About us

Legal Statements

Equality & Diversity

Gillen De Alwis Solicitors is committed to promoting equality and treating everyone with the same consistently high level of respect, courtesy and attention irrespective of age, disability, gender, marital status, race, racial group, colour, ethnic origin, nationality, religion or belief, sexual orientation, working pattern or any other protected characteristics. We are therefore opposed to any form of unlawful or unfair treatment or discrimination. This approach is reflected in all our dealings with each other, our clients, contacts and any other third parties.

Our recruitment approach is to recruit purely based on aptitude and the ability of individual candidates. To support this approach, each office of the firm has an appointed Equality and Diversity officer charged with taking responsibility for the promotion of this agenda across the firm as a whole under the direct supervision of our Management Team. We review our policies and approaches regularly and provide all members of the firm with regular training.

We have introduced and implemented initiatives to further enshrine this commitment into the culture of the firm and working practices of the firm. Such initiatives include:

  • Encouraging and promoting the career aspirations of working parents across the firm;
  • Implementing technological advances to accommodate and support a whole range of flexible: working policies, practices and procedures;
  • Regularly running both in house and online training across all levels of the firm.

We are also Signatories to the Law Society’s Diversity and Inclusion Charter. Signatories to this Charter believe that a commitment to diversity and inclusion is essential to reflect the society we serve today. You can find out more about the Charter on the Law Society’s website.

Every year Gillen De Alwis participates in the SRA’s diversity and equality review for the legal industry. 

View our results of the 2019 survey

Privacy Statement

Here at Gillen De Alwis we understand that your privacy is important to you and that you care about how your personal data is used. We respect and value the privacy of all our clients 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.

Under the Data Protection Legislation, you have the following rights, which we will always work to uphold.  You have the right to:

  • Be informed about our collection and use of your personal data.
  • Access the personal data we hold about you.
  • Have your personal data rectified if any of your personal data held by us is inaccurate or incomplete.
  • Be forgotten, i.e. the right to ask us to delete or otherwise dispose of any of your personal data that we hold.
  • Restrict (i.e. prevent) the processing of your personal data.
  • Object to us using your personal data for a particular purpose or purposes.
  • Withdraw consent. This means that, if we are relying on your consent as the legal basis for using your personal data, you are free to withdraw that consent at any time.
  • To data portability. This means that, if you have provided personal data to us directly, we are using it with your consent or for the performance of a contract, and that data is processed using automated means, you can ask us for a copy of that personal data to re-use with another service or business in many cases.

 

Further information about your rights can also be obtained from the Information Commissioner’s Office or your local Citizens Advice Bureau.

If you have any cause for complaint about our use of your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office.  We would welcome the opportunity to resolve your concerns ourselves, however, so please contact us first, using the details in Part 6.

We collect personal data about you in connection with our legal products and services in the following ways:

  • When you make an enquiry or request a quote, whether by telephone or by email; when you instruct the firm and whilst dealing with your matter;
  • We may collect personal information about you from other people when:-
  • You are referred to us by an intermediary, such as an estate agent or financial advisor;
  • Your matter is transferred to us by another firm;
  • You are named as a joint party in a transaction, or as the joint owner of a property or business we are dealing with;
  • You are named as the buyer or seller of a property or business we are selling or buyer for a client;
  • During meetings, telephone calls, correspondence, emails and through our website;
  • Companies House which is available to the public;
  • Through third parties, such as credit reference agencies, anti-money laundering checks; government and law enforcement agencies.

Under the Data Protection Legislation, we must always have a lawful basis for using personal data. The following describes how we will use your personal data, and our lawful basis for doing so:

  • To administer you as a client of the firm;
  • To communicate with you;
  • To conduct Anti-Money Laundering and due diligence checks against you;
  • To send you marketing information. You can unsubscribe from receiving these communications at any time by emailing info@gdasolicitors.com and confirming that you wish to be unsubscribed.

We will always obtain your express opt-in consent before sharing your personal data with third parties for marketing purposes and you will be able to opt-out at any time.

In some circumstances, where permitted or required by law, we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent. This will only be done within the bounds of the Data Protection Legislation and your legal rights.

We may store or transfer some or all of your personal data in countries that are not part of the European Economic Area (the “EEA” consists of all EU member states, plus Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein).

In these circumstances, we will ensure that your personal data is treated just as safely and securely as it would be within the UK and under the Data Protection Legislation as follows:

We will only transfer your personal data to third countries whose levels of data protection are deemed ‘adequate’ by the European Commission.  More information is available from the European Commission.

Where we transfer your data to a third party based in the US, the data may be protected if they are part of the EU-US Privacy Shield. This requires that third party to provide data protection to standards similar to those in Europe. More information is available from the European Commission.

We may share your personal data with:

  • Our service providers and third parties who provide services on our behalf;
  • Agents and administrators such as our regulators, auditors, dispute resolution bodies, fraud prevention and law enforcement agencies;
  • External consultants or auditors who manage our Specialist Quality Mark and Conveyancing Quality Scheme accreditations.

 

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.

If any of your personal data is shared with a third party, as described above, we will take steps to ensure that your personal data is handled safely, securely, and in accordance with your rights, our obligations, and the third party’s obligations under the law, as described above in Part 6.

If any personal data is transferred outside of the EEA, we will take suitable steps in order to ensure that your personal data is treated just as safely and securely as it would be within the UK and under the Data Protection Legislation, as explained above in Part 6.

We may change this Privacy Notice from time to time. This may be necessary, for example, if the law changes, or if we change our business in a way that affects personal data protection.

Any changes will be made available on our website www.gdasolicitors.com. This Privacy Notice was last updated on.

To contact us about anything to do with your personal data and data protection, including to make a subject access request, please use the following details:

Email address: info@gdasolicitors.com

We may change this Privacy Notice from time to time. This may be necessary, for example, if the law changes, or if we change our business in a way that affects personal data protection.

Any changes will be made available on our website www.gdasolicitors.com. This Privacy Notice was last updated in June 2019.