This Notice is primarily for the benefit of our clients or potential clients or for related third parties whose data we may process as part of the provision of legal services. We maintain and will provide separate privacy notices in relation to the collection and use of personal information about our staff and employees, including potential employees, during and after their working relationship with us.
This firm processes your data in accordance with the terms of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, the Data Protection Act 2018, the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (as amended by the Data Protection, Privacy and Electronic Communications (Amendments etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019) and the relevant provisions relating to the General Data Protection Regulation contained within the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (UK GDPR).
The terms ‘personal data’, ‘data controller, ‘data processor’ and ‘data subject’ are as defined in the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR.
This Data & Privacy Notice explains, in detail, the types of personal data we may collect about you when you interact with us. It also explains how we will store and handle that data and keep it safe. Unless otherwise indicated, references in this Data and Privacy Notice to the GDPR refer to the UK GDPR.
We know that there's a lot of information here, but we want you to be fully informed about your rights, and how our firm uses your data. We hope the following sections will answer any questions you have but if not, please do get in touch with us.
We are only entitled to hold and process your data where the law allows us to. The current law on data protection (Article 6 GDPR) sets out a number of different reasons for which a law firm may collect and process your personal data. These include:
The main purpose for our holding your data is to provide you with legal services under the agreement we have with you. This agreement is a contract between us and the law allows us to process your data for the purposes of performing a contract (or for the steps necessary to enter into a contract). We may also need to process your data to meet our contractual obligations to the Legal Aid Agency where you receive legal aid to fund your case or advice.
In specific situations, we require your data to pursue our legitimate interests in a way which might reasonably be expected as part of running our business and which does not materially impact your rights, freedom or interests. This may include to satisfy our external quality auditors or our Regulators. Should we identify a need to use this processing basis, we will have ensured our use of personal data is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests we have identified and that this processing has been balanced against the interests of the data subject whose information we need to use.
In some circumstances, we may need to process your data for the purposes that do not relate to our core functions but because there is a recognised legitimate interest and the data processing is in the public interest.
This may include:
Where data processing is based on recognised legitimate interest, we would not need to conduct a legitimate interest assessment and you may not be able to ask us to stop this processing.
If the law requires us to, we may need to collect and process your data. For example, we can pass on details of people involved in fraud or other criminal activity.
In some situations, we can collect and process your data with your consent. For example, when you tick a box to receive email newsletters. When collecting your personal data, we'll always make clear to you which data is necessary in connection with a particular service.
We normally collect your data when you provide it to us or when it is provided to us by others (your opponent's solicitors for example) during your case. You may give us your data by email; through an online web form; over the telephone; face to face; or by post.
We also collect data automatically with regard to each of your visits to our website including technical information.
You voluntarily give us your personal information for instance when:
Where we request information from you we will collect the information set out in the relevant web pages, or as explained to you over the telephone or face to face.
· you contact us via our website
· provide a comment on our website
· write a review
· sign up to any newsletters
· interact with us on social media platforms, and/or
· use our services.
Where we request information from you we will collect the information set out in the relevant web pages, or as explained to you over the telephone or face to face.
We may collect personal data as follows:
We may gather details of your age; ethnicity; gender etc. if required to do so by the Legal Aid Agency where you are in receipt of Legal Aid. Where you have Legal Aid, we may also gather financial information from you.
We also collect and hold information about your case or legal problem.
Depending on the circumstances of their legal matters, for some clients, we may have access to or process personal data relating to criminal convictions and offences or related security measures. The special condition for processing this data (pursuant to Schedule 1 and Article 10 of the GDPR) is because it is necessary for, connected to and/or or relates to legal claims including for the purposes of assisting with legal proceedings, obtaining legal advice and/or establishing, exercising or defending legal rights. We have considered the risks and impact associated with the processing of criminal offence data not least with regard to data minimisation, security and transparency. All such data is processed in line with the commitments and policies within this Privacy Notice.
Depending on the circumstances of their legal matters, for some clients, we may have access to or process special category data including:
In addition to contract lawful condition for processing under Article 6 of the GDPR (see above), Article 9(2)(f) of the GDPR) permits us to process this data where it is necessary for, connected to and/or or relates to legal claims including for the purposes of assisting with legal proceedings, obtaining legal advice and/or establishing, exercising or defending legal rights. We will only process this specific data if it is necessary to establish, exercise or defend a client’s legal rights. We will ensure that the use of this data is relevant and proportionate and that we do not hold any more data than is needed. All such data is processed in line with the commitments and policies within this Privacy Notice.
We collect certain related technical information including, but not limited to, traffic data, location data, logs (including, where available, the IP address and location of the device connecting to the online services and other technical information and identifiers about the device and the nature of the visit such as clickstream to, through and from our website) and other communication data, and the resources that you use.
On occasions, we acquire information from other companies, to collect information about how visitors to our website use the site. Information is also collected about how you arrived at our websites in the first place, including what links or adverts you have viewed or clicked on to reach us, or any search terms you have used. We do this to maintain and improve our website, getting a better understanding of visitor and client profiles and ultimately delivering a better experience. Information may be collected through the use of cookies or pixels.
