Privacy Policy

1. Who we are:

We at Sheehan & Co. Solicitors are committed to ensuring your data and privacy rights are respected. Accordingly, we have updated our Privacy Notice in line with our obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which came into force on the 25^th May 2018.

You can contact us at this address by post at Sheehan & Co Solicitors, 2^nd Floor, 16 Merchant Road, Galway or by email at info@sheehansolicitors.ie.

2. Why we process your data, the lawful basis for processing your data and who we share it with:

A. For people who view and interact with our website, we process data:

to respond to/deal with your query when sent through our ‘contact us’ form

The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interest in the administration and operation of our legal services as well as our legitimate interest in marketing and promoting our firm’s legal services. We always include an unsubscribe button in our communications, so you can opt out of receiving such communications at any time.

We share this data with our client relationship management system provider. They may only process this data for the purpose of providing us with their services, and no other purpose.

We will retain this data for as long as necessary to enable us tom provide all necessary services or as long as we are required to retain same by the applicable law at any given time and for a period of no less than six years beginning on the date we archive your file.

B. For our potential clients, we process data:

in order to market the services of our firm
to provide you with legal updates and if and whenever produced, newsletter to which you may have subscribed

The legal basis for the processing of this data is processing necessary for the purpose of the legitimate interests of our firm in promoting our services. In the event that you sign up to any subscription based communication from us, we shall include an unsubscribe button in our communications, so you can opt out of receiving such communications at any time.

C. For solicitors and barristers that we liaise with on client matters, we process data:

In order to liaise with you about our client matters

The legal basis for the processing of this data is processing necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by our firm in representing our clients.

We share the information you provide with our practice management system in order to store your contact information with our client file. We may also send you emails through our email service provider.

We will retain this data for as long as necessary to enable us to provide all necessary services or as long as we are required to retain same by the applicable law at any given time and for a period of no less than six years beginning on the date we archive your file.

D. For job applicants to the firm, we process data:

to recruit new employees
to ascertain your suitability for a specific role

The legal basis for this processing is processing necessary for the purpose of the legitimate interests of our firm in recruiting new staff. Please see the privacy notice in the job advertisement for further information about how we process applicant data.

We share the information you provide in your application with our contracted recruiter in order to make a shortlist of candidates. This recruiter is not permitted to use this data other than on our behalf. We may also send you emails about your application through our email service provider.

We will retain this data for as long as necessary to enable us tom provide all necessary services or as long as we are required to retain same by the applicable law at any given time.

3. Transfers of data outside the European Economic Area:

On occasion we may be required to transfer data relating to our legal services to service providers and third parties outside the EEA. Where such a transfer is necessary we shall put in place safeguards necessary to protect the privacy and integrity of such personal data including, to enter into European Commission approved standard contractual clauses with the provider.

4. Information received from you:

While providing legal services to you, you will supply us with information about you though, correspondence with us by phone, email or otherwise. The information you give us may include, but is not limited to, your name, address, e-mail address, phone number(s),PPS number, financial and credit card information, bills, passport, driving licence, photograph or other identification documents, medical records, bank account details, etc.

5. Information received from third parties and the source of that data

Depending on the circumstances and during the course of providing legal services to you, on occasion we may need to obtain personal information and data about you from other sources, including but not limited to, public registers, government and regulatory authorities, business partners, financial and insurance institutions and advisors, service providers, medical records, employment records, bank details and records, Court records, and records from various third parties, such as Revenue Commissioners, Property Registration Authority, HSE, Hospitals, Law Searchers and/or other third parties.

6. Who we share your data with:

We may share your information with agents, contractors, or partners of Sheehan & Co. Solicitors in connection with the services that these individuals or entities perform for or with Sheehan & Co. Solicitors. These may include but are not limited to providers of archiving services, barristers, overseas Counsel, third party experts, medical consultants, Engineers, accountants, financial and tax advisors, external auditors etc.

We may disclose your data in the event we sell or buy any business or asset, in which case we may disclose your personal data to any prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets.

We may disclose or share your data in order to comply with any legal obligation.

Our agents, contractors or partners are restricted from using your data in any way other than in the provision of services for Sheehan & Co. Solicitors or services in the collaboration in which they and Sheehan & Co. Solicitors are engaged.

7. Where we store your information:

We may store your information in different places. Physical files are stored in our office and our archives. Electronic files are stored on our secure servers and in the cloud. We may transfer your data to, and store it at, a destination outside European Economic Area. (see Para 3 above)

8. Your rights relating to personal data:

You have the following rights under the GDPR, in certain circumstances and subject to certain exemptions, in relation to your personal data:

right to access the data – you have the right to request a copy of the personal data that we hold about you, together with other information about our processing of that personal data.
right to rectification– you have the right to request that any inaccurate data that is held about you is corrected, or if we have incomplete information you may request that we update the information such that it is complete.
right to erasure – you have the right to request us to delete personal data that we hold about you. This is sometimes referred to as the right to be forgotten.
right to restriction of processing or to object to processing – you have the right to request that we no longer process your personal data for particular purposes, or to object to our processing of your personal data for particular purposes.
Right to data portability – you have the right to request us to provide you, or a third party, with a copy of your personal data in a structured, commonly used machine readable format.

In order to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us at the contact details at the start of this privacy notice.

If we are processing personal data based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time. This does not affect the lawfulness of processing which took place prior to its withdrawal.

If you are unhappy with how we process personal data, we ask you to contact us so that we can rectify the situation.

You may lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. The Irish supervisory authority is the Data Protection Commission.

9. Requirement to process personal data:

You may browse our website without providing us with any personal data and this will not affect your ability to view our website.

If you do not provide us with your information for the purposes described above, we cannot respond to your queries sent through our contact us form, liaise with you on client matters, forward to you any newsletter we may issue or assess your suitability for a role within our firm.

10. Automated decision-making and profiling:

We do not use any personal data for the purpose of automated decision-making or profiling.

11. Changes to Privacy Notice:

We may update this privacy notice from time to time and will publish such updated version on our website, as appropriate.