Privacy Policy | Likko & Associates

Who we are

Likko & Associates (“we”, “us”) is a law firm at ITF House, 4th Floor, Suite 4 Left Wing, No. 6 Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, FCT-Abuja, Nigeria. We are the data controller for the personal data described in this policy, which means we decide how and why it is used.

If you have any question about this policy or your personal data, please contact us at likko@likkoandassociates.com or write to us at the address above.

The information we collect

We collect only the personal data we need. Depending on how you deal with us, this may include:

Enquiries: your name, email address, phone number and the information you give us about your matter when you use our contact form, email us, call us or message us on WhatsApp.
Consultation bookings: your name, contact details, the practice area and a short description of your matter, and the date and time of your appointment.
Clients: identification documents and the information needed to act on your matter. This can sometimes include sensitive personal data, such as information about health, family circumstances, religious belief or criminal allegations, where it is relevant to the legal advice or proceedings.
Website use: technical information that our web host records automatically for security, such as your IP address, browser type, the pages requested and the time of the request. If you accept analytics cookies, Google Analytics also records how the website is used (pages visited, the device and approximate location, and whether the booking, telephone or WhatsApp links are clicked), using a random identifier. We rely on your consent for this, and you can withdraw it at any time (see ourCookie Policy).
Our website assistant: if you choose to use the chat assistant on this website, the messages you type into it. Please do not type confidential details of your matter into the assistant.
Job applications: if you apply through our careers page (for a job, an NYSC placement, SIWES or an internship, or a Law School externship), your name, contact details, what you are applying for, your answers to the questions on the form (such as your qualifications, institution, NYSC call-up number and state of deployment), what you tell us about yourself, and your CV and any letter you attach. We use them only to consider your application. They are emailed to the people at the firm who handle recruitment and kept in the private staff area of this website, which only the Managing Partner and our IT administrator can open.
Our client area: if we act for you, we may give you (or the people you name at your organisation) an account in the private client area of this website. There we hold your name and email address, your password (stored only in a scrambled form that cannot be read back), the matters we handle for you with their progress, the documents, messages and invoices exchanged with us there, and a record of who opened each document and when (kept for 12 months). Each time you sign in we email you a one-time code; we record the time and result of each sign-in for security and delete these records after 90 days. Only you, the lawyers working on your matter, the Managing Partner and our IT administrator can see your matters. We use this information to act for you and to keep it secure, under our engagement with you and our duty of confidentiality. A closed matter stays visible to you for 12 months after it is closed; we keep our own file for as long as the law and our professional rules require. If you choose to stay signed in on a device, we keep a coded reference to that device, its type and when it was last used, until you sign it out or it goes unused for 180 days. If you turn on phone notifications, we keep an address for that phone; notifications say something new has arrived, without any detail of your matter. If we ask you to sign a document in the client area, we keep, as the record of your signature, the name you type, the signature you draw (if you draw one), the date and time, your internet connection (IP address), the type of device and browser, and a fingerprint of the exact document you signed. We keep this with your matter's file.
Staff messages and corrections: members of our staff can send each other messages, photos, videos, voice notes and documents, and send corrections about the staff area, in that private area. We use these only for the firm's internal work. Other staff and managers can't see a private conversation in the staff area, but the messages aren't end-to-end encrypted and are stored on our website host. The messages area also records when staff were last online and when a message was delivered and read, and shows this to the staff using it. Staff can turn off last seen and, in private chats, read ticks. Messages, and corrections that have been closed, are removed after 12 months. If someone turns on phone notifications, we keep an address for that phone until it's turned off; the notification shows who wrote, not the message. If someone chooses to stay signed in on a device, we keep a coded reference to that device, its type and when it was last used, until they sign it out or it goes unused for 180 days.
Our staff area: members of our staff can sign in to a private area of this website to see their own employment records (such as their position, milestones, appraisals, training, leave and their own documents). Only they and the Managing Partner can see them; we use them to manage employment at the firm. When someone signs in, we also record their username, the time and whether signing in succeeded, only to keep that area secure, and delete these sign-in records after 90 days. Changes made to staff records in that area (who made them and when) are logged for 12 months, so the records can be relied on. Staff also record their attendance (the time they check in and out, where they say they are working that day, and a reason if they are late; no location is tracked) and their daily, weekly and monthly work reports, which the Managing Partner may rate. These are used to manage work at the firm, including the Employee of the week and month, and are kept for 1 year. Staff may add a profile picture, which colleagues signed in to that area can see; it is re-saved without the camera's hidden details and can be removed at any time. When someone leaves the firm, their staff records are deleted one year later.

