Privacy Policy

This privacy policy applies to the www.rlegal.com website (the “site”) and all services communicated to you by us. The site is owned by RLegal solicitors, a firm of lawyers practicing UK immigration related law located in central London and regulated by the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority.

Personal information

RLegal may collect personal information from a visitor who visits our website. A “visitor” is defined as an individual who uses an IP address to engage with us and applies to whether the address is operated by an individual, or any other entity in the following ways:

• when a visit is made to any of the pages on our site

• a contact or any other form is completed

• a subscription is made to the RLegal newsletter

• in connection with other services, features or resources we make available includes the use of any social media platform to engage with us.

A visitor may be requested to supply a name, email address or telephone number with personal information in connection with their enquiry. If a visitor intends to supply information for a third party, RLegal accepts no responsibility for this.

We may collect personal information from a visitor only if it is voluntarily submitted to us during a visit. A visitor does not have to provide personal information where requested, but the withholding of such information will restrict them from fully utilizing our services and may prevent access to other areas of the site.

A visitor is allowed to visit the RLegal website anonymously.

Legal information and documents

A visitor who engages our services through the appropriate procedure becomes a "client".

Children

We only accept personal data from minors through an appropriate adult such as a parent or legal guardian. 

Web browser cookies

The RLegal website may use "cookies" to enhance the visitor or client experience.

A cookie is a file containing the unique non personal information of a visitor and is sent by a web server to a web browser and is consequently stored by the browser. This allows the web server to identify and track the web browser.

A visitor can choose to set their web browser to refuse cookies or to inform them when cookies are being sent. If a visitor decides to decline the acceptance of a cookie from the site, this may affect the ability to browse the site.

Non-personal information

RLegal may collect non-personal information about a visitor or client when they visit the RLegal site. For example, the IP address, browser name used, operating system, length of visit, page views and website navigation used.

Personal information

RLegal will collect information about a visitor or client who communicates with us by completing a form, signing up to a newsletter or who submits an enquiry. RLegal will for example collect the visitor’s name, email address, telephone number, occupation, income details, and information submitted as part of their enquiry and as detailed by the appropriate RLegal questionnaire.

Use of collected information

RLegal may collect and use personal information of a visitor or client for the following reasons:

• Administer the website

For example, to identify any unusual activity.

• Improve service delivery

For example, analyse comments to enhance the way we set out information and services.

• Personalise the user experience

For example, analyse visitor or client behaviour in aggregate to understand how visitors use services and resources provided on our site.

• Improve our Site

We may use visitor or client feedback to improve our site and services.

• Run a promotion, contest, survey or other site feature

To send visitors or clients information they agreed to receive about topics of interest to them.

• Send emails

We may use email addresses or telephone numbers supplied to respond to enquiries, questions, and/or other requests. Please note we are under no legal obligation to respond to a request from a non client visitor. Our service standards to existing clients are clearly set out in our terms of business with them. However, RLegal endeavour to respond to emails as soon as practical.

• Mailing list

If a visitor or client opts-in to our mailing list, he/she will receive emails that may include news about RLegal, updates or service information. A visitor can unsubscribe from receiving future emails and details of how to do so will be detailed at the bottom of each email.

• Social media

If a visitor or client opts-in to our social media platforms, he/she may also receive information that may include news about RLegal, updates or service information. A visitor can unsubscribe from receiving future information by following the procedures on the particular social media platform used.

How we protect your information

RLegal have appropriate data collection, storage and processing practices and security measures to protect against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure or destruction of your personal information, username, password and data stored on our site.

Sensitive and private data information exchange between the site and the visitor or a client happens over a SSL secured communication channel and is encrypted and protected with digital signatures.

RLegal store data through the following providers:

Home Office portals

Local Government registrars

Livedrive whose url is www2.livedrive.com

LEAP whose url is www.leap.co.uk

Google whose url is www.google.co.uk

4Com whose url is https://www.4com.co.uk

We receive may receive data from the following sites, although this is not an exhaustive list:

Facebook whose website is https://en-gb.facebook.com

Yahoo whose website is https://uk.yahoo.com/

Bing whose website is https://www.bing.com/

Twitter whose website is https://twitter.com

The sites listed above have their own policies which deal with data management and can be referred to by visiting them. 

Destroying personal data

We only hold personal data from a visitor for reasonable amount of time.

We destroy data of clients in accordance with the Law Society or Solicitors Regulation Authority requirements or where directed to do in accordance with the law. 

Sharing your personal information

We only disclose personal information in the following ways:

• where legally required by law to do so

• where required to do so by our governing bodies, either the Law Society or the Solicitors Regulation Authority

• with our accountants for whom we have an agreement in place to prevent them from using any personal data communicated with them

• for site maintenance purposes with our service providers i.e. website administrator, our website maintenance company or website security advisors. Our service providers have agreements with us which prevent them from using any personal information submitted to us by them.

Sites outside the EEA

We only transfer data to sites outside the EEA by email to you or through the following sites:

Visa4UK at https://www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk or through their connected sites.

We may transmit documents with your consent including electronic data through couriers such as:

www.fedex.com

www.dhl.co.uk

www.olympexglobal.com

www.citysprint.co.uk

www.mpccouriers.co.uk

www.royalmail.com

www.securedatamgt.com

You can view their data protections policies by visiting these sites. 

Third party websites

RLegal may list links to third party websites for information purposes. By providing such links we do not undertake to have responsibility for any privacy issues or practices of such sites and accept no liability as such for their use.

Changes to this privacy policy

RLegal may update this privacy policy at any time. If a revision is made, a date containing the latest revision or version of the policy will be listed at the bottom of this page. We encourage visitors to check this page for any changes to stay informed about how we are helping to protect personal information collected. It is your responsibility to become aware of modifications to it.

Access to personal information

In compliance with the Data Protection Act 1988 you may request disclosure of any personal information held by RLegal. Any such request should be made in writing to our office address listed on this site. The request must specify what information is requested and include the following:

• original signed letter clearly specifying what information is requested

• ID page of a passport certified by a solicitor duly registered by an appropriate body

• original utility bill or bank statement addressed to you.

Updating information

A visitor or client may update their information by communicating in writing their personal details.

Contacting us

If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this site, please contact us via our office address.

This document was last updated on 24 May 2018 by Evan Remedios (Data Protection Officer), solicitor and partner at RLegal.