Privacy Policy & Cookies

Privacy Policy

Gebbie & Wilson LLP is committed to protecting your personal information.

What we need

When you become a client of Gebbie & Wilson LLP, we will collect, store and use the personal information that you provide to us in your instructions and during the course of our solicitor / client relationship. We may ask you for additional personal information during the course of our client / solicitor relationship, which shall be collected, stored and used in accordance with this privacy notice

Why we need your personal information – contractual purposes

We need to collect your personal information so that we can perform our contract with you as our client. We will use this personal information to:

  • provide you with legal advice, including communicating with you by email, letter, telephone, etc.;
  • represent you as your solicitors in connection with legal work you instruct us to do;
  • respond to and communicate with you regarding your questions, comments, support needs or complaints, concerns or allegations in relation to the work that we do for you; and
  • investigate any complaints and take disciplinary action.

If you do not provide us with all of the personal information that we need to collect then this may affect our ability to provide you with legal advice and / or represent you as your solicitors.

Why we need your personal information – legitimate purposes

We also process our clients’ personal information in pursuit of our legitimate interests to:

  • carry on business as a firm of solicitors;
  • verify your identity
  • promote our services by sending clients communications with information about the firm’s activities; and
  • invite our clients as guests to our events

Where we process your personal information in pursuit of our legitimate interests, you have the right to object to us using your personal information for the above purposes. If you wish to object to any of the above processing, please contact us at 18 Common Green, Strathaven ML10 6AG, by telephone on 01357 520082 or by email at mail@gebbiewilson.co.uk

If we comply with your objection, this may affect our ability to undertake the tasks described for your benefit as our client.

Why we need your personal information – legal obligations

We are under a legal obligation to process certain personal information relating to our clients for the purposes of complying with our obligations under:

  • the Law Society of Scotland professional requirements for solicitors;
  • the Council of Mortgages Lenders’ Regulations;
  • the Scottish Legal Aid Board Regulations; and
  • The Money Laundering Regulations 201

Who we share your personal information with

We may be required to share your personal information with statutory or regulatory authorities and organisations to comply with statutory obligations, our regulatory authority and taxation regulations. Such organisations include the Law Society of Scotland, HM Revenue & Customs, Revenue Scotland, the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, the Council of Mortgage Lenders, the Scottish Legal Aid Board and the National Crime Agency.

We may also share personal data with our professional advisors for the purposes of taking advice.

Gebbie & Wilson LLP employs third party suppliers to provide support and services, and companies who help us in our contact with you, such as an internet service provider. These suppliers may process personal data on our behalf as “processors” and are subject to written contractual conditions to only process that personal data under our instructions and protect it.

In the event that we do share personal data with external third parties, we will only share such personal data strictly required for intended specific purposes and take reasonable steps to ensure that recipients shall only process the disclosed personal data in accordance with those purposes.

How we protect your personal information

In addition to being stored in our paper files relating to transactions that we carry out for you kept at 18 Common Green, Strathaven ML10 6AG, your personal information is stored on our electronic filing system. Our servers are based in the UK, and our system is accessed by our staff for the purposes set out above.

How long we keep your personal information

We have a data retention policy that sets out the periods for retaining and reviewing all information that we hold which is in line with the Law Society of Scotland’s recommended policy and legal regulations and requirements. This sets out different retention periods and you can request a copy by contacting us at 18 Common Green, Strathaven ML10 6AG, by telephone on 01357 520082 and by email at mail@gebbiewilson.co.uk

Your rights

You can exercise any of the following rights by writing to us at 18 Common Green, Strathaven ML10 6AG or mail@gebbiewilson.co.uk

Your rights in relation to your personal information are:

  • to request copies of the personal information that we hold about you by making a “subject access request”;
  • to request that we correct or complete your personal information if you believe that any of your personal information is inaccurate or incomplete;
  • to request that we restrict the processing of your personal information for specific purposes; and
  • to request that we delete your personal information.

Any requests received by Gebbie & Wilson LLP will be considered under applicable data protection legislation. We may require to verify your identity before providing you with the information that you have requested. If you remain dissatisfied, you have a right to raise a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office at www.ico.org.uk

How we use cookies

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. In particular, portions of this website use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses cookies to help the website analyse how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to client needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you may modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may, however, prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites, and such sites are not governed by this privacy policy. You should exercise caution and look at the appropriate privacy policy applicable to the relevant website being used.