Privacy Policy - Shibley Righton

This Privacy Policy sets out our obligations to you with respect to the collection, use or disclosure of personal information of clients, prospective clients, the public accessing our website, and other third parties. We ask that you review this document carefully, because the protection of your information is important to us.

In reviewing this Privacy Policy, you will come across certain Defined Terms that you may not understand, and which we have underlined and defined for ease of reference and clarity. Simply go back and look under our "Defined Terms, and what they mean” box.

OUR PRIVACY PROMISE TO YOU

When you become a client of the firm, or when you communicate with us with a view to becoming a client, or as a prospective candidate for employment with us, we may have requested and you may have given personal information to us. You may have provided us with personal information so that we could serve your needs as a client or evaluate you as a candidate for employment with the firm. There may have been other reasons for such communications. We value your trust, and we are committed to protecting your privacy with unswerving professionalism. Even in Business to Business transactions or litigious proceedings, we may on occasion require or collect personal information for a narrow purpose. We will attempt to convey that purpose when such situations arise. We value our clients’ business, and as such, seek to protect your personal information, and in particular, the collection, use, and disclosure of that personal information.

INFORMATION THAT WE MUST PROTECT FOR YOU

Shibley Righton LLP is responsible for taking all reasonable steps to protect your personal information in its possession or custody, including personal information that has been transferred to, or received from, a third party in the course of commercial activities.

REASONS FOR COLLECTION, USE, AND DISCLOSURE OF YOUR INFORMATION

We generally collect, use and disclose personal information in order to understand and identify your needs as a client, and/or to evaluate and protect your interests, and to carry out your instructions.

Knowing you better as an individual helps us understand how we can best serve you or your business, and effectively communicate with you.

MORE SPECIFICALLY, SHIBLEY RIGHTON LLP COLLECTS, USES OR DISCLOSES YOUR INFORMATION TO:

a) establish or evaluate or maintain a client relationship with you;
b) review and evaluate prospects for employment with the firm;
c) facilitate a business to business relationship in which your personal information is used, collected or disclosed with your consent;
d) facilitate the handling of any matter on which you have retained us to act on your behalf; and
e) facilitate other business of the firm, with a narrow purpose and pursuant to law and the firm's professional obligations.

Personal information may be collected, used or disclosed for any of these Identified Purposes set out above. We will not use or disclose it for any other purpose without obtaining subsequent consent from you.

HOW DO WE OBTAIN YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

How we collect your personal information depends on the type of transaction/s you wish to enter/engage in with us. We may gather information from the following sources:

a) from you, via written retainer; for example your name, address, telephone number, e?mail address, occupation, financial and banking information, health information, or any other personal information or information you designate as confidential;
b) from agents, referees, or intermediaries as authorized by you or provided to us by you in support of an employment application or in support of your client file;
c) from your interactions with us directly;
d) from government as authorized by you;
e) from recruiting firms;
f) from any other source with your consent, or without your consent where otherwise permitted by law.

WHEN YOU SHARE PERSONAL INFORMATION WITH US

If you provide personal information to us through any of the previously mentioned sources, you do so with the express understanding that your personal information may be used or disclosed for the Identified Purposes amongst us, the previously mentioned sources, or third parties, and that Shibley Righton LLP may verify such information, or obtain additional personal information about you, as necessary for the Identified Purposes and to carry out the breadth and scope of your retainer with us (if applicable), and may verify information, including personal information, to assist us for the Identified Purposes. All such personal information is also used, collected or disclosed subject to our obligations pursuant to the Rules of the Law Society of Upper Canada. For further information in relation to these rules, go to www.lsuc.ca or call 416.947.3300.

INFORMED AND IMPLIED CONSENT

Your knowledge and consent are required before we may collect, use or disclose your personal information, except in special circumstances, and except in situations otherwise permitted by the law. If any of the personal information that we collect is sensitive, such as health information, we will obtain subsequent written or oral consent from you before disclosing the information.

In certain circumstances, where you should reasonably expect that we would collect, use or disclose your personal information, your consent may be implied.