How we use it, and why

The Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 requires a lawful basis for every use of personal data. We rely on the following:

To respond to your enquiry and arrange a consultation: because you have asked us to take these steps before any engagement (contract), and on your consent where you give it on our forms.
To check for conflicts of interest: to meet our professional obligations (legal obligation) and in our legitimate interests.
To provide legal services: to perform our engagement with you (contract).
To meet legal and regulatory requirements: including record-keeping and identity checks where the law requires them (legal obligation).
To keep our website secure and working: in our legitimate interests.
To understand how our website is used: only with your consent.
To answer your questions through the website assistant: only with your consent, which you give by ticking the box before your first message.The assistant is automated: it gives pre-written general information about the firm only; it does not give legal advice or make decisions about you.

How the website assistant handles your messages. The assistant chooses its answer from pre-written information inside your own browser. Your messages are not sent to us or to anyone else, and they are not stored on our website: the conversation is kept only in your browser tab and is deleted when you close the tab.

We process sensitive personal data only where the law allows it, for example with your explicit consent or where it is necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims. We do not use your data for automated decision-making, and we never sell it.

Where we rely on your consent, you may withdraw it at any time. This does not affect anything we did before you withdrew it.

Confidentiality and privilege

As legal practitioners we owe you a duty of confidentiality under the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, and communications made for the purpose of legal advice are protected by legal professional privilege. That duty applies in addition to data-protection law.

Contacting us does not create a lawyer–client relationship. Please do not send confidential details of your matter until we have confirmed that we can act for you.

We share personal data only where necessary, and only with:

service providers who process it on our behalf and under our instructions, such as our web host, email provider, online booking service and video-conferencing provider and, if you accept analytics cookies, Google (Google Analytics) ;
courts, tribunals, other parties and their lawyers, experts and other professionals, where this is needed to act on your matter;
regulators, law-enforcement bodies or others where the law requires us to disclose it.

Transfers outside Nigeria

Some of our service providers store or process data outside Nigeria. Where personal data is transferred abroad, we take the steps required by the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 to ensure it remains protected, for example by relying on an adequate level of protection in the receiving country or on appropriate contractual safeguards.

How long we keep it

We keep personal data only for as long as we need it for the purposes above, including to meet legal, regulatory and professional requirements.

Website assistant conversations: not stored by us. The conversation stays in your browser tab until you close it.
Enquiries sent through our contact form: kept in our staff area for 12 months, so that the right lawyer can reply and we can see that every enquiry was answered, then deleted there.
Staff area sign-in records: 90 days.
Client area: sign-in records 90 days; the record of who opened each document 12 months; your matters and their documents for as long as we must keep our client files (a closed matter remains visible to you for 12 months).
Job applications: deleted from our website 3 months after our last decision on them (12 months if we offer you a position); copies in our email are deleted when they are no longer needed.

When data is no longer needed, it is securely deleted or anonymised.

How we protect it

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against loss, misuse and unauthorised access, including encrypted connections to this website and restricted access to client information. If a personal data breach occurs that is likely to put your rights at risk, we will notify the Nigeria Data Protection Commission and, where required, you.

Your rights

Under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, you have the right to:

be informed about how your personal data is used;
access a copy of your personal data;
have inaccurate or incomplete data corrected;
have your data erased, in certain circumstances;
restrict or object to certain uses of your data;
receive your data in a portable format, in certain circumstances;
withdraw your consent at any time, where we rely on consent.

Some rights are limited where we must keep information to comply with the law or to protect legal privilege. To exercise any right, contact us at likko@likkoandassociates.com. We may need to verify your identity before responding.

If you are not satisfied with how we have handled your data, you may complain to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC).

Cookies

Our Cookie Policy explains what this website stores on your device and how to control it.

Children

This website is not intended for children under 18. Where we act in matters concerning children, we handle their personal data with particular care and, where required, with the consent of a parent or guardian.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The current version is always published on this page, with the date it was last updated.