Privacy Policy

data protection privacy notice.

We are committed to protecting your personal data and respecting your privacy.

This privacy notice explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your information when you engage with us, and your rights in relation to your personal information in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

who we are.

Howell-Jones LLP is a law firm authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

We provide legal services to individuals and businesses.

We collect and use certain personal information about you. When we do so we are regulated under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 and we are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information for the purposes of those laws.

the personal information we collect and use.

information collected by us.

In the course of advising and / or acting for you we will collect the following personal information when you provide it to us and when you contact us to enquire about our services, completing forms on our website or in person and when you communicate with us via phone, email or post:

  • Your name, address and telephone number.
  • Information to enable us to check and verify your identity, eg your date of birth, passport, driving licence details and utility bills.
  • Electronic contact details, eg your email address and mobile phone number.
  • Information relating to the matter in which you are seeking our advice or representation.

In the course of advising and / or acting for you we may collect the following personal information depending on why you have instructed us:

  • Information to enable us to undertake a credit or other financial checks on you
  • Your financial details so far as relevant to your instructions, eg the source of your funds if you are instructing on a purchase transaction.
  • Your National Insurance and tax details.
  • Your bank and/or building society details.
  • Details of your professional online presence, eg LinkedIn profile, X and similar social media accounts.
  • Details of your spouse/partner and dependants or other family members, eg if you instruct us on a family matter or a will.
  • Your employment status and details including salary and benefits, eg if you instruct us on matter related to your employment or in which your employment status or income is relevant such as the purchase of a property.
  • Details of your pension arrangements, eg if you instruct us on a pension matter or in relation to financial arrangements following breakdown of a relationship.
  • Your employment records including, where relevant, records relating to sickness and attendance, performance, disciplinary, conduct and grievances (including relevant special category personal data such as criminal convictions), eg if you instruct us on matter related to your employment or in which your employment records are relevant.
  • Your racial or ethnic origin, gender and sexual orientation, religious or similar beliefs, eg if you instruct us on discrimination claim.
  • Your trade union membership, eg if you instruct us on discrimination claim or your matter is funded by a trade union.
  • Personal identifying information, such as your hair or eye colour or your parents’ names, eg if you instruct us to incorporate a company for you.
  • Your medical records, eg if we are acting for you in a personal injury claim.
  • Information about your use of our IT, communication and other systems, and other monitoring information, eg if using our secure online client portal

This personal data is required to enable us to provide our service to you.  If you do not provide personal data we ask for, it may delay or prevent us from providing services to you.

information collected from other sources.

We collect most of this information from you direct.  However, we may also collect information:

  • from publicly accessible sources, eg Companies House or HM Land Registry;
  • directly from a third party, eg:
    • sanctions screening providers;
    • credit reference agencies;
    • client due diligence providers;
    • other law firms;
    • the courts;
    • HMRC.
  • from a third party with your consent, eg:
    • your bank or building society, another financial institution or advisor;
    • consultants and other professionals we may engage in relation to your matter;
    • your employer and/or trade union, professional body or pension administrators;
    • your doctors, medical and occupational health professionals;
  • via our website – we use cookies on our website (for more information on cookies, please see our cookie policy).
  • via our information technology (IT) systems, eg:
    • case management, document management and time recording systems;
    • reception logs;
    • automated monitoring of our websites and other technical systems, such as our computer networks and connections, CCTV and access control systems, communications systems, email and instant messaging systems;

How and why we use your personal information.

Under data protection law, we can only use your personal data if we have a proper reason for doing so.

A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your information, so long as this is not overridden by your own rights and interests.

We will use (process) your personal data:

  • Contractual necessity for the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract:
    • to provide legal services to you
    • updating and enhancing your records
    • to trace your whereabouts to contact you about your matter, and
    • recovering debt
  • Legal obligation to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations:
    • conducting checks to identify you and verify your  identity
    • screening for financial and other sanctions or embargoes
    • updating and enhancing your records
    • statutory returns
    • ensuring safe working practices, staff administration and assessments
    • ensuring the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information
    • other processing necessary to comply with professional, legal and regulatory obligations that apply to our business, eg under health and safety regulations or relating to quality checks, audits, enquiries or investigations by regulatory bodies or rules issued by our professional regulator
  • Legitimate interests for us or those of a third party:
    • ensuring business policies are adhered to, eg policies covering security and internet use
    • operational reasons, such as improving efficiency, training and quality control
    • ensuring the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information
    • statistical analysis to help us manage our practice, eg in relation to our financial performance, client base, work type or other efficiency measures
    • updating and enhancing your records
    • preventing unauthorised access and modifications to systems
    • marketing our services to existing and former clients
  • Consent – where you have given consent. The above does not apply to special category personal data, which we will only process with your explicit consent.

