Privacy Policy
Privacy Policy
EVERSTONE LAW PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION recognizes the importance of privacy and the sensitivity of personal information. As a lawyer I have a professional obligation to keep confidential all information I receive within a lawyer-client relationship. I am committed to protecting any personal information I hold. This Privacy Policy outlines how I manage your personal information and safeguard your privacy. From January 1, 2004, all businesses engaged in commercial activities must comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“Act”), and the Canadian Standards Association Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information, which it incorporates. These obligations extend to lawyers and law Everstone Law Professional Corporations, including the Everstone Law Professional Corporation. The Act gives you rights concerning the privacy of your personal information. EVERSTONE LAW PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION is responsible for the personal information I collect and hold. To ensure this accountability, I have developed this policy, and trained my lawyers and support staff about my policies and practices. EVERSTONE LAW PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION provides legal services and products to a wide range of clients. In doing so, it produces direct marketing materials concerning its services and developments in the law.
Personal information is any information that identifies you, or by which your identity could be deduced. If I did not collect and use your personal information, I could not provide you with legal services. I collect information only by lawful and fair means, and not in an unreasonably intrusive way. Wherever possible I collect your personal information directly from you, both at the start of a retainer and in the course of my representation.
Sometimes I may obtain information about you from other sources, if applicable, for example:
- Your insurance company;
- Your real estate agent in a property transaction;
- From a government agency or registry;
- Your employer, if I am acting for you, at its request;
- Your accountant.
In most cases, I shall ask you to specifically consent, if I collect, use, or disclose your personal information. Normally, I ask for your consent in writing, but in some circumstances, I may accept your oral consent. Sometimes, your consent may be implied through your conduct with us.If you signed this retainer, you consent to the disclosure of your personal information for to this transaction.
I use your personal information to provide legal advice and services to you, to administer my client (time and billing databases) and to include you in any direct marketing activities. If you tell us that you no longer wish to receive information about my services, or about new developments in the law, I will not send any further material.
EVERSTONE LAW PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION does not disclose your personal information to any third party to enable them to market their products and services. For example, I do not provide my client mailing lists to other law Everstone Law Professional Corporations.
Under certain circumstances, Everstone Law Professional Corporation will disclose your personal information:
- When I am required or authorized by law to do so, for example if a court issues a subpoena;
- When you have consented to the disclosure;
- When the legal services I am providing to you requires us to give your information to third parties (for example a lender in a real estate mortgage transaction) your consent will be implied, unless you tell us otherwise;
- Where it is necessary to establish or collect fees;
- If I engage a third party to provide administrative services to us (like computer back-up services or archival file storage) and the third party is bound by my privacy policy;
- If I engage expert witnesses on your behalf;
- If I retain other law Everstone Law Professional Corporations 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.
Since I use your personal information to provide legal services to you, it is important that the information be accurate and up-to-date.
If during the course of the retainer, any of your information changes, please inform us so that I can make any necessary changes. Everstone Law Professional Corporation takes all reasonable precautions to ensure that your personal information is kept safe from loss, unauthorized access, modification or disclosure. Among the steps taken to protect your information are:
- Premises security;
- Restricted file access to personal information;
- Deploying technological safeguards to prevent hacking or unauthorized computer access;
- Internal password and security policies.
You may ask for access to any personal information I hold about you. Summary information is available on request. More detailed requests which require archive or other retrieval, costs may be subject to my normal professional and disbursement fees. If Everstone Law Professional Corporation holds information about you and you can establish that it is not accurate, complete and up-to-date, Everstone Law Professional Corporation will take reasonable steps to correct it.
Your rights to access your personal information are not absolute. I may deny access when:
- It is required or authorized by law (for example, when a record containing personal information about you is protected by solicitor-client privilege);
- To do so would reveal confidential commercial information, and the personal information cannot be severed from the record;
- To do so could reasonably be expected to threaten the life or security of another individual, and the personal information cannot be severed from the record; or
- The information was generated in the course of a formal dispute resolution process.
If Everstone Law Professional Corporation deny your request for access to, or refuse a request to correct information, Everstone Law Professional Corporation shall explain why.
Whenever it is legal and practicable, I may offer the opportunity to deal with general inquiries without providing your name (for example, by accessing general information on my website). The Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act requires us to conEverstone Law Professional Corporation the identity of all new clients. It may also require us disclose information to FINTRAC in relation to certain large cash transactions.
To help us make credit decisions about clients, prevent fraud, check the identity of new clients and prevent money-laundering, I may – with your consent – request information about you from the files of consumer reporting agencies.
You should be aware that e-mail is not a 100% secure medium, and you should be aware of this when contacting us to send personal or confidential information.
Since Everstone Law Professional Corporation regularly reviews all of its policies and procedures, I may change my Privacy Policy from time to time.
If you have any questions, or wish to access your personal information, please write to Everstone Law Professional Corporation at my office location noted above. If you are not satisfied with my response, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada can be reached at
112 Kent Street,
Ottawa Ontario, K1A 1H3
1(800) 282-1376.