Alderson Law

Privacy Policy

We ask that you read this privacy notice carefully as it contains important information on who we are, how and why we collect, store, use and share personal information, your rights in relation to your personal information and on how to contact us and supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.

Who we are

ALDERSON LAW LLP collects, uses and is responsible for certain personal information about you. When we do so we are regulated under the General Data Protection Regulation which applies across the European Union (including in the United Kingdom) and we are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information for the purposes of those laws.

The personal information we collect and use

Information collected by us
In the course of Operating and Managing a Solicitors Practice and in Supplying Legal Services to our Clients we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:

  • Name Address Date of Birth National Insurance Number Telephone Numbers e mail addresses Passport Details
  • Information concerning your Family your Relationships your employment and employment records, relevant financial Information including tax details bank accounts pension details and other information which could identify you as an Individual
  • In the case of Business clients information concerning your employees
  • Your racial or ethnic origin gender and sexual orientation religious or similar beliefs in the context of a Discrimination claim
  • In the context of use of our website and Marketing for the purpose of Business development information concerning e.g. your Social Network presence

Information collected from other sources

We also obtain personal information from other sources as follows:

  • Government Agencies e.g. the DWP, Inland Revenue concerning Benefit payments and Tax records
  • Local Authorities in relation to information relating to your Housing or Family
  • Hospitals Doctors and other Health Professionals or Organisations concerning your medical history
  • HM Land Registry and Companies House
  • Due diligence Providers
  • Other third parties directly
  • Our IT Systems
  • Our Voicemail system and via our Facebook Account
  • The Solicitors Regulation Authority

How we use your personal information

We use your personal information to:

  • Enable us to provide legal advice and to enable us to comply with our Professional Regulatory and Contractual obligations to you.
  • To conduct checks to verify the identity of staff and clients to enable us to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
  • For our legitimate business interests
  • In circumstances when you have given us your consent

Who we share your personal information with

We routinely share the information referred to above and where appropriate with Government Agencies, Local Authorities, Hospitals, Doctors and other Medical Professionals and Organisations, the Crown Prosecution Service & Probation Service, Insurance Companies, other Legal Advisers, External Audit Businesses ,our Professional Indemnity Insurers and Brokers, and external Service Suppliers. This data sharing enables us to fulfil our Professional and Contractual obligations to you in the provision of legal services Some of those third party recipients may be based outside the European Economic Area — for further information including on how we safeguard your personal data when this occurs, see ‘Transfer of your information out of the EEA’.

We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law.

Whether information has to be provided by you, and if so why

The provision of the type of information described above is required from you to enable us to fulfil our Professional and Contractual Obligations to you in the provision of legal services. We will inform you at the point of collecting information from you, whether you are required to provide the information to us and we will explain what personal information is required and why we require it. We shall not obtain any more information from you of a personal nature than is reasonably necessary to enable us to fulfil our professional and contractual obligations to you.

How long your personal information will be kept

  • We will hold your personal information only as long as we consider it necessary to fulfil the purposes we collect it for. Your personal data will be destroyed or deleted once it is no longer necessary for us to hold it
  • In the case of Client Files most files will be destroyed after a period of 6 years from the date of closure of the file. In respect of some files a longer retention may be applied to enable us to fulfil our Regulatory or Professional obligations or to enable us to respond to questions or complaints. We will provide further information to clients when writing to them at the conclusion of a matter in which we have been instructed.

Reasons we can collect and use your personal information

In the case of our clients we rely primarily on our Agreement with you to act for you in a Contract to supply you with Legal advice and services as the lawful basis on which we collect and use your personal data .We may also in appropriate cases and where it has been validly provided collect and use your personal data with your consent. We may also collect and use your personal data for our legitimate interests for example to enable us to ensure compliance with our Business Policies, to improve our Business Services, to respond to complaints or to maintain our Quality Standards.

