Privacy Policy - Law Savvy

INTRODUCTION

Chris J.W. Austin dba Law Savvy (“Law Savvy” or “We”) respects your privacy and we are committed to protecting it by complying with this policy.

This policy describes:

How we collect, use, disclose, and protect the personal information of our clients and website users (“you“).

Describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit the website www.lawsavvy.ca (our “Website“).

Our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information.

Privacy laws in Canada generally define “personal information” as any information about an identifiable individual, which includes information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate a single person. Personal information does not include business contact information, including your name, title, or business contact information. If we did not collect and use your personal information, we could not provide you with legal services.

This policy applies to information we collect, use, or disclose about you:

On this Website.

In electronic messages between you and this Website.

When you interact with us as a potential client or client.

The Website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins, services, social networks, or applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow the third party to collect or share data about you. If you follow a link to a third-party website or engage a third-party plugin, please note that these third parties have their own privacy policies and we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. We do not control these third-party websites, and we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.

Please read this policy carefully to understand our policies and practices for collecting, processing, and storing your information. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our Website or sevices. By accessing or using this Website, you indicate that you understand, accept, and consent to the practices described in this policy. This policy may change from time to time (see Changes to Our Privacy Policy). Your continued use of this Website and services after we make changes indicates that you accept and consent to those changes, so please check the policy periodically for updates.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU

We collect and use several types of information from and about you, including:

Personal information, that we can reasonably use to directly or indirectly identify you such as your name, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone number, Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet, user name or other similar identifier, billing and any other identifier we may use to contact you (if you are an organization this information may also relate to your employees, representatives and contractors, etc.).

We provide an opportunity for any user to unsubscribe or opt-out of contact for marketing purposes on an ongoing basis by using the unsubscribe mechanism at the bottom of our e-mails or you can simply email us using our contact information on the Website.

Non-personal information, that does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity or directly relate to an identifiable individual, such as demographic information, or statistical or aggregated information. Statistical or aggregated data does not directly identify a specific person, but we may derive non-personal statistical or aggregated data from personal information. For example, we may aggregate personal information to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific Website feature.

Technical information, including your login information, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, or information about your internet connection, the equipment you use to access our Website, and usage details.

Non-personal details about your Website interactions, including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), clickstream to, through and from our Website (including date and time), products you viewed or searched for, page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), methods used to browse away from the page, or any phone number used to call our customer service number.

HOW WE COLLECT INFORMATION ABOUT YOU

We collect information only by lawful and fair means, and not in an unreasonably intrusive way.

We use different methods to collect your information, including through:

Direct interactions with you when you provide it to us, for example, by filling in forms or corresponding with us by phone, email, or otherwise.

Provided from other sources, for example from a government agency or registry or from your accountant, etc.

User contributions. You may also provide information for us to publish or display on public Website areas or transmit to other Website users or third parties.

Automated technologies or interactions, as you navigate through our Website. Information collected automatically may include usage details, IP addresses, and information collected through cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies.

Information You Provide to Us

The information we collect directly from you on or through our Website may include:

Information that you provide by filling in forms on our Website. We may also ask you for information when you report a problem with our Website.

Records and copies of your correspondence (including email addresses), if you contact us. This includes information provided at the time of requesting our services as well as at the start of a retainer and in the course of our representation.

Your responses to surveys that we might ask you to complete for research purposes.

Information We Collect Through Cookies and Other Automatic Data Collection Technologies

As you navigate through and interact with our Website, we may use cookies or other automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns, including:

Details of your visits to our Website, including traffic data, location data, logs, and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on the Website.

Information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type.

The information we collect automatically is statistical information and may include personal information, and we may maintain it or associate it with personal information we collect in other ways, that you provide to us, or receive from third parties. It helps us to improve our Website and to deliver a better and more personalized service, including by enabling us to:

Estimate our audience size and usage patterns.

Store information about your preferences, allowing us to customize our Website according to your individual interests.

Speed up your searches.

Recognize you when you return to our Website.

The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include:

Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our Website. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Website.

Flash Cookies. Certain features of our Website may use local stored objects (or Flash cookies) to collect and store information about your preferences and navigation to, from, and on our Website. Flash cookies are not managed by the same browser settings that are used for browser cookies. For information about managing your privacy and security settings for Flash cookies, see Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information.

Web Beacons. Pages of our Website and our e-mails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit the Law Savvy, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity).

HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

We use information that we collect about you or that you or your representatives provide to us with, including any personal information:

To present our Website and its contents to you.

To provide you with information, products, legal advice or services that you request from us.

To fulfill the purposes for which you provided the information or that were described when it was collected, or any other purpose for which you provide it.

To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts with you, including but not limited to billing and collection or to comply with legal requirements.

To notify you about changes to our Website or any products or services we offer or provide though it.To improve our Website, products or services, marketing, or customer relationships and experiences.

To allow you to participate in interactive features, social media, or similar features on our Website.To measure or understand the effectiveness of the advertising we serve to you and others, and to deliver relevant advertising to you.

In any other way we may describe when you provide the information.

For any other purpose with your consent.

DISCLOSURE OF YOUR INFORMATION

We may disclose aggregated information about our users, and information that does not identify any individual, without restriction.

