Legal
Privacy notice
This notice explains how Dental Expert Witnesses collects, uses and protects personal data when you visit our website, contact us, apply to join the expert panel or instruct an expert.
Who we are
About this notice
Dental Expert Witnesses provides dental expert witness services to solicitors and other legal professionals. This notice applies to the personal data we handle through this website and in the administration of medico-legal instructions.
The organisation responsible for personal data collected for our own business purposes is DENTAL EXPERTS. In some medico-legal instructions, the instructing firm, Dental Expert Witnesses and the appointed expert may have different data protection roles. Those roles are addressed in the relevant engagement and data-sharing arrangements.
We process personal data fairly, use it only for identified purposes and limit access to people who need it for their work.
Information categories
The personal data we collect
Professional enquiries
Names, job titles, firm details, business contact information, correspondence and the limited case information needed to identify a suitable discipline.
Expert applications
Contact details, professional registration information, qualifications, curriculum vitae, professional history and other information supplied as part of an application.
Medico-legal instructions
Clinical records, radiographs, pleadings, correspondence and other case materials supplied by the instructing legal team. These materials may identify claimants, clinicians, witnesses and other people connected with a matter.
Website use
Technical information such as IP address, browser and device data, security logs, pages visited and cookie choices. Further information appears in our Cookie Policy.
Please do not send full clinical records through a general enquiry form. Initial enquiries should contain only enough information to identify the expert discipline required. Case materials should be supplied through the secure route provided for an accepted instruction.
Purposes and lawful bases
How and why we use personal data
We use personal data only where there is a lawful basis for doing so. Depending on the activity, this may include:
- Contract To scope, administer and deliver an agreed instruction, or to take requested steps before an instruction is accepted.
- Legitimate interests To respond to professional enquiries, assess expert applications, operate and secure the website, manage the service and protect legal rights.
- Legal obligation To meet applicable tax, accounting, regulatory, court and other legal requirements.
- Consent Where consent is the appropriate basis, including for storage or access technologies that require it. Consent can be withdrawn at any time.
Case materials frequently contain health information, which is special category data. Where applicable, we process that information because it is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims under Article 9(2)(f) of the UK GDPR, together with an appropriate Article 6 lawful basis.
We do not use case materials for advertising or sell personal data.
Controlled disclosure
Sharing and security
We disclose personal data only where it is necessary for the purpose for which it was provided, where the law permits it or where disclosure is required. Recipients may include:
- The appointed expert To review the instructed issues and prepare the agreed expert evidence.
- Legal representatives, courts and tribunals Where required for the relevant proceedings, by procedural rules or by an order.
- Service providers Providers supporting secure communications, document storage, website hosting and business administration, subject to appropriate contractual controls.
- Professional advisers, insurers and regulators Where necessary to obtain advice, manage a claim, comply with professional duties or meet a legal requirement.
We use proportionate technical and organisational safeguards to protect personal data against accidental loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration and disclosure. Access is restricted according to role and business need.
If a service provider stores or accesses personal data outside the UK, we use an applicable lawful transfer mechanism and require appropriate safeguards.
Retention
How long we keep personal data
We keep personal data only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected. The period depends on the nature of the information, the status and jurisdiction of the matter, applicable limitation periods, professional obligations and any legal, accounting or regulatory requirement.
Enquiries that do not become instructions, expert applications, active and closed instruction files, financial records and website security records are reviewed under our retention schedule. When information is no longer required, it is securely deleted or anonymised unless the law requires it to be retained.
Data protection rights
Your rights
Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:
- AccessAsk for a copy of personal data held about you.
- CorrectionAsk us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
- ErasureAsk us to delete information where there is no lawful reason to continue using it.
- RestrictionAsk us to restrict the use of information in certain circumstances.
- ObjectionObject to processing based on legitimate interests in certain circumstances.
- PortabilityReceive certain information in a structured, commonly used format where the legal conditions apply.
- Withdraw consentWithdraw consent at any time where we rely on it, without affecting earlier lawful processing.
These rights are not absolute. An exemption may apply, including where information is needed for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims. We may need to verify your identity before responding to a request.
Questions and concerns
Contact and complaints
To ask a question about this notice or exercise a data protection right, contact Dental Expert Witnesses:
- Telephone
- 0800 161 3395
If you are dissatisfied with our response, you may complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK supervisory authority for data protection. Information about making a complaint is available at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.
We may update this notice when our services, processing activities or legal obligations change. The date at the top of the page identifies the current version.
Publication check
Two details remain to be confirmed.
Before publication, confirm the legal entity operating as Dental Expert Witnesses and the dedicated privacy email. The final notice must also match the organisation’s actual retention schedule, service providers and engagement documents.