General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Policy
At Masters Legal Costs Services LLP, we are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.
This Policy explains when and why we store personal information about people, how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others and how we keep it secure.
We may change this Policy from time to time so please check this document occasionally to ensure that you’re happy with any changes. By using our services, you are agreeing to be bound by this Policy.
Any questions regarding this Policy and our privacy practices should be sent by email to GDPR@Masters-Legal.co.uk or by writing to Second & Third Floors, 15 Devonshire Square, London, EC2M 4YW. Alternatively, you can telephone 020 7256 3620.
Who are we?
Masters Legal Costs Services LLP is a Legal Costs Consultancy, located in the the City of London. Since our formation in 1986, we have earned, and strive to protect, our reputation as being one of the legal profession's leading costs consultancies.
We work closely with some of the leading firms of solicitors in the country, including Magic Circle, City and niche specialist firms as well as working directly with other organisations with an interest in the legal services sector such as insurers, banks and accountancy firms. We offer a highly professional and dedicated service tailored to our clients' requirements to ensure we act as an extension of their departments or teams. Our aim is to work together to deliver results quickly, effectively and commercially.
We are committed to tailoring costs solutions for every eventuality and offer a professional bespoke service. We provide comprehensive services that meet our clients' current and long term needs. We are able to provide a wide range of services from legal costs advice to costs budgeting and from the preparation of Bills of Costs or Points of Dispute to the conduct of major ground breaking costs litigation where important principles are established, as well as costs management and consultancy services.
How do we obtain information from you?
We obtain information about you and your clients when you use our services. This is limited to the information included in the documents provided by you whether in paper or electronic format.
What type of information is collected from you?
The information we receive will include details of your firm, including names of your employees, your business address, VAT and company registration numbers. In respect of your clients, if they are an individual, these details may include their name, address and e-mail address. The documents provided to us to enable us to provide our services may include private and/or financial information from your client if this has been obtained by you in the course of your instructions (such as in disclosure or your client identification procedures).
How is your information used?
We will only use your information to:
• execute our instructions; and
• to carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into by you and us.
We review our retention periods for personal information on a regular basis. We are required to hold certain information to fulfil our contractual obligations (for example the retention of documents relating to the work we undertake on your behalf). We will hold your personal information on our systems only for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity, or as long as is set out in any relevant contract you hold with us.
Who has access to your information?
We will not sell or rent your information to third parties.
We will not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.
Third Party Service Providers working on our behalf: We may pass your information to our third party service providers, solely for the purposes of completing tasks and providing services to you (for example courier and document management services). However, when we use third party service providers, we disclose only the personal information that is necessary to deliver the service and we have a contract in place that requires them to keep your information secure and not to use it for their own direct marketing purposes. Please be reassured that we will not release your information to third parties beyond Masters Legal Costs Services LLP for them to use for their own direct marketing purposes, unless you have requested us to do so, or we are required to do so by law, for example, by a court order or for the purposes of prevention of fraud or other crime.
We may transfer your personal information to a third party as part of a sale of some or all of our business and assets to any third party or as part of any business restructuring or reorganisation, or if we’re under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation or to enforce or apply our terms of use or to protect the rights, property or safety of our employees and clients. However, we will take steps with the aim of ensuring that your privacy rights continue to be protected.
