This policy (together with our
Conditions of use and
any other documents referred to in it) sets out the basis on which any personal
data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us.
Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices
regarding your personal data and how we will treat it.
Use of this website by you constitutes
acceptance by you of this privacy policy (";Privacy Policy"). If you do not wish
to accept this Privacy Policy, please leave this website immediately.
The purpose of this Privacy Policy is:
-
to assure you that we recognise and fully
respect the privacy and personal data of the visitors to this website; and
-
to explain what personal information we
collect from this website and how we ensure its best protection.
This Privacy Policy governs this website
at
http://www.lawsocietyapproved.com (referred to in this Privacy Policy as the
" Website"). Other sites to which the Website may be linked are not covered by this Privacy
Policy.
This Privacy Policy covers only
information which is collected by the Law Society from the Website. It does not
cover information which the Law Society holds about solicitors and other
regulated persons in pursuance of its statutory functions and duties under the
Solicitors Act 1974.
Data protection
The Law Society complies with the Data
Protection Act 1998 (the "Act"). For the purposes of the Act, The Law Society is the data controller and sole owner of
the personal data collected on the Website.
The Law Society does not sell, share or
transfer this information except as set out in this Privacy Policy.
We use up-to-date industry procedures to
keep personal data as safe and secure as possible and to protect against loss,
unauthorised disclosure or access. Unfortunately, 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 the Website; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we
have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security
features to try to prevent unauthorised access.
The Act gives you the right to access
details that we hold about you. Your right of access can be exercised in
accordance with the Act. A small fee may be payable in respect of any access
request.
For more information please refer to our
Data Protection Policy.
Information we may collect from you
It is not necessary for you to register
with us in order to access the Website. If you do register, however, it will
allow us to personalise our services and offer you some additional benefits.
If you do register, you are responsible
for protecting your password and user name and must not share them with or
disclose them to anyone else.
When you register, the basic personal
information about you which we may collect and process is:
-
your name;
-
your user type (eg solicitor, trainee
solicitor, law student, member of the public);
-
your e-mail address;
-
your user ID and password.
Depending on what you are registering for,
additional information may be collected from you.
We may also collect and process
information provided by you at the time of posting material to the Website, as
well as details of your visist to the Website (including, but not limited to,
traffic data, location data, weblogs and other communication data), and the
resources that you use. Further, if you contact us, we may also keep a record of
that correspondence.
Uses made of the information
We may use information held about you in
the following ways:
-
to ensure that content from the Website is
presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer;
-
to provide you with information, products
or services that you request from us or which we feel may interest you, where
you have consented to be contacted for such purposes;
-
to allow you to participate in interactive
features of our service, when you choose to do so; and
-
to notify you about changes to our
service.
We may also use your data for the purposes
of advertising, marketing and public relations, so as to provide you with
information about goods and services which may be of interest to you and we may
contact you about these by post or telephone. If you do not want us to use your
data in this way, please email
webteam@lawsociety.org.uk
Changing the information we hold about you
If you would like to change the
registration information we hold about you or want to it to be removed from our
registration database , you may do so by returning to the personalisation area
of the service for which you have registered and changing or removing your
details as you wish.
Third Parties
We do not at present forward the
information collected about you to any third parties except where required by
law to do so or in order to enforce or apply our
Conditions of use.
However, we reserve the right to change this position at any time.
If The Law Society chooses to employ the
services of a third party it will inform you, but the change will only apply in
relation to information which we collect from you after we have informed you of
the change. We will not disclose any information we have already collected about
you without your consent, other than where required to do so by law or in order
to enforce or apply our
Conditions of use.
At all times, The Law Society will control
and be responsible for the use of your personal information.
Cookies
When you visit the Website, we issue a
"cookie" to your computer. This is a small program containing a unique code that
allows us to identify your computer. The cookie is used to note the different
areas of our website service which have recently been accessed through your
computer.
Information collected in this way is used
to develop and manage our online services by, for example, storing information
about your preferences, so as to enable us to customise the Website according to
your individual interests. The cookie alone contains no information which can
identify you personally. However, when you register on the Website, the cookie
will be combined with the personal information that you have provided as part of
your registration. If you wish, you are able to set up your computer to refuse
to accept cookies. However, if you do so, you may be unable to access certain
parts of the Website.
Changes to Privacy Policy
The internet and data privacy best
practice are both developing. We therefore reserve the right to revise this
Privacy Policy at any time. If this Privacy Policy changes in any way, we will
place an updated version on this page. Regularly reviewing this page ensures you
are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it and under what
circumstances, if any, we will share it with other parties.
Consent
By using the Website, you consent to the
collection and use of your personal information in the manner set out above.
You have the right to ask us not to
process your personal data for marketing purposes.
We will usually inform you (before
collecting your data) if we intend to use your data for such purposes or if we
intend to disclose your information to any third party for such purposes. You
can exercise your right to prevent such processing at any time by contacting us
at webteam@lawsociety.org.uk.
The Website may, from time to time,
contain links to and from the websites of our partner networks, advertisers and
affiliates. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that
these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any
responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies
before you submit any personal data to these websites.
The Law Society of England and Wales
strives to make its web information accessible to people with disabilities in
keeping with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.