OBTAINING YOUR CONSENT

We accept any of the following as your consent for our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information for the Identified Purposes:

a) your receipt of this Privacy Policy, or its being made available to you, unless you advise us, either orally or in writing, that you do not agree with the terms stated in this Policy, and that you wish to opt out of all or portions of it. In such a case, and subject to the legislation by which we are bound, Shibley Righton LLP may not be able to act on your behalf, assuming such consents are needed to effectively represent you;
b) your express written or oral consent as obtained via client retainer or otherwise;
c) your consent as provided by other authorized representatives, such as a solicitor, legal guardian, accountant, or power of attorney;
d) your voluntary provision of personal information to us; or
e) your implied consent where such consent is reasonable.

Unless we hear otherwise from you, you are giving us your consent for the collection, use and disclosure of personal information as provided in this Policy for the Identified Purposes.

YOUR CONSENT MAY BE WITHDRAWN, OR MAY NOT BE GIVEN AT ALL

You may withdraw your consent at any time upon reasonable notice, subject to legal or contractual restrictions, including restrictions enumerated in your retainer with us. Please note that withdrawing your consent may affect our ability to continue to provide you with the services that you currently have or which you are seeking from us.

To withdraw your consent, you should contact our Privacy Officer at the address or telephone number listed.

PRESERVATION OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION BY US

Your personal information is retained only as long as we need it to effectively provide services to our clients, and for a reasonable length of time thereafter in case we need to meet any potential obligations or legal, professional, accounting or governmental requirements. Shibley Righton LLP will attempt to use reasonable care when storing or destroying your personal information in order to prevent unauthorized access. Please note that Shibley Righton LLP may destroy your personal information without notice to you. Therefore, should you require information for your own purposes in relation to any files you may have with us, you should retain that information in your own possession prior to providing us with copies.

SECURITY OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Whether in electronic or paper?based format, Shibley Righton LLP maintains security systems to safeguard your personal information from unauthorized access, disclosure or misuse. As well, when we no longer need your personal information, we take as much care to destroy it as we do when storing it.

If we transfer your personal information to a third party for processing (for example, for data processing or evaluation purposes), we require any person or organization providing products or services on our behalf to protect client confidentiality in a manner consistent with our own internal measures, or as required by law and our governing body, the Law Society of Upper Canada.

YOUR ACCESS TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

You have a right to access your personal information that we have in our possession or control. You also have a right to know which third parties have received your information from Shibley Righton LLP.

HOW DO YOU ACCESS YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION ?

Please make your request in writing to Shibley Righton's LLP's Privacy Officer, stating as specifically as possible which personal information you are requesting.

We will try to respond to such requests as soon as possible, and will advise you if for some reason we cannot respond right away. Shibley Righton LLP may charge you a reasonable fee for providing access to your personal information, but only after first advising you of the approximate cost.

SHIBLEY RIGHTON LLP MAY REFUSE YOUR REQUEST FOR ACCESS TO PERSONAL INFORMATION IF:

a) the information is protected by solicitor?client privilege and the privilege is not yours;
b) granting access would reveal confidential commercial information;
c) doing so would reasonably be expected to threaten the life or security of another individual;
d) the information was collected for purposes related to the detection and prevention of fraud;
e) the information was generated in the course of a formal dispute resolution process;
a) the information would likely reveal personal information about another individual;
b) there is another type of privilege such as "litigation privilege" asserted over the personal information, and it would therefore be reasonable to withhold such information in such instance; or
c) for any other reason we are legally required to refuse your request.

ACCURACY OF YOUR INFORMATION

Shibley Righton LLP strives to ensure that the personal information we have on file about you is as accurate and up?to?date as necessary for the Identified Purposes for which it is to be used. Shibley Righton LLP will amend personal information that is materially inaccurate or incomplete and, where appropriate, will endeavour to advise other parties having access to the information in question of the amendment.

HOW TO REACH OUR CHIEF PRIVACY OFFICER

For more information, to file a complaint, to make enquiries, or to opt out of all or part of this Privacy Policy, please contact Shibley Righton’s Privacy Officer, Stacey Chandler, at privacy@shibleyrighton.com .

DEFINED TERMS, AND WHAT THEY MEAN

Business to Business: Commercial transactions between or among two or more business enterprises which may or may not involve the collection, use, or disclosure of personal information.

