Privacy Policy

1. Important information and who we are

This privacy notice aims to give you information on how Bonsai Law collects and processes your personal data, how we use it, the legal basis for using it and how long we keep it. It also tells you who we share this information with, what we do to protect your data and how to get in touch with us.

This privacy notice is relevant to our dealings with our clients and prospective clients, our staff, our solicitors and candidates considering a career with Bonsai Law.

Our website is not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children except where you enter information into our forms for the purposes of estate planning or an immigration assessment. If you do so, we will treat such data with the utmost care in accordance with our data protection policy and the data protection legislation.

Controller and contact details

Bonsai Law is the controller and responsible for your personal data. We have not appointed a data protection officer, but if you have any questions about this privacy notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact us using the details below.

Changes to the privacy notice and third-party links

We regularly review our internal privacy practices and may change this policy from time to time. Where it is practicable, we will notify you by email of any significant changes. It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current — please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.

This website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements.

2. The data we collect about you

Personal data means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data). We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you, grouped as follows:

• Identity Data — first name, maiden name, last name, address, marital status, title, date of birth and gender, personal circumstances, employment history, and identification documents such as passport or driving licence, utility bills and bank statements.
• Contact Data — address, email address and telephone numbers.
• Financial Data — employment status, bank account and payment card details and other data required for processing payments and fraud prevention.
• Information relating to our legal advice — personal data relevant to any dispute, grievance, investigation, arbitration or other legal advice we have been asked to provide.
• Physical Access Data — details of your visits to our premises.
• Transaction Data — details about payments to and from you and other details of services you have purchased from us.
• Technical Data — IP address, login data, browser type and version, device type, time zone, plug-in types, operating system and platform.
• Usage Data — information about how you use our website, products and services.
• Marketing and Communications Data — your preferences in receiving marketing from us and your communication preferences.

We do not collect any “Special Categories” of personal data about you (such as race or ethnicity, religious beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, or health, genetic and biometric data), nor any information about criminal convictions and offences.

3. How is your personal data collected?

We use different methods to collect data from and about you, including through:

• Direct interactions — you may give us your Identity, Contact and Financial Data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise; when you seek legal advice, apply for our services, subscribe to our publications, request marketing, attend our events, or give us feedback.
• Automated technologies — as you interact with our website, we use cookies, server logs and similar technologies to collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns.
• Third parties or publicly available sources — such as analytics and search information providers, payment and delivery service providers, and publicly available sources such as Companies House and the Electoral Register.

4. How we use your personal data

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you; where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests; and where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.

Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data, other than in relation to sending third-party direct marketing communications to you by email or text message. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us. The main purposes for which we use your data include:

• To register you as a new client and to provide you or your organisation with legal advice and services.
• To process and deliver your matter, including managing payments, fees and charges and collecting money owed to us.
• To manage our relationship with you, including notifying you about changes to our terms or this policy and dealing with complaints.
• To administer and protect our business and this website (troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting).
• To deliver relevant website content, to use data analytics to improve our website and services, and (where permitted) to make suggestions about services that may interest you.
• To comply with our legal and regulatory responsibilities, including to the SRA, and to defend or exercise our legal rights.

5. Disclosures of your personal data

We may share your personal data with internal parties within Bonsai Law and with external third parties, including service providers who provide IT and system administration; professional advisers such as bankers, auditors and insurers; HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other authorities; courts, tribunals and other parties to litigation; and third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or our assets.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

6. International transfers

Some of our external third parties may be based outside the UK, so their processing of your personal data may involve a transfer of data outside the UK. Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the UK, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by implementing at least one appropriate safeguard — such as transferring to countries deemed to provide an adequate level of protection, or using specific contracts approved for use in the UK. Please contact us if you would like further information.

7. Data security

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. We limit access to your personal data to those who have a business need to know, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. We have procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

8. Data retention

We will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. To determine the appropriate retention period we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure, the purposes for which we process it, and applicable legal requirements.

9. Your legal rights

Under certain circumstances you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data, including the right to:

• request access to your personal data;
• request correction of your personal data;
• request erasure of your personal data;
• object to processing of your personal data;
• request restriction of processing your personal data;
• request the transfer of your personal data; and
• withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data.

You will not usually have to pay a fee to access your personal data or to exercise any of the other rights. However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive, or refuse to comply in those circumstances. We may need to request specific information from you to confirm your identity, and we try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month.

10. Glossary — lawful basis

• Legitimate Interest — the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best service and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests.
• Performance of Contract — processing your data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party, or to take steps at your request before entering into such a contract.
• Comply with a legal obligation — processing your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal or regulatory obligation that we are subject to.