Cookies & website privacy policy

Cookies & website privacy policy for Watson Morris Family Law LLP

WM Law Ltd (trading as Watson Morris) understands that your privacy is important to you and that you care about how your personal data is used. We respect and value the privacy of everyone who visits this website, www.watsonmorrisfamilylaw.co.uk (“Our Site”) and will only collect and use personal data in ways that are described here, and in a way that is consistent with our obligations and your rights under the law.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully and ensure that you understand it.

1. Definitions and interpretation

In this Policy the following terms shall have the following meanings:

“Account”
means an account required to access and/or use certain areas and features of Our Site;

“Cookie”
means a small text file placed on your computer or device by Our Site when you visit certain parts of Our Site and/or when you use certain features of Our Site. Details of the Cookies used by Our Site are set out in Part 14, below; and

“Cookie Law”
means the relevant parts of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003;

2. Information about us

Our Site is owned and operated by WM Law Ltd (trading as Watson Morris) a limited company registered in England under company number 15922574.

Registered address: 3 Warren Yard, Warren Park, Stratford Road, Wolverton Mill, Milton Keynes, MK12 5NW.
VAT number: 477240283
Data Protection Officer: Caroline Watson
Email address: caroline.watson@watson-morris.co.uk
Telephone number: 03331 882964
Postal address: 314 Midsummer Boulevard, Midsummer Court, Milton Keynes, MK9 2UB

Our professional rules can be found at SRA | SRA Standards and Regulations | Solicitors Regulation Authority

3. What does this policy cover?

This Privacy Policy applies only to your use of Our Site. Our Site may contain links to other websites. Please note that we have no control over how your data is collected, stored, or used by other websites and we advise you to check the privacy policies of any such websites before providing any data to them.

4. What is personal data?

Personal data is defined by the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 (collectively, “the Data Protection Legislation”) as ‘any information relating to an identifiable person who can be directly or indirectly identified in particular by reference to an identifier’.

Personal data is, in simpler terms, any information about you that enables you to be identified. Personal data covers obvious information such as your name and contact details, but it also covers less obvious information such as identification numbers, electronic location data, and other online identifiers.

5. What are my rights?

Under the Data Protection Legislation, you have the following rights, which we will always work to uphold:

a) The right to be informed about our collection and use of your personal data. This Privacy Policy should tell you everything you need to know, but you can always contact us to find out more or to ask any questions using the details in Part 14.

b) The right to access the personal data we hold about you. Part 12 will tell you how to do this.

c) The right to have your personal data rectified if any of your personal data held by us is inaccurate or incomplete. Please contact us using the details in Part 14 to find out more.

d) The right to be forgotten, i.e. the right to ask us to delete or otherwise dispose of any of your personal data that we hold. Please contact us using the details in Part 14 to find out more.

e) The right to restrict (i.e. prevent) the processing of your personal data.

f) The right to object to us using your personal data for a particular purpose or purposes.

g) The right to withdraw consent. This means that, if we are relying on your consent as the legal basis for using your personal data, you are free to withdraw that consent at any time.

h) The right to data portability. This means that, if you have provided personal data to us directly, we are using it with your consent or for the performance of a contract, and that data is processed using automated means, you can ask us for a copy of that personal data to re-use with another service or business in many cases.

i) Rights relating to automated decision-making and profiling. We do not use your personal data in this way.

For more information about our use of your personal data or exercising your rights as outlined above, please contact us using the details provided in Part 14.

It is important that your personal data is kept accurate and up-to-date. If any of the personal data we hold about you changes, please keep us informed as long as we have that data.

Further information about your rights can also be obtained from the Information Commissioner’s Office or your local Citizens Advice Bureau.

If you have any cause for complaint about our use of your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office. We would welcome the opportunity to resolve your concerns ourselves, however, so please contact us using the details in Part 14.

6. What data do you collect and how?

By using and interacting with our website, we collect and process certain information about you in the following ways:

A: Information given by you voluntarily

Information – including your name and job title, contact information including email address, and/or demographic information such as postcode may be voluntarily provided by you, for instance, in order for you to:

• Make an enquiry or you complete our contact form and/or questionnaires;
• Receive free downloads from our website;
• Apply for one of our job vacancies;
• Signup to our insights or newsletters;
• Refresh or update your marketing preferences;
• We may also ask you for information when you report a problem with Our Site.

B: Information collected from you automatically

We may also collect information about you without directly asking you to provide the information to us. In common with most other businesses, we use Cookies to gather information. When you first visit our websites, you will be able to choose whether to “Accept All” or Refuse All” non-essential Cookies or alternatively you will be able to “Customise” your preferences. Please also see Part 13 for more information about our use of Cookies.

7. How do you use my personal data?

By using and interacting with our website, we use the information about you in the following ways:

Communicating with you
Following an enquiry from you we will contact you by email, post or telephone and or text message to be able to provide our products or services to you.

Taking payment from you
Managing payments for our products or services.

Direct marketing
Depending on how you connect with us, we may send you a separate email inviting you to opt in to receive direct marketing information from us, including legal updates, newsletters, event invitations and news on products and services. You may withdraw your consent for us to use your information in any of these ways at any time. Please see withdrawing your consent in our Privacy Notice.

