Privacy policy

The Law Society of Scotland is committed to preserving the privacy of all visitors to www.lawscot.org.uk. Please read the following privacy policy to understand how we use and protect the information that you provide to us.

By using this site (the "website") or contacting us by email or through this website, you consent to the collection, use and transfer of your personal information under the terms of this policy. If you do not accept the terms of this policy you must leave this website immediately and you may not use any of the services we provide.

Minimum browser requirements

The minimum browser requirements for optimum use of our website are as follows:

Safari 5.1

Information that we collect from you

When you visit the website or register or log in as a user of the website you may be asked to provide certain information about yourself including your name and contact details, including your phone and fax numbers, email address and postal address. If you are a member of the Society, we may ask for additional information including your date of birth and practising certificate number. If you order goods or services through the website we may keep a record of the transactions you carry out and the fulfilment of your orders. We may also collect information about:-

(a) your IP address, a unique identifier for your computer or other access device;
(b) your usage of our website which may include, without limitation the URL you have last used and the URL you next go to, browser information and your IP address;
(c) messages you post to the website and e-mails or letters you send to us; and
(d) information gathered during telephone conversations with you.

Sensitive information that we collect from you

We may ask you to provide us information about dietary requirements or access requirements if you are attending an event organised by us or booked through our website. You agree that we may use this information for the purpose of administering and running the relevant event.

Use of your information

Your information will enable us to provide you with access to parts of our website suitable for your requirements and the permissions (if any) which you have to access the special areas of the website (referred to in our website Terms and Conditions). It will also enable us to contact you concerning your queries regarding our services and functions.

Where you order goods or services through the website, we will use the information you provide to those goods or services and to carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us for that purpose.

We will also use, store and analyse the information we collect so that we can administer, support, improve and develop our operations. This includes (but is not limited to):

• quality control and training purposes;
• fulfilling the Society's regulatory role and its other statutory functions under the Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980 and other legislation;
• discharging the Society's professional obligations such as ensuring Scottish solicitors have appropriate professional indemnity insurance, formulating and implementing professional practice rules; and developing and offering CPD courses;
• providing a wide range of members' services;
• providing a wide range of public services;
• carrying out the Society's Public Affairs programme, representing the interests of the solicitors' profession in respect of the public and representing the interests of the public in respect of the solicitors' profession; and
• accrediting Scottish solicitors with specialist expertise in particular areas of law; and
• engaging in consultation with the Scottish government, Scottish parliament and other governmental and legislative bodies over legislative and regulatory change.

In particular, we may use your information to contact you for your views on our services and functions, and to notify you occasionally about important changes or developments to the website or our services or functions. More detail about the functions of the Society and the purposes for which your personal information may be processed may be seen elsewhere on the website, and are available on request from the Society at the address below.

We may also use your information to let you know about other services and products which we offer which may be of interest to you. If these are of a commercial nature we will ask you for specific permission at the time we ask you to provide your information.

We offer a press release update service (please go to the media centre on this website) and if you register with this service we will use your information to send you copies of press releases issued by us.

Ways in which we may contact you

The Society may contact you by post, telephone (including by text), fax or email in connection with the purposes outlined above. If you change your mind about being contacted in the future, please let us know by contacting us at our contact details set out below.

Cookies

Cookies are small amounts of information, usually in the form of a text file, which we may store on your computer or other access device. We may access this file which acts as an easy way to identify you when you use the website. Our system may issue cookies to your computer or other access device when you log on to the website. Cookies make it easier for you to log on to and use the website during your current visit and future visits. They also allow us to monitor website traffic and to personalize the content of the website for you. Some features are only available through the use of a cookie. Allowing use of cookies may allow you to enter your password less frequently when you are using the website. You may set up your computer or other access device to reject cookies by following the instructions for disabling cookies available at All about Cookies although, in that case, you may not be able to use certain features on our website or to access certain parts of our website. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, you agree that you will be deemed to have consented to our system issuing cookies when you log on to our website.

Disclosure of your information

The information you provide to us will be held on our computers in the UK and may be accessed by or given to our staff, our contractors, reporters and agents who act for us, for the purposes set out in this policy or for other purposes approved by you or as otherwise permitted by law. This may mean that your information is sent to computers outwith the UK.

By submitting your information to us, you agree that it may be transferred outside the European Economic Area. Countries outside the European Economic Area do not always have strong data protection laws. However, wherever practicable we will take steps to ensure that your information is used by third parties in accordance with this policy.

We may also pass aggregate information on the usage of our website to third parties but this will not include information that can be used to identify you.

We shall never sell or rent your personal information gathered through the website to third parties for their marketing purposes.

We also reserve the right to disclose any of the information you provide to us where required to do so by law, or to comply with a regulatory obligation, or to assist in any investigation into alleged illegal or criminal conduct.

Security and data retention

We employ industry standard security measures to protect your information from access by unauthorised persons and against unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction and damage. We will retain your information for a reasonable period or as long as the law requires. You should be aware however that it is technically impossible to provide a totally secure system on the web and you are responsible for ensuring your own computer system is adequately protected from access by unauthorised persons.

Your password security

In accordance with the Terms and Conditions of use of the website, you are responsible for ensuring that any password and user ID, and any other security mechanism issued to you, remain confidential. If third parties have access to your password, user ID or any other security mechanism they can control your personal information and ID. We are not responsible for the consequences of their use of your personal information and ID in these circumstances. If your password or user ID or any other security mechanism is compromised you should contact us immediately, and until you do so we will be entitled to rely on any communications sent to us using your password and user ID and any other security mechanism as if they originated from you.

Third party information collectors and websites

If you disclose your personal information to third parties including, but not limited to, third party websites with links on our website, our privacy policy shall not be enforceable against them. We take no responsibility and shall not be liable for third party use of your personal information in such circumstances.

You should be aware that if you click on any link on the website, to another website provided by a third party, it is possible you may encounter cookies or other similar devices placed by those third parties. We do not control the use of cookies or other similar devices by third parties and are not responsible or liable for them.

You should review the privacy policy of that third party website to check how they may use or disclose your information.

Accessing and updating

Under the Data Protection Act 1998, you are entitled to request access to the information held about you and you are entitled to ask us to make any necessary changes to ensure that it is accurate and kept up to date. If you wish to do this, please contact us at the address below as we are the data controller for this information. We are entitled by law to charge a fee of £10 to meet our costs in providing you with details of the information we hold about you. We may also ask you to provide suitable evidence confirming your identity before providing you with such details.

Changes to our privacy policy

We may change our privacy policy at any time without having to give you prior notification. Any changes to our privacy policy in the future will be posted to the website and/or, where we think it is appropriate, through e-mail notification.

Contact

All comments, queries and requests relating to our use of your information are welcomed and should be addressed to:-

Contact: The Data Protection Officer
Address: The Law Society of Scotland
26 Drumsheugh Gardens
Edinburgh
EH3 7YR
Scotland

E-mail: The Data Protection Officer
Telephone: +44 (0)131 476 8093