Franklins Law Leighton Buzzard Limited, trading as FMT Solicitors (“FMT Solicitors”, “we”, “our” or “us”), is committed to protecting the privacy and security of the personal information entrusted to us. As a firm of solicitors regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (“SRA”), we recognise the importance of maintaining the confidentiality of personal information and complying with our legal, regulatory and professional obligations.
This Privacy Notice explains how we collect, use, store, share and protect personal information when you:
This Privacy Notice applies to personal information relating to:
The type of personal information we process will depend upon the nature of your relationship with us and the legal services we provide.
We are committed to processing personal information fairly, lawfully and transparently in accordance with:
Where we process personal information, we do so only where there is an appropriate lawful basis under applicable data protection legislation and only to the extent necessary to provide legal services, fulfil our contractual obligations, comply with our legal and regulatory responsibilities, or pursue our legitimate interests.
We regularly review our policies, procedures and technical measures to ensure that personal information remains secure and is processed in accordance with current legislation, regulatory requirements and recognised good practice.
This Privacy Notice should be read alongside any engagement letter, Client Care Letter, Terms of Business or other privacy information that we may provide in relation to a specific legal matter where additional information is required.
Franklins Law Leighton Buzzard Limited (Company Number 11581817), trading as FMT Solicitors, is the data controller responsible for the personal information described in this Privacy Notice.
Our registered office is:
Church House
11 Church Square
Leighton Buzzard
Bedfordshire
LU7 1AE
As the data controller, we are responsible for deciding how and why your personal information is processed and for ensuring that it is handled in accordance with applicable data protection legislation.
FMT Solicitors provides legal services in the areas of residential conveyancing, wills and probate, family law, criminal law and care proceedings. In carrying out these services, we process personal information relating to our clients, prospective clients and other individuals connected with the matters we handle.
From time to time, we may also process personal information relating to legacy matters and archived files originating from predecessor practices or former trading names that are now part of Franklins Law Leighton Buzzard Limited. This processing is undertaken where necessary to provide ongoing legal services, comply with legal and regulatory obligations, manage archived files, respond to enquiries or protect legal rights.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or how we process your personal information, please contact:
Jeremy Moore
Managing Director
Email: jm@fmtsolicitors.co.uk
Alternatively, you may write to us at our registered office.
We are committed to dealing with any questions or concerns regarding the processing of your personal information promptly, fairly and transparently.
Protecting the confidentiality, integrity and security of personal information is fundamental to the way we operate.
As a firm regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), we are subject to professional duties of confidentiality, legal professional privilege and information security in addition to our obligations under data protection legislation.
We are committed to ensuring that personal information is:
We regularly review our policies, procedures and technical safeguards to ensure they remain appropriate and effective.
The categories of personal information we collect depend upon the nature of your relationship with us and the legal services we provide.
We may collect and process information including:
Personal Details
Identification Information
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, we may collect information including:
Financial Information
Where relevant, we may process:
Matter Information
Depending upon the legal services we provide, we may process information relating to:
Technical Information
When you use our website, we may collect:
Recruitment Information
If you apply for employment or work experience with us, we may process:
Because of the nature of the legal services we provide, we may process Special Category Personal Data and Criminal Offence Data where this is necessary and permitted by law.
Depending upon your matter, this may include information relating to:
We will only process this information where an appropriate lawful basis and, where required, an additional condition for processing under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 applies.
Given the nature of family, crime, care and private client work, some matters may involve the processing of sensitive information relating to third parties, children or vulnerable individuals. We process such information only where it is necessary for the provision of legal services, compliance with legal obligations, the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, or another lawful basis permitted by law.
We obtain personal information from a variety of sources depending upon the nature of your matter.
This may include information obtained:
We ask that any personal information provided to us is accurate and kept up to date throughout the course of your matter. If your personal details change, please let us know as soon as reasonably practicable so that our records remain accurate.
We use personal information only where it is necessary to provide legal services, comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, manage our business effectively or where another lawful basis applies.
Depending on the nature of your relationship with us, we may use your personal information to:
Providing Legal Services
Client Due Diligence and Compliance
We are required by law to undertake client due diligence and comply with the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (as amended), the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and other applicable legislation.
Accordingly, we may use your personal information to:
Failure to provide information requested as part of our due diligence procedures may prevent us from accepting or continuing to act for you.
Administration and Business Operations
We may also use personal information to:
Recruitment
Where you apply for employment or work experience, we will use your information to assess your suitability, communicate with you throughout the recruitment process and maintain recruitment records.
Marketing
Where permitted by law, we may use personal information to provide updates about our legal services, news, events and developments which we believe may be of interest.
You may opt out of receiving marketing communications at any time.
The UK GDPR requires us to identify the lawful basis upon which we process personal information.
Depending upon the circumstances, we rely upon one or more of the following lawful bases.
Performance of a Contract
Where processing is necessary in order to enter into or perform a contract with you, including providing legal advice and legal services.
Compliance with a Legal Obligation
Where processing is necessary to comply with legal or regulatory obligations, including obligations imposed by:
Legitimate Interests
Where processing is necessary for our legitimate interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms.