Collection: Personal information coming into our possession.

Consent: Your informed consent as defined above.

Disclosure: Means to disclose or disseminate or share your personal information.

Identified Purposes: The purposes enumerated by us above and for which you give us your consent to collect, use, and disclose your personal information.

Personal Information: Information about an identifiable individual but does not include the name, title, or business address or telephone number of an employee of an organization.

Power of Attorney: The authority given to one person or corporation to act on behalf of another person or corporation in legal and financial matters.

Third party: A person other than a client who is involved in a transaction or proceeding with respect to which we have been retained.

Use: How we use, and what we do with your personal information once it is within our possession.
ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT

This Privacy Policy spells out the responsibility of Shibley Righton LLP (“Shibley Righton”, “we”, “our”, “us”), and your rights as our client, prospective or former client, applicant, supplier, member of the public accessing our website, or other third party (“you” or “your”), regarding the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information.

This Privacy Policy is subject to amendments from time to time. Amendments may be posted on our website at www.shibleyrighton.com , and will also be available from Shibley Righton’s Privacy Officer (see contact information above).

Internet Usage Policy - January 1, 2004

We recognize the importance of an individual’s right to keep personally identifiable information private. The following internet usage policy describes the ways that we collect, use, or disclose information through this website, how we keep the information we collect secure, and the ways that you can access and correct your personally identifiable information. By using our website, or by communicating with us by using the links contained on this website, you consent and agree to the terms of this Internet Usage Policy.
Information which is collected about you

Through our website, the only personal information we generally collect is information you provide to us voluntarily through sending us an e-mail message using the links contained on this site.

Other information that we collect through this website

Our web server may automatically record certain technical information related to your visit to this site. This information is anonymous and does not identify you personally. It includes things such as: the Internet domain for your Internet service provider; the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the computer accessing the website; the date and time that you visited this website; and a record of which pages you viewed while you were visiting this website.
We use this information to make our site more useful to visitors, to diagnose problems with our servers, and to help us to better design our website.
We do not presently use cookies on this website. “Cookies” are small text files that are placed on an Internet user’s computer when that user is visiting a website for use as a kind of electronic identification tag when users re-visit that site.

How your information is used (and is not used) or disclosed

We will use the personal information that you provide us to respond to your e-mail inquiry. Unless you direct us otherwise, or unless the law requires us to do so, we will not disclose any of your personal information to anyone outside of Shibley Righton LLP. Should you become a client of Shibley Righton LLP, or should your personal information be collected by us in other ways, the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information will be governed by the firm's general Privacy Policy. We will provide a copy of that policy to you on request.

How your information is kept secure

We take reasonable precautions to keep the information that we collect through this website secure, including organizational, physical and electronic precautions.
Due to the nature of the Internet, however, no data transmission over the Internet is absolutely secure. We caution you to be aware of this fact before you send us an e-mail message through this website.

Ways you can control the information collected about you

We will provide you with access to the personal information we have collected from you through this website. In the event that any of this information is not accurate, please let us know so that we can update our records. If you have any questions about our privacy policy or the information we have collected, please send an e-mail message to our Chief Privacy Officer at privacy@shibleyrighton.com .

Disclaimer

None of the material on this website is offered, nor should be construed, as legal advice. Access to this material, its transmission or receipt, or any communication with us by email or otherwise, does not create a solicitor-client relationship with Shibley Righton LLP or with any of the firm’s lawyers. Such a relationship would require direct, personal contact between you and our firm through one or more lawyers, and would also require a retainer agreement that confirms that such a relationship is established and the terms of that relationship. You should not act or rely upon information contained in this material without specifically seeking professional advice.

This site may offer links to other resources on the internet as a convenience to our readers. We do not take any responsibility for the content, accuracy or timeliness of those other sites, nor do we endorse any commercial products that may be advertised or available on those sites.

We reserve the right to change this internet usage policy at any time. We will do so by posting a revised internet usage policy on this website. The date of the version of this policy is stated at the top of the page. We recommend that you print a copy of this policy for your records if you wish to familiarize yourself with these policies and procedures.