Special category personal data includes personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, philosophical beliefs or trade union membership, genetic and biometric data, data concerning health, sex life or sexual orientation

We will use your personal data to.

  • Deliver our legal services to you
  • Manage our relationship with you
  • Carry out identification and verification checks
  • Communicate with third parties as required by your matter
  • Company with our legal, regulatory and professional obligations.

who we share your personal information with.

We routinely share personal data with:

  • professional advisers and experts involved in your matter who we instruct on your behalf or refer you to, eg barristers, medical professionals, accountants, tax advisors or other experts;
  • other third parties where necessary to carry out your instructions, eg your mortgage provider, estate agent, search agencies, panel managers, other conveyancers or HM Land Registry in the case of a property transaction or Companies House;
  • courts, to comply with legal requirements, and for the administration of justice:
  • credit reference agencies;
  • our insurers and brokers;
  • external auditors, eg in relation to ISO, CQS or Lexcel accreditation compliance specialists and the audit of our accounts;
  • our bank;
  • external service suppliers, representatives and agents that we use to make our business more efficient, eg IT and cloud service providers, typing services, marketing agencies;
  • Regulatory bodies (e.g. the Solicitors Regulation Authority, HMRC, Land Registry, National Crime Agency).

We only allow our service providers to handle your personal data if we are satisfied they take appropriate measures to protect your personal data.

We also impose contractual obligations on service providers to ensure they can only use your personal data to provide services to us and to you.

We may disclose and exchange information with law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations. We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law. We will not share your personal data with any other third party.

promotional communications.

We may use your personal data to send you updates (by email, text message, social media platfoms, telephone or post) about legal developments that might be of interest to you and/or information about our services. We have a legitimate interest in processing your personal data for promotional purposes (see above “How and why we use your personal information”). This means we do not usually need your consent to send you promotional communications.  However, where consent is needed, we will ask for this consent separately and clearly. We will always treat your personal data with the utmost respect and never sell or share it with other organisations outside Howell-Jones LLP for marketing purposes.

whether information has to be provided by you, and if so why.

We will inform you at the point of collecting information from you, whether you are required to provide the information to us.

how we store your personal information.

We take appropriate technical and organisational security measures to protect your data. This includes secure servers, encrypted communications (where agreed), and restricted access.

how long your personal information will be kept.

We will keep your personal data after we have finished advising or acting for you. We will do so for one of these reasons:

  • to respond to any questions, complaints or claims made by you or on your behalf;
  • to show that we treated you fairly;
  • to keep records required by law.

We will not retain your data for longer than necessary for the purposes set out in this notice.  Different retention periods apply for different types of data.   When it is no longer necessary to retain your personal data, we will delete or anonymise it.

transfer of your information out of the UK.

To deliver services to you, it is sometimes necessary for us to share your personal data outside the UK, eg:

  • with your and our service providers located outside the UK;
  • if you are based outside the UK;
  • where there is an international dimension to the matter in which we are advising you.

These transfers are subject to special rules under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

If you would like further information please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ below).

your rights.

Under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 you have a number of important rights free of charge. In summary, those include:

  • the right to be provided with a copy of your personal data (the right of access)
  • the right to require us to correct any mistakes in your personal data (the right of rectification)
  • the right to require us to delete your personal data in certain situations (the right to be forgotten)
  • the right to require us to restrict processing of your personal data in certain circumstances, (the right to restrict processing)
  • the right to move, copy or transfer your personal data (the right of data portability)
  • the right to object to processing of your personal data
  • the right to object to decisions being taken by automated means which produce legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affect you (the right not to be subject to automated individual decision-making)
  • the right to withdraw consent (where applicable) to us processing your data
  • The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)

For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the Guidance from the ICO on individuals’ rights under the UK GDPR and the Dara Protection Act 2018. If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please:

  • email, call or write to us
  • 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

If you would like to unsubscribe from any email newsletter you can also click on the ‘unsubscribe’ button at the bottom of the email newsletter.

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.

how to complain.

We hope that we can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your information. The UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 also gives you right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. In the UK, this is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ or telephone: 0303 123 1113.

If you reside or work in another country within the European Economic Area, you may also have the right to complain to the relevant supervisory authority in that jurisdiction.

changes to this privacy notice.

This privacy notice was last reviewed and updated on 10 June 2025. We may change this privacy notice from time to time.

how to contact us.

Please contact us if you have any questions about this privacy notice, wish to exercise your data protection right(s) or inform us of any updates to the information we hold about you. Our contact details are:

Data Privacy Manager: Simon Carter
Address: 75 Surbiton Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 2AF
Telephone: 020 8549 5186
Email: enquiries@howell-jones.com

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