Legal and Privacy

PRIVACY POLICY

Shah and Shah Law Professional Corporation (or “We”) recognizes the importance of your privacy and the sensitivity of your 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 policy outlines how we handle your personal information and sets out the steps we take to protect your privacy. This policy statement also provides information about the personal information Shah and Shah Law Professional Corporation collects, and how we use and protect that personal information.

LEGAL AND PROFESSIONAL OBLIGATION

Since January 1, 2004, all Canadian organizations engaged in commercial activities, including law firms, have been required to comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”) and the Canadian Standards Association Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information incorporated by reference into PIPEDA. These obligations extend to lawyers and law firms, including Shah and Shah Law Professional Corporation

Additionally, lawyers have professional obligations regarding the confidentiality of the information we receive from our clients within a lawyer-client relationship. These obligations are regulated by our professional body, the Law Society of Upper Canada. We are 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. We are committed to protecting the personal information we hold by the law.

PERSONAL INFORMATION

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.

COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION BY  SHAH & SHAH LAW PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION

Shah and Shah Law Professional Corporation collects personal information from clients and others to provide legal services for and on behalf of our clients.

We may also collect personal information from individuals to provide them with educational and marketing information about developments in the law and concerning the services we offer.

We collect personal information fairly and by the law. Generally, we collect your personal information directly from you. Such a collection of information may be done at the start of our relationship or during our retainer. Concerning our clients who are not individuals (i.e. corporations, associations, etc.), we may collect information about your directors, officers, independent contractors, and employees.

Part III of By-Law 7.1 of the Law Society of Upper Canada requires us to obtain and keep a record of the identity of our clients, including their:

  • full name
  • home address and telephone number;
  • business address and telephone number;
  • email address;
  • credit card information; and
  • current occupation.

We may sometimes also obtain information about you from other sources including some or all of the following:

  • from a government agency or registry;
  • your website and other public sources of information;
  • other professionals who serve you;
  • other parties or witnesses in the context of litigation; and
  • other parties or participants in a commercial transaction

We may collect personal information from candidates for employment to assess qualifications.

CONSENT TO OUR COLLECTION AND USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

In most cases, we obtain your consent to collect, use and disclose your personal information. Sometimes we will ask for your consent in writing, but in some cases, we may accept your verbal consent. Sometimes your consent may be implied through your conduct with us or the nature of our retainer. Generally, we collect your personal information directly from you at the start of or during your retainer with our firm. Should you withdraw your consent for us to collect, use or disclose your personal information, it may impact our ability to serve you and maintain our relationship.

USE AND DISCLOSURE OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We use personal information to provide legal advice and services to you, issue invoices, and maintain our database of clients. The purposes for collecting personal information about our clients and prospective clients are primarily to provide legal services and representation, maintain client relationships, communicate with our clients, and avoid conflicts of interest.

Personal information supplied to us is confidential and we do not disclose the information to any third party except with actual or implied consent, or as permitted or required by law.  We do not exchange or sell personal information

Our use and disclosure of all information concerning client matters (including personal information) are also subject to our professional obligation of confidentiality and the requirements of solicitor-client privilege.

Shah and Shah Law Professional Corporation uses third-party service providers from time to time to carry out certain functions for us such as printing, storage, shredding, or document scanning.  The agent or sub-contractor in question will be obligated to use that personal information by the terms of this privacy statement.

In addition to the disclosures reasonably necessary for the purposes identified elsewhere above Shah and Shah Law Professional Corporation  may disclose your personal information under the following circumstances:

  • when you have consented to the disclosure;
  • when we are required or authorized by law to do so, including, for example, if a court issues a warrant or a subpoena;
  • to comply with the requirements of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the regulatory body that governs the practice of law in Ontario;
  • when the legal services we are providing to you require us to give your information to third parties (in which case your consent will be implied unless you tell us otherwise at the outset of the retainer);
  • where it is necessary to collect fees or disbursements;
  • if we engage a third party to provide administrative services to us (such as computer backup services, archival file storage, or insurance) and the third party is bound by obligations regarding privacy that are consistent with this policy;
  • if we engage expert witnesses on your behalf; or
  • if we retain another law firm (such as law firms in other jurisdictions) on your behalf.
  • if the information is Publicly Available Personal Information, as it is defined under the Personal Information Protection and Electronics Documents Act.

