Privacy Policy

At Olive Legal Associates Ltd, we take your privacy very seriously.

This privacy notice contains information about what data we collect and store about you and why. It will also inform you, as to whom this information may be shared with, the security precautions we have put in place to protect your data and how to contact us if you have a complaint.

We will respect your privacy and work hard to ensure we meet strict regulatory requirements.

We are sometimes obliged to share your Personal data with external authorities without notifying you e.g as required by the Anti-Money Laundering & Counter Terrorist Financing Act 2017. In all other cases, we will be transparent, and we will explain to you why we are requesting your data and how we are using it. 

This privacy policy outlines the type of personal information we collect and how we use and protect that information.

Who We Are

Olive Legal Associates LTD is the Data Controller in relation to the collection, storage and processing activities described below.

Olive Legal Associates LTD is an Independent Law Firm, registered in England and Wales with company number 15100626 and authorised and regulated by the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority under number 8005997.

Our Data Protection Compliance representative is Ms Aumayra Saleem, a director of the firm, who can be contacted at: 

Address: 119 Little Horton Road, Bradford, BD5 0HT.
Email: aumayra@olive-legal.co.uk

What We Need

When carrying out legal work we collect personal information that you provide to us, such as your name, address, date of birth, contact information, financial information etc. If you refuse to provide the information requested, then it may cause delay and we may be unable to continue to act for you or complete your matter.

The information that we need from you will vary from case to case and may be deemed as Personal Information (“Personal Data”) or Sensitive Personal Information (“Sensitive Personal Data”).

Sensitive Personal Data is information of a more sensitive nature, such as ethnicity, sexual orientation, political opinions, health information etc.

In every case where we act for you, as our client, we will need to collect Personal Data from you, in order to meet our responsibilities under Money Laundering Regulations and to complete ID checks.

It may be that for your specific case, we would need to gather Sensitive Personal Data, such as health information in Personal Injury cases, for example.

Whether information has to be provided by you, and why?

This personal information, name and contact details must be provided by you to us, to enable us to contact you to provide you with information on the services we offer. When we collect information from you, we will inform you whether you are required to provide this information to us.

Legal reasons we collect and use your personal information.

The law states that we are allowed to use personal information only if we have a proper and lawful reason to do so. This includes sharing it with others outside the firm e.g. an auditor of a relevant quality standard.

The UK GDPR says we must have one or more of these reasons:

Legal obligation: the processing is necessary for us to provide services and to comply with the law.

Legitimate interests: the processing is necessary for our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party unless there is a good reason to protect the individual’s personal data which overrides those legitimate interests. A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your information.

Contract: the processing is necessary for a contract we have with an individual, or because they have asked us to take specific steps before entering into a contract.

Consent: the individual has given clear consent for us to process their personal data for a specific purpose e.g. to send out marketing information.

How We Process Your Data

The GDPR require us to communicate to you the purposes for which we Process your Personal Information (the “Permitted Purposes”), together with the corresponding ‘Legal Basis’.

Legal Basis Permitted Purpose for example,

·       Where it is necessary to perform our contract with you or take steps at your request to enter the contract.

·       Where it is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation.

·       Where it is necessary for the purposes of our or another party’s legitimate interests, except where these are overridden by your interests, rights of freedoms.

·       Where you provide your consent

·       Where it is necessary to protect your vital interests or that of another person

·       Where it is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest on the basis of applicable law, for example, to comply with our money laundering and terrorist financing reporting requirements; and/or for the prevention or detection of fraud and other unlawful acts; to protect the public against dishonesty, malpractice or other seriously improper conduct, unfitness or incompetence; mismanagement or failures in services.

Information collected from other sources.

We collect the following information from other sources:

·       Public Records such as Land Registry where relevant to your matter

·       Information relating to your identity (e.g where electronic identification searches are undertaken)

·       Other parties you instruct us to contact (e.g doctors, employers, estate agents, accountants, banks, surveyors, medical professionals, courts regulatory bodies and other advisors and specialists relating to your matter). 

How We Collect Your Data

There are a number of ways in which we may collect Data, including, but not limited to:

Public Information – Personal Information about you or your business (if applicable) which is publicly available, for example on your employers’ website; public registers, such as the Insolvency Register; public professional social networking sites, the press; and relevant electronic data sources.

Voluntary Information – Information that you, yourself, provide to us voluntarily, or by request.

Third Parties – Information provided to us, about you, by Third Parties, such as your Agent(s), regulators, an Authorised Third Party, counterparties, lawyers and other professional parties, accountants etc., where such information is provided as a normal business practice in connection to the relevant circumstances of your case or dealings with us

Data You Provide To Us About Others

If you provide personal data to us about someone else (such as one of your directors or employees, or someone with whom you have business dealings, if applicable) you must ensure that you are entitled to disclose that personal data to us and that, without our taking any further steps, we may collect, use and disclose that personal data as described in this Privacy Policy. In particular, you must ensure the individual concerned is aware of the various matters detailed in this Privacy Policy, as those matters relate to that individual, including our identity, how to contact us, our purposes of collection, our personal data disclosure practices (including disclosure to overseas recipients), the individual’s right to obtain access to the personal data and make complaints about the handling of the personal data, and the consequences if the personal data is not provided (such as our inability to provide services).

