CLIENT PRIVACY NOTICE

St James Legal Advice Centre CIO (referred to as SJLAC) will use information about you (known as personal data) in order to provide you with our legal advice services. This notice provides you with information about what type of personal data we may collect about you, how we handle it and your rights in respect of this data. It was last updated on 22 January 2022.  

We know that there is a lot of information here, but we want you to be fully informed about  your rights, and how SJLAC uses your data. We hope the below will answer any questions  you have but if not, please do get in touch with us. 

1. Who we are 

SJLAC is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation which aims to provide persons residing in the Greater London area free legal advice, assistance and other legal services, which such persons would be unable otherwise to obtain by reason of their lack of means. 

In using your data, SJLAC acts as a “data controller’, which means SJLAC will decide what  data to collect and how to use it in accordance with the law.  

2. Who has access to your personal information 

Legal advice is provided by SJLAC via legal clinics, email and telephone. SJLAC provides its services through volunteers, these include volunteer legal advisers (qualified lawyers) and  assistants (who are not legal qualified, for example students). 

Those volunteering with SJLAC will have access to your personal information. Our  volunteers act on behalf of SJLAC and use your data as described in sections 3 to 5 below.  SJLAC remains responsible for how they use your data. 

3. What sort of data do we collect as part of our legal service? 

You may be referred to us by another individual or organisation. Alternatively, you may  contact us directly via our email, or telephone. Your first contact with us may also be by  attending a clinic in person. 

At this stage and when you first attend a clinic in person, we collect personal information  about you. This information will include your name, contact details (telephone, email and  address), and details of the issue you are facing, including any relevant personal information  that you provide to us. 

During the provision of our legal services, we will collect or record information about you and  your matter, including the following: 

• Name and contact details (as above); 

• information collected directly from you relating to your matter (your case or legal  problem); 

• records which we create about you, such as our internal notes and assessments, the  advice we provide you;  

• any communications with or about you; and 

• information collected from other parties with your permission.  

Sensitive personal information 

We might need to ask you for, and use, information about you which is sensitive in nature.  

You may also provide us with this information, which we will record. For example,  information about your physical and mental health, or disability, or information about your 

finances. This may be collected if it is relevant to your legal matter and will also be collected  for our monitoring purposes (see section 5.1). 

We use this data in order to provide you with the agreed legal services, and to manage our  relationship with you. 

4. Sharing your personal data as part of our legal service 

In providing you with legal advice and assistance with your matter, we may share relevant  information relating to your matter with a third party (organisation or individual outside of  SJLAC and yourself), for instance in contacting your landlord, a council, a medical  professional or a public authority. 

We will first obtain your consent before contacting another party about your matter (either to  obtain information about you from a third party or convey any information about you to a third  party). 

5. Other uses and sharing of your information 

5.1 Additional use of sensitive categories of data 

In addition to the use of your sensitive personal information as outlined in section 3 above,  we may also use sensitive categories of data about you as follows: 

• Information about your health and any disabilities may be used to facilitate your access to our services, and to ensure health and safety when providing our services, or for safeguarding purposes. 

• We will also collect diversity information including data about ethnicity, age, gender,  disability, and long-term illness or health condition, in order to review equality of  opportunity and treatment. Each piece of information is optional to provide, is  collected in a separate document, which does contain your name.  

• Aggregated and anonymous diversity information will be shared with LawWorks.  LawWorks (www.lawworks.org.uk) is a charity which assists those seeking or  providing pro bono legal advice. LawWorks provides us with some resources,  including our main client management system.  

5.2 Additional purposes of use 

Your personal data may also be used by us: 

• to comply with legal requirements, such as regulatory requirements, to detect or  prevent fraud or unlawful activities; and 

• to protect or enforce legal rights, or for other purposes permitted or required by law. 

For these purposes, your personal data may also be shared with other relevant parties, such  as law enforcement bodies, our professional advisors, or other legal or regulatory authorities.  

5.3 Service providers 

Our service providers, for example, those providing technology services, may also store or  process your personal data on behalf of SJLAC. They act as our ‘data processors’, meaning  that we decide how they use your personal data, and we are responsible for their use of your  data.

