We take your privacy very seriously. Please read this privacy policy carefully — it contains important information on who we are and how and why we collect, store, use and share your personal data. It also explains your rights and how to contact us or a supervisory authority should you have a complaint.
When we use your personal data we are regulated under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which applies across the European Union (including in the United Kingdom), and we are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal data for the purposes of the GDPR. Our use of your personal data is subject to your instructions, the GDPR, other relevant UK and EU legislation, and our professional duty of confidentiality.
Key terms
It will help to start by explaining some key terms used in this policy:
- We, us, our
- Ultimate Law Limited, trading as ULS Solicitors, also as ULL Solicitors, also as ULS Limited.
- Personal data
- Any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual.
- Special category personal data
- Personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs or trade union membership; genetic data; biometric data (where used for identification); and data concerning health, sex life or sexual orientation.
Personal data we collect about you
The following sets out the personal data we will or may collect in the course of providing legal services. This may include special category personal data.
Personal data we will collect
- Your name, address and telephone number.
- Information to check and verify your identity, e.g. your date of birth or passport details.
- Electronic contact details, e.g. your email address and mobile phone number.
- Information relating to the matter on which you are seeking our advice or representation.
- Information to enable us to undertake a credit or other financial check on you.
- Your financial details so far as relevant to your instructions, e.g. the source of your funds on a purchase transaction.
- Information about your use of our IT, communication and other systems, and other monitoring information, e.g. if using our secure online client portal.
Personal data we may collect, depending on why you have instructed us
- Your National Insurance and tax details.
- Your bank and/or building society details.
- Details of your professional online presence, e.g. a LinkedIn profile.
- Details of your spouse/partner and dependants or other family members, e.g. on a family matter or a will.
- Your employment status and details including salary and benefits, where relevant to your matter.
- Your nationality and immigration status and information from related documents, e.g. on an immigration matter.
- Details of your pension arrangements, e.g. on a pension matter or financial arrangements following a relationship breakdown.
- Your employment records, including (where relevant) sickness and attendance, performance, disciplinary, conduct and grievance records.
- Your racial or ethnic origin, gender and sexual orientation, religious or similar beliefs, e.g. on a discrimination claim.
- Your trade union membership, e.g. on a discrimination claim or where your matter is funded by a trade union.
- Personal identifying information such as eye colour or your parents’ names, e.g. if you instruct us to incorporate a company.
- Your medical records, e.g. if we are acting for you in a personal injury claim.
This personal data is required to enable us to provide legal services. If you do not provide personal data we ask for, it may delay or prevent us from providing those services.
How your personal data is collected
We collect most of this information from you directly or via our secure online client portal. However, we may also collect information:
- From publicly accessible sources, e.g. Companies House or HM Land Registry.
- Directly from a third party, e.g. sanctions screening providers, credit reference agencies and client due diligence providers.
- From a third party with your consent, e.g. your bank or building society, another financial institution or advisor; consultants and other professionals we engage on your matter; your employer, trade union, professional body or pension administrators; or your doctors and medical and occupational health professionals.
- Via our IT systems, e.g. case management, document management and time recording systems, and automated monitoring of our websites and other technical systems such as networks, CCTV and access control, communications, email and instant messaging.
How and why we use personal data
Under data protection law, we can only use personal data if we have a proper reason for doing so: to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations; for the performance of our contract with you (or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract); for our legitimate interests or those of a third party; or where you have given consent.
A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use personal data, so long as this is not overridden by your own rights and interests. The table below explains how we use personal data and our reasons for doing so.
| What we use personal data for | Our reasons |
|---|---|
| To provide legal services to our clients | For the performance of our contract with our client, or to take steps at our client’s request before entering into a contract |
| Conducting checks to identify clients and verify identity; screening for financial and other sanctions or embargoes; other processing necessary to comply with professional, legal and regulatory obligations | To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
| Gathering and providing information required by, or relating to, audits, enquiries or investigations by regulatory bodies | To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
| Ensuring business policies are adhered to, e.g. policies covering security and internet use | For our legitimate interests — to follow our own internal procedures so we can deliver the best service to you |
| Operational reasons, such as improving efficiency, training and quality control | For our legitimate interests — to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service at the best price |
| Ensuring the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information | For our legitimate interests — to protect our intellectual property and other commercially valuable information; and to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
| Statistical analysis to help us manage our practice, e.g. financial performance, client base, work type or other efficiency measures | For our legitimate interests — to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service at the best price |
| Preventing unauthorised access and modifications to systems | For our legitimate interests — to prevent and detect criminal activity; and to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
| Updating and enhancing client records | For the performance of our contract with you; to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations; and for our legitimate interests, e.g. keeping in touch with clients about existing and new services |
| Statutory returns | To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
| Ensuring safe working practices, staff administration and assessments | To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations; and for our legitimate interests, e.g. following our own procedures and working efficiently |
| Marketing our services and those of selected third parties to existing and former clients, and to third parties who have expressed an interest in our services | For our legitimate interests — to promote our business to existing and former clients |
| Credit reference checks via external credit reference agencies | For our legitimate interests — for credit control and to ensure clients are likely to be able to pay for our services |
| External audits and quality checks, e.g. for ISO or Investors in People accreditation and the audit of our accounts | For our legitimate interests — to maintain our accreditations and demonstrate the highest standards; and to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
How and why we use special category personal data
Under data protection law, we can only use special category personal data where we have a proper reason for doing so (see above) and one of the recognised ‘grounds’ applies. Generally, we will do so on the ground that it is necessary for establishing, exercising or defending legal claims, including for:
- actual or prospective court proceedings;
- obtaining legal advice; or
- establishing, exercising or defending legal rights in any other way.