Transfer of your information out of the EEA

In the case of our clients we may need to transfer your personal information to Countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA) where the same data protection laws as the United Kingdom and EEA do not exist. In such circumstances we shall seek your express consent before transferring the data and seek all reasonably necessary assurances that your data will be protected in any such other country.

Your rights

Under the General Data Protection Regulation you have a number of important rights free of charge. In summary, those include rights to:

  • fair processing of information and transparency over how we use your use personal information
  • access to your personal information and to certain other supplementary information that this Privacy Notice is already designed to address by making a ‘Subject Access Request’
  • require us to correct any mistakes in your information which we hold
  • require the erasure of personal information concerning you in certain situations
  • receive the personal information concerning you which you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and have the right to transmit those data to a third party in certain situations
  • object at any time to processing of personal information concerning you for direct marketing
  • object to decisions being taken by automated means which produce legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affect you
  • object in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal information
  • otherwise restrict our processing of your personal information in certain circumstances
  • claim compensation for damages caused by our breach of any data protection laws

For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals rights under the General Data Protection Regulation.

If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please:

  • email, call or write to our Data Protection Officer Guy Goodings at Alderson Law LLP, Pethgate House, Castle Square, Morpeth, Northumberland NE61 1YL guygoodings@aldersonlaw.co.uk
  • let us have enough information to identify you Name Address and File Reference Number
  • let us have proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill), and
  • let us know the information to which your request relates

Keeping your personal information secure

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

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

How to complain

We hope that our Data Protection Officer can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your information.

The General Data Protection Regulation also gives you right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the European Union (or European Economic Area) state where you work, normally live or where any alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ or telephone: 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this privacy notice

This privacy notice was published on 25/5/2018 and last updated on 12/11/2020.
We may change this privacy notice from time to time, when we do we will inform you in writing by e mail or personally.

How to contact us

Please contact our Data Protection Officer if you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information we hold about you.
If you wish to contact us or our Data Protection Officer, please send an email to Guy Goodings at Alderson Law LLP, Pethgate House, Castle Square, Morpeth, Northumberland NE61 1YL guygoodings@aldersonlaw.co.uk

Do you need extra help?

If you would like this notice in another format (for example: audio, large print, braille) please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ above).

Contact Us

Telephone Blyth: 

01670 352293

Telephone Morpeth:

01670 519714

Telephone Whitley Bay:

0191 2533509

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SRA number 402010

Alderson Law LLP is a Limited Liability Partnership registered in England and Wales under company number OC307338.
Registered office: Pethgate House, Castle Square, Morpeth, Northumberland, NE61 1YL

Authorised and Regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under SRA ID number 402010.

ICO No. Z729984X

FCA No. LS 596109

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Mary was born and has lived all her life in the North East of England. Her first interest was science and she originally studied Biomedical Science at Northumbria and worked in the scientific research field and the NHS, before studying part time, again at Northumbria University, to obtain her degree in Law. Since then she has enjoyed a varied career covering many different areas of law, before specialising in Children Law, which she has done almost exclusively for the past 5 years.

Mary loves reading and history and at a weekend can often be found at one of the many historical sites the North East has to offer and has even been known to play video games when she can find the time.

Chris was originally a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives from 1997 and qualified as a Solicitor in 2001.

He has over 25 years experience in private client work comprising Wills, Trusts, Probate, Powers of Attorney and other Court of Protection Work such as Deputyship applications. Chris has been a Partner in several firms in the North East, being Head of Wills, Trusts and Probate.

He brings a wealth of experience to his role and works closely with clients, providing them with a service tailored to their needs

Susan was born and bred in the North East, spending all of her working life in Blyth. She qualified in 1981 and, after some years at Alderson Law, began to specialise in family law, covering both private and legal aid. Susan was a member of the Law Society Family Panel and an accredited Resolution specialist, specialising particularly in private children law and domestic violence.

Susan took part-retirement in December 2018 but still works as a Solicitor here at Alderson Law. Outside of work she enjoys cooking, walking, reading, and spending time with her family. She has also been a Brownie leader for over 40 years.

