Privacy Policy
Dara Law Chambers, Professional Corporation (“DLC”) is a law firm providing a wide range of legal services to its clients. Since its inception in 2015, DLC has been subject to the terms of Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”). As you may be aware, PIPEDA governs the collection, use and disclosure of personal information relating to individuals. PIPEDA defines personal information to mean “information about an identifiable individual, but does not include the name, title or business address or telephone number of an employee of an organization”. PIPEDA governs how DLC collects, uses and discloses personal information and DLC intends to act in accordance with its obligations under PIPEDA. While the collection, use and disclosure of personal information may be governed by other statutes or codes, DLC also must comply with PIPEDA.
COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
DLC collects personal information in order to provide legal services to you. DLC requires personal information to be able to properly advise and counsel you, to prosecute or defend actions on your behalf and provide other legal services like closing of your real estate transactions, taking care of your wills, trusts and estates. The personal information DLC collects may include information regarding your income, marital status, assets or medical history to name a few examples. DLC will usually attempt to gather such personal information from you directly or through publicly available information. From time to time, DLC may be required to contact third parties such as accountants, doctors or investment advisers to get additional information regarding your affairs. DLC normally requests your consent first before it contacts these parties. Please note you have the right to not provide information to DLC or to not consent to the collection of certain information, however, this may restrict DLC’s ability to provide legal services to you. DLC attempts to keep all information obtained up to date and from time to time, will verify that information in it’s files on you is correct. If you believe any information it has is not up to date, please contact the lawyer you are dealing with at DLC and provide updated information.
WEBSITE
DLC website contains links to other sites, which are provided for your convenience and are not governed by this privacy policy. DLC does not assume responsibility for the content or the privacy of the sites it links to. Users should carefully review the privacy policies of each of the linked sites prior to providing any personal information to those sites. On DLC’s website, like most other commercial websites, it may monitor traffic patterns, site usage and related site information in order to optimize it’s web service. DLC does not provide any identifiable personal information to any third party. Unfortunately, electronic data transmission by e-mail, by completing forms on DLC’s web site, etc. is not 100% secure. DLC will not be liable for personal information that you or third parties send electronically to DLC personnel that becomes lost, misused or altered.
USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
DLC will use personal information only for providing legal services you have retained it for or advise you of additional legal services it can provide to you. DLC does not sell information to third parties for mailing lists or to enable third parties to solicit goods and services from you. You may restrict how DLC is to use the information you provide to it, however, this may limit DLC’s ability to provide legal services to you.
DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION AND SECURITY
DLC is governed by strict confidentiality rules, however, PIPEDA adds another layer to these obligations. DLC only discloses personal information as is necessary for the purposes of providing legal services to you or unless otherwise required by law. From time to time, DLC may pass information on to third party advisers such as accountants, doctors or investment advisers if it is in the course of providing the legal services you engaged DLC to provide you with. DLC will endeavor to get your explicit consent before any such disclosure is done. DLC still remains responsible for all information disclosed to third parties. Personal information DLC collects is kept confidential. The information stored on computers is protected by password and staff, if any, has been advised only to access information they require. Some old files are stored at off-site secure locations to which limited people have access. DLC is very careful accessing old files. Files of a sensitive nature are placed in locked file cabinets. When sending facsimiles to you, they normally contain a cover sheet notifying the sender that the item is of personal and confidential nature and where applicable, DLC will only send facsimiles where it knows you are waiting for them or DLC has secured your authorization to send the same. Caution is also taken when sending e-mails to ensure they are sent to you on a secure channel.
ACCESSING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
Under PIPEDA, you have the right to access the personal information DLC has about you, subject to certain limited exceptions. DLC will provide you access to the personal information it has on you in accordance with DLC’s obligation under PIPEDA. If, in providing you access to your personal information, documents must be copied or accessed from off-site storage, there may be a nominal charge of which you will be advised. DLC will endeavor to reply to all requests for personal information in a timely manner and in accordance with DLC’s obligation under PIPEDA. The Principal of DLC is Ms. Jasmeet Kaur Dara and she is the one who is also the Chief Privacy Officer. Requests for personal information should be sent to Ms. Dara at the following address:
Dara Law Chambers, PC
1042 Albion Road
Toronto, Ontario
M9V 1A7
Telephone: (416) 907 6008
Facsimile: (416) 907 4167