Privacy Policy

DALLAS McMILLAN PRIVACY NOTICE

This Notice describes how Dallas McMillan collects, uses and shares the information you provide to us and the information we collect in the course of operating our business and our websites.

In this Notice, where we refer to “we” “us” or “our” we are referring to the Dallas McMillan Solicitors and Dallas McMillan Trustees Company Limited.

For the most part, this Notice refers to the activities of all the members Dallas McMillan and it applies whenever we collect your personal data (including when you use our Website or other digital platforms or otherwise are communicating with us), so please read it carefully.

We may revise this Notice at any time by amending this page. You are expected to visit this page from time to time to note any changes we make, as they affect you.

Please take the time to read it and should you have any queries please see our Contact Us Section (Section 9).

What is this Notice for?

This Notice explains:

1. Who we are?
2. What personal information we collect, how we use your personal data and the legal basis for processing it
3. How long your personal data will be kept
4. The third parties with whom we may share your data
5. How we protect your information
6. Your rights in relation to your information
7. Cookies
8. Transferring your personal data outside the UK and the European Economic Area
9. How to contact us.

1. Who we are?

Please choose the relevant organisation that you have been in contact with:

2. What personal information we collect, how we use it and the legal basis for processing it.

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:

Identity Data includes title, first name, middle name(s), last name, username or similar identifier, the organisation you work for (where relevant), your job title or position, date of birth, geographic location, photograph or image and other information to enable us to check and verify your identity (for example your passport or driving licence and utility bills or bank statements). We may also collect photographs or video recordings of you where you attend our meetings or events or via electronic identity verification services.

Contact Data includes billing address, residential and/or business address, email address and telephone numbers (business and/or personal including mobile phone and fax) and social media such as twitter account name.

Transaction Data includes details about the legal services relating to the matter on which you or your organisation have instructed; the information we will process about you to open our files and administer the client relationship and any credit checks we may have carried out.

Financial Data includes bank and building society accounts and payment card details and other billing information; payments made to us and payments made on your behalf and/or in connection with your transactions; credit reference checks; and other payment and/or financial data to enable us to carry out fraud and/or identity checks and/or to verify the source of funds and/or the source of wealth, as well as information collected from publicly available resources and/or credit agencies or any other information needed to enable us to undertake credit or financial checks on you.

Video Recordings (including still images and sounds captured during a video recording and any information that you provide to us during that video recording) when used to carry out customer due diligence (notably verification of identity) as referred to in our Letter of Engagement with you (or your organisation) and/or as required by law and/or guidance relating to anti money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism and/or for the purposes of sanctions checks or otherwise where you have agreed to the recording for the purposes of carrying out our legal services.

Health Data which includes data provided to us or we may need to know about where you are visiting any of our premises such as accessibility or mobility concerns that you have; dietary requirements; or other health matters which could affect your use of our services or the way we need to provide our services. We will only do so to the extent that processing relates to personal data which are manifestly made public by you or otherwise with your consent.

Additional Data which includes personal information about you we receive from third parties to enable us better to provide our services and/or to conduct customer due diligence, and/or recruitment. Such third parties will include (but not limited to) other parties in a transaction including their law firm, counsel, accountants and other professional advisors; or law firms, accountants and other professional advisors who may refer your matter to us and/or who may be acting for you in relation to other aspects of a particular matter; banks, building societies, insurers, and other financial institutions; courts and court agents (including sheriffs’ officers), regulatory bodies, surveyors and estate agents; personal representatives, attorneys, trustees and executors; credit reference agencies; employers; education providers; the providers of electronic identity verification services; and regulatory bodies such as the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission and the Law Society of Scotland or similar bodies.

Profile Data includes purchases or orders made by you, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses.

Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access our website(s).

Usage Data includes information about how you use our website(s), products and services.

Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.

Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, membership of a professional body or trade association, information about your health and genetic and biometric data) may also need to be collected in limited circumstances in order to provide you with our legal services.  We may also do so when conducting customer due diligence, notably where we obtain photographic images or video recordings of you as part of the process of verifying your identity.

Criminal convictions and offences information about you may also be needed from time to time in order to enable us to provide you with our services and/or to conduct customer due diligence.

Our Services are not directed at children and we do not proactively collect their personal data. However we may process the personal data of children as part of providing Services to you, for example, in dealing with a divorce or visitation rights or the administering of a trust. We process such personal data only where necessary and appropriate for the Services for which we have been appointed.

We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this Notice.

Where you are not a client we may collect or receive personal information about you because you are involved in a matter on which we are advising our client or have advised our client.  For example, if you are providing funding to our client in connection with a matter, we may require to satisfy ourselves of your identity and to obtain information about the source of funds and/or wealth, in order to comply with our policy and/or legislation and/or guidance relating to anti money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism, and to conduct sanctions checks.  If you are a beneficial owner of our client, we may need to collect similar personal data about you.

Any personal data obtained by Dallas McMillan for the purposes of our compliance with The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (“MLR 2017”) will be processed only (a) for the purposes of preventing money laundering or terrorist financing, (b) as permitted by or under any legislation other than the MLR 2017 or the GDPR (as defined in the MLR 2017), or (c) where we have obtained the consent of the individual.

We have set out below, in a table format, a description of the personal information we collect and how we collect it.

3. How long your personal data will be kept

We will in many circumstances retain the personal data that we collect. Where we do, the length of time we shall retain it for shall be determined by a number of factors, including the type of data, the purpose for which we use that data including our legal and regulatory obligations which we must comply with when we collect and process personal data. We will also take into account the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of personal data.