Website performance
Like many other websites, we collect data through patterns of your website usage in order to improve the relevance and performance of Our Website and your experience using it (for example by enabling us to monitor which pages you find most useful and which you do not). We will only use the information that we hold about you to administer and monitor (including in relation to troubleshooting, data analysis, testing and security) the provision of the website to you and other users.

We will only use your personal data for the purpose(s) for which it was originally collected unless we reasonably believe that another purpose is compatible with that or those original purpose(s) and need to use your personal data for that purpose. If we do use your personal data in this way and you wish us to explain how the new purpose is compatible with the original, please contact us using the details in Part 14.

If we need to use your personal data for a purpose that is unrelated to, or incompatible with, the purpose(s) for which it was originally collected, we will inform you and explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

In some circumstances, where permitted or required by law, we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent. This will only be done within the bounds of the Data Protection Legislation and your legal rights.

8. Security and links to other sites

The transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our website and any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your personal data, we have in place reasonable and appropriate controls to ensure it remains secure against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, or unauthorised disclosure of, or access to personal data.

Third Parties whose content appears on Our Site may use third-party Cookies, as detailed below in Part 13. Please refer to Part 13 for more information on controlling cookies. Please note that we do not control the activities of such third parties, nor the data that they collect and use themselves, and we advise you to check the privacy policies of any such third parties.

9. Will others receive or have access to my personal data?

Our work may require us to provide information to third parties who will use your information for the purposes of providing services to us or directly to you on our behalf. Such services will include management of our IT services and the hosting and management of our website and may also include for example, insurers, payment processing, software providers and mailing services.

When we use third party service providers, we only disclose to them any personal data that is necessary for them to provide their services and we have an agreement in place that requires them to keep your data secure and not to use it other than in accordance with our specific instructions.

We may also transfer your personal data to a third party as part of a sale of some or all of our business and assets to any third party or as part of any business restructuring or reorganisation.

We may also transfer your personal data if we are under a duty to disclose or share it in order to comply with any legal obligation, to detect or report a crime, to protect your vital interests, to enforce or apply the terms of our contracts or to protect the rights, property or safety of our visitors and clients. However, we will always take steps to ensure that your privacy rights continue to be protected.

10. How long will you keep my personal data?

We will not keep your personal data for any longer than is necessary in light of the reason(s) for which it was first collected. Typically, our retention criteria is as follows:

Type of Data	How Long we keep It
Queries and claims	Minimum of 7 years
Potential instructions	7 years
Direct Marketing	You may withdraw your consent for us to use your information at any time. Please see withdrawing your consent in our Privacy Notice
Recruitment data	Up to 12 months after the candidate application

11. How and where do you store or transfer my personal data?

We will only store or contract with third parties to provide services who will store your personal data in the UK. This means that it will be fully protected under the Data Protection Legislation.

12. How can I control my personal data?

In addition to your rights under the Data Protection Legislation, set out in Part 5, when you submit personal data via Our Site, you may be given options to restrict our use of your personal data. In particular, we aim to give you strong controls on our use of your data for direct marketing purposes (including the ability to opt-out of receiving emails from us which you may do by unsubscribing using the links provided in our emails.

You may also wish to sign up to one or more of the preference services operating in the UK: The Telephone Preference Service (“the TPS”), the Corporate Telephone Preference Service (“the CTPS”), and the Mailing Preference Service (“the MPS”). These may help to prevent you receiving unsolicited marketing. Please note, however, that these services will not prevent you from receiving marketing communications that you have consented to receiving.

13. How do you use cookies?

Cookies are used by many websites to obtain information through pattern of website usage, such as overall view of users’ habits and volume of visitors to our website, etc. You will find information here about what Cookies may be set when you visit Our Site, the purpose for which we use those Cookies, and how to reject or delete them.

By using Our Site, you may also receive certain third-party Cookies on your computer or device. Third-party Cookies are those placed by websites, services, and/or parties other than us. For more details, please refer to the table below. These Cookies are not integral to the functioning of Our Site and your use and experience of Our Site will not be impaired by refusing consent to them.

All Cookies used by and on Our Site are used in accordance with current Cookie Law.

Before Cookies are placed on your computer or device, you will be shown a pop-up banner requesting your consent to set those Cookies. By giving your consent to the placing of Cookies you are enabling us to provide the best possible experience and service to you. You may, if you wish, deny consent to the placing of Cookies; however certain features of Our Site may not function fully or as intended. You will be given the opportunity to allow different types of Cookies, such as Necessary and Functional.

Certain features of Our Site depend on Cookies to function. Cookie Law deems these Cookies to be “strictly necessary”. These Cookies are shown in the table below. Your consent will not be sought to place these Cookies, but it is still important that you are aware of them. You may still block these Cookies by changing your internet browser’s settings as detailed below, but please be aware that Our Site may not work properly if you do so. We have taken great care to ensure that your privacy is not at risk by allowing them.

The following Cookies may be placed on your computer or device:

Cookie Settings