Examples include:
Consent
In limited circumstances we may ask for your consent before processing personal information.
Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time. Withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.
Special Category and Criminal Offence Data
Where we process Special Category Personal Data or Criminal Offence Data, we do so only where an appropriate lawful basis and an applicable condition under the Data Protection Act 2018 applies.
This may include processing that is necessary:
As a regulated law firm, we are legally required to verify the identity of our clients and undertake appropriate due diligence before and, where necessary, during the course of our retainer.
This helps protect our clients, our business and the wider public from fraud, money laundering, terrorist financing and other criminal activity.
Depending on the nature and level of risk associated with your matter, we may:
We may also be required by law to make disclosures to the appropriate authorities where we suspect money laundering or other criminal activity. In certain circumstances, legislation prohibits us from informing individuals that such a disclosure has been made.
Identity verification and due diligence checks may be undertaken using specialist electronic verification providers together with information obtained from publicly available sources, official records and documentation supplied by you.
These checks are carried out as part of our legal and regulatory obligations and do not normally require your consent.
Where we are unable to complete satisfactory client due diligence, we may be unable to accept instructions or continue acting on your behalf.
We treat all personal information as confidential and will only disclose it where necessary to provide legal services, comply with our legal or regulatory obligations, protect our legitimate interests or where otherwise permitted or required by law.
Depending on the nature of your matter, we may share personal information with:
We require organisations processing personal information on our behalf to maintain appropriate security measures and to process information only in accordance with our instructions and applicable data protection legislation.
We do not sell personal information to third parties.
Some of our service providers may process or store personal information outside the United Kingdom.
Where personal information is transferred outside the UK, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect that information in accordance with UK data protection legislation. These safeguards may include adequacy regulations, the UK International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA), International Data Transfer Addendum or other lawful transfer mechanisms recognised by UK GDPR.
We take the security of personal information seriously and have implemented appropriate technical and organisational measures designed to protect it from accidental loss, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration or destruction.
These measures include, where appropriate:
Although we take reasonable steps to protect personal information, no method of electronic transmission or storage can be guaranteed to be completely secure
We retain personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected and to comply with our legal, regulatory, professional and insurance obligations.
Retention periods vary depending upon the type of legal matter, applicable legislation, regulatory requirements and limitation periods.
Once personal information is no longer required, it will be securely deleted, destroyed or anonymised in accordance with our records management procedures.
If you contact us through our website, by telephone, email or any other method to enquire about our legal services, we will process the information you provide to:
Submitting an enquiry does not automatically create a solicitor-client relationship.
If your enquiry does not proceed to an active instruction, we may retain limited information for an appropriate period where necessary for administrative, regulatory, legal, risk management or business record purposes.
Where permitted by law, we may occasionally contact you regarding legal updates, changes in the law, services we provide, events, publications or other information which we believe may be of interest.
We may communicate by email, post, telephone or other appropriate methods depending upon your preferences and the lawful basis relied upon.
You may opt out of receiving marketing communications at any time by contacting us or using the unsubscribe facility included in electronic communications where available.
Where you apply for employment or work experience with FMT Solicitors, we will process your personal information to:
Recruitment information will only be retained for as long as reasonably necessary and in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to improve functionality, enhance user experience and better understand how visitors use our website.
Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit a website. Some cookies are essential for the operation of the website, whilst others help us improve website performance and understand visitor behaviour.
We currently use Google Analytics to collect anonymous statistical information regarding website usage. This information helps us understand how visitors interact with our website so that we can improve its performance and usability.
Most web browsers allow you to manage or disable cookies through your browser settings. Please note that disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of our website.
We do not make decisions about individuals based solely on automated processing, including profiling, where those decisions produce legal effects or similarly significant consequences.
Subject to applicable law, you may have the right to:
Some of these rights are subject to legal and regulatory exemptions and may not apply in every circumstance.
To exercise any of your rights, please contact us using the details provided in this Privacy Notice.
As solicitors regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, we owe our clients professional duties of confidentiality in addition to our obligations under data protection legislation.
Many communications between a solicitor and client are also protected by legal professional privilege.
These important legal protections operate alongside the rights and obligations set out in this Privacy Notice.
Franklins Law Leighton Buzzard Limited now trades as FMT Solicitors.
We may continue to process personal information relating to historic matters, archived files and legacy records originating from predecessor practices or former trading names where necessary to:
If you have any concerns about how we have processed your personal information, we encourage you to contact us in the first instance so that we have the opportunity to investigate and resolve the matter.
If you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
Information about the ICO can be found at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Website: www.ico.org.uk
We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time to reflect changes in legislation, regulatory guidance, our legal obligations or the way we operate.
The most recent version will always be available on our website. We recommend reviewing this Privacy Notice periodically to remain informed about how we protect your personal information.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or wish to exercise any of your rights, please contact:
Jeremy Moore
Managing Director
Franklins Law Leighton Buzzard Limited
Trading as FMT Solicitors
Church House
11 Church Square
Leighton Buzzard
Bedfordshire
LU7 1AE
Email: jm@fmtsolicitors.co.uk
