Coutts Crane recognizes the importance of privacy and the
sensitivity of personal information. As lawyers we have a professional
obligation to collect and 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 and safeguard your privacy.
Your Privacy Rights
From January 1, 2004, all businesses engaged in commercial activities
must comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic
Documents Act, http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/P-8.6/91100.html and
the Canadian Standards Association Model Code for the Protection
of Personal Information, which it incorporates. These obligations
extend to lawyers and law firms, including Coutts Crane. The Act
gives you rights concerning the privacy of your personal information.
Coutts Crane is responsible for the personal information we collect
and hold. To ensure this accountability, we have developed this
policy, and trained our lawyers and support staff about our policies
and practices.
Why Does Coutts Crane Need Personal Information
In doing so, we may produce direct marketing materials concerning
our services and developments in the law.
We are also required by the Law Society to obtain certain client
identification information including client's name, address, telephone
number and occupation. Additional information for organizational
clients may also be required, such as business identification numbers,
place of incorporation and the general type of business. We may
also, in certain circumstances, be required to verify this information
from independent sources.
What personal information do we collect?
Personal information is any information that identifies you, or
by which your identity could be deduced.
If we did not collect and use your personal information we could
not provide you with legal services.
How do we collect your personal information?
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, at the start of a retainer
and in the course of our representation.
Sometimes we may obtain information about you from other sources:
for example,
• your insurance company;
• your real estate agent in a property transaction;
• from a government agency or registry;
• your employer, if we are acting for you, at its request;
• your accountant.
Consent
In most cases, we shall ask you to specifically 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.
Use of Your Information
We use your personal information to provide legal advice and services
to you, to administer our 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 our services,
or about new developments in the law, we will not send any further
material.
Coutts Crane does not disclose your personal information
to any third party to enable them to market their products and services.
For example, we do not provide our client mailing lists to other
law firms.
Disclosure of your Personal Information
Under certain circumstances, Coutts Crane will disclose your
personal information:
• when we are 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 we are providing to you requires
us 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 we 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 our privacy policy;
• if we engage expert witnesses on your behalf;
• if we retain other law firms in other jurisdictions, on
your behalf;
• if the information is already publicly known.
Updating Your Information
Since we 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 we can make any necessary changes.
Is My Personal Information Secure?
Coutts Crane 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 like security software
and firewalls to prevent hacking or unauthorized computer access;
• internal password and security policies.
Access to Your Personal Information
You may ask for access to any personal information we hold about
you.
Summary information is available on request. More detailed requests
which require archive or other retrieval costs may be subject to
our normal professional and disbursement fees.
Correcting Errors
If Coutts Crane holds information about you and you can establish
that it is not accurate, complete and up-to-date, Coutts Crane
will take reasonable steps to correct it.
Can I be Denied Access to My Personal Information?
Your rights to access your personal information are not absolute.
We may deny access when:
• denial of access is required or authorized by law (for example,
when a record containing personal information about you is subject
to a claim of legal professional privilege by one of our clients)
;
• information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings
against you;
• when granting you access would have an unreasonable impact
on other people's privacy;
• when to do so would prejudice negotiations with you;
• to protect our firm's rights and property;
• where the request is frivolous or vexatious.
If we deny your request for access to, or refuse a request to correct
information, we shall explain why.
Coutts Crane does not use your Social Insurance Number as
a way of identifying or organizing the information we hold upon
you.
Can I request anonymity.
Whenever it is legal and practicable, we may offer the opportunity
to deal with general inquiries without providing your name (for
example, by accessing general information on our website). The Proceeds
of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act requires
us to confirm the identity of all new clients. It may also require
us disclose information to FINTRAC in relation to certain large
cash transactions.
Credit Bureaus
To help us make credit decisions about clients, prevent fraud, check
the identity of new clients and prevent money-laundering, we may
on occasion, request information about you from the files of consumer
reporting agencies.
Communicating with Us
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.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
Since Coutts Crane regularly reviews all of its policies
and procedures, we may change our Privacy Policy from time to time.
Requests for Access
If you have any questions, or wish to access your personal information,
please write to our Privacy Contact at:
Privacy Contact
Coutts Crane
480 University Avenue, Suite 700
Toronto, Ontario M5G 1V2
If you are not satisfied with our response, the Privacy Commissioner
of Canada can be reached at:
112 Kent Street,
Ottawa Ontario, K1A 1H3
1.800.282.1376.
Employment Inquiries
If you apply to Coutts Crane for a job, we need to consider
your personal information, as part of our review process. We normally
retain information from candidates after a decision has been made,
unless you ask us not to retain the information. If we offer you
a job, which you accept, the information will be retained in accordance
with our privacy procedures for employee records.
Web Site
Our website contains links to other sites, which are not governed
by this privacy policy.
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.
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