CCTV may be used at our offices both internally and externally and personal data in form of images or CCTV footage may be recorded.
We operate CCTV in accordance with the ICO CCTV Code of Practice and are processing CCTV data in order to pursue our legitimate interests of:
CCTV is never used for any automated decision taking.
Where CCTV is in use and under our control, signs are displayed notifying individuals that CCTV is in operation. Images captured by CCTV will not be kept for longer than is necessary and ordinarily, will not be retained for more than 30 days. However, on occasions, there may be a need to keep images for longer such as where a crime is being investigated.
We will only disclose images and audio to other authorised bodies such as the police or other law enforcement agencies for the purposes set out above.
We record incoming telephone calls to 0800, 0808 and office reception numbers only. Your personal data will not be collected through our telephone recordings as all personal details are redacted (audibly removed).
We record conversations for the following reasons:
Call recordings are destroyed in accordance with the retention information in this Notice. (They are deleted after 31 days. If any recordings are downloaded and stored for training purposes they are deleted after 3 years.) If the recording is available, you can request a copy of your call by making a data subject access request to the department handling your matter or the Risk & Compliance Department”
We only use your data for the purposes of providing you with legal advice, assistance and where appropriate, representation and for reasons directly associated with those services (i.e. providing information to quality auditors; the Legal Aid Agency etc.).
In particular:
We also use data to communicate with our regulators or legislators and to obey laws, regulations and codes of conduct that apply to us.
For example, we will process your data to enable us to identify and/or verify your identity and conduct fraud, credit and anti-money laundering checks in accordance with anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing legislation and regulation.
We may use your data to notify you of our other services but only where we have your consent to do so.
We also use data to develop our business and services. In particular:
A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site.
You can choose to accept or decline most cookies although some we are able to use without your consent. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.
By law, some cookies such as those that collect data for statistical purposes and appearance cookies that adapt appearance of the website (such as by changing the language to suit your preferences), may be placed on your computer without your permission. We will however provide a simple opt-out mechanism.
Other cookies may not be placed on your computer without your consent, unless they are strictly necessary to the operation of the service that we provide on the website.
e.g. We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system.
We use Google Analytics to monitor how our website is being used so we can make improvements. Our use of Google Analytics requires us to pass to Google your IP address (but no other information) – Google uses this information to prepare site usage reports for us, but Google may also share this information with other Google services. In particular, Google may use the data collected to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network. Related information:
How Google uses this information .
If you have any queries about the cookies that we use, or would like more information, please contact: clientcare@switalskis.com
In order to provide an optimum service to our clients, under the agreement we have with you to provide legal services, we may utilise technology which uses artificial intelligence (AI). In particular, we may use AI for the following:
However, we aim to take steps to ensure that we remain fully accountable and our use of AI technology is safe, secure and compliant with data protection legislation as well as the professional rules that govern our work.
In addition to adhering to the data processing principles in the UK GDPR including fairness and accuracy, we also seek to evaluate and improve the ‘statistical accuracy' of data generated by any AI system. Statistical accuracy refers to the accuracy of an AI system itself. Any AI system we use needs to be sufficiently statistically accurate to ensure that any personal data generated by it is processed lawfully and fairly.
In many cases, the outputs of an AI system are not intended to be treated as factual information about an individual. Instead, they are intended to represent a statistically informed guess as to something which may be true about the individual now or in the future. To avoid such personal data being misinterpreted as factual, we seek to ensure that the records generated by an AI tool indicate:
Wherever possible, we will ensure any factors that may result in inaccuracies in personal data are corrected and the risk of errors is minimised.
We seek to apply enhanced and comprehensive security whenever AI is implemented. Personal data will only be processed through an AI tool where we have conducted a data protection impact assessment and are assured that we can put in place practical steps to mitigate any risks and adequately maintain and protect confidentiality and privacy.
Automated decision-making takes place when an electronic system uses personal information to make a decision without human intervention. We are allowed to use automated decision-making without your consent provided that we implement appropriate safeguards including where we:
If we make an automated decision on the basis of any particularly sensitive personal information, we must have either your explicit written consent or it must be justified in the public interest, and we must also put in place appropriate measures to safeguard your rights.
We do not envisage that any decisions will be taken about you using automated means, however we will notify you in writing if this position changes.
Where all parties consent, we may use WhatsApp as a convenient way to communicate with clients and provide updates on their case.
While we strive to keep our communications secure and will keep WhatsApp messages confidential and only access them when necessary to provide our services, it is important to understand that WhatsApp messages, like other communications, are stored on client files for record-keeping and may potentially be used in the legal process.
Please be aware that WhatsApp operates its own privacy policy , which we encourage you to read. We also encourage those who may engage with us via this platform to secure access to their devices and use up to date versions of the software for secure communication.
We take protecting your data very seriously. The data you give us may be subject to Legal Professional Privilege and is often extremely sensitive and confidential.
With this in mind we will treat your data with the utmost care and take all appropriate steps to protect it. We have clear data protection and information security policies and procedures in place (along with Regulatory and other legal obligations to keep your data safe) and these are regularly assessed as part of our Quality Standards and compliance processes.
