MML Law

Data Protection Policy

Muir Myles Laverty (MML) is a law firm and provides legal advice and assistance to its clients. It is regulated by the Law Society of Scotland.

The personal data that MML processes to provide these services relates to its clients and other individuals as necessary, including staff and suppliers’ staff.

This policy sets out MML’s commitment to ensuring that any personal data, including special category personal data, which MML processes, is carried out in compliance with data protection law. MML processes the personal data of staff and is committed to ensuring that all the personal data that it processes is done in accordance with data protection law. MML ensures that good data protection practice is imbedded in the culture of our staff and our organisation.

‘Data Protection Law’ includes the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679; the UK Data Protection Act 2018 and all relevant EU and UK data protection legislation.

Scope

This policy applies to all personal data processed by MML and is part of MML’s approach to compliance with data protection law. All MML staff are expected to comply with this policy and failure to comply may lead to disciplinary action for misconduct, including dismissal.

Data Protection Principles

MML complies with the data protection principles set out below. When processing personal data, it ensures that:

it is processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject
it is collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes
it is all adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed
it is all accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date and that reasonable steps will be taken to ensure that personal data that are inaccurate, having regard to the purposes for which they are processed, are erased or rectified without delay
it is kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the personal data are processed
it is processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organisational measures

MML will facilitate any request from a data subject who wishes to exercise their rights under data protection law as appropriate, always communicating in a concise, transparent, intelligible and easily accessible form and without undue delay.

Process/procedures/guidance

MML will:

ensure that the legal basis for processing personal data is identified in advance and that all processing complies with the law
not do anything with your data that you would not expect given the content of this policy and the fair processing or privacy notice
ensure that appropriate privacy notices are in place advising staff and others how and why their data is being processed, and, in particular, advising data subjects of their rights
only collect and process the personal data that it needs for purposes it has identified in advance and as required by law
ensure that, as far as possible, the personal data it holds is accurate, or a system is in place for ensuring that it is kept up to date as far as possible
only hold onto your personal data for as long as it is needed, after which time MML will securely erase or delete the personal data – MML’s data retention policy will follow the recommendations as prescribed by The Law Society of Scotland from time to time
ensure that appropriate security measures are in place to ensure that personal data can only be accessed by those who need to access it and that it is held and transferred securely

MML will ensure that all staff who handle personal data on its behalf are aware of their responsibilities under this policy and other relevant data protection and information security policies, and that they are adequately trained and supervised.

Breaching this policy may result in disciplinary action for misconduct, including dismissal. MML has always held client confidentiality as a paramount consideration in how it conducts its business, all staff appreciate that in addition to their existing professional obligations that obtaining (including accessing) or disclosing personal data in breach of MML’s data protection policies may also be a criminal offence.

Data Subject Rights

MML has processes in place to ensure that it can facilitate any request made by an individual to exercise their rights under data protection law. All staff have received training and are aware of the rights of data subjects (clients). Staff can identify such a request and know who to send it to.

All requests will be considered without undue delay and within one month of receipt as far as possible.

Subject access: the right to request information about how personal data is being processed, including whether personal data is being processed and the right to be allowed access to that data and to be provided with a copy of that data along with the right to obtain the following information:

the purpose of the processing
the categories of personal data

the recipients to whom data has been disclosed or which will be disclosed
the retention period
the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office
the source of the information if not collected direct from the subject, and
the existence of any automated decision making

Rectification: the right to allow a data subject to rectify inaccurate personal data concerning them.

Erasure: the right to have data erased and to have confirmation of erasure, but only where:

the data is no longer necessary in relation to the purpose for which it was collected, or
where consent is withdrawn, or
where there is no legal basis for the processing, or
there is a legal obligation to delete data

Restriction of processing: the right to ask for certain processing to be restricted in the following circumstances:

if the accuracy of the personal data is being contested, or
if our processing is unlawful but the data subject does not want it erased, or
if the data is no longer needed for the purpose of the processing but it is required by the data subject for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, or
if the data subject has objected to the processing, pending verification of that objection

Data portability: the right to receive a copy of personal data which has been provided by the data subject and which is processed by automated means in a format which will allow the individual to transfer the data to another data controller. This would only apply if MML was processing the data using consent or on the basis of a contract.

Object to processing: the right to object to the processing of personal data relying on the legitimate interests processing condition unless MML can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override the interests of the data subject or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

Special category personal data

This includes the following personal data revealing:

racial or ethnic origin
political opinions
religious or philosophical beliefs
trade union membership
the processing of genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person
an individual’s health
a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation

criminal convictions or offences

MML may process special category data of clients and third parties as is necessary to provide legal services for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

MML processes special category data of employees as is necessary to comply with employment and social security law. This policy sets out the safeguards we believe are appropriate to ensure that we comply with the data protection principles set out above. MML also has a data retention policy which sets out how long special category data will be held onto.