Privacy & Cookie Policy
1. Introduction
This Privacy & Cookie Policy explains how SP Law & Consultancy ("we", "us", or "the firm") collects, uses, and protects personal data when you visit splawistanbul.com (the "Website") or contact us. We handle your personal data lawfully, fairly, and transparently, in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679, the "GDPR") and the Turkish Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698 (the "KVKK").
2. Who we are (Data Controller)
For the purposes of the GDPR and the KVKK, the data controller is SP Law & Consultancy, Attorney Selim Polat, registered with the Istanbul Bar Association (Reg. No. 68892). Address: Barbaros Neighbourhood, Mor Sümbül Street, Deluxia Palace Residence No. 326, Ataşehir / Istanbul, Türkiye. Email: info@splawistanbul.com. Phone: +90 553 923 22 58. You may contact us at any time using these details regarding this policy or your personal data.
3. What personal data we collect
We collect personal data only when you choose to provide it, together with a limited amount of technical data necessary to operate the Website securely.
Information you give us through the contact form: your full name, email address, telephone number (optional), and the content of your message. You provide this voluntarily when you submit an enquiry.
Technical and security data: our hosting and content-delivery provider may process your IP address and standard server-log information for the limited purpose of delivering the Website securely and preventing abuse. We do not use this data to identify or track you.
We use a privacy-first analytics service to understand how the Website is used, as described in the Analytics section below. We do not use advertising or social-media tracking tools, and we do not build visitor profiles.
4. Legal basis for processing
Under Article 6 of the GDPR and Article 5 of the KVKK, we process your personal data on the following bases: to respond to your enquiry and take steps at your request prior to a possible engagement, relying on your consent and on our legitimate interest in answering enquiries addressed to us; and to provide legal services and comply with our professional and legal obligations, relying on the performance of a contract and compliance with a legal obligation. Where processing relies on your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before the withdrawal.
5. How we use your personal data
We use the personal data you provide to respond to your enquiry, to assess and provide the legal services you request, to maintain the records we are required to keep as a law practice, and to comply with applicable law and professional rules. We do not sell your personal data, and we do not use it for marketing without your consent.
6. Sharing of data and service providers
We do not share your personal data except with the limited service providers necessary to operate the Website and respond to you.
Contact-form delivery is handled by Formspree, Inc. (United States). When you submit the contact form, your details are transmitted to and stored by Formspree solely to deliver your message to us. This involves a transfer of personal data outside Türkiye and the European Economic Area; such transfers are made subject to the appropriate safeguards required under Chapter V of the GDPR and Article 9 of the KVKK.
Our contact section displays an embedded Google map. When a page containing the map loads, your browser connects to Google to display it, and Google may receive your IP address and set its own cookies, governed by Google's own privacy policy.
Our website is served through a hosting and content-delivery provider that processes technical log data as described in Section 3. We host our fonts locally on our own server, so no data is sent to any external font provider when you browse the Website.
7. Analytics
We use Cloudflare Web Analytics to understand how the Website is used and to monitor its performance. This service is privacy-first: it does not use cookies, does not store any information on your device, and does not track you across other websites. It collects aggregate, non-identifying information such as page views, referring sources, approximate country, browser and device type, and performance metrics (for example, page load time). We rely on our legitimate interest in operating, securing, and improving the Website as the legal basis for this processing (GDPR Article 6(1)(f)), and we process it in line with the Turkish Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698 (the KVKK). Cloudflare acts as our data processor for this purpose. Cloudflare's privacy policy is available at https://www.cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/.
8. Cookies and local storage
The Website itself does not set first-party advertising, analytics, or tracking cookies. The only first-party item stored on your device is a single functional flag that records whether you have dismissed our cookie notice. Our contact pages include an embedded Google map; when it loads, Google may set its own cookies on your device, governed by Google's privacy policy. You can delete or block cookies through your browser settings at any time.
9. International transfers
Some of our service providers, such as Formspree (and Google, if you load the map), are located outside Türkiye and the European Economic Area, including in the United States. Where personal data is transferred internationally, we rely on the appropriate safeguards recognised under the GDPR and the KVKK, such as standard contractual clauses or the providers' certified transfer frameworks.
10. Data retention
We keep the personal data you send us only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy. If your enquiry does not lead to an engagement, we delete the related data within two months. Where an engagement results, we retain the file for the period required by applicable law and professional record-keeping obligations, after which it is securely deleted.
11. Your rights
Under Articles 15 to 22 of the GDPR and Article 11 of the KVKK, you have the right to be informed about and request access to the personal data we hold about you; to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data; to request erasure of your data where the law permits; to request restriction of, or object to, our processing; to request portability of the data you provided to us; and to withdraw your consent at any time. To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at info@splawistanbul.com. We will respond within the time limits set by the GDPR and the KVKK. If you believe your data has been handled unlawfully, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a competent supervisory authority — in Türkiye, the Personal Data Protection Authority (Kişisel Verileri Koruma Kurumu); in the European Economic Area, your local data protection authority.
12. Security
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against loss, misuse, and unauthorised access. No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, but we work to safeguard your data using appropriate measures.
13. Children
The Website is intended for adults seeking legal information and services. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children.
14. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The current version is always available on this page, with the "last updated" date shown above.
15. Contact
For any question about this policy or your personal data, please contact us at info@splawistanbul.com or +90 553 923 22 58.