Who Has Access To Your Data?

We will never sell or pass your Data on to a Third Party without your consent. We will not share your Data for marketing purposes.

There are, however, circumstances when we need to pass your Data to a Third Party as part of our normal business practice and in the furtherment of your case or dealings with us. Examples of such Third Parties include:

·       HMRC

·       The Court System

·       Opposition Solicitors

·       Our Agents, such as – Counsel/Barristers, Tracing Agents,Insurance Companies

·       HM Land Registry

·       Mortgage Provider

·       Secure Deposit Schemes, such as The Deposit Protection Scheme

·       Non-legal Experts, such as Medical Experts/Consultants, Engineer’s, Contractors

·       External Auditors, such as the SRA, ICO

Where Will Your Data Be Stored & How Do We Protect It?

Your Data, whether on paper or electronically will be securely stored at our Offices, which will only be accessible by the Managing Director and Staff who are assigned to your matter. If we have had to share your Data with a Third Party, such as The Court System of one of our Agents, the Data will be stored as per their Privacy Policy.

We take exceptional care in the technological and operational aspects of our work here at Olive Legal Associates Ltd in order to ensure the safety and confidentiality of your Data and use a secure Two Factor Password-Protected System for e-data. We process any and all data in strict compliance with our Privacy Policy and your Data is protected by our internal policies and procedures designed to minimise loss or damage through accident, negligence or deliberate actions.

How Long Do We Keep Your Data?

By Law, we are required to store your file, in its entirety, for a period of 6 years following the closing of your file, whether this be at the end of your matter or prior to this.

These files are kept either at our secured Offices or at a secured location off site.

Personal Injury matters, which involve Lifetime Awards or PI Trusts may be kept indefinitely.

Your Rights

Under GDPR, you have several rights in regard to your Data.

These include, but are not limited to, the right to:

·       request access to your personal information (known as a subject access request) and request certain information in relation to its processing

(A request for access to your personal data means you are entitled to a copy of the data we hold on you – such as your name, address, contact details, date of birth, information regarding your health etc.- but it does not mean you are entitled to the documents that contain this data) In certain circumstances, we may need to refuse your request or limit the disclosure, if it is the subject of Legal Professional Privilege belonging to one of more of our Clients.

·       request rectification of your personal information;
(If your Data is inaccurate or incomplete, you can require that corrections are made)

·       request the erasure of your personal information;
(You can ask for your data to be erased if there is not a compelling or legal obligation for Olive Legal Associates Ltd Solicitors to retain it)

·       request that we restrict the processing of your personal information; and
(You can ask to block or suppress the processing of your Data for certain reasons. This means that we are still permitted to keep your information but only to ensure we don’t use it in the future for those reasons you have restricted); and

·       object to the processing of your personal information
(Where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or that of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground);

If you wish to do any of the above, please email our Data Protection Compliance Staff Member, Ms Aumayra Saleem, aumayra@olive-lega.co.uk

We reserve the right to ask you to prove your identity by providing us with a copy of a valid means of identification in order for us to comply with our security obligations and to prevent unauthorised disclosure of data.

You will not, in general, have to pay a fee to exercise any of your individual rights set out in this Privacy policy. However, we may refuse to provide access and may charge a fee for access if the relevant data protection legislation allows us to do so, in which case we will provide reasons for our decision as required by the law.

We will consider any requests or complaints which we receive and provide you with a response in a timely manner. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may take your complaint to the relevant privacy regulator. We will provide you with details of your relevant regulator upon request.

The above rights are not absolute and each is subject to exceptions and qualifications. We will respond to your request within one month of its receipt. In some cases, we may not be able to fulfil your request before this date and may need to request more time. Where we cannot provide a full response to you for any reason, we will let you know about this in our initial reply to your request.

Telling us if your Personal Information is incorrect (The right to rectification)

If you think any information we have about you is incomplete or wrong, then you have the right to ask us to correct it.  Please contact us as above.

Our Website & Cookies

Please see the Privacy Policy relating to our Website at  www.olive-legal.co.uk

Updates To This Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy was last updated in February 2024. We reserve the right to update and change this Privacy Policy from time to time in order to reflect any changes to the way in which we process your personal data or changing legal requirements. In case of any such changes, we will post the changed Privacy Policy on our website or publish it otherwise. The changes will take effect as soon as they are posted on this website.

Contact Information and Complaints

How to contact us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or the Data we will obtain and process about you, please contact:

Olive Legal Associates Ltd
119 Little Horton Lane, Bradford, BD5 0HT

FAO: Data Protection Compliance

If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint or believe our processing of your information does not comply with Data Protection Law, you can make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/ or on 0303 123 1113.