Privacy policy

We ask that you read this privacy notice carefully as it contains important information on who we are, how and why we collect, store, use and share personal information, your rights in relation to your personal information and on how to contact us and supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.

Who we are

PDC Law is a trading name of PDC (Hertford) Law Limited (we, us, our), a Company registered in England under Company No. 10019855, Registered Office: Sherwood House, 5 Bluecoats Avenue, Hertford, Hertfordshire, SG14 1PB.

This policy applies to information we collect about people who do business with us or register for our service and visitors to our website.

The personal information we collect and use

We collect, use and are responsible for certain personal information about you. When we do so we are regulated under the General Data Protection Regulation which applies across the European Union (including in the United Kingdom) and we are covered by the Data Protection Act 2018. We are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information for the purposes of those laws.

Information collected by us

In the course of providing advice and various legal services we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:

  • names of persons providing instructions, business address, contact telephone numbers, email addresses, bank account details, various identification information and other categories of personal data

Information collected from other sources

We also obtain personal information from other sources as follows:

  • any agent who has issued a referral to us on your behalf
  • our website uses cookies. Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard Internet log information and visitor behaviour information. These cookies allow us to distinguish you from other users of the website which helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site. For more information on which cookies we use and how we use them, see our Cookies policy.

How we use your personal information

We use your personal information to:

  • carry out necessary verification identification checks
  • seek instructions in respect of the matters we are dealing with on your behalf
  • provide you with regular updates in respect of your case/s
  • ensure payment of client monies is made to you.

The information is used by us to communicate with you on any matter relating to the conduct of your instructions in general. We may also contact you about other products and services we think may be of interest to you.

We may also use aggregate information and statistics for the purposes of monitoring website usage in order to help us to develop our website and our services. We may also provide such aggregate information to third parties. These statistics will not include information that can be used to identify you.

Who we share your personal information with

We routinely share your personal information with the following third parties:

  • Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS)
  • Barristers
  • Process Servers

This data sharing enables us to undertake legal matters on your behalf. Some of those third-party recipients may be based outside the European Economic Area — for further information including on how we safeguard your personal data when this occurs, see ‘Transfer of your information out of the EEA’.

We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law.

We will not share your personal information with any other third party unless instructed by you to do so.

How long your personal information will be kept

  • We will hold your personal data for a period of 6 years after our last interaction with you.

Reasons we can collect and use your personal information

We rely on the following as the lawful bases on which we collect and use your personal data

Contract: the processing is necessary for us to provide our services to you under a contract we have with you, or because you have asked us to take specific steps before entering into a contract.

Legal obligation: the processing is necessary for us to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations).

Legitimate Interest: the processing is necessary in our pursuit of our business interests, but only where those interests are not outweighed by the rights and freedoms of the individual data subjects concerned, and where such processing would be within the reasonable expectations of the data subject.

Transfer of your information out of the EEA

We may transfer your personal information outside the European Economic Area (EEA) as follows:

  • Where we are provided with a defendant’s correspondence address which is outside the EEA
  • Process Servers

Countries outside the EEA do not have the same data protection laws as the United Kingdom and EEA. Whilst the European Commission has made limited formal decisions in relation to countries that provide an adequate level of data protection similar to those which apply in the United Kingdom and EEA, any transfer of your personal information will be subject to your consent as permitted under Article 49 (a) (b) (c) and (e), of the General Data Protection Regulation that are designed to help safeguard your privacy rights and give you remedies in the unlikely event of a misuse of your personal information.

If you would like further information please contact Reece Wheeldon (see ‘How to contact us’ below). We will not otherwise transfer your personal data outside of the EEA or to any organisation (or subordinate bodies) governed by public international law or which is set up under any agreement between two or more countries.

Your rights

Under the General Data Protection Regulation you have a number of important rights free of charge.
In summary, those include rights to:

  • fair processing of information and transparency over how we use your use personal information
  • access to your personal information and to certain other supplementary information that this Privacy Notice is already designed to address
  • require us to correct any mistakes in your information which we hold
  • require the erasure of personal information concerning you in certain situations
  • receive the personal information concerning you which you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and have the right to transmit those data to a third party in certain situations
  • object at any time to processing of personal information concerning you for direct marketing
  • object to decisions being taken by automated means which produce legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affect you
  • object in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal information
  • otherwise restrict our processing of your personal information in certain circumstances

For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals rights under the General Data Protection Regulation.

If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please:

  • email, call or write to Reece Wheeldon
  • let us have enough information to identify you
  • let us have proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill), and
  • let us know the information to which your request relates, including any account or reference numbers, if you have them

Keeping your personal information secure

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

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

If you want detailed information from Get Safe Online on how to protect your information and your computers and devices against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other online problems, please visit www.getsafeonline.org. Get Safe Online is supported by HM Government and leading businesses.

Links to other websites

Our website contains links to other websites. This Privacy policy applies only to this website so when you access links to other websites you should read their own privacy policies.

How to complain

We hope that Recce Wheeldon can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your information.

The General Data Protection Regulation also gives you right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the European Union (or European Economic Area) state where you work, normally live or where any alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ or telephone: 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this privacy notice

This privacy notice was published on 11.04.2018 and last updated on 11.04.2018

We may change this privacy notice from time to time, when we do we will inform you.

How to contact us

Please contact Reece Wheeldon if you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information we hold about you.

If you wish to contact him please send an email to reece.wheeldon@pdclaw.co.uk write to PDC Law, Sherwood House, 5 Bluecoats Avenue, Hertford, Hertfordshire, SG14 1PB or call 01992 668168.