Legal Notices & Privacy Statement
Privacy Statement
This privacy notice tells you about how we deal with your private information when you become a client of David Coyle Solicitors and applies to information we collect about you.
Your rights
Under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation, you have rights as an individual which you can exercise in relation to the information we hold about you.
You can read more about these rights here – https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/is-my-information-being-handled-correctly/
Complaints or Queries about our Privacy Policy
David Coyle Solicitors try to manage the use of personal information carefully and we encourage people to tell us if they believe our collection or use of information is inappropriate in any way. If you want to make a complaint about the way we have processed your personal information, you can email david@dcoylesolicitors.com
Access to personal information
We try to be as open as it can be in terms of giving people access to the personal information that we hold.
An individual can find out if we hold any information that can be classed as personal by making a `subject access request` under the Data Protection Act 2018. If we do hold information about you we will:
1.tell you what it is;
2.tell you why we are holding it;
3.tell you who it could be disclosed to; and
4.let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.
Rights of access, correction, erasure, and restriction
Your duty to inform us of any changes
It is important that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal information changes during your relationship with us.
Your legal rights - you have the right to:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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: (a) if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) 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 (d) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.
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.
No fee usually required
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.
What we may need from you
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.
Time limit to respond
We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.
If you would like to review, verify, correct or request erasure of your personal information, object to the processing of your personal data, or request that we transfer a copy of your personal information to another party, please contact The Risk and Compliance Department by email david@dcoylesolicitors.com or telephone us on 02476 344634.
For a full list of your rights and how these can be exercised, please visit www.ico.org.uk/your-data-matters for further details.
Disclosure of personal information
We will only disclose personal data when it is necessary in the normal course of our business as criminal defence lawyers. For example, when acting for you in defending a criminal allegation against you, we might share your personal information with a Barrister instructed to represent you at Court. If you are an employee, we might share your personal information with HMRC in the context of ensuring that your payroll records are correct, or with our accountant to assist with audit purposes.
There are times where it will not be realistic to obtain your express permission in connection with each and every disclosure of this nature. If you have any concerns that any of your data has been incorrectly shared, then this should be raised with us through our standard procedures i.e., our complaints procedure.
How long we will keep your personal information for.
Under Law Society/Solicitors Regulation Authority rules we are required to keep personal information for six years from the end of the case. If you are under 18 years then that six year period starts on your 18th birthday. At the end of the six year period, whenever it commences, we will securely and sensitively destroy your personal information.
You have the right to request the deletion of your data where there is no compelling reason for its continued use and retention by us. Please contact us if you wish to exercise this right.
You also have the right to request that we stop processing your personal information where there is a compelling reason for us to do so. Please contact us if you wish to exercise this right.
Changes to this privacy notice
We keep our privacy notice under regular review. This privacy notice was last updated on 29th January 2023 and will be next reviewed on 4th October 2023.
How to contact us
If you want to request any more information about our privacy policy and how your information is used, you can email us at david@dcoylesolicitors.com
Alternatively, you can write to us at:
David Coyle Solicitors
19 Abbey Green
Nuneaton
CV11 5DS
Complaints Procedure
Complaints Procedure
We value all our clients and take complaints very seriously.
Speed is our top priority when handling complaints. We recognize that the longer the complaint is unresolved, the more irritated you may become - and understandably so.
All our staff are made aware of our procedures for handling complaints and should be open-minded, positive and understand if you need to make a complaint.
Our complaints procedure applies to all complaints, including complaints in relation to the work we are doing for you and complaints about bills. It is divided into three levels.
Level One
Initially we hope that you will raise any difficulties with the member of our staff undertaking your work, either verbally or in writing. We hope that most problems or misunderstandings will be resolved at this level.
Staff receiving a complaint are required to complete a file note explaining the details of the complaint, what was said by both parties and the action taken. One copy of the file note will be retained on your file and a second copy will be forwarded to the Complaints Handling Officer.
Level Two
If you would rather not speak to the person handing your matter about your complaint, or you remain unhappy after speaking to them about it, please contact the Complaints Handling Officer, who is David Coyle. If he is unavailable, or the complaint is about him, another senior person will take the role of complaints handler. To complain, please write to us, email david@dcoylesolicitors.co.uk or telephone 02476 344534.
Within two working days of him receiving the complaint, the Complaints Handling Officer will write to you acknowledging your complaint and ask you to confirm or explain the details if you have not already done so.
The Complaints Handling Officer will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve reviewing your matter file and speaking to the member of staff acting on your behalf.
The Complaints Handling Officer will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter. The letter will confirm our position on the complaint and explain our reasons.
