Who we are:
BSW LLP (“We”) are providers of legal services in Scotland and are regulated by
The Law Society of Scotland. We are a limited liability partnership and our
Registered Number is SO301990. Our head office is at 20 Douglas Street,
Dunfermline, Fife, KY12 7EB and we have offices at 5/6 Jubilee House, Pentland
Park, Glenrothes, Fife, KY6 2AH.
Our purpose in using or processing your information:
We use or process your information in order to provide legal services. The legal
basis for our holding or processing your information will be:-
- because it is necessary in order to perform our contract with you;
- because it is within our legitimate interest as a provider of legal services (for
example because we have a responsibility to act as an Officer of the Court, to - meet a requirement imposed by The Law Society of Scotland or to prevent a
fraud); - or because we have a legal obligation to hold or process your information (for
example, in order to meet our obligations in regard to Money Laundering
Requirements).
IP Addresses and Cookies
We may collect information about your computer, including where available your IP
address, operating system and browser type, for system administration and to report
aggregate information to our advertisers. This is statistical data about our users’
browsing actions and patterns, and does not identify any individual.
For the same reason, we may obtain information about your general internet usage
by using a cookie file which is stored on the hard drive of your computer. Cookies
contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive. They help us to
improve our site and to deliver a better and more personalised service. They enable
us:
- To estimate our audience size and usage pattern.
- To store information about your preferences, and so allow us to customise our
site according to your individual interests. - To speed up your searches.
- To recognise you when you return to our site.
You may refuse to accept cookies by activating the setting on your browser which
allows you to refuse the setting of cookies. However, if you select this setting you
may be unable to access certain parts of our site. Unless you have adjusted your
browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you
log on to our site.
Please note that our advertisers may also use cookies, over which we have no
control.
Who will we share your information with:
We may share your information with some or all of the following:-
- Our client(s) if you are not our client
- Any other client instructing us along with you
- Anyone that you authorise us to share your information with while we provide
you with legal services - Your spouse, civil partner or partner unless you tell us otherwise or inform us
that you are separated from them - Your attorney, guardian or parent
- The Law Society of Scotland as our regulatory and professional body
- The Scottish Legal Aid Board if our client has applied for legal aid
- A credit search agency
- We receive assistance from persons or businesses in carrying out legal
services and may share your information with them. We use specialist IT
service providers, specialist cashroom service providers, a wage services
provider, accountants, an offsite shredding company, Law Society
recommended Money Laundering management system providers, and if we
elect to use one an offsite data storage company. If you would like to know
who we use in this regard, please contact us.
Retention and destruction of your information:
We will retain and use your information while carrying out work for you or our client.
After we have completed that work we will retain that information for a period of time.
The amount of time that we hold your information may vary depending on the nature
of the work we have carried out for you (see below) and whether we have any other
reason for holding on to your information, for example in order to meet a requirement
imposed by The Law Society of Scotland.
You can ask that we remove any of your information at any time. However, please
be aware that there may be some circumstances whereby we will continue to hold
some or all of that information, despite a request for it to be removed, to include but
not restricted to performing the contract for services, ensuring payment for our
services, meeting any complaint or claim or potential complaint or claim to include
from a 3rd party, meeting a regulatory requirement imposed by The Law Society of
Scotland or meeting our obligations in terms of Money Laundering Regulations. If we
have acted for more than one person or organisation, we may insist on each client
confirming their consent to remove information before doing so. If you are not our
client and we have lawfully obtained your information then we may continue to hold
your information as part of our services to our client.
The period of time that we retain information is in accordance with recommendations
made by The Law Society of Scotland. Please note that once the time period has
expired your information may not be removed immediately but will be within a short
period thereafter which we anticipate to be within a period of 6 months. If you do not
want your information removed you should inform us. Otherwise, we will remove it in
accordance with the below timescales. We shall retain a record of any files
destroyed.
The time periods that we retain client information depending on the
type of work we do is as follows:-
Criminal Court Cases – depending on the nature of the case the time period for
retention varies. Documents and papers will be retained in accordance with Law
Society Regulations.
Simple Debt Collection – On completion i.e. after the time for appeal has elapsed.
Divorce and Consistorial Matters – Ten years after final completion, e.g. after decree
has been granted or proceedings have been dismissed. maintenance, residence and
contact orders, etc., have ceased to have effect, or children have reached majority.
Civil Court Cases – Ten years after completion.
Continuing Trusts – Ten years after the termination of the Trust.
Company Work – Ten years after completion.
Powers of Attorney – Ten years after completion.
Other Correspondence Files – Five years after completion of the business.
Anti Money Laundering regulations records – Remainder of the financial year of the
practice unit and a further six financial years.
How we use your information to make automated decisions:
We do not use your information for automated decisions.
Sending data outside of the EEA:
We will only send information outside of the EEA if you ask us to carry out work
which clearly involves sending information outside of the EEA.
Marketing:
We will not use any information you provide us for marketing purposes.
Letting us know if your personal information is incorrect:
You have the right to question any information we have about you that you think is
wrong or incomplete. Please contact us if you want to do this. If you do, we will take
reasonable steps to check its accuracy and correct it.
Changes to our privacy policy:
We will update our privacy policy from time to time. It is your responsibility to check
our website for any changes that may have been made. We will not notify you
directly of any changes, to our processes or to timings of destruction of files.
Who to contact:
If you would like to get in touch in regard to how we handle your personal data, or
with a personal data access request, please contact Graham Basten who is a
partner in the Dunfermline office, on 01383 621144, by e-mail to
graham@bastensneddon.co.uk or by post to 20 Douglas Street, Dunfermline, KY12
7EB.
If you think there is a problem with how we manage your information then you have a
right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Their website
address is www.ico.org.uk and their contact telephone number is 03031231113.