Last Updated: 17/09/2026
1. Important Information & Who We Are
Data Controller
Shaar Bridge Solicitors is the data controller responsible for your personal data (referred to as “we”, “us”, or “our” in this policy).
Data Protection Officer / Contact Details
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal data, please contact our Data Protection Lead:
Full Business Name: Shaar Bridge Solicitors
Email Address: info@shaarbridgesolicitors.com
Postal Address: 26 Mill Street, Bedford, MK40 3HD
Telephone: 01234 810786
You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK regulator for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO, so please contact us in the first instance.
2. Information We Collect About You
Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. We may collect, use, store, and transfer different kinds of personal data about you, categorized as follows:
Identity Data: Names, titles, date of birth, gender, nationality, passport numbers, driving license details, and marital status.
Contact Data: Billing address, delivery address, email address, and telephone numbers.
Financial & Transaction Data: Bank account details, payment information, billing history, and details about services you have retained us for.
Technical Data: Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types, operating system, and platform via website analytics.
Usage Data: Information about how you use our website, services, and client portals.
Special Category Data / Criminal Offense Data: In providing certain legal services (such as employment, family, litigation, or criminal law matters), we may collect sensitive information regarding health, racial/ethnic origin, or criminal records where relevant and permitted by law.
3. How We Collect Your Personal Data
We collect data from and about you through:
Direct Interactions: You give us your personal data when filling out forms on our website, contacting us via phone/email, or instructing us to provide legal services.
Third Parties or Publicly Available Sources: We may receive personal data about you from background check agencies, identity verification providers, courts, opposing parties in legal disputes, HM Land Registry, or public registers (e.g., Companies House).
Automated Technologies: As you interact with our website, we automatically collect Technical Data about your device and browsing patterns using cookies and similar web technologies.
4. How We Use Your Personal Data & Legal Basis
We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we process your personal data under the following legal bases:
| Purpose / Activity | Type of Data | Lawful Basis for Processing |
| Client Onboarding & Identity Verification | Identity, Contact, Financial | Compliance with a legal obligation (Anti-Money Laundering / Know Your Customer laws) |
| Providing Legal Services & Managing Matters | Identity, Contact, Financial, Transaction, Special Category | Performance of a contract with you; Legal claims / judicial capacity |
| Managing Payments, Fees, and Debt Recovery | Identity, Contact, Financial, Transaction | Performance of a contract; Legitimate interests (recovering money owed) |
| Communicating Updates, Administrative Changes | Identity, Contact | Performance of a contract; Legitimate interests |
| Website Security, Administration & Troubleshooting | Technical, Usage | Legitimate interests (running our business securely and effectively) |
| Marketing Communications (if opted-in) | Identity, Contact, Usage | Consent; Legitimate interests (to develop our services) |
5. Disclosures of Your Personal Data
We may share your personal data with third parties for the purposes set out above:
Legal & Professional Advisers: Counsel (Barristers), experts, medical professionals, translators, process servers, and auditors involved in your matter.
Service Providers: IT support, cloud storage providers, practice management software providers, and email hosting platforms acting as data processors.
Courts, Regulatory Bodies & Authorities: The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), the Law Society, courts, tribunals, and law enforcement agencies where legally required.
Financial Institutions: Banks and identity check providers (e.g., credit reference agencies) to satisfy Anti-Money Laundering regulations.
We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law.
6. Data Security & Storage
We have implemented strict security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used, accessed, altered, or disclosed in an unauthorized way. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to employees, partners, contractors, and other third parties who have a business need to know.
All staff are subject to strict legal duties of confidentiality and legal professional privilege where applicable.
7. Data Retention
We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which we collected it, including satisfying any legal, accounting, regulatory, or SRA record-keeping requirements.
Client Files: Typically retained for a minimum of 6 to 15 years following the conclusion of your matter, depending on the legal practice area (e.g., deeds, wills, or certain commercial matters may be kept indefinitely).
8. Your Legal Rights
Under UK data protection law, you have the following rights regarding your personal information:
Request Access: Obtain a copy of the personal data we hold about you (Subject Access Request).
Request Correction: Rectify incomplete or inaccurate information.
Request Erasure: Ask us to delete personal data where there is no good reason for us to continue processing it (subject to regulatory retention requirements).
Object to Processing: Object to processing where we rely on a legitimate interest or use your data for direct marketing.
Request Restriction: Suspend the processing of your personal data in certain scenarios.
Data Portability: Request the transfer of your data to you or a third party in a structured, commonly used format.
Withdraw Consent: Withdraw consent at any time where we rely on consent to process your data.
If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact us at info@shaarbridgesolicitors.com. We aim to respond to all legitimate requests within one month.
9. Cookies
Our website uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to distinguish you from other users and improve your browsing experience. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. For detailed information on the cookies we use, please see our Cookie Policy.
10. Third-Party Links
Our website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins, and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements.
11. Changes to this Privacy Policy
We review this policy regularly and reserve the right to update it at any time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date.