We may disclose personal information that we collect or you provide as described in this privacy policy:

To contractors, service providers, and other third parties we use to support our business (such as without limitation analytics and search engine providers that assist us with Website improvement and optimization) and who are contractually obligated to keep personal information confidential, use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them, and to process the personal information with the same standards set out in this policy.

To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it.

For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information.

With your consent.

We may also disclose your personal information where permitted by law:

To comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request, in accordance with applicable law.

To enforce or apply our terms of use at https://lawsavvy.ca/website-terms/ and other agreements, including for billing and collection purposes.

When the legal services we are providing to you requires us give your information to third parties (for example a lender in a real estate mortgage transaction) your consent will be implied;

If we engage a third party to provide administrative services to us (like computer back-up);

If we retain other law firms at your request, and on your behalf;

Services or archival file storage unless you tell us otherwise;

If we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of Law Savvy, or others.

If the information is Publicly Available Personal Information, as it is defined under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

We do not disclose your personal information to any third party to enable them to market their products and services. For example, we do not provide our client mailing lists to other legal practitioners.

TRANSFERRING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

We may transfer personal information that we collect or that you provide as described in this policy to contractors, service providers, and other third parties we use to support our business (such as without limitation analytics and search engine providers that assist us with Website improvement and optimization) and who are contractually obligated to keep personal information confidential, use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them, and to process the personal information with the same standards set out in this policy.

We may process, store, and transfer your personal information in and to a foreign country, with different privacy laws that may or may not be as comprehensive as Canadian law. In these circumstances, the governments, courts, law enforcement, or regulatory agencies of that country may be able to obtain access to your personal information through the laws of the foreign country.

By submitting your personal information or engaging with the Website or our services, you consent to this transfer, storage, or processing.

CHOICES ABOUT HOW WE USE AND DISCLOSE YOUR INFORMATION

We strive to provide you with choices regarding the personal information you provide to us. There are mechanisms to provide you with the following control over your information:

Tracking Technologies. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. To learn how you can manage your Flash cookie settings, visit the Flash player settings page on Adobe’s website. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this Website may not be accessible or may not function properly. For more information about tracking technologies, see Information We Collect Through Cookies and Other Automatic Data Collection Technologies.

We do not control third parties’ collection or use of your information. However, these third parties may provide you with ways to choose not to have your information collected or used in this way. You can opt out of several third-party ad servers’ and networks’ cookies simultaneously by using an opt-out tool created by the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada and opt-out tool created by the Network Advertising Initiative. You can also access these websites to learn more about online behavioural advertising and how to stop websites from placing cookies on your device. Opting out of a network does not mean you will no longer receive online advertising. It does mean that the network from which you opted out will no longer deliver ads tailored to your web preferences and usage patterns.

DATA SECURITY

The security of your personal information is very important to us. We use physical, electronic, and administrative measures designed to secure your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. Among the steps taken to protect your information are:

premises security;

restricted file access to personal information;

internal password and security policies.

The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our Website or services, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the Internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted to our Website. Any transmission of personal information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Website.

DATA RETENTION

Except as otherwise permitted or required by applicable law or regulation, we will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. Under some circumstances we may anonymize your personal information so that it can no longer be associated with you. We reserve the right to use such anonymous and de-identified data for any legitimate business purpose without further notice to you or your consent.

CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 13

Our Website is not intended for children under 13 years of age. No one under age 13 may provide any personal information to or on the Website. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are under 13, do not use or provide any information on this Website or provide any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, or email address, or. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us at via our contact details on the Website.

ACCESSING AND CORRECTING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

It is important that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal information changes. By law you have the right to request access to and to correct the personal information that we hold about you.

We may request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and your right to access, and to provide you with the personal information that we hold about you or make your requested changes. Applicable law may allow or require us to refuse to provide you with access to some or all of the personal information that we hold about you, or we may have destroyed, erased, or made your personal information anonymous in accordance with our record retention obligations and practices. If we cannot provide you with access to your personal information, we will inform you of the reasons why, subject to any legal or regulatory restrictions.

Proper access and use of information provided on the Website, including User Contributions, is governed by our terms of use https://lawsavvy.ca/website-terms/.

WITHDRAWING YOUR CONSENT

Where you have provided your consent to the collection, use, and transfer of your personal information, you may have the legal right to withdraw your consent under certain circumstances. To withdraw your consent, if applicable, contact us via the contact details on the Website. Please note that if you withdraw your consent we may not be able to provide you with a particular service. We will explain the impact to you at the time to help you with your decision.

CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY

It is our policy to post any changes we make to our privacy policy on this page.

We include the date the privacy policy was last revised at the bottom of the page. You are responsible for ensuring we have an up-to-date, active, and deliverable email address for you, and for periodically visiting our Website and this privacy policy to check for any changes.

CONTACT INFORMATION AND CHALLENGING COMPLIANCE

We welcome your questions, comments, and requests regarding this privacy policy and our privacy practices. Please contact chris.austin@lawsavvy.ca

We have procedures in place to receive and respond to complaints or inquiries about our handling of personal information, our compliance with this policy, and with applicable privacy laws. To discuss our compliance with this policy please contact us using the contact information listed above.

EMPLOYMENT INQUIRIES

If you apply to Law Savvy 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 in accordance with our privacy procedures for employee records.

Version No. 1; Last modified: January 7, 2020