Hampshire Legal Services

About us

We are Hampshire Legal Services (HLS), the inhouse legal practice of Hampshire County Council (the County Council).

The purpose of this Privacy Notice is to explain how HLS uses personal data. As the County Council is the data controller for the personal data HLS processes, this Privacy Notice should be read in conjunction with the County Council’s General Privacy Notice. You should also read the General Retainer Letter and the Standard Terms of Business we provide to you, as our client.

We reserve the right to update this Privacy Notice, or any of the documents mentioned, at any time to reflect the changes to the way we process personal data and to reflect the best practice guidance issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

How we collect personal data

We receive personal data directly from, representatives of clients and prospective clients when they make enquiries about our services and when their organisation becomes our client.

We will process the personal data of individuals who ask for details about or attend HLS events or subscribe to our updates or login to our learning platform. We may also ask for feedback about our services or events and we may use this information to inform and improve the HLS service.

We also obtain personal data  indirectly as part of our instructions via publicly accessible sources such as Companies House, HM Land Registry, or online searches.

Where legal advice is requested, we will process personal data relevant to the legal matters under consideration and the instructions we receive about the conduct of the case. We may receive documents from our clients that contain personal data about third parties where that information is relevant to our client’s situation and the advice they have requested. For instance, if our client is a school, we may process personal data relating to pupils, students, parents, carers or guardians.

We may also collect personal data from parties acting on the other side in transactions or matters, or from lawyers or other professional advisors acting on their behalf.

If you are a barrister, an independent consultant, professional advisor or witness for our client then we may collect personal data about you, as appropriate, for the conduct of the case.

Whilst our lawyers are not subject to anti-money laundering regulations there may still be occasions when we will need to collect information about the source of any funds.

What type of personal data we collect

• Information concerning individuals, such as names, title, home addresses, private mobile telephone numbers and email addresses
• Business information, such as job titles, business addresses, business telephone numbers or other information collected as required for the conduct of the case
• Financial information, such as billing information, bank account details, card details or other information required to process payments
• Information related to our legal services, which may include special category data or information relating to criminal offences depending on the type of legal service and/or advice being provided

Our lawful basis for processing

HLS will only process personal data where we are permitted to do so by law and will ensure that all processing complies with UK data protection legislation.

Our lawful basis for processing personal data will be in accordance with Article 6 of the General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). This may be for the performance of a contract, for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest, or for the legitimate interests of the County Council (where those interests are not overridden by the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual). But other lawful bases may apply on a case-by-case basis, such as compliance with a legal obligation under a court order or to protect the vital interests of an individual.

Where we process special category data, our lawful basis will be in accordance with Article 9 of the UK GDPR. This may be for reasons of substantial public interest or for the exercise or defence of legal claims. But other lawful bases may apply on a case-by-case basis.

We will only use personal data for the purposes we have collected it for unless we reasonably consider that it is needed for another purpose and this is compatible with the original purpose the personal data was collected for.

Who we share information with

HLS may need to share personal data with professional advisors and other third parties where this is necessary to carry out our clients' instructions (i.e. HM Land Registry or Companies House).

We may need to share personal data with our insurance broker, our insurers, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, CILEx Regulation, the Bar Standards Board, Lexcel assessors, and/or auditors.

We may also be legally obliged to share personal data third parties, for instance to comply with the terms of a court order.

How we store information

HLS stores information relating to its legal advice on IT and case management systems provided by third party processors who are required to comply with our instructions and may only process personal data outside of the UK in accordance with the UK GDPR.

How long we hold personal information for

The case files of HLS (electronic and/or paper records) are kept securely and in accordance with the County Council’s retention periods.

On expiry of the relevant retention period the records will be deleted and/or destroyed, unless we have been asked to return the records to our client.

The above information is the specific privacy notice for this service. For more information about your rights in relation to your personal data, see the County Council’s general privacy notice.

You have some legal rights in respect of the personal information we collect from you. See our Data Protection page for further details.

You can contact the County Council’s Data Protection Officer by email [email protected].

If you have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, you should raise your concern with us in the first instance or directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office.