Privacy and Cookie Statement

Thank you for visiting our website www.lex-energy.co.uk (the Site). This Notice sets out the basis on which any personal data provided to us by you, or received by us from third parties, will be used by us.

Please read this Notice carefully and ensure that you understand our rights and responsibilities under it.

We are Lex Energy Limited, a company registered in Scotland under company number SC636239, whose registered offices are at 20 Rubislaw Terrace, Aberdeen AB10 1XE.

Summary

Full details are set out in the relevant sections of this Notice below, but in summary:

We generally receive personal data relating to you directly from you. For example, we will receive that data if you contact us through the Site or otherwise, if you are a client of ours or correspond with us in relation to a matter on which we are advising, or if we do business with you;

personal data may occasionally be provided to us by third parties with whom each of you and us have a separate relationship. For example, we use your data to provide our services to you, correspond with you, improve our Site, keep appropriate records and meet our legal obligations; we only provide your personal data to third parties for our limited business purposes or as permitted by law. We don’t share your data with third party advertisers; we store data for specified periods for our limited business purposes; you have certain rights, prescribed by law, in relation to the processing of your data, such as rights to request access, rectification or deletion of your personal data; the Site does not use cookies apart from Google Analytics and Google Maps; and you can contact us to enquire about any of the contents of this Notice.

1. Our use of personal data

1.1) In this Section we have set out:

(a) the general categories of personal data that we may process; (b) in the case of personal data that we did not obtain directly from you, the source and specific categories of that data; (c) the purposes for which we may process personal data; and (d) the legal bases of the processing. When we refer to a “legal basis”, we mean a lawful basis set out in Article 6 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) under which we conduct the relevant processing.

Personal data we obtain from you

Usage data

1.2) We may process data about your use of the Site (usage data). This may include your geographical location, browser type and version, operating system, referral source, length of visit, page views and website navigation paths, as well as information about the timing, frequency and pattern of your use. This data is obtained through Google Analytics and will be aggregated and anonymised in such a way that it contains no information pertaining to any identifiable individual at all – as such it is not actually personal data but we address it in this Notice for completeness’s sake. We process usage data for the purpose of improving our Site. We use Google Maps on our Contact Us forms to provide detailed information on how to locate us. Google Maps stores up to four cookies: khcookie, NID, SNID and PREF. We use Google's interactive maps because we believe they provide a helpful way for our visitors to identify how best to reach us.

Correspondence data

1.3) We may process information contained in or relating to any communication that you send to us or that we send to you, whether through the Site, by email, through social media, or otherwise. All of this information together is correspondence data. This may include the communication content and metadata associated with the communication, as well as any contact details you provide to us such as your name, email address, phone number, job title, address or social media username. We process correspondence data for the purposes of communicating with you and record-keeping. Although we have never yet sent marketing communications it’s possible that in the future we may send clients updates about our business, or developments in the law, from time to time. If we do, we will ensure that you can opt out of receiving them.

Matter data

1.4) Where we are instructed in relation to any particular legal matter, we may process information for the purposes of setting up that matter in our systems, such as your name and contact details. We may also process personal information contained within matter-related correspondence and documents, whether created by us or provided to us. We call all of this matter data, and we process it for the purposes of providing our professional services and for record-keeping purposes.

Transaction data

1.5) We may process information relating to transactions, such as bank account details, contact details or transaction data in relation to payments made by us to you or by you to us (transaction data). This may include your contact details, any bank account or sort code information provided for the purposes of making payment, and the transaction details (such as POs or invoices). The transaction data may be processed for the purpose of supplying or receiving and administering the relevant services and keeping proper records of those transactions, and for making and receiving payments.

Partner Data

1.6) If we have some other commercial relationship with you then we may handle your contact details (name, job title, email address, postal address, telephone number), any related communications, and any related documents (such as contracts, POs and invoices, proposals and so on). We call all of this partner data, and we use it to administer our business relationship with you.

Personal data we obtain from others

1.7) Your personal data may be provided to us by someone other than you: for example, by an organisation with whom you and we are both dealing or by someone who wishes to refer you to us or vice versa. Normally this data will be correspondence data, enquiry data, matter data or partner data as described above and will be processed by us for the purposes described above.

