to receive them
• The basis of ‘legitimate interest’ when communicating with you such as when replying to an enquiry from you
• The basis of legal obligation where we are obliged to process personal data
• The basis of contractual necessity where processing persona data is required to enter into or to perform a contract

Website policy

This privacy policy is written for the benefit of visitors to our website. If you provide personal information via any forms on this website, you agree that we may contact you with regard to the information provided.

Sometimes, we may include an opt-in mailing list. If you tick this box, you confirm that we may add you to our mailing list and we will use your personal information for this purpose.

How we use the personal data obtained via our website

We use the information you provide to:

• Communicate with you
• Monitor website trends and how our website is being used
• Operate our business more effectively

Personal data may be stored by the website for 90 days and after that, it will be removed automatically.

Google Analytics

To monitor website trends, we use Google Analytics. This requires us to pass your IP address to Google. No other personal data is passed. Google will use this to prepare site usage reports, but it may also share this information with other Google services. For example, Google may use this information to personalise its own advertising network. You can visit Google’s website for more information on its privacy policy and how it uses information.

Sharing your personal data

To enable us to act for you, we may have to share your data with relevant third parties to include, but not limited to, other solicitors, HM Lands Registry, the Probate Registry and Companies House.

Where your personal data is stored

We store your personal data on our paper files at our office and electronically on our IT systems.

How long is your personal data stored?

We will keep your personal information for a period of time after we have finished acting on a transaction so that we can:

• Answer any queries you may have
• Carry out checks for conflicts of interest in accordance with our professional regulations
• Keep records required by law

We will not retain your data for longer than necessary. There are, however, different retention periods for different types of data so when we have concluded your matter, we will confirm to you how long your data will be retained by us.

Your rights

You have the following rights what you can exercise free of charge:

• The right to be informed
• The right of access
• The right of rectification
• The right to erasure
• The right to restrict processing
• The right to data portability
• The right to object
• Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling

For further information on each of these rights, please see the guidance from UK Information Commissioner’s Office on individual’s rights under the GDPR: A Guide to Individual Rights

Please let us know if you wish to exercise any of these rights. We will try to reply to all requests within one month, but if your request is complex, we will inform you of our revised timeline for a reply.

Keeping your personal data secure

We have policies to prevent your personal data from being lost or being used or accessed unlawfully. Your personal information is only shared with those who have a legitimate need to access it.

In the unlikely event of a suspected data security breach, we will notify you and, if appropriate, the regulator as soon as possible.

Transferring personal data

Occasionally it may be necessary to pass personal data, such as your name and address, to other services that we use in order to deliver our services for you. However, your personal data will remain in the UK or in countries which the UK considers has equivalent policies such as EU countries, Jersey, Guernsey, New Zealand, Canada and Switzerland.

Complaints

We aim to resolve any concern you raise about our use of your personal data directly with you. The GDPR also give you the right to complain to the Information Commissioner who can be contacted at Make a Complaint or telephone: 0303 123 1113.

Older & Vulnerable Client Care Procedure

Donaldson West LLP understand the importance of treating older clients, their families and representatives with dignity, kindness and respect at all times and aim to offer the best possible adjustments in the service we offer to cater for age and health-related impairments or disabilities.

We are welcoming and take time to ensure the client is comfortable and relaxed as we understand that some clients may feel nervous or anxious in advance of the meeting.

We make clients aware of disabled access and office parking.

We offer home visits/care home visits/hospital visits where the client is unable to come to the office and are clear about any additional pricing that may apply for this.

We offer appointments at times which are best for our clients (within office hours) and will ensure that the pace and duration of each meeting is influenced by the needs of the client.

We ensure clients are seen on their own, but do understand that that they may like a trusted friend or family member with them for part of the meeting. We will do our utmost to ensure that the client feels at ease and understands why it is necessary to see them on their own.

We support and encourage clients to make informed decisions and will take the time necessary to ensure that the client fully understands any legal terminology that has to be used.

We are sensitive to our clients’ needs and are happy to adapt as necessary, e.g., large print correspondence or speaking lounder than usual.

We understand that some older clients do not have current passports or driving licences and so take care not to cause embarrassment by adjusting our identification process while still ensuring that anti-money laundering requirements are met.

We ask that any person signing as an attorney for our client should also produce proof of ID for identity verification purposes.

We ensure all relevant facts are noted in attendance notes of the meetings, including the details of those present at the meeting.

We agree to abide by the Association of Lifetime Lawyers’ Code of Practice.