AVK Solicitors & Advocates ("we", "us"), the trading name of AVK LAW LTD of Olympic House, 28–42 Clements Road, Ilford IG1 1BA, is the data controller for personal information collected through avklaw.co.uk and in the course of providing our legal services. We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (registration no. ZB688144) and process personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.
1. Information we collect
We collect the information you give us when you contact us, book an appointment, subscribe to updates or instruct us. This may include your name, email address, phone number, postal address, details of your legal matter and any documents you share with us. For immigration matters this can include passport, nationality and immigration history details.
We also collect limited technical information when you use our website, such as your IP address, browser type, pages visited and the date and time of your visit, through cookies and similar technologies.
2. How we use your information
We use your information to respond to enquiries, provide legal advice and representation, carry out identity and anti-money laundering checks, manage billing, meet our regulatory obligations to the Solicitors Regulation Authority and, where you have agreed, send you legal updates.
Our lawful bases are performing a contract with you, complying with legal obligations, our legitimate interests in running our practice, and your consent where we rely on it.
3. Sharing your information
We do not sell your personal information. We share it only where needed for your matter or required by law, for example with the Home Office, courts and tribunals, barristers, translators, experts, our IT and identity-verification providers, and our professional indemnity insurers. In rare circumstances we may have to report information to the National Crime Agency.
4. Security and retention
Personal information is held securely and access is limited to staff who need it. We generally retain client files for 6 years after payment of our final bill and then destroy them, unless a longer period is required by law or agreed with you. Enquiry and marketing data is kept only for as long as necessary.
5. Your rights
Under data protection law you have the right to:
- access the personal information we hold about you
- ask us to correct inaccurate information
- ask us to erase your information
- restrict or object to our processing
- data portability
- withdraw consent at any time where we rely on it
To exercise any of these rights, email info@avklaw.co.uk. You may also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk. Our services are not directed at children under 18 and we do not knowingly collect their information online.
6. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The current version will always be published on this page.