Privacy Policy
Privacy Policy
KM recognizes the importance of privacy and the sensitivity of personal information. We often need to collect personal information so that we can serve our clients. We are committed to responsibly and carefully collecting, using, and disclosing personal information.
Privacy Rights
From January 1, 2004, all businesses engaged in commercial activities must comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), and the Canadian Standards Association Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information, which it incorporates. These obligations extend to lawyers and law firms, including KM. PIPEDA gives our clients rights concerning the privacy of their personal information.
Consent
In most cases, we ask our clients to specifically consent before we collect, use, or disclose their personal information. Normally, we ask for their consent in writing, but in some circumstances, we may accept their oral consent. Sometimes, consent may be implied through conduct.
Collecting Personal Information
As a law firm, we collect, use, and disclose personal information in providing legal services. We require personal information so that we can contact our clients, obtain information about their legal concerns, and develop and implement effective strategies to address those concerns.
Personal information is potentially identifiable information about our clients’ personal characteristics, including their name, age, ethnic origin, marital status, religion, education, contact information including home address, telephone, fax and email, and health information.
Like most other commercial websites, we may monitor traffic patterns, site usage, and related site information to optimize our web service. We may provide aggregated information to third parties, but these statistics do not include any identifiable personal information.
We only collect personal information by lawful and fair means, and not in an unreasonably intrusive way. Wherever possible, we collect our clients’ personal information directly from them, both at the start of an engagement and during the engagement. Sometimes we may obtain information about our clients from other sources, for example:
Protecting Personal Information
At KM, we ensure that our clients’ personal information is collected, accessed, used, and disclosed appropriately, including by:
Disclosing Personal Information
Retaining Personal Information
We retain personal information only as long as it is needed by us to provide our services. In some circumstances, personal information may be stored in an off-site storage facility until we determine it is no longer required.
Accessing Your Personal Information
Clients may request and access the personal information we hold about them and to know how it is or has been used. Summary information is available on request at no charge. Detailed information requests that require archive or other retrieval costs may be subject to our normal professional and disbursement fees.
The right to access personal information is not absolute. We may deny access to non-clients, as in most cases the information was collected in the course of advising a client, in which we case we have a legal obligation to preserve legal privilege and maintain the confidentiality of the information, absent our client’s consent to its release.
If we deny a request for access to information, we will explain why.
Correcting Your Personal Information
If KM holds information about you and you can establish that it is not accurate, complete, and up-to-date, we will take reasonable steps to correct it.
Access Requests and Information
If you want to access personal information, or have questions about our personal information policy, please contact Sandeep J. Joshi at [email protected] or 416.712.1597. You should be aware that email is not a 100% secure medium, and you should be aware of this when contacting us to send personal or confidential information.
Changes