Our legal basis of processing

1.8) We will process personal data only on lawful bases. In particular, we will process personal data on the following lawful bases identified in Article 6 GDPR:

(a) for the performance of a contract with you, or to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract with you (Article 6(1)(b) GDPR). This may be our basis for processing correspondence data, enquiry data, matter data, transaction data or partner data;

(b) for our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR). This may be our basis for processing:

i) correspondence, matter and partner data (as we have an interest in properly administering our business and communications);

ii) enquiry data (as we have an interest in developing our business with interested parties);

iii) transaction data (as we have an interest in making and receiving payments promptly and in recovering debts);

iv) any personal data in connection with legal claims (as we have an interest in the protection and assertion of our legal rights, your legal rights and the legal rights of others); and

v) any of the personal data in connection with backups of any element of our IT systems or databases containing that personal data (as we have an interest in ensuring the resilience of our IT systems and the integrity and recoverability of our data).

1.9) We may also process any of your personal data where such processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject (Article 6(c) GDPR), or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another individual (Article 6(d) GDPR).

2. Providing your personal data to others

2.1) We may disclose your personal data to our insurers and/or professional advisers as necessary for the purposes of obtaining and maintaining insurance coverage, managing risks, obtaining professional advice and managing legal disputes.

2.2) We may disclose your personal data to third parties designated by you, such as other counsel advising on a matter on which we are instructed.

2.3) We may disclose personal data to our suppliers or subcontractors in connection with the uses described in Section 2 above. For example, we may disclose:

(a) any personal data in our possession to suppliers which host the servers on which our data is stored. In our case, these suppliers are Microsoft Ireland Operations Ltd (who provide Microsoft 365, and who host all our emails, documents and contact information); and

(b) transaction data and other relevant personal data to our accountants and third parties for the purposes of fraud protection, credit risk reduction and debt recovery.

2.4) We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes. We only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions and applicable law.

2.5) In addition to the specific disclosures of personal data set out in this section, we may also disclose your personal data to comply with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another person.

2.6) If any part of our business or operations is sold or transferred to, or integrated with, another organisation, your personal data may be disclosed to that organisation.

3. International transfers of your personal data

3.1) In this section, we provide information about the circumstances in which your personal data may be transferred to countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

3.2) Some of the third parties to whom we may transfer your personal data, discussed above, may be located outside the EEA or may transfer your personal data to their own service providers located outside the EEA. If so, then we will take steps to ensure that transfers will only be made by us or by our data processors to countries in respect of which the European Commission has made an “adequacy decision”, or otherwise will only be made with appropriate safeguards, such as the use of standard data protection clauses adopted or approved by the European Commission. You may contact us to enquire about such safeguards so that you may obtain a copy of them or so that we may direct you to them.

3.3) Our main supplier, Microsoft, who host our matter data and correspondence data, is located within the EEA and stores all relevant data within the EEA.

3.4) We may transfer personal data outside the EEA from time to time:

(a) with your consent;

(b) where required by your instructions (for example, if we are supporting you on a contractual negotiation where the counterparty is based outside the EEA); or

(c) if we take our mobile devices with us when travelling overseas to ensure continuity of service.

4. Data security

4.1) We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those officers, employees and freelancers who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

4.2) We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

5. Retaining and deleting personal data

5.1) Personal data that we process for any purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for those purposes.

5.2) We will retain and delete your personal data as follows:

(a) usage data (which is anonymised, and not personal data) may be retained by us indefinitely;

(b) correspondence data which is not matter, transaction or partner data (e.g. enquiries which do not result in an instruction) will be retained for the duration of the chain of correspondence to which it relates and then deleted after twenty-four months; and

(c) matter, transaction and partner data will be retained for seven years after performance of the relevant service or transaction.

5.3) We may retain your personal data where necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.

6. Amendments

We may update this Notice from time to time by publishing a new version on the Site. You should check occasionally to ensure you are happy with any changes to this Notice, although we will notify you of material changes to this Notice using the contact details you have given us.

7. Your rights

7.1) We have summarized below the rights that you have under data protection law. Some of the rights are complex, and not all of the details have been included in our summaries. You can read guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office at www.ico.org.uk for a fuller explanation of your rights.