6. Legal basis for use of your information 

Data protection law sets out a number of different reasons for which we may collect and  process your personal data. These include: 

Contractual obligation  

The main purpose of our holding your data is to help you in connection with the matter you  have come to see us about. This means that we are holding your data to provide you with  legal services under the agreement between you and SJLAC, that SJLAC will assist you with  your legal problem. 

This means that where we collect, use and share data to provide you with legal services  (sections 3 and 4 above), our legal basis is that such activities are necessary for  performance of the contract for legal services between you and us. 

Legitimate interests 

When we are first contacted by you, or by a referee, prior to agreeing to provide you with  legal services (see section 3), we collect information in our legitimate interests in responding  to your enquiry. 

In specific situations, we require your data to pursue our legitimate interests in a way which  might reasonably be expected as part of running SJLAC and which does not materially  impact your rights, freedom or interests. This may include occasions where we are required  to comply with quality standards, regulators requirements and/or our auditors. 

This includes the additional uses and sharing of your data described in section 5 above  which are necessary in our legitimate interests in managing our relationship with you,  managing our business, monitoring diversity, safeguarding, and investigating fraud or  unlawful activities. 

Consent 

We can collect and process your data with your consent. This includes: 

• Information which you provide to us about yourself and your matter (see section 3). 

• Information which we share with third parties with your consent. 

You may withdraw your consent for us to collect, use or share your data at any time – see  section 8 below. 

Legal compliance 

Where the law may require us to, we may need to collect and process your data. For  example, we are required to pass on details of people involved in fraud or other criminal  activity, and also to comply with equality laws, and health and safety laws.

6. Location of our activities 

SJLAC is based in the UK, and uses your personal data within the UK. We do not generally  transfer your personal data outside of the UK.  

In some cases, where our technology systems are provided by third parties (see section 5.3  above), their data centres may be located in countries outside the UK. However, if we ever  have to share your personal data with third parties and suppliers outside the European  Economic Area and the UK we will seek your consent to do so.

7. How long will we keep your data? 

We will retain your personal data for as long as we need it for the purposes specified above.  This will depend on the type of information held and the reason for holding it. Normally, most  records are retained for six years after your matter ends. 

We will keep information about you:  

• for as long as necessary to comply with any legal requirement concerning your  information, including to comply with our legal obligations and to defend our legal rights. 

• to resolve any potential queries, issues or complaints which arises; 

• to maintain business records; 

• to ensure that information about you is accurate and up to date; and 

• for the purposes of anonymised research and statistical analysis. 

8. Your data protection rights 

In accordance with data protection laws, you have a right to request: 

• To obtain a copy of the personal data we hold about you at any time; 

• The correction of your personal data when incorrect, out of date or incomplete. 

• That we stop any consent-based processing of your personal data after you withdraw  that consent. 

• In some circumstances, to request us to erase or restrict our use of your data, or  otherwise to object to our processing of your data for reasons relating to your situation. 

Note that there are certain limitations and exemptions to these rights which we may apply  depending on the circumstances.  Whenever you have given us your consent to use your personal data, you have the right to  change your mind at any time and withdraw that consent. 

In cases where we are processing your personal data on the basis of our legitimate interest,  you can ask us to stop for reasons connected to your individual situation. We must then do  so unless we believe we have a legitimate overriding reason to continue processing your  personal data. 

Please contact us to send us requests to exercise these rights (specifying what you are  requesting), or if you would like further information about them (see contact details below). If  we choose not to action your request, we will explain to you the reasons for our refusal. 

If you feel that your data has not been handled correctly, or you are unhappy with our  response to any requests you have made to us regarding the use of your personal data, you  have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office. 

You can contact them by calling 0303 123 1113, or online www.ico.org.uk/concerns. 

9. Our contact details 

St James Legal Advice Centre, St James Church, St James’s Lane, Muswell Hill, London N10 3DB 

Email: manager@stjameslegaladvice.org

10.  Privacy Notice

Last updated November 2024