We are a firm of solicitors, advocates and mediators that is Lexcel Quality Mark Accredited and hold contracts with the Legal Aid Agency for the provision of Civil Legal Advice and representation in Family Law matters from our Offices in Braintree, Essex. We also have Offices in Reading, Berkshire from where the company trades as Albin & Co Solicitors specialising in Criminal Law and Mental Health Law.

Boyd Carter Solicitors & Mediators is a trading name of Albin & Co Limited (8355111) whose Registered Office is at 46A West Street, Reading, Berks, RG1 1TZ  where a list of directors can be inspected. Albin & Co Limited is Authorised & Regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the independent regulator of the Law Society of England and Wales (00591646).

http://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/code-of-conduct.page

PRIVACY NOTICE

Please read the following information carefully.  This Privacy Notice contains information about what data we collect and store about you and why.  It also tells you who we share this information with, the security mechanisms we have put in place to protect your data and how to contact us if you have any questions or a complaint.

Who are we?

Data is collected, processed and stored by Albin & Co Ltd; we are what is known as the Data Controller of the personal information you provide to us.

Albin & Co Ltd is a limited company registered under number 8355111.  Authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) under number 591646.

Albin & Co Ltd is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) registration reference 9968200.

We are not required to appoint a Data Protection Officer. However, the Compliance Officer of Legal Practice (COLP) is Chris Albin and he can be contacted by email at chrisalbin@albinandco.co.uk.

The information we collect about you

In order to carry out legal services on your behalf, we collect your personal information, which can either be provided by yourself, for example your name, DOB, national insurance number, address, and contact details.

We may also receive personal information from sources such as the Court or Tribunal, the solicitors acting for the other side, as well as from the Prosecuting or Local Authority.

Some data that we may process is classified as Special Data which would include information as to your ethnic origin, race, health, medical records and details of any criminal history. This information may be necessary for the submission of an application to the Legal Aid Agency for legal aid or in some circumstances, for example obtaining medical reports.

In order for us to retain the personal information, we must have a lawful purpose for doing so. The lawful purpose is that it is necessary to fulfil the contract that we have with you in providing the legal service. We will only process Special Data if it is necessary in the fulfilment of the legal services which we are engaged to carry out.

Who has access to your information?

We will only use your information within Albin & Co Ltd. However, there may be circumstances in carrying out your legal work, where we may need to disclose some information to third parties, e.g. where we instruct a barrister, an expert, in court or at a tribunal, or to the opposing side.

In addition, we are regulated by external auditors, such as Lexcel, SRA and ICO. These audits would give exposure of some of your data.

In the event that any of your information is shared with these third parties, we ensure that they treat your data confidentially and, comply strictly with our instructions, and they do not use your personal information for their own purposes. We conduct due diligence on any third parties and seek to obtain a formal contract with them.

We will share personal information with law enforcement agencies but only if required to do so by law.

We will not share your personal information with any other third parties without your consent.

We do not foresee any transfer of your information outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Cloud based servers, which hold your information are within the EEA. We will contact you should this change in any way, and give advice as to your rights.

Our Security

We have a Data Protection policy which covers the effective and secure processing of your personal data, which can be made available upon request.

We use computer safeguards, such as firewalls, data encryption and penetration testing; and we enforce where possible, physical access controls to our building and files to keep data safe.

How long will we store your personal data?

Your personal data will be retained, usually on computer or hard copy files, only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purpose for which the information was collected. We have a legal obligation to keep data for a minimum of six years from the conclusion of your case. Your paper file will then be destroyed.

You may wish us to keep the electronic data. Should you wish to obtain help in the future, your previous data may be of assistance in relation to a new matter.

Access to information

Under the General Data Protection Regulations, you have a number of important rights that you can exercise free of charge.

  • Transparency over how we use your personal data and fair processing of your information;
  • Access to your personal information and other supplementary information;
  • Require us to correct any mistakes or complete missing information we hold on you;
  • Require us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances;
  • Receive a copy of the personal information you have provided to us or have this information sent to a third party, this will be provided to you or the third party in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format;
  • Object at any time to processing of your personal information for direct marketing;
  • Object in certain other situations to the continued processing of your personal information;
  • Restrict our processing of your personal information in certain circumstances;
  • Request not to be subject to automated decision making which produce legal effects that concern you or affect you in a significantly similar way;

If you want more information about your rights under the GDPR please see the Guidance from the Information Commissioners Office on Individual’s rights under the GDPR.

If you want to exercise any of these rights, please:

  • Email, call our write to us fao Chris Albin
  • Provide other information so that we can identify you e.g. a driving license or passport. We may need to contact you to request further information to verify your identity;
  • Let us have proof of your identity and address;
  • State the right or rights that you wish to exercise;

We will respond to you within one month from when we receive your request.

Third party links

You might find links to third party websites on our website. These websites should have their own privacy policies, which you should check. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for their policies whatsoever as we have no control over them.

Cookies and other information gathering technologies

Our website uses cookies. Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard internet log information and visitor behaviour information.

We use cookies to help us to improve our website and the service that we provide to you. All computers have the ability to decline cookies. This can be done by activating the setting on your browser which enables you to decline the cookies.

We also use Google Analytics analytical and statistical tools that monitor details of your visits to our website and the resources that you access, including, but not limited to, traffic data, location data, weblogs and other communication data (but this data will not identify you personally).

Getting in touch

If you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information we hold about you, please contact Chris Albin, the COLP.

How to make a complaint

We hope you are happy with our service and that we can resolve any issues of complaint that arise. If however you wish to make a complaint, initially contact the COLP, Chris Albin, who will investigate further.

