Legal Notices

Privacy, Cookies and Accessibility Notice

Please see our separate GDPR notice.

Cookies

Like many other websites, our website uses cookies and similar technologies. Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit our site. They help our website work properly, improve your browsing experience, and allow us to understand how visitors use our site.

We may use cookies for the following purposes:

• Essential cookies – to make our website function properly and securely.
• Analytics cookies – to help us understand how visitors use our website, which pages are most useful, and how we can improve our content and services.
• Functionality cookies – to remember preferences and improve your experience.
• Marketing or campaign cookies – where used, to help us understand the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns and communications.

Where required by law, we will ask for your consent before placing cookies on your device. Where the law permits certain low-risk cookies to be used without consent, such as some analytics or functionality cookies, we will provide clear information about them and any available opt-out controls.

Cookies allow us to see patterns in website use, but they do not necessarily identify you directly. However, some cookies and similar technologies may involve the processing of personal data, such as online identifiers, device information, IP addresses, or browsing activity. We will handle any such personal data in accordance with applicable UK data protection law.

You can manage cookies through your browser settings and, where available, through our cookie preference tool. If you disable some cookies, parts of our website may not work as intended.

How we use personal data collected through our website

When you use our website or contact us through it, we may collect and use personal data such as your name, contact details, enquiry details, IP address, device information, and information about how you interact with our website.

We may use this information to:

• respond to your enquiries;
• provide information about our services;
• manage and improve our website;
• understand the effectiveness of our marketing and communications;
• maintain the security of our website and IT systems;
• comply with legal, regulatory and professional obligations;
• manage complaints, requests, or disputes.

Our lawful bases for processing may include:

• consent, where we ask for it;
• contract, where processing is necessary to provide services or take steps at your request;
• legal obligation, where we must comply with legal, regulatory or professional duties;
• legitimate interests, including managing our business, improving our website, maintaining IT security, responding to enquiries, and marketing our services where permitted by law;
• recognised legitimate interests, where applicable under UK data protection law, such as preventing or detecting crime, safeguarding, responding to emergencies, or ensuring network and information security.

Marketing communications

We may use your contact details to send you legal updates, event invitations, briefings, newsletters, or information about our services where permitted by law.

You can opt out of marketing communications at any time by using the unsubscribe link in our emails or by contacting us.

Your data protection rights

You have rights under UK data protection law, which may include the right to:

• request access to your personal data;
• request correction of inaccurate personal data;
• request deletion of your personal data;
• object to certain processing;
• request restriction of processing;
• request data portability;
• withdraw consent, where we rely on consent;
• complain about how we handle your personal data.

When responding to a subject access request, we will carry out a reasonable and proportionate search for the personal data and information to which you are entitled.

Where we reasonably require further information to identify the information or processing activities relevant to your request, we may ask you to clarify your request. The time period for responding may be paused until we receive that clarification.

Your rights are subject to legal limitations. In particular, we may withhold information where legal professional privilege, litigation privilege, client confidentiality, third-party data protection rights, or another legal exemption applies.

Complaints about our use of personal data

If you have a concern about how we use your personal data, you may make a data protection complaint to us.

You can contact us by:

• email: mail@samuels-solicitors.co.uk
• post: Samuels Solicitors LLP, 18 Alexandra Road, Barnstaple, Devon, EX32 8BA
• using our online contact form

We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days of receipt. We will take appropriate steps to respond to your complaint without undue delay, including making reasonable enquiries and keeping you informed of progress.

If you are dissatisfied with our response, you may complain to the UK data protection regulator, currently the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Automated decision-making

We do not make decisions about you based solely on automated processing that produce legal or similarly significant effects.

If this changes, we will update this notice and provide the safeguards required by law, including information about the decision, the ability to make representations, the ability to obtain human intervention, and the ability to contest the decision.

International transfers

Where we transfer personal data outside the UK, we will do so in accordance with applicable UK data protection transfer rules. This may include reliance on UK adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses or other approved transfer mechanisms, or other safeguards permitted by law.

Accessibility

We take our legal responsibilities towards disabled people very seriously.

We welcome enquiries from everyone and will work with our digital design agency to make our website as accessible as possible. If you have any difficulty using our website, we would be very happy to receive your feedback and will do all that we can to ensure that the information contained on our website is accessible to you.

If you have any questions about the way we work, or if you need information in a different format, please get in contact and we will be happy to have a conversation with you.

Contact us

If you have any questions about this notice, how we use cookies, how we handle personal data, or how to exercise your data protection rights, please contact us.