Privacy Policy
Ardia & Co Solicitors ("we", "us", or "our") is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This policy explains how we collect, use, and protect any personal information you provide to us through our website or when contacting us.
For the purpose of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Controller is Ardia & Co Legal limited.
1. Information We Collect
We collect information from you in two ways:
Information you give us: This is information you provide by contacting us via email or telephone. It typically includes:
Your name
Email address and phone number
Details of your legal enquiry
Information we collect automatically (Technical Data): When you visit our website, we may automatically collect technical information, including your IP address, browser type, and operating system. This data is used to ensure the security and performance of our site and, in the future, to analyse website traffic via Google Analytics.
2. How We Use Your Information
We use your data for the following purposes:
To respond to your enquiries: If you email or call us, we use your details to answer your questions and discuss potential legal services.
To provide legal services: If you instruct us to act as your lawyers, we will process your data in accordance with our client engagement letter.
To improve our website: We may use technical data to understand how visitors use our site.
3. Legal Basis for Processing
Under UK data protection law, we rely on the following legal bases to process your data:
Legitimate Interest: To respond to your enquiries and manage our business operations.
Contract: Where we need to process your data to perform a contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you (i.e., providing legal advice).
4. Data Retention
We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.
If you make an enquiry but do not become a client, we will delete your details after a reasonable period (typically 12 months) unless you ask us to keep them.
5. Disclosure of Your Information
We do not sell your personal data. We may share your information with:
Service Providers: Third parties who provide IT and system administration services (e.g., our email or website hosting providers).
Regulators: The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) or other authorities if required by law.
6. Cookies and Analytics
Our website may use cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website.
Strictly Necessary Cookies: These are required for the operation of our website.
Analytics Cookies: We may use tools like Google Analytics to help us understand how the website is being used. You can choose to disable cookies through your browser settings.
7. Your Legal Rights
Under the UK GDPR, you have rights including:
Request access to your personal data.
Request correction of your personal data.
Request erasure of your personal data ("right to be forgotten").
Object to processing of your personal data.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details below.
8. Contact Us
If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our data practices, please contact us.