Originally from East Yorkshire, Jasmine moved to the North East in 2012 to study at Northumbria University undertaking the M Law Exempting (BPTC) course (the only undergraduate course in England and Wales which incorporates the Bar Professional Training Course), graduating in 2016 with a First Class Honours and a Very Competent in the Bar Professional Training Course. Prior to joining Alderson Law Jasmine specialised in RTA Fraud in a Personal Injury firm, before moving to another firm to work as a Family Law Paralegal.

In 2018 she joined our team as a Family Law Paralegal and before qualifying as a Solicitor within the Family Law Department based at our Morpeth office. Jasmine represents clients in a wide range of matters including; divorce and matrimonial finance, disputes regarding the arrangements for children as well as parents who are subject to Local Authority involvement both before and during Court proceedings.

In her spare time Jasmine likes visiting the beach, going to the gym, watching live music and looking after her pet rabbit.

Julie is a highly experienced property solicitor. She studied Law at Northumbria University and, after qualifying in 2000, went on to work at national and international firms prior to joining the team at Alderson Law in 2017. She works alongside her clients, advising on residential and commercial property development, property investment, portfolio management, property finance, landlord and tenant, easements and restrictive covenants.

Fiona is a specialist private client lawyer providing advice and assistance with wills, trusts, tax planning, probate & estate administration, lasting powers of attorney, court of protection and elderly client work. Having previously worked with a number of Newcastle-based firms listed in The Legal 500, Fiona brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the role. She is a full member of STEP (Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners), the association for specialists in family inheritance and succession planning.

Fiona grew up in Northern Ireland and studied law at Durham University, and has remained in the North East ever since. She enjoys spending time with her family at their cottage in Northumberland.

Mark Hipkin, partner at Alderson Law LLP, has been advising businesses and claimants since he qualified as a solicitor in 1982.

Mark’s passion is for representing claimants on two wheels in complex, serious and catastrophic motorcycle, scooter and cycle injuries, but he also has extensive experience of acting for claimants in many other personal injury areas including occupiers and public liability work and accidents at work. He specialises in challenging and complex cases. Mark always puts the client first, looking from the first day of instruction to obtain the best and fairest outcome for a claimant, no matter how long a case may take. He is a fan of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and early neutral valuation as alternatives to litigation. Sometimes, however, litigation is the best option, together with the necessary drive to see every matter through to a fair conclusion.

Mark also, having started his own business, advises business clients, often with motorcycle-, scooter- or cycle-related businesses and also deals with complex commercial disputes, professional negligence cases, and general civil litigation.

Mark likes to spend what free time he has with his family and practising Tai Chi and Tang Soo Do (Korean Karate – in which he is a second Dan).

Having worked in family law for over 25 years, Julie is a highly accomplished specialist in her field. She has a vast body of experience in dealing with family law, from divorce and related financial issues to complex child-related cases. Julie was the first person in North Tyneside to achieve the status of an accredited advanced family law specialist, and is a member of the Law Society Advanced Family Panel, which demonstrates her experience in complex contested family cases and other subject-specific matters.

Though multi-talented and highly experienced, Julie’s particular speciality is in complex ancillary relief (financial settlement) claims and complex residence and contact disputes.

In her spare time Julie enjoys relaxing and spending time with her family and three grandchildren. She attends clients at our Whitley Bay and Blyth offices.

Tracey is one of our Partners and qualified as a solicitor in 1997. Throughout her career she has had a varied caseload undertaking matters in most areas of civil and private client law. Tracey can assist clients in a wide range of matters including: Wills, Probate, Powers of Attorney, Debt Recovery, Residential and Commercial Conveyancing as well as Licensing and Landlord and Tenant matters.

Tracey is one of our most senior practitioners with over 20 years of local experience, having graduated from both Newcastle University and Northumbria University. When not in the office she enjoys walking, cycling, and cooking with her family.