|
Privacy Policy
Fernandes Hearn LLP are committed to maintaining the
accuracy, security and privacy of Personal Information in accordance
with applicable legislation. This Fernandes Hearn LLP Privacy Policy
is a statement of principles and guidelines concerning the protection
of Personal Information of our clients, service providers and other
individuals ("you").
Consent
BY SUBMITTING PERSONAL INFORMATION TO FERNANDES HEARN
LLP OR ITS SERVICE PROVIDERS AND AGENTS, YOU AGREE THAT WE MAY COLLECT,
USE AND DISCLOSE SUCH PERSONAL INFORMATION IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS
PRIVACY POLICY AND AS PERMITTED OR REQUIRED BY LAW.
Subject to legal and contractual requirements, you
may refuse or withdraw your consent to certain of the identified
purposes at any time by contacting the Fernandes Hearn LLP Chief
Privacy Officer. If you refuse or withdraw your consent, we may
not be able to provide you or continue to provide you with the legal
services or information which may be of value to you.
What Personal Information do we collect?
Canadian privacy legislation defines "Personal
Information" broadly as information about an identifiable individual
or as information that allows an individual to be identified. For
the purposes of this policy, Personal Information means information
about an identifiable individual as defined from time to time in
applicable privacy legislation. Generally speaking Personal Information
does not include what is considered business contact information:
your name, title or position, business address, telephone number,
facsimile number, or e-mail address. The types of Personal Information
that Fernandes Hearn LLP may collect about you includes your name,
home address, telephone number, personal email address, billing
and account information, information about a client's legal issue
and other information incidental to providing legal advice and services
(including Personal Information about witnesses, family members,
beneficiaries, directors, officers, employees, adverse parties,
parties-in-interest, investigators, decision makers, experts, other
professional advisors, and our clients' business partners, investors,
shareholders, competitors and customers whom are individuals).
Why do we collect your Personal Information?
In general, Fernandes Hearn LLP collects, uses and
discloses Personal Information about our clients and service providers
in order to provide our clients with professional legal services.
More specifically, we collect, use and disclose your Personal Information
for the following purposes:
- provide legal services to you, in accordance with
your instructions;
- bill you for legal services rendered;
- provide information to you about developments in
the law; and
- advise you of upcoming firm events.
- for any other purpose to which you consent.
When do we disclose your Personal Information?
From time to time, Fernandes Hearn LLP may disclose
your Personal Information:
- when we are required our 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 to give your information to a third party (for example,
to 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; or
- if the information is already publicly known.
Where do we store your Personal Information?
Your Personal Information is stored in secured locations
and on servers controlled by Fernandes Hearn LLP, located either
at our offices or at the offices of our service providers.
How may you obtain 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 that require archival or other retrieval costs
may be subject to our normal professional and disbursement fees.
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 our firm's rights and property;
- where the request is frivolous or vexatious.
Correcting Errors
If Fernandes Hearn LLP holds information about you
and if you can establish that it is not accurate, complete and up-to-date,
Fernandes Hearn LLP will take reasonable steps to correct it.
Privacy and our Website
- Cookies - When an individual visitor accesses the
Fernandes Hearn LLP website, we may use a browser feature called
a 'cookie' to collect information such as the type of Internet
browser and operating system the visitor uses, the domain name
of the website from which the visitor came, date and duration
of the visit, number of visits, average time spent on our website,
pages viewed and number of cookies accumulated. A cookie is a
small text file containing a unique identification number that
identifies the visitor's browser, but not necessarily the visitor,
to our computers each time our website is visited. Unless a visitor
specifically informs us (e.g. by registering for an event or sending
us correspondence from the website), we will not know who the
individual visitors are. In addition to the identified purposes
described in our Privacy Policy, we may use this website information
and share it with other organizations with whom we have a commercial
relationship to measure the use of our website, to improve the
functionality and content of the website and to facilitate usage
by a visitor. Visitors can reset their browsers either to notify
them when they have received a cookie or refuse to accept cookies.
However, if a visitor refuses to accept cookies, he or she may
not be able to use some of the features available on our website.
- E-Mail Communications - Occasionally, we
may send marketing or promotional e-mail communications to you
with information that may be useful, including information about
the services of Fernandes Hearn LLP and other third parties with
whom we have a relationship. You may contact us any time if you
decide you do not want to receive any future marketing or promotional
e-mails from Fernandes Hearn LLP.
- Links - Our website may contain links to other
websites which are provided as a convenience only. Visitors are
advised that other third party websites may have different privacy
policies and practices than Fernandes Hearn LLP, and Fernandes
Hearn LLP has no responsibility for such third party websites.
Changes to the Privacy Policy
Fernandes Hearn LLP reserves the right to modify or
supplement this Privacy Policy at any time. If we make a change
to this Privacy Policy, we will post such changes on our website
and make such revised policy and changes available upon request
to the Fernandes Hearn LLP Chief Privacy Officer. However, Fernandes
Hearn LLP will obtain the necessary consents required under applicable
privacy laws if it seeks to collect, use or disclose your Personal
Information for purposes other than those to which consent has been
obtained unless otherwise required or permitted by law.
Further Information
Fernandes Hearn LLP has appointed Rui Fernandes as
Chief Privacy Officer to oversee compliance with this Privacy Policy
and applicable privacy laws. For information on Fernandes Hearn
LLP's privacy practices, please contact the Fernandes Hearn LLP
Chief Privacy Officer at:
Fernandes Hearn LLP
Chief Privacy Officer
335 Bay St. Suite 601
Toronto ON M5H 2R3
Tel: 416.203.9500
Fax: 416.203.9444
|