7.2) Your principal rights under data protection law are:

(a) the right to access;

(b) the right to rectification;

(c) the right to erasure;

(d) the right to restrict processing;

(e) the right to object to processing;

(f) the right to data portability; and

(g) the right to complain to a supervisory authority.

7.3) You have the right to confirmation of whether we process your personal data and, where we do, to access to the personal data, together with certain additional information. That additional information includes details of the purposes of the processing, the categories of personal data concerned and the recipients of the personal data. Providing the rights and freedoms of others are not affected, we will supply to you a copy of your personal data. The first copy will be provided free of charge, but additional copies may be subject to a reasonable fee.

7.4) You have the right to have any inaccurate personal data about you rectified and, taking into account the purposes of the processing, to have any incomplete personal data about you completed.

7.5) In some circumstances you have the right to the erasure of your personal data. These might include if:

(a) the personal data are no longer necessary for the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise processed; or

(b) the processing is for direct marketing purposes.

However, there are certain general exclusions of the right to erasure, for example where processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation or in connection with legal claims.

7.6) In some circumstances you have the right to restrict the processing of your personal data. Where processing has been restricted on this basis, we may continue to store your personal data and will observe the restrictions on processing except in the case of processing permitted by applicable law (for example, in connection with legal claims or for reasons of public interest).

7.7) You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data on the basis of the legitimate interests pursued by us or by a third party. If you do, we will stop processing the personal information unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms, or if the processing is for legal claims.

7.8) You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes. If you do, we will stop processing your personal data for this purpose.

7.9) If the legal basis for our processing of your personal data is consent, or the performance of a contract with you, and such processing is carried out by automated means, you have the right to receive your personal data from us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format. However, this right does not apply where it would adversely affect the rights and freedoms of others.

7.10) If you consider that our processing of your personal information infringes data protection laws, you have a legal right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority responsible for data protection. You may do so in the EU member state of your habitual residence, your place of work or the place of the alleged infringement.

7.11) You may exercise any of your rights in relation to your personal data by written notice to us.

8. About cookies

8.1) A cookie is a file containing an identifier (a string of letters and numbers) that is sent by a web server to a web browser and is stored by the browser. The identifier is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server.

8.2) Cookies may be either “persistent” cookies or “session” cookies: a persistent cookie will be stored by a web browser and will remain valid until its set expiry date, unless deleted by the user before the expiry date; a session cookie, on the other hand, will expire at the end of the user session, when the web browser is closed.

8.3) Cookies do not typically contain any information that personally identifies a user, but personal information that we store about you may be linked to the information stored in and obtained from cookies.

8.4) Our Site does not use cookies, with the exception of Google Analytics and Google Maps. We use Google Analytics to analyse the use of the Site. Google Analytics gathers information about website use by means of cookies. The information gathered relating to the Site is used to create reports about the use of the Site. We use Google Maps on our Contact Us forms & shop pages to provide detailed information on how to locate us. Google Maps stores up to four cookies: khcookie, NID, SNID and PREF. We use Google's interactive maps because we believe they provide a helpful way for our visitors to identify how best to reach us. Google’s privacy policy is available at: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/.

8.5) Most browsers allow you to refuse to accept cookies and to delete cookies. The methods for doing so vary from browser to browser, and from version to version. You can obtain up-to-date information about blocking and deleting cookies via the support pages made available by your browser operator.

9. Our details

You can contact us:

(a) by post at 20 Rubislaw Terrace, Aberdeen AB10 1XE; or

(b) by email at info@lex-energy.co.uk.

10. Third Parties and Security

10.1) The Site contains links to third party websites and refers to third party service providers and other entities. If you follow a link to any third party website or deal with any third party entity referred to on the Site, then you should note that these third parties may have their own privacy and cookie policies, and that we are not responsible for their use of any personal data which you may provide to them. You should ensure that you have read and understood any relevant policies.

10.2) Although we do our best to ensure the security of personal data provided to us (and to use only reputable service providers), any transmission of data via the Internet is by its nature insecure and we cannot guarantee the security of any personal data you provide to us.

Last updated: 4 February 2020