Stephen Sweeney Professional Corporation (the Firm) recognizes the
importance of privacy and the sensitivity of personal information. As lawyers
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 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 this Firm. The Act gives you rights concerning
the privacy of your personal information. The Firm 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 the Firm Need Personal Information
Stephen Sweeney 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.
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. The Firm 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, we 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 require 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?
The Firm 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 we holds information about you and you can establish that it is not
accurate, complete and up-to-date, we 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
the 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. The Firm 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 may 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 or receive personal or
confidential information. In order to preserve the confidentiality of such communications, we
strongly recommend the use of digital encryption keys which can be obtained
from any number of service providers.
We will be happy to discuss the issue of encryption with you if you wish
to avail yourself of this level of security.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
Since the Firm regularly reviews all of its policies and procedures, we
may change our Privacy Policy from time to time.
Web Site
Our website (www.stephensweeney.com)
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 optimize our web
service. We may provide aggregated information to third parties, but these
statistics do not include any identifiable personal information.
Requests for Access
If you have any questions, or wish to access your personal information,
please write to our Privacy Contact at
1001 305 King Street West
Kitchener,
Ontario, N2G 1B9
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.