 

WITHDRAWAL OF CONSENT

You may withdraw your consent to our collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information at any time, subject to legal and/or contractual restrictions, and upon reasonable notice. Your withdrawal of consent to our collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information may impact our ability to represent you and provide you with legal advice.

You can ask us not to send you marketing communications by following the opt-out instructions in each communication or you may let us know by contacting us at info@shahlawers.ca.

ACCURACY OF YOUR INFORMATION

We strive to maintain personal information in as accurate, complete, and up-to-date a form as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected.  The information that we have on file must be accurate and up-to-date. If, during the retainer, any of your information changes, please inform us so that we can make any necessary changes. We may also ask you from time to time whether your personal information is up-to-date.

SECURING YOUR DATA

Shah and Shah Law Professional Corporation uses various safeguards to ensure that your personal information is protected against loss, theft, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, or alteration. We protect personal information by security safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of personal information, regardless of format.  Our security safeguards include:

  • premises security
  • restricted access to files containing personal information.
  • Requiring all staff to comply with our privacy and confidentiality policy
  • Training all staff concerning our confidentiality and privacy obligations
  • technological safeguards such as security software and firewalls to prevent hacking or unauthorized computer access, internal passwords, and security policies.

 

ACCESS TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

You have a right to challenge the accuracy and completeness of your personal information and to have it amended, as appropriate. You also have a right to request access to your personal information and receive an accounting of how that information has been used and disclosed, subject to certain exceptions prescribed by law. For example, if the requested information would reveal personal information about another individual, your access request may be limited or denied. If your access request is denied, we will notify you in writing of the reason for the denial.

To request access or to amend your personal information, please contact the lawyer with whom you normally correspond or write to our Privacy Contact at the address below. We will respond within thirty (30) days of receipt of your written request.

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.

 

CREDIT BUREAUS

To help us make credit decisions about clients, prevent fraud, check the identity of new clients and prevent money laundering, we may – with your consent – request information about you from the files of consumer reporting agencies.

E-MAIL

You should be aware that e-mail is not an entirely secure medium, and you should be aware of this when contacting us to send personal or confidential information.

CHALLENGING COMPLIANCE

If you have any inquiries about our policies and practices relating to our handling of your personal information, please let us know by contacting info@shahlawyers.ca.  We will respond to all such inquiries within 30 days of receipt of a written inquiry. If you have a concern or complaint, which is found to be justified, we will take appropriate measures to resolve it, including, if necessary, amending this Policy and its procedures.

If any complaint or inquiry is not handled to your complete satisfaction, you may contact:

Privacy Commissioner of Canada
112 Kent Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 1H3

WEBSITE PRIVACY

Our website contains links to other sites, which are not governed by this privacy policy.

Like most other commercial websites, we may monitor traffic patterns, site usage, and related site information to optimize your visit to our website. We may view the IP log from time to time, for example, to maintain the security of our website. We do not link IP addresses to other personally identifiable information.

We may use your information for analytics, market research, and business development, including operating and improving our website, associated applications, and associated social media platforms. Visitor information is not disclosed to anyone except our employees who play a key role in our website marketing development.

Shah and Shah Law Professional Corporation has also implemented an industry-standard firewall to assist us in keeping any information that you send to us secure and private. Although we will do our best to protect the personal information you provide to us, we advise that no method of electronic transmission or storage is 100% secure, and no one can guarantee absolute data security. We will comply with laws applicable to us in respect of any data breach.

Shah & Shah Lawyers uses technology that ensures your personal is kept confidential and secure. When you provide personal information – your name, address, phone number, and e-mail – it is done on a secure server. Shah & Shah Lawyers uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology to encrypt all information you provide before it is sent to our own server. As well, we use cookies to authenticate your identity during your visit to the site.

EMPLOYMENT INQUIRIES
If you apply to Shah and Shah Law Professional Corporation 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 by our privacy procedures for employee records.

CONTACT

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or Shah and Shah Law Professional Corporation’s treatment of your personal information, please write to info@shahlawyers.ca

DISCLAIMER: The information you obtain at this site is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. You should consult a lawyer directly for advice regarding your situation. We invite you to contact us and welcome our calls, letters, and electronic mail. Contacting us does not create a lawyer-client relationship. Please do send any confidential information to us until a lawyer-client relationship has been established.



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