Privacy Policy

The Virtual Legal Secretary is committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring you have a positive experience on our website and in using our services.  

The Virtual Legal Secretary respects and values the privacy of everyone who visits our website and will only collect and use personal data in ways that are described here and in a way that is consistent with our obligations and your rights under the law.   

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time.  This may be necessary, for example if the law changes.

Any changes will be immediately posted on our site and you will be deemed to have accepted the terms of this Privacy Policy on your first use of our site following the alterations.  We recommend that you check this page regularly to keep up-to-date.

This Privacy Policy sets out The Virtual Legal Secretary’s policies on data privacy and aims to give you a clear guidance on these rights.  Please read this Privacy Policy carefully and ensure that you understand it.  Your acceptance of this Privacy Policy is deemed to occur upon your use of this site and to any accounts you may hold with The Virtual Legal Secretary – please note that our site may contain links to other websites and we have no control over how your data is collected, stored or used by other websites, businesses or organisations and we advise you to check the privacy policies of any such websites before providing any data to them.

Under the GDPR governed by the laws of England and Wales, you may also have particular legal rights as follows depending on the type of information, whether we received it from you and what we use it for.  In practice these legal rights should be relevant not only if you are the client of The Virtual Legal Secretary, since we would be bound to look after our own client in such respects anyway.  These rights under the UK GDPR are as follows:

• the right to be informed about our collection and use of your personal data;
• the right to access the personal data we hold for you;
• the right to have your personal data rectified if any of your personal data held by us is inaccurate or incomplete;
• the right to be “forgotten” – to request us to delete or otherwise dispose of any of your personal data we hold for you;
• the right to restrict the processing of your personal data;
• the right to object to us using your personal data for a particular purpose;
• the right to portability, i.e.  if you have provided personal data to us directly and we are using it (with your consent) and/or for the performance of a contract and that data is processed using automated means, you can request a copy of that personal data to re-use with another service or business in many cases.

Should you feel we are failing to comply with your rights, please let us know and tell us why.

Under the GDPR, The Virtual Legal Secretary is required to always have a lawful basis for using personal data and this only applies to protecting the individual’s data so if you are a limited company, LLP or other corporate entity, we owe the same professional obligations but the GDPR protection mostly won’t apply directly.

Depending on your use of our site and your account with us (if applicable), we may collect some or all of the following data:

Name

Address

E-mail address 

Telephone number

Business name

Preference and interest

We may use your personal data because the data is necessary for our performance of a service to you; because you have consented to our use of your personal data; or because it is in our legitimate business interests to use it.  Your personal data may be used for one or more of the following purposes:

• providing and managing your account;
• providing and managing your access to our site;
• personalising and tailoring your experience on our site;
• supplying our services to you – your personal details are required in order for us to enter into a contract with you;
• personalising and tailoring our services for you;
• communicating with you – this may include responding to e-mails or calls from you;
• analysing your use of our site and gathering feedback to enable us to continually improve our site and your user experience.

You will not be sent any unlawful marketing or spam.  We will always work to fully protect your rights and comply with our obligations under the GDPR and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 and you will always have the opportunity to opt-out.

In some limited circumstances we may be legally required to share certain personal data which might include yours, if we are involved in legal proceedings or complying with legal obligations, a court order, or the instructions of a government authority.

We will not keep your personal data for any longer than is necessary other than for the reasons it was collected in the first place.

Basic account details such as company/organisation or username will be maintained for the time legally required for UK Tax Records.

You may access certain areas of our site without providing any personal data.  However, to use all features and functions available on our site you may be required to submit or allow for the collection of certain data.

You may however restrict our use of Cookies.

If you want to know what personal data we have about you, you may request details (and a copy thereof should The Virtual Legal Secretary have any data in document form) (“Data Access Request“). 

All Data Access Requests should be made in writing and sent to our e-mail address.  There is not normally any charge for a Data Access Request.  If your request is “manifestly unfounded or excessive” (for example, if you make repetitive requests), a fee may be charged to cover our administrative costs in responding.

We will respond to your Data Access Request within twenty (20) days of receiving it.  Normally, we aim to provide a complete response, including a copy of your personal data within that time.  In some cases however, particularly if your request is more complex, more time may be required, i.e. up to a maximum of three (3) months from the date we receive your request.  You will be kept fully informed of our progress.

Our site may place and access certain first-party Cookies on your computer or device.  First-party Cookies are those placed directly by us and are used only by us.

We use Cookies to facilitate and improve your experience of our site and to provide and improve our services.

We have carefully chosen these Cookies and have taken steps to ensure that your privacy and personal data is protected and respected at all times.

All Cookies used by and on our site are used in accordance with current Cookie Law.

The cookies we use are essential for our site to function.  Cookie Law deems these Cookies to be “strictly necessary“.  Your consent will not be sought to place these Cookies, but it is still important that you are aware of them.  You may still block these Cookies by changing your internet browser’s settings as detailed below, but please be aware that our site may not work properly if you do so.  We have taken great care to ensure that your privacy is not at risk by allowing them.

Our site uses analytics services provided by Google.  Website Analytics refers to a set of tools used to collect and analyse anonymous usage information, enabling us to better understand how our site is used.  This in turn enables us to improve our site and the services or services we offer.

The analytics service(s) that we use on our site uses Cookies to gather the required information.  You do not have to allow us to use these Cookies, however whilst our use of them does not pose any risk to your privacy or your safe use of our site, it does enable us to continually improve our site, making it a better and more useful experience for you.

We anonymise IP addresses as part of our analytics collection to avoid any personal identification.

You can also choose to enable or disable Cookies in your internet browser.  Most internet browsers also enable you to choose whether you wish to disable all Cookies or only third party Cookies.  By default, most internet browsers accept Cookies, but this can be changed.  For further details, please consult the help menu in your internet browser or the documentation that came with your device.

You can choose to delete Cookies on your computer or device at any time, however you may lose any information that enables you to access our site more quickly and efficiently, including, but not limited to login and personalisation settings.

It is recommended that you keep your internet browser and operating system up-to-date and that you consult the help and guidance provided by the developer of your internet browser and manufacturer of your computer or device if you are unsure about adjusting your privacy settings.

In the event of data breach, the immediate priority is to identify and isolate the breach by locking down all systems and resetting all system passwords.

We would notify all clients of the breach, explaining what had happened and what steps we had taken to prevent future occurrence.

In the event that client data had been accessed as a result of the breach of our system, we would then report the breach to the relevant authorities within seventy-two (72) hours as per the GDPR requirements.

This agreement (including any non-contractual matters and obligations arising therefrom or associated therewith) shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales.

Any dispute, controversy, proceedings or claim between the parties relating to this agreement (including any non-contractual matters and obligations arising therefrom or associated therewith) shall fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

Copyright and other relevant intellectual property rights exist on the full content of this website and all text relating to The Virtual Legal Secretary.

Questions and Comments           

This website belongs to The Virtual Legal Secretary.

Should you have any privacy related questions or comments related to this Privacy Policy, please e-mail us at [email protected].