We protect our IT system from Cyber Attack. Access to your personal data is password-protected, and sensitive data is secured by encryption.
We regularly monitor our system for possible vulnerabilities and attacks, and we carry out penetration testing to identify ways to further strengthen security.
We only keep your data for as long as is necessary for the purpose(s) for which it was provided.
We use the following retention periods and review these periodically to make sure we are only keeping personal data and other data for as long as is needed:
For some data we may decide that it is proper and appropriate to keep data for longer than the above, but we will notify you if we believe that your case falls into this category or there is another reason your data has to be retained.
We sometimes share your personal data with trusted third parties. We only do this where it is necessary for providing you legal services or for the effective operation of our legal practice.
For example, we may share your data with barristers; experts; translators; costs draftsmen; process servers; secure file storage and destruction companies; auditors; the company that securely hosts our off-site cloud storage servers.
We apply a strict policy to those recipients or data processors to keep your data safe and protect your privacy. In particular:
Your data is stored and processed within the United Kingdom (UK).
We may transfer personal data overseas. In particular, where a client matter involves obtaining legal or other professional advice from another country, our firm may need to transfer details about the client matter, including personal data, to a third party in that country.
Whenever we transfer any data out of the UK, we ensure that the degree of protection afforded to it is not materially lower than in the UK and that there are appropriate safeguards in place governing the transfer and subsequent processing, in accordance with our internal processes and policies as well as regulatory and legal obligations. In particular, we ensure that at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:
1. the right to be informed – the provision of clear and concise information about what we do with your personal data, as outlined within this Data & Privacy Notice
2. the right of access – commonly referred to as a ‘data subject access request’, this enables you to request a copy of your personal data to understand how and why we are using your data, and to check we are doing so lawfully. If we choose not to action your request, we will explain to you the reasons for our refusal
3. the right to rectification – the ability to have inaccurate personal data rectified or, in specific circumstances dependent on the purposes for our processing of your data, the ability to have incomplete personal data completed
4. the right to erasure – also known as the right to be forgotten, this permits you to request we erase your personal data. This only applies to data we hold at the time your request is received and does not apply to any data that may be obtained in the future. Please note that this is not an absolute right and only applies in certain circumstances. We may have overriding duties to retain some data which you cannot ask to be erased immediately or at all. For instance, once you become a client of our firm or you are an interested party in a case, we will be required by our regulators and for legal purposes to retain some of your personal data and other information within casefiles for a certain period (for retention periods, please see above)
5. the right to restrict processing – the ability to request a temporary restriction on the processing of your personal data, where one of a limited number of reasons specified by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) applies
6. the right to data portability – the ability to receive personal data you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format. This also gives you the right to request that we transmit this data directly to another Data Controller
7. the right to object – the ability, in certain circumstances, to request we stop processing your personal data. This request may relate to all of your personal data we hold or only certain information, and may only apply to a particular purpose for processing
8. rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling – restrictions on the use of automated decision making and profiling where such decisions have a legal or similarly significant effect on you.
For further details on your rights, please visit the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/ .
For information on how your information is used, how we maintain the security of our information, and to exercise your rights to access information we hold on you, please contact us. Similarly, if you believe that the information we hold is wrong or out of date, please let us know and we will update it. The department responsible for data protection is the Risk & Compliance Department. If you have a complaint or request please contact Susan Willoughby or Steve Dibb at:
Switalskis Solicitors Limited
49 Ropergate
Pontefract
WF8 1JZ
Email: clientcare@switalskis.com
Telephone: 01977 703215
Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this policy. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement or policy applicable to the website in question.
In accordance with the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, should you wish to raise a complaint about a potential breach of your personal data or if you have any other concern about our handling of your personal data, then, we have put in place the following steps to facilitate that process.
Should you wish to raise a complaint about a potential breach of your personal data or if you have any other concern about our handling of your personal data, please contact Susan Willoughby or Steve Dibb (using the contact details provided above) [or you may wish to complete our data protection complaints form . They will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and, without undue delay, take appropriate steps to respond to the complaint and inform you of the outcome.
In the event of an allegation of a breach of Personal Data and/or any concern that our firm has not handled your personal information properly, we will consider whether a report needs to be made to the ICO. Not all breaches are reportable and we will advise you of the results of our assessment.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the ICO. For further information or to contact the ICO please visit: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/data-protection-complaints or call 0303 123 1113.
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 or complaint you made to us regarding the use of your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office. For further information or to contact the ICO please visit: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/data-protection-complaints or you can contact them by calling 0303 123 1113 .
Alternatively, please go online to www.ico.org.uk/concerns (please note we can't be responsible for the content of external websites).
We do not intend to process a client or related third party’s personal information for any reason other than stated within this privacy notice. If this changes, we will update this privacy notice on this webpage and in any documentation we will send to you. However, internet and data privacy best practice and acceptable standards are developing. We therefore reserve the right to revise this Notice at any time. If this Notice changes in any way, we will place an updated version on this webpage. For all other clients with ongoing instructions, we will provide a copy directly. Continued instructions to us will signify that you agree to any such changes.
Version: June 2026