Privacy Policy

Who we are

Pinpoint Lawyers ("Pinpoint", "we", "us", "our") is a barrister led commercial law practice based in Birmingham, England, specialising in shareholder, director, partnership and contract disputes.

We are the data controller for the personal data you provide to us through this website and in the course of any enquiry or engagement.

We process personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

What this policy covers

This policy explains how we collect, use, store and share personal data when you visit pinpointlawyers.com, submit an enquiry, request a quote, or instruct us to act for you. It also explains your rights and how to exercise them.

The personal data we collect

Information you give us directly

• Your name, email address, telephone number and business name when you complete a contact or enquiry form, request a call back, or use our chat facility
• Details of your legal issue, including the parties involved, the value of the dispute, relevant dates and any documents you choose to upload or send
• Information you provide during telephone calls, video calls, meetings and email correspondence
• Identification and verification documents where we are required to carry out client due diligence and money laundering checks
• Payment and billing information

Information we collect automatically

• Technical data such as your IP address, browser type, device type, operating system and referring website
• Usage data such as the pages you visit, time spent on pages and the links you click
• Cookie and analytics data as described in the Cookies section below

Information we receive from third parties

• Publicly available records including Companies House, the Land Registry and court listings
• Information from other parties to a dispute, their representatives, courts, tribunals and experts
• Credit reference and identity verification providers where required

How we use your personal data

We use your personal data to:

1. Respond to your enquiry and assess whether we can assist with your matter
2. Qualify and triage new enquiries so that we can respond quickly and route your matter to the right person
3. Prepare and send you a fixed fee quote or scope of work
4. Carry out conflict checks, identity verification and money laundering checks before accepting instructions
5. Provide legal advice and representation, including analysing documents, drafting correspondence, preparing court documents and conducting negotiations and proceedings on your behalf
6. Manage our relationship with you, including billing, payment collection and account administration
7. Comply with our legal, regulatory and professional obligations
8. Operate, secure and improve our website and services
9. Send you information about our services where you have consented or where we are otherwise permitted to do so

Our lawful bases

We rely on the following lawful bases under Article 6 of the UK GDPR:

• Performance of a contract: to provide you with a quote and to deliver legal services once you instruct us
• Legal obligation: to meet our regulatory duties, including client due diligence, record keeping and reporting obligations
• Legitimate interests: to respond to enquiries, qualify and triage new work, protect our business from fraud, improve our website and services, and market our services to existing and prospective business clients. We only rely on this basis where our interests are not overridden by your rights
• Consent: where you sign up to receive marketing communications or accept non essential cookies. You can withdraw consent at any time

Where we process special category data, such as information about health or criminal allegations that arises in the course of a dispute, we rely on the substantial public interest condition for legal advice and proceedings under Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018, or on the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims under Article 9(2)(f) of the UK GDPR.

Technology and automated tools

We use technology, including artificial intelligence assisted tools, to help us work efficiently and respond to you quickly. These tools may be used to:

• Acknowledge and categorise incoming enquiries
• Extract key information from the details you provide to help us assess your matter
• Draft initial responses and fee quotes for review by a member of our team
• Analyse and summarise documents and correspondence relating to your matter
• Support drafting of legal documents and correspondence

All substantive legal advice, fee quotes and decisions about whether we accept instructions are reviewed and approved by a qualified member of our team. We do not make decisions based solely on automated processing that produce legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affect you.

Where we use third party tools to support this work, those providers act as our processors under written contracts. We do not permit providers to use your personal data to train or improve their own models, and we select tools that offer appropriate security and confidentiality protections.

Who we share your personal data with

We may share your personal data with:

• Barristers, solicitors, counsel, experts, mediators, arbitrators and other professionals instructed on your matter
• Courts, tribunals, regulators and enforcement agencies where required
• Other parties to a dispute and their representatives, to the extent necessary to progress your matter
• Our service providers, including providers of practice management software, document management, email and communications, cloud hosting, client relationship management, workflow automation, artificial intelligence assisted tools, identity verification, payment processing, accountancy and website analytics
• Our insurers, auditors and professional advisers
• Any purchaser or successor in the event of a sale, merger or reorganisation of our business

We require all service providers to keep your data secure, to use it only on our instructions and to comply with data protection law.

We do not sell your personal data.

International transfers

Some of our service providers store or process data outside the United Kingdom. Where this happens, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as an adequacy regulation issued by the UK Government, the International Data Transfer Agreement, or the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses. You can request details of the safeguards used by contacting us.

How long we keep your personal data

• Enquiries that do not lead to instructions: up to 12 months from your last contact with us, after which the data is deleted unless we need to retain it for conflict checking purposes
• Client files and matter records: 6 years from the conclusion of your matter, or longer where required by our regulator, insurers or the nature of the matter
• Identity verification and money laundering records: 5 years from the end of the business relationship, as required by law
• Accounting and billing records: 6 years from the end of the relevant financial year
• Marketing data: until you unsubscribe or we become aware that your details are no longer accurate
• Website analytics data: as set out in the Cookies section below

At the end of the retention period we securely delete or anonymise your data.

How we keep your personal data secure

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data, including encryption in transit and at rest, access controls, multi factor authentication, secure cloud infrastructure and staff training. Access to client data is restricted to those who need it to carry out their role.

If we become aware of a personal data breach that is likely to result in a risk to your rights, we will notify you and the Information Commissioner's Office as required by law.

Your rights

Under the UK GDPR you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Have inaccurate data corrected
• Have your data erased in certain circumstances
• Restrict how we process your data in certain circumstances
• Object to processing based on legitimate interests, and to direct marketing at any time
• Receive your data in a portable format where processing is based on contract or consent
• Withdraw consent at any time where consent is the basis for processing
• Not be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing that has legal or similarly significant effects on you

Some of these rights are limited by legal professional privilege and by our regulatory obligations. Where we cannot comply with a request in full, we will explain why.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@pinpointlawyers.com. We will respond within one month. We may ask you to verify your identity before acting on a request.

Complaints to the ICO

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, please contact us first so that we can try to resolve the issue. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office:

Cookies

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies.

Necessary cookies are required for the website to function and cannot be switched off. They handle security, consent preferences and our enquiry form.

Analytics cookies help us understand how visitors use the website so that we can improve it. These are only set with your consent. Data collected is aggregated and used to measure page performance, traffic sources and conversions.

Marketing cookies are used to track visitors across websites and show relevant advertising. These are only set with your consent.

You can manage your cookie preferences through the cookie banner that appears when you first visit or through the Cookie Settings link in the footer. Blocking some cookies may affect how the website works.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to third party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those websites and encourage you to read their privacy policies.

Children

Our services are directed at businesses and adults. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18 through this website.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The latest version will always be published on this page with the date of the last update. Where changes are significant, we will notify existing clients directly.

Contact us