Cookie & Privacy Policy

Who we are

We are Battens Solicitors Limited, a firm of Solicitors registered in England.

Head Office Address: Mansion House, Princes Street, Yeovil, Somerset BA20 1EP.

Our company registration number is 02948102 and we are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office, registration number: Z9092095.

Our Privacy Principles

• Your privacy is very important to us. We only use your data in ways that are fair and transparent
• We always provide clear information about the data we collect from you, why we need it, how we use it, who we share it with, and how long we keep it for. Please see our Privacy Notices. Wherever possible, the appropriate Privacy Notice is made available to you at the time you provide the information, but if that is not possible we aim to provide one to you within 30 days
• If you do not provide the information yourself, i.e. it is given to us by a third party, we aim to provide you with a Privacy Notice within 30 days
• We will take all reasonable steps to protect your information from misuse and keep it secure

What is covered by this Policy?

This policy covers all data provided to Battens Solicitors Ltd:

• Written communications and physical documents received by post
• Electronic communications of all types (telephone, SMS, fax, email, social media, instant messaging services, teleconferencing, videoconferencing, file transfer, or via the website)
• All media, including audio and video recordings, photographs, memory sticks, flashcards, and optical media

This Privacy Policy does not cover data about employees of Battens Solicitors. Please see the Employee Privacy Policy.

What information do we collect?

The personal information we collect about you will depend on your circumstances and your relationship with Battens Solicitors; Whether you are a client, professional contact, website visitor, supplier etc.

By personal information, we mean all information that can be used to identify you. This typically includes information such as your name, address, email address, and telephone number, but can also include other information such as your computer’s IP address, or video of you recorded on our office CCTV.

For more information, please see our Privacy Notices.

Safeguarding your information

We take all reasonable precautions to keep your personal information secure and require any third parties that handle or process your personal information for us to do the same.

Access to your personal information is restricted to prevent unauthorised access, modification or misuse and is only permitted among our employees and agents on a need-to-know basis.

In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect.

We will not transfer your data outside of the UK, EU and EEA without your explicit consent unless we are required to do so to comply with our contractual or legal obligations.

Your rights and who to contact

You have the following rights:

• To be informed about what we do with your personal information
• To request a copy of your personal information
• To request that we correct some personal information we hold about you
• To request that we destroy the personal information we hold about you
• To request that we stop using your personal information
• To request that we provide your information in an easily portable format
• To object to the processing of your personal data for certain purposes
• To complain directly to Battens Solicitors or to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

You can make these requests via email to dataprotection@battens.co.uk, verbally to a member of staff (in person or over the phone) or by writing to David Polson, our Data Protection Officer, at our head office address.

Changes to this policy

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time by posting the updated version on our website. A copy of this policy can also be obtained from our offices. We will give you reasonable notice of any material change. We encourage you to visit frequently to stay informed about how we use your personal information

Further Information

Please email David Polson, our Data Protection Officer at dataprotection@battens.co.uk

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

How we use cookies

A cookie is a small file that is saved on your computer when you visit a website. Cookies typically help a website remember the visitor between visits and analyse web traffic. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes, and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

Like many websites, we use Google Analytics cookies to monitor the usage, popularity, and functionality of our website. This helps us to improve our website and tailor it to our customers' needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. However, this may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

Cookies used on our sites

How to manage cookies

Our cookies do not store financial information or information which is capable of directly identifying you (such as your name or address). Cookies simply allow our website to retrieve this information in order to personalise and improve your experience of our website.

However, if you wish to restrict, block or delete cookies provided by our site – or any other website - you can use your browser to do this. Each browser is different so check the ‘Help’ menu of your particular browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences or use the following on your particular browser. You can also manage some of the cookies on our site here.

Firefox

1. Click on the ‘burger menu’ icon (three horizontal lines, one above each other), within Firefox - this is located to the right of the address bar
2. Select Preferences
3. Select the Privacy panel from within the pop-up
4. From the History section, change the “Firefox will” drop-down select and “Use custom settings for history”
5. Un-check “Accept cookies from sites”
6. Click OK

Google Chrome

1. Click on the ‘burger menu’ icon (three horizontal lines, one above each other), within Chrome - this is located to the right of the address bar
2. Select “Settings”
3. Client on the “Show advanced settings” link to unveil the additional settings
4. Click “Content Settings” in the “Privacy” section
5. A pop up will appear, and under the “Cookies” section select “Block sites from setting any data”

Internet Explorer

1. Click the gear-wheel icon in the top right corner of the browser
2. Click Internet Options
3. Navigate to the Privacy Tab
4. Set the slider to “High” or above
5. Click OK to confirm

Safari

1. Go to Safari Preferences (Cmd ,)
2. Click the “Privacy” icon
3. Choose “Cookies and website data” as “Always block”
4. Close window

Please bear in mind that if you do this, certain personalised features of this website and others cannot be provided to you.

Third-Party Cookies

Our website may embed features from other websites, such as Google Maps, Youtube, Twitter or Facebook. The cookies these websites create are subject to change and more information can be found on their sites.

These cookies will identify you between websites and may be used for advertising purposes. We generally recommend that you adjust your browser settings to block third party cookies. This will not affect the functionality of our website.

Further information

If you wish to learn more about cookies in general and how to manage them, visit www.aboutcookies.org.

Last updated: 15/09/2023