Where this does not apply, we will seek your explicit consent to process special category personal data.
Promotional communications
We may use your personal data to send you updates (by email, text message, telephone or post) about legal developments that might interest you and information about our services, including exclusive offers, promotions or new services.
We have a legitimate interest in processing your personal data for promotional purposes, so we do not usually need your consent to send promotional communications. Where consent is needed, we will ask for it separately and clearly. We will always treat your personal data with the utmost respect and never share it with organisations outside the firm for marketing purposes.
You have the right to opt out of receiving promotional communications at any time, by contacting us or using the ‘unsubscribe’ link in emails or the ‘STOP’ number in texts. We may ask you to confirm or update your marketing preferences if you instruct us again in the future, or if there are changes in the law, regulation or the structure of our business.
Where your personal data is held
Information may be held at our offices and those of the third-party agencies, service providers, representatives and agents described above. Some of these third parties may be based outside the European Economic Area — see ‘Transferring your personal data out of the UK and EEA’ below.
How long your personal data will be kept
We will keep your personal data after we have finished advising or acting for you, for one of these reasons:
- to respond to any questions, complaints or claims made by you or on your behalf;
- to show that we treated you fairly;
- to keep records required by law.
We will not retain your data for longer than necessary for the purposes set out in this policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data.
Transferring your personal data out of the UK and EEA
To deliver services to you, it is sometimes necessary for us to share your personal data outside the UK or European Economic Area (EEA), e.g. with your and our service providers located outside the UK/EEA; if you are based outside the UK/EEA; or where there is an international dimension to the matter on which we are advising you.
These transfers are subject to special rules under European and UK data protection law. If you would like further information, please contact our Data Protection Officer (see ‘How to contact us’ below).
Your rights
You have the following rights, which you can exercise free of charge:
- Access
- The right to be provided with a copy of your personal data.
- Rectification
- The right to require us to correct any mistakes in your personal data.
- To be forgotten
- The right to require us to delete your personal data — in certain situations.
- Restriction of processing
- The right to require us to restrict processing of your personal data — in certain circumstances, e.g. if you contest its accuracy.
- Data portability
- The right to receive the personal data you provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, and/or to transmit that data to a third party — in certain situations.
- To object
- The right to object at any time to your personal data being processed for direct marketing (including profiling), and in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal data, e.g. processing for the purpose of our legitimate interests.
- Automated decision making
- The right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (including profiling) that produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you.
For further information on each of these rights, including when they apply, please contact us or see the guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under the GDPR. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please email, call or write to us (see below), give us enough information to identify you, provide proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill), and tell us which right you wish to exercise and the information your request relates to.
Keeping your personal data secure
We have appropriate security measures to prevent personal data from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed unlawfully. We limit access to your personal data to those who have a genuine business need, and those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality. We also have procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach, and will notify you and any applicable regulator where we are legally required to do so.
How to complain
If you are unhappy with how we have used your personal data, you have the right to raise a data protection complaint with us. From 19 June 2026, the law requires you to contact us first so that we have the opportunity to investigate and respond. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and provide a clear response to you when we have completed our investigation.
If you make a data protection complaint, we will respond to let you know how your complaint will be handled by providing you with a copy of our Data Protection Complaints Handling Procedure. We may ask you for further details, consult with other parties and keep records regarding your complaint.
If you remain dissatisfied after we have responded, you can raise your concern with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). You can also contact them by telephone on 0303 123 1113.
ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/data-protection-complaints
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Changes to this privacy policy
This privacy policy was published on 14 July 2020. It was last updated on 3 July 2026. We may change this privacy policy from time to time; when we do, we will inform you by email.
How to contact us
Please contact us by post, email or telephone if you have any questions about this privacy policy or the information we hold about you.
4 Ambassador Place, Stockport Road, Altrincham, WA15 8DB