Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Legals.ie is operated by Marketers Ireland Ltd, a company registered in Ireland (Company Registration Number [NUMBER]), with its registered office at [ADDRESS], Galway, Ireland.

For the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Irish Data Protection Act 2018, Marketers Ireland Ltd is the data controller for personal data collected via Legals.ie.

Our Data Protection contact: privacy@legals.ie.

2. What data we collect

2.1 Data you provide directly

When you contact us, ask a question, apply to contribute, or subscribe to our newsletter, we collect information you submit. This may include:

• Name and email address
• Phone number (if provided)
• Professional details (for solicitor applicants: firm, Law Society registration, specialty areas)
• Content of your message or enquiry

2.2 Data collected automatically

When you visit Legals.ie, we automatically collect:

• IP address (anonymised after processing)
• Browser type, device type, operating system
• Pages visited, time spent, referring URL
• Cookies (see our Cookies Policy)

3. Why we process your data — legal basis

• Consent. Newsletter signups, optional analytics cookies. You can withdraw consent at any time.
• Contractual necessity. Managing solicitor contributor subscriptions and accounts.
• Legitimate interests. Site security, basic analytics, responding to enquiries, fraud prevention. Where we rely on legitimate interests, we balance these against your privacy rights.
• Legal obligation. Where law requires us to retain certain records (e.g. tax records for billed subscribers).

4. How we use your data

• To respond to your enquiries and contact requests
• To process solicitor contributor applications and manage active subscriptions
• To send our newsletter (where you’ve subscribed)
• To improve the site (anonymised analytics)
• To prevent fraud, abuse, and security incidents
• To comply with legal obligations

We do not sell your personal data. We do not share it with marketing partners or data brokers.

5. Who we share data with

We share data only with:

• Service providers acting on our behalf. Hosting (Hostinger, EU servers), email delivery, payment processing (Stripe for solicitor subscriptions), analytics (anonymised). All are bound by data processing agreements consistent with GDPR.
• Law enforcement or regulators where legally required.
• Successors in interest in the event of a sale or merger of the business, with appropriate safeguards.

For verified solicitor contributors: information you provide for your public profile (name, firm, credentials, photo, expertise, bio) is publicly displayed and may be indexed by search engines. Information you provide privately (banking details for subscription billing, internal contact) is not displayed.

6. How long we keep data

• Newsletter subscribers: until you unsubscribe, plus 30 days for processing.
• Contact form submissions: 2 years from last contact.
• Solicitor contributor records: duration of subscription plus 7 years (for accounting/tax compliance).
• Analytics data: anonymised after 14 months.
• Security logs: 12 months.

7. Your rights under GDPR

You have the right to:

• Access. Request a copy of personal data we hold about you.
• Rectification. Correct inaccurate data.
• Erasure. Request deletion of your data (“right to be forgotten”), subject to legal retention obligations.
• Restriction. Limit how we process your data.
• Portability. Receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Object. Object to processing based on legitimate interests.
• Withdraw consent at any time where we rely on consent.

To exercise any of these rights, email privacy@legals.ie. We respond within 30 days.

You also have the right to complain to the Irish Data Protection Commission: dataprotection.ie.

8. International transfers

Our primary infrastructure is hosted within the EU. Where any service provider transfers data outside the EEA, we ensure GDPR-compliant safeguards (Standard Contractual Clauses or adequacy decisions).

9. Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data, including HTTPS encryption, access controls, regular software updates, and breach detection. No system is 100% secure — if a breach affecting your data occurs, we will notify you and the Data Protection Commission as required.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy. Material changes will be notified by email to subscribers or via a prominent site notice. The “Last updated” date at the top reflects the current version.

11. Contact

Questions, requests, or concerns about your data: privacy@legals.ie

Marketers Ireland Ltd, [ADDRESS], Galway, Ireland.