We will not retain personal data for longer than is necessary and shall retain personal data in accordance with our retention policies.  If you or your organisation are a client of Dallas McMillan, we may retain personal data in accordance with our Letter of Engagement with you or your organisation. If you have contacted us regarding recruitment; we will only hold your CV, applications and other information for 8 months after the completion of the recruitment process if unsuccessful.

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data: please see section 6 “Your rights in relation to your information” below.

4. The third parties with whom we may share your data

To provide you with our services or other products or services and for administrative and billing purposes (including anti money laundering, countering the financing of terrorism, and sanctions checks), your personal information may be shared on a confidential basis between Dallas McMillan and Dallas McMillan Trustees Company Limited.

We may also have to share your personal information with third parties. Such third parties will usually be bound by obligations of confidentiality, in connection with the processing of your personal data for the purposes described in this Notice. Please note this above list is non-exhaustive and there may be other examples where we need to share personal data with other parties in order to provide our services and/or to conduct customer due diligence.

Such third parties may include but is not limited to:

• Third parties relevant to the legal services that we provide. This may include, but is not limited to: counterparties to transactions or litigation (including their lawyers), other professional service providers such as lawyers and accountants, counsel, barristers, arbiters, arbitrators, mediators, clerks, trade mark and patent agents, medical professionals, expert witnesses, witnesses, tax advisors or valuers, regulators, authorities, and governmental institutions;
• Third party identity verification service providers used to carry out identity checks for the purposes of customer due diligence, including but not limited to, Amiqus and SmartSearch processing personal data in the UK;
• confidential waste management, suite of IT and communications service providers and other technology providers, including but not limited to security software providers, door access management providers, document processing and translation services, document and information storage providers some of whom may store personal data in cloud based data centres processing data in the UK, EEA and Canada where there is an adequacy decision;
• We may also require to share your personal information with regulators, government departments, law enforcement authorities, tax authorities, professional advisors, financial institutions and insurance companies including but not limited to: the Law Society of Scotland, the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, Land Registry, Registers of Scotland, Companies House, Office of the Public Guardian, National Crime Agency, lenders, Revenue Scotland, HMRC and other tax authorities;
• Any other person who is authorised to act on your behalf;
• Professional indemnity or other relevant insurers;
• Foreign law firms (and associated regulators) should you need advice for outwith Scottish jurisdiction;
• our general insurers, auditor and accountants, pension providers, banks and other financial institutions, providers of electronic verification services, credit reference agencies and regulatory bodies;
• third parties who assist Dallas McMiillan in general advertising, marketing, promotional, tendering activities (e.g. organising assisting us with our events, issuing of client updates / bulletins, seminars, training, business development and networking opportunities);
• persons in connection with any sale, merger, acquisition, disposal, reorganisation or similar change in Dallas McMillan’s business structure.

We typically undertake a search with a credit reference agency and/or other electronic verification service provider to verify an individual's identity, including but not limited to persons such as directors, officers, instructing individuals, the beneficial owners of corporate entities, the trustees and/or beneficiaries of trusts, and any agent acting on the client’s behalf.  The credit reference agency and/or service provider may check the information supplied against any particulars on any database (public or otherwise) to which it has access.  The credit reference agency and/or service provider may also use such information in future, and the fact that a search was made, to assist other persons or entities for the purposes of verification, assessing the risk of giving credit, tracing debtors, tracing other individuals for the purposes of returning monies, credit balances, intestate estates and family matters, or to provide necessary information in relation to such similar matters, and/or to prevent fraud and/or money laundering.  A record of any search may be retained by Dallas McMillan and/or by the credit reference agency and/or service provider.

The privacy notice issued by the credit reference agency TransUnion Information Group at https://www.transunion.co.uk/legal-information/bureau-privacy-notice applies where we undertake electronic verification checks via the Amiqus ID system.

If you wish to find out more information about the specific third parties we share your information with, please contact us using the ‘How to contact us’ section below (Section 9).

5. How we protect your information

We have in place administrative, technical and physical measures designed to guard against and minimise the risk of loss, misuse or unauthorised processing or disclosure of the personal data that we hold.

6. Your rights in relation to your information

You can:

(a)Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.

(b) Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.

(c)Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.

(d) Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.

(e)Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (i) if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy; (ii) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (iii) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (iv) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

(f)Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

You will not 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. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

7. Cookies

In common with many other website operators, we use standard technology called “cookies” on our websites. please see our cookies policies below explaining the cookies we use on our websites.

• Dallas McMillan - https://www.dallasmcmillan.co.uk/Website-Privacy-Policy.html

8. International data transfers

The data that we collect from you will usually be stored inside the UK or the EEA.  However, in providing our services it may be necessary for us to share your personal data outside the UK or the EEA.

We will only do so where:

• We need to share your details to instruct lawyers or other professionals in foreign jurisdictions;
• We share your personal data with relevant regulatory bodies or law enforcement organisations;
• Where you are based outwith the UK or the EEA and we are required to process your personal data;
• Where your service providers are based outwith the UK or the EEA; and
• Where our service providers are based outwith the UK or the EEA.

Where we do share your personal information in the above situations we shall ensure that appropriate safeguards are put in place (such as Standard Contractual Clauses) to ensure that the transfer of your personal information complies with the current applicable data protection legislation.

9. How to contact us

Dallas McMillan, Regent Court, 70 West Regent Street, Glasgow G2 2QZ

Contact: David McElroy

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Telephone: 0141 333 6750

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK Supervisory Authority for data protection issues (www.ico.gov.uk). We would, however, appreciate the opportunity to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance

Changes to our privacy notice

We may be required to update this Privacy Notice from time to time.  The up-to-date version will always be on our website and we will communicate material updates to our clients from time to time.  We will not process your personal data for purposes other than those set out in this document or which may be prejudicial to your interests without letting you know and giving you the opportunity to review and object to any such amended processing.