This privacy policy explains how we use any personal information we collect about you when you use our services.
Sandemans will be a “controller” of the personal information that you provide to us when you instruct us to act on your behalf unless otherwise stated in this privacy notice.
- Is information we collect from you confidential?
Information supplied to us by you will be dealt with in confidence. It will only be disclosed where reasonable and necessary to carry out the work you have instructed or if we are legally required to do so.
- What about data protection?
We fully abide by the data protection principles under the General Data Protection Regulation and any associated Act of Parliament. Your personal data held by us on any relevant filing system will not be disclosed to third parties without your consent and is available to you on request.
- What information do we collect about you?
We collect information about you when you first contact us or engage our services. We also collect information when you provide any information we request or which you provide voluntarily. On our website, we collect usage information using cookies. We will hold some or all of the following personal information about you in our files, in our practice management system and on our client database: name and address; date of birth; contact telephone number(s); email address(es); National Insurance Number; financial information we require in connection with your transaction. We may also obtain additional personal information to enable us to properly provide our services.
- How will we use the information about you?
When you become a client of Sandemans, we will collect, store and use the personal information that you provide to us in your instructions and during the course of our solicitor / client relationship.
- Why we need your personal information – contractual purposes
We need to collect our clients’ personal information so that we can perform our services. We will use our clients’ personal information to:
- Provide you with legal advice, for example by communicating with you by email, letter and/or telephone
- Represent you as your solicitors in connection with the matter you have instructed us about
- Respond to and communicate with clients regarding your questions, comments, support needs or complaints, concerns or allegations in relation to complaints and disciplinary procedures, for example we will use your personal information to investigate your complaint and take disciplinary action
- Manage any money processed on your behalf
We may ask you for additional personal information during the course of our solicitor / client relationship, which shall be collected, stored and used in accordance with this privacy notice.
If you do not provide us with all of the personal information that we need, this may affect our ability to provide you with legal advice and / or represent you as your solicitors.
- Why we need your personal information – legitimate purposes
We also process our clients’ personal information in pursuit of our legitimate interests to:
- Manage our relationship with you
- Promote our services by sending communications with information for upcoming events and to keep you informed of legal developments and developments within our company
- Invite our clients as guests to our events, including seminars and client hospitality events
- Email you about other products and services we think may be of interest to you
- We will not share your information for marketing purposes with any third party
- In providing our services, we may send your details to, and also use information from credit reference agencies and fraud prevention agencies
Where we process your personal information in pursuit of our legitimate interests, you have the right to object to us using your personal information for the above purposes. If you wish to object to any of the above processing, please contact us on
- Why we need your personal information – legal obligations
We are under a legal obligation to process certain personal information relating to our clients for the purposes of complying with our obligations under:
- Law Society of Scotland Practice Rules
- Money Laundering Regulations
- Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
- Who we share your personal information with
We may be required to share personal information with statutory or regulatory authorities and organizations. Such organizations for instance include the Law Society of Scotland, Crown Office and other government agencies or HMRC, for the purposes of compliance with statutory obligations.
We may also share personal data with our professional advisors for the purposes of taking advice, and with other solicitors and professions who we require to contact for the purposes of the work we undertake for you.
Sandemans employs third party suppliers to provide services including legal searches, service of documents and our own professional advisers. These suppliers may process personal data on our behalf as “processors” and are subject to written contractual conditions to only process that personal data under our instructions and to protect it.
In the event that we do share personal data with external third parties, we will only share such personal data strictly required for the specific purposes and take reasonable steps to ensure that recipients shall only process the disclosed personal data in accordance with those purposes.
Your continued relationship with us will be evidence that you consent to our use of your personal information for these purposes.
- Right to Erasure
If you do not wish to receive any information from us or if you want us to remove your details from our database then please confirm this in writing to our Client Relations Partner at any time.
If at any time during the course of our relationship with you, you require to provide us with personal information about a third party you should only do so after any required consents to this disclosure have been obtained from that third party as that personal data may thereafter be used or stored by us. It is your responsibility to ensure that you comply with the relevant sections of the Data Protection Act 1998 and any other legislation applicable to the information in question.
- Marketing
We may wish to send you information about services of ours which may be of interest to you. If you have consented to receive marketing, you may opt out at a later date. You have a right at any time to stop us from contacting you for marketing purposes. To do so, simply contact us and let us know. We will take the necessary steps.
Access to your information and correction
You have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you. If you would like a copy of some or all of your personal information, please email
- Cookies
When you use our website, text files known as cookies are placed on your computer to collect standard internet log information and visitor behaviour information. This information is used to track visitor use of the website and to compile statistical reports on website activity. For further information visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org. You can set your browser not to accept cookies and the above websites tell you how to remove cookies from your browser but in a few cases some of our website features may not function as a result.
- Other websites
Our website contains links to other websites. This privacy policy only applies to our website so when you link to other websites you should read their own privacy policies.
- Changes to our privacy policy
We keep our privacy policy under regular review and we will place any updates on our website. This privacy policy was last updated on 18 May 2018.
- How to contact us
Please contact us if you have any question s about our privacy policy or information we hold about you: by email (
Ownership of Files and Data
When a matter has been completed, we will return, upon request, any documents belonging to you. Our working papers including all correspondence received and sent and all other papers and documents will remain in our ownership.
- Destruction of Files and Data
By instructing us to carry out work on your behalf, you consent to destruction of files and data without further reference to you after that work is completed and after the periods set out below:
Simple Debt Collection |
Five years after the time for appeal has elapsed. |
Divorce & Separation |
Five years after maintenance, residence and contact orders have ceased to have effect, or children have reached majority. |
Civil Court Cases Criminal summary cases Criminal solemn cases |
Ten years after completion. Three years after completion Three years after sentence expiry |
Executries |
Ten years after completion. Relevant documents and papers might be sent to the Executor for safekeeping since prior rights and legal rights only prescribe if not claimed in 20 years after becoming enforceable. |
Continuing Trusts |
Ten years after the termination of the Trust. |
Conveyancing Transactions |
|
Purchase: |
Ten years after completion. |
Sale: |
Five years after completion. |
Company & Commercial Work |
Ten years after completion. |
Other Correspondence Files |
Five years after completion of the business. |