If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.
Level Three - Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman
If we are unable to resolve a complaint about our service or your bill to your satisfaction, or if we do not give you our final response to your complaint within 8 weeks of you formally lodging it, you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the complaint. The Legal Ombudsman is the statutory complaints handling body for complaints about solicitors and can be contacted at PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ or enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk or by telephone on 0300 555 0333.
In the case of a complaint about your bill, you may be entitled to have your bill assessed by the court under Sections 70 – 72 of the Solicitors Act 1974. If any bill, or part of a bill remains unpaid whilst a complaint is under investigation, we may be entitled to charge interest if the bill is upheld. Please note that, if you exercise your right to have a bill assessed by the court, the Legal Ombudsman may not be able to consider your complaint.
Normally, you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint or within six years of the act or omission about which you are complaining occurring (or if outside of this period, within three years of when you should reasonably have been aware of it).
Alternative Dispute Resolution Body
We are required to inform you that alternative dispute resolution bodies (such Pro mediate, Brow Farm, Top Road, Frodsham, Cheshire WA6 6SP, 01928 732455, www.promediate.co.uk) exist which are able to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and we wish to use such a scheme. Whilst it is free to use the Legal Ombudsman service, there is a fee for using an alternative complaints handling body. Given the cost and the fact that mediation is not binding on you or us we see no benefit in this and it will be unusual for us to agree to a reference to such a body.
Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA)
In the event that your complaint relates to anything other than poor service, then you may choose to report a solicitor or the firm to the SRA. The SRA works with lawyers, non-lawyers and firms to ensure that they comply with the SRA principles. You may use the SRA website https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/, email report@sra.org.uk or you can post a report to Solicitors Regulatory Authority, The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN.
Equality and Diversity Policy
Our commitment
We are committed to eliminating discrimination and encouraging diversity in all aspects of our business. We and all of our staff will respect diversity and promote equality of opportunity. We shall treat everyone we encounter in our work fairly and with respect, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marital and civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality and national origin, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation (‘Protected Characteristics’).
We are committed to making reasonable adjustments for clients and staff (including those applying to join our team) with a disability to ensure that they are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared to those who are not disabled. We will not make a charge to our staff or our clients for an adjustment we make for them. In particular and where appropriate, we are happy to:
• offer different options for communicating with individuals who have a visual, speech or hearing impairment, including arranging signing facilities;
• for clients whose first language is not English, facilitate and support access to interpretative and translative support as far as possible.
We shall also take care to ensure that our communications (our website in particular) are provided in an accessible format.
We as a business will never discriminate unlawfully or bully, victimise or harass anyone and we will not tolerate such behaviour from our staff. As a business we will also take steps to train our staff and raise awareness to prevent unlawful discrimination, bullying, harassment or victimisation. If any problems are identified we will act promptly and effectively to resolve them.
The following forms of discrimination are prohibited under this policy and are unlawful:
Direct discrimination: treating someone less favourably because of a Protected Characteristic. For example, rejecting a job applicant because of their religious views or because they might be gay.
Indirect discrimination: a provision, criterion or practice that applies to everyone but adversely affects people with a particular Protected Characteristic more than others, and is not justified. For example, requiring a job to be done full-time rather than part-time would adversely affect women because they generally have greater childcare commitments than men. Such a requirement could be discriminatory unless it can be justified.
Harassment: this includes sexual harassment and other unwanted conduct related to a Protected Characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating someone's dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them. Harassment is dealt with further in our Anti-harassment and Bullying Policy.
Victimisation: retaliation against someone who has complained or has supported someone else's complaint about discrimination or harassment.
Disability discrimination: this includes direct and indirect discrimination, any unjustified less favourable treatment because of the effects of a disability, and failure to make reasonable adjustments to alleviate disadvantages caused by a disability.
We hope to go beyond the basic legal requirements in this area and create a business in which individual differences are valued.
We actively encourage all staff, clients and anyone we deal with to inform Mr Coyle of any suspected breaches of this policy, the Equality Act 2010 or any subordinate legislation, rule or regulation governing this area. This can be done very simply by contacting Mr Coyle on 02476 344634 or writing to him at David Coyle Solicitors, 19 Abbey Green, Nuneaton, CV11 5DS.
Name of company
David Coyle & Co Limited t/a David Coyle Solicitors - Company Number : 13199179
Registered office
19 Abbey Green, Nuneaton, CV11 5DS
Contact details
Tel : 02476 344634
VAT no.
383265677
Regulatory authority
Solicitors Regulation Authority | No. 818030
