Our firm recognizes the importance of privacy and the sensitivity of personal information. We have a professional obligation to keep confidential all information we receive within a lawyer-client relationship. We are committed to protecting any personal information we hold. This Privacy Policy outlines how we manage your personal information.

 

All businesses engaged in commercial activities must comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. These obligations extend to lawyers and law firms. We are responsible for the personal information we collect and hold. 

 

 

We provide legal services to a wide range of clients. In doing so, we produce direct marketing materials concerning our services. Personal information is any information that identifies you, or by which your identity could be found. We need this information to provide you with legal services.

 

 

We collect information only by lawful and fair means, and not in an unreasonably intrusive way. Wherever possible we collect your personal information directly from you, both at the start of a retainer and in the course of our representation. We may obtain information about you from other sources, for example: your bank, insurance company, real estate agent in a property transaction, from a government agency, an employer or accountant.

 

 

In most cases, we will ask you to consent, if we collect, use, or disclose your personal information. Normally, we ask for your consent in writing, but in some circumstances, we may accept your oral consent. Sometimes, your consent may be implied through your conduct with us.

 

 

We use your personal information to provide legal advice and services to you. We do not disclose your personal information to any third party to enable them to market their products and services. 

 

Under certain circumstances, we will disclose your personal information: when we are required or authorized by law to do so; if you have consented to the disclosure; when the legal services we are providing to you requires us to give your information to third parties, your consent will be implied, unless you tell us otherwise; where it is necessary to establish or collect fees; if we engage a third party to provide administrative services to us and the third party is bound by our privacy policy; if we engage expert witnesses on your behalf; if we retain other law firms at your request, and on your behalf; if the information is Publicly Available Personal Information, as it is defined under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

 

We take all reasonable precautions to ensure that your personal information is kept safe from loss or unauthorized access, including deploying technological safeguards like security software and firewalls to prevent hacking or unauthorized computer access and having internal password and security policies.

 

 

You may ask for access to any personal information we hold about you. Summary information is available on request. More detailed requests may be subject to our normal professional and disbursement fees.

 

Your rights to access your personal information are not absolute. We may deny access when: it is required or authorized by law; to do so would reveal confidential commercial information or would pose a risk to the life or security of another person; or the information was generated in the course of mediation or arbitration. 

 

You should be aware that e-mail is not an entirely secure medium, and you should be aware of this when contacting us to send personal or confidential information.

 

On our website, like most other commercial websites, we may monitor traffic patterns, site usage and related site information in order to optimise our web service. We may provide aggregated information to third parties, but these statistics do not include any identifiable personal information.

 

If you have any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, please contact us.