Privacy Policy

 

Overview

TrevorKLaw recognizes the importance of privacy and the sensitivity of personal information.  Lawyers 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.

 

What personal information do we collect?

Personal information is any information that identifies you, or by which your identity could be deduced.  TrevorKLaw needs your personal information to provide legal services. 

 

How do we collect your personal information?

Wherever possible we collect your personal information directly from you, both at the start of a retainer and during the course of our representation.  Only with your express permission will we obtain information about you from other sources, such as, your accountant or from a government agency or registry.

 

Consent

In most cases, we will 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, and to administer our client time and billing databases. 

TrevorKLaw does not disclose your personal information to any third party to enable them to market their products and services. 

 

Disclosure of your personal information

Under certain circumstances, TrevorKLaw 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 Canada Revenue Agency) 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 or other professionals such as accountants on your behalf.

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?

TrevorKLaw 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.

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.

 

Can I be denied access to my personal information?

Your rights to access your personal information are not absolute.  We 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 we deny your request for access to, or refuse a request to correct information, we willexplain why.  TrevorKLaw does not use your Social Insurance Number as a way of identifying or organizing the information we hold about you. 

 

Communicating with TrevorKLaw

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

TrevorKLaw regularly reviews all of its policies and procedures, and we may change our Privacy Policy from time to time.  It is your responsibility to check our website periodically for changes. Your continued use of or access to our website following the posting of any changes to this Privacy Policy constitutes acceptance of those changes.

 

Requests for Access

If you have any questions, or wish to access your personal information, please email us at trevor@trevorklaw.com.

 

Web Site

Our website may contain links to other sites, which are not governed by this privacy policy.  We are not responsible for examining or evaluating the content or accuracy, and we do not warrant and will not have any liability or responsibility for any third-party materials or websites, or for any other materials, products, or services of third-parties.

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.