If you are not satisfied with our response, or believe we are not processing your personal data in accordance with the law, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at:-https://ico.org.uk/concerns

Changes to this policy

We may update these policies to reflect changes to the website and customer feedback. Please regularly review these policies to be informed of how we are protecting your personal data.

We welcome any queries, comments or requests you may have regarding this Privacy Policy. Please do not hesitate to contact us at chrisalbin@albinandco.co.uk.

Last updated 26/5/18

Equality and diversity

We at Albin & Co, are committed to eliminating unlawful discrimination and to promoting equality and diversity within our policies, practices and procedures.

We are committed to promoting equality and diversity in the firm.

This applies to our professional dealings with clients, staff, other solicitors, barristers and third parties.

We shall treat everyone equally and with the same attention, courtesy and respect regardless of:

  • Sex (including marital status, pregnancy, gender reassignment, maternity and paternity)
  • Sexual orientation (to include civil partnership status)
  • Race or racial group (including colour, nationality, and ethnic or national origins)
  • Religion or beliefs
  • Age
  • Caring responsibility
  • Disability

Legislation

We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that we and our staff do not unlawfully discriminate under:

  • The Equal Pay Act 1970
  • The Sex Discrimination Act 1975
  • The Race Relations Act 1976
  • The Disability Discrimination Act 1995
  • The Employment Rights Act 1996
  • The Human Rights Act 1998
  • The Part-Time Workers Regulations 2000
  • The Fixed-Term Employees Regulations 2000
  • The Employment Equality (sexual orientation) Regulations 2003
  • The Employment Equality (religion or belief act) Regulations 2003
  • The Work and Families Act 2006
  • The Employment Equality (age) Regulations 2006
  • The Equality Act 2010

COMPLAINTS

We are confident that Albin & Co. will provide you with first class advice and representation. If however you feel that in any way dissatisfied with the service you have received, please initially contact the fee-earner with conduct of your case to see if it can be resolved.

We are authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). We are committed to providing the very best quality legal advice and client care. We strive to provide all of our clients with an efficient and effective service. If you wish to discuss how your service could have been improved please contact Chris Albin who is the Partner responsible for complaints resolution on 0118 957 4018 or E-mail chrisalbin@albinandco.co.uk or alternatively write to him at Albin & Co. 46a West Street, Reading, RG1 1TZ.

We have a procedure in the event of a complaint being made and will provide you with all relevant information immediately you request it. We are permitted 8 weeks to consider your grievance. If we are unable to resolve the problem with you, you may ask the Legal Ombudsman to deal with the complaint. The Legal Ombudsman can be contacted at :

T. 0300 550300

PO BOX 6806
Wolverhampton
WV1 9WJ
www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Please be aware that any complaint to the Ombudsman must usually be made within 12 months of your receipt from us of a final written response or within 6 years from the date of act/omission complained of or 3 years from when the complainant should have known about the complaint. The Legal Ombudsman will not accept complaints where the act or date of awareness is prior to 6th October 2010.

Should you wish to consult the Solicitor’s Regulations Authority (SRA) handbook, their link can be found on the Albin & Co Ltd website www.acsolicitors.co.uk.

Provision of Services Regulations 2009 

The Provision of Services Regulations 2009 requires that this firm provides certain information to clients and others. For further information about the firm and for details of fees please refer to our Terms & Conditions of Business.

If you are an existing client, you should find much of the information set out in our client care letter a copy of which will have been sent to you at the outset of the matter.  

If you have any queries in relation to either then please contact Boyd Carter by telephone, post, fax or email.  

Name:           Boyd Carter Solicitors & Mediators 

Legal Form:   Boyd Carter Solicitors & Mediators is a trading name of Albin & Co Ltd (8355111) . 

Registered Office Address: 46A West Street, Reading, Berkshire RG1 1TZ  

Telephone:    0118 957 4018 

Trading from Office address: Twyford House, 6A Rayne Road, Braintree, Essex CM7 3QH 

Telephone:    01376 555000 

Fax:              01376 359207 

Email:           bc@boydcarter.co.uk 

Our DX address is:    DX 56202 BRAINTREE 

VAT Number:            GB155227713 

Authorisations:         The firm’s Consumer Credit Licence is provided through the Law Society of England and Wales – licence number G900001. 

Professional Body:    Albin & Co Ltd is authorised and regulated by The Solicitors Regulation Authority under registration/ID number: (591646) . 

Code of Conduct:     The Code of conduct to which the firm is subject can be viewed at the web site of the Solicitors Regulation Authority – www.rules.sra.org.uk 

Professional Indemnity Insurance:   Our professional indemnity Insurers are Axis SE and their contact details can be provided to you upon written request, or are available for inspection in our reception. Our policy complies with the requirements of Solicitors Indemnity Rules. The territorial coverage of the insurance is England and Wales. It maintains compulsory Professional Indemnity insurance of three million pounds.

Terms and Conditions of Business:   Terms and conditions of business together with any client care letter/letter of engagement will be supplied to all clients at the commencement of those instructions to which they refer. A copy of our standard terms and conditions of business can be obtained by contacting Boyd Carter. 

Jurisdiction:    Unless it has been otherwise agreed, all contracts are governed by the laws of England & Wales and their courts will have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to all claims or disputes which might arise. 

Complaints:   See Complaints above.

Albin & Co Ltd t/a Boyd Carter Solicitors & Mediators is Lexcel Quality Mark Accredited and holds contracts with the Legal Aid Agency for the provision of Legal Aid Family Law advice and representation.