Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Abraham Baron Solicitors is committed to protecting your privacy and personal data. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our services or visit our website.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as a data controller. This means we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal information about you.

2. Information We Collect

We may collect and process the following types of personal data:

2.1 Personal Identification Information

• Full name, date of birth, and gender
• Contact details (address, email, telephone numbers)
• National Insurance number
• Identification documents (passport, driving licence)
• Employment details and financial information

2.2 Sensitive Personal Data (Special Categories)

Depending on the nature of your legal matter, we may need to process sensitive personal data, including:

• Health and medical information (particularly for personal injury and housing disrepair claims)
• Criminal convictions or allegations
• Information about legal proceedings

2.3 Information About Third Parties

You may provide us with information about other individuals (e.g., witnesses, family members, opposing parties). You must ensure these individuals are aware that you are providing their information to us.

2.4 Technical Information

• IP address and browser type
• Device information
• Website usage data through cookies
• Communication records (emails, letters, phone calls)

3. How We Collect Your Information

We collect personal data through:

• Direct interactions with you (in person, by phone, email, or post)
• Contact forms on our website
• Client intake questionnaires
• Third parties such as medical professionals, experts, or other parties involved in your matter
• Publicly available sources
• Automated technologies (cookies and similar tracking technologies)

4. How We Use Your Information

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

4.1 Providing Legal Services

• Conducting client identification and verification (AML/KYC requirements)
• Advising you on your legal matter
• Preparing legal documents and correspondence
• Representing you in negotiations, court proceedings, or other forums
• Instructing third parties on your behalf (e.g., barristers, experts, medical professionals)

4.2 Business Administration

• Managing client accounts and billing
• Maintaining accurate records
• Responding to enquiries and complaints
• Quality assurance and training purposes

4.3 Legal and Regulatory Compliance

• Complying with our obligations under the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Standards and Regulations
• Meeting anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing requirements
• Complying with court orders and legal obligations
• Preventing and detecting fraud or crime

4.4 Marketing (with your consent)

• Sending information about our services
• Providing updates on legal developments relevant to you

5. Legal Basis for Processing

We process your personal data under the following legal bases:

• Contractual Necessity: Processing is necessary for the performance of our contract with you
• Legal Obligation: We must process your data to comply with legal and regulatory requirements
• Legitimate Interests: Processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests (e.g., record-keeping, quality assurance) provided this does not override your rights
• Consent: You have given explicit consent for specific processing activities (e.g., marketing communications)
• Vital Interests: In rare cases, to protect your vital interests or those of another person

For sensitive personal data, we rely on specific conditions such as legal claims, explicit consent, or where processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest.

6. Sharing Your Information

We may share your personal data with the following categories of recipients:

• Legal Representatives: Barristers, expert witnesses, and other legal professionals instructed on your behalf
• Third-Party Service Providers: IT service providers, document management systems, cloud storage providers
• Medical Professionals: Doctors, medical experts for medical reports and assessments
• Courts and Tribunals: As required for legal proceedings
• Opposing Parties and Their Representatives: As necessary for the conduct of your legal matter
• Insurance Companies: Where relevant to funding arrangements
• Regulatory Bodies: SRA, Legal Ombudsman, ICO, or other regulatory authorities
• Law Enforcement: Where required by law or to prevent/detect crime
• Professional Advisors: Accountants, auditors, insurers

We ensure that all third parties respect the security of your data and treat it in accordance with the law. We only permit them to process your data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

7. Disclosure of your information outside the United Kingdom

Information that you give in relation to your matter, including sensitive personal data, may be processed for the purposes of providing legal advice and all related matters. This may include the transfer of information outside the United Kingdom. This will include Africa and/or Asia, but your records will continue to be handled in line with good practice followed in the United Kingdom.

Where we transfer your information outside the United Kingdom to someone working with us, we do so under the International Data Transfer Agreement issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office. That agreement requires them to protect your information to United Kingdom standards. You can ask us for a copy of the safeguards we have in place using the contact details at the end of this policy.

8. Data Security

We have implemented appropriate technical and organisational security measures to protect your personal data, including:

• Encrypted data storage and transmission
• Secure access controls and authentication
• Regular security assessments and updates
• Staff training on data protection
• Confidentiality agreements with staff and third parties
• Secure document destruction procedures

While we take all reasonable steps to protect your data, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.

9. Data Retention

We keep client files for at least seven years after the matter ends. How much longer we keep a file depends on the type of matter, any legal, regulatory or insurance requirement that applies to it, and the period during which a claim could still be brought. We do not keep files for longer than we need to.

10. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights:

• Right of Access: You can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Right to Rectification: You can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data
• Right to Erasure: You can request deletion of your data in certain circumstances
• Right to Restriction: You can ask us to limit how we use your data
• Right to Data Portability: You can request your data in a portable format
• Right to Object: You can object to certain types of processing
• Rights Related to Automated Decision-Making: You have rights relating to automated decision-making and profiling

Please note that some of these rights may be limited where we have an overriding legal obligation or legitimate interest. For example, we cannot delete your file if we are required to retain it for regulatory purposes.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at info@abrahambaron.com. We will respond within one month.

11. Cookies and Website Analytics

Cookies are small text files stored on your device. When you first visit our website we ask whether you accept cookies used to understand how people find and use our site. Nothing in the optional category below is set until you press Accept.

What we use

• Essential: remembers your cookie choice on your device so we do not ask you again.
• Measurement (only if you accept): the Google tag, which sets Google cookies such as _gcl_au, _gcl_aw and _gcl_gb. These let us and Google see whether a visit that started from a Google advertisement led to an enquiry or a call, so we can tell which of our marketing helps people find us. If you accept and then send us an enquiry, your email address and phone number may be shared with Google in a protected (hashed) form to match the enquiry to the visit. Google handles this data under its own privacy policy: policies.google.com/privacy.

If you decline

The measurement cookies above are not set. Google may still receive limited signals that do not use cookies and cannot be used to identify you, for example that a page was viewed.

Advertising measurement when you send an enquiry

If you reach us from a Google advertisement and tick the consent box on our enquiry form, we may share with Google the advertisement's click reference and a protected (hashed) version of your email address or phone number. This lets us and Google see which advertisements led to enquiries and, later, to instructions, so we can improve our advertising. We do not share your name, the details of your enquiry or anything about your claim. If you do not tick the box, we do not share any of this with Google. You can ask us at any time to stop using your details in this way by contacting us.

Our record of enquiries

To measure how our marketing performs, we keep a record of each enquiry made through the website: the date, the page and advertisement it came from, the form used, your cookie choice, whether you ticked the consent box, and a protected (hashed) version of your email address and phone number so that we can match it to our own client records. We also keep your enquiry in our internal enquiry log, which holds your name, phone number, email address, what you told us, how your enquiry reached us and our own notes on it. Only authorised staff can see this log, after signing in securely, and everything they do in it is recorded. It is stored securely in the UK and used only to deal with your enquiry and to review how our marketing performs. If you do not become a client, your enquiry is deleted after 12 months. You can ask us at any time to see or delete it.

Emails about your enquiry

If you send us an enquiry through our website with your email address, we may send you up to three automatic emails about that enquiry: a confirmation that we received it, and reminders if we have not yet spoken to you or if we have sent you an agreement that you have not yet returned. These are messages about your own enquiry, not marketing. We do not send them between 8pm and 8am. Every email contains a link that stops them straight away, and you can also tell us by phone or email. We record each email we send. We do not send these emails to people who contact us by phone or in other ways.

Information we keep about your visit

So that we know how an enquiry reached us, our website notes, for the length of your visit only, the first page you looked at, the website you came from, and any tracking details in the link you clicked (for example from a Google advertisement). This is sent to us with your enquiry. If you have accepted cookies, an advertisement click reference may be kept on your device for up to 90 days.

We also count, anonymously, how many visitors accept or decline cookies. This records only the choice made and does not identify you.

On our housing disrepair pages we also count, anonymously, how far visitors get through the claim check (for example, how many answered the first question or reached the contact step). This records only the step reached, the page, whether you were on a phone or computer and whether you arrived from an advertisement. It uses no cookies, stores nothing on your device and does not identify you.

Changing your mind

You can withdraw your consent at any time by clearing this website's data in your browser settings, after which we will ask you again, or by contacting us. We do not sell your personal data.

12. Marketing Communications

We will only send you marketing communications if you have consented to receive them. You can opt out at any time by:

• Clicking the "unsubscribe" link in any marketing email
• Contacting us at info@abrahambaron.com
• Calling us on 0330 133 0777

13. Third-Party Links

Our website may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these websites. We encourage you to read their privacy policies.

14. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any significant changes by posting the updated policy on our website with a revised date. Please review this policy periodically.

15. Complaints

If you have any concerns about how we handle your personal data, please contact us first. If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):