privacy policy

Clausework Professional Corporation (the "Company”, "I”, "me”, "my") values your privacy and cares about the way your personal information is treated.  This Policy describes:
 

• the information I collect about you

• how I obtain your personal information

• how I use your personal information

• on what basis I use your personal information

• how long I keep your personal information

• who I disclose your personal information to

• how I protect your personal information

• which countries I transfer your personal information to

• your rights regarding your personal information

• who the data controllers are

• who to contact with questions or concerns

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.

This Policy applies to information I collect, use, or disclose about you through clausework.ca (the “Website”) and in email, text, and other electronic messages between you and this Website.

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 I do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. I do not control these third-party websites, and I encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.

If you do not agree with this Policy, do not use the Website. By accessing or using this Website, you indicate that you understand, accept, and consent to the practices described in this Policy.  Without limiting the effect of this deemed understanding, acceptance, and consent, it is a condition of requesting services through the Client Intake Form to read and expressly agree with this Policy.

Information I collect about you

I may collect information from you in the course of my business, including through your use of the Website, when you contact or request information from me, when you engage my legal or other services, or as a result of your relationship with me and/or my clients.

The information that I collect includes:
 

• Personal information that I can reasonably use to directly or indirectly identify you, such as your name, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone number, prospective employment information, Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet, billing and account information, and any other identifier I may use to contact you.
   

• Business-related information, including your occupation, title, business address, business email address, and business phone number.
   

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

• Technical information, such as information from your visits to the Website or in relation to materials and communications I send to you electronically, collected through cookies, and other tracking technologies.
   

• Non-personal details about your Website interactions, including the Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), clickstream to, through, and from my 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 and clicks), methods used to browse away from the page, or any phone number used to call me.

How I collect your information

Information you provide
 

• I collect information directly from you as part of my client intake process and about you and others as necessary in the course of providing legal services.
   

• I collect your personal information while monitoring and analysing my technology tools and services, including the Website, email, and other communications sent to and from the Company.
   

• I gather information about you when you provide it to me, or interact with me directly, for instance by engaging with me on any applications or forms on this Website such as the contact form or Client Intake Form.

Information I collect through cookies and web beacons

As you navigate through and interact with the Website, cookies and web beacons will collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns, including:
 

• Details of your visits to the 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 I collect automatically is statistical information and may include personal information. It helps me to improve the Website and to deliver a better and more personalised service, including by enabling me to estimate my audience size and usage patterns.

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

Web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) are small electronic files contained on pages of the Website.  Web beacons permit the Company to count users who have visited those pages and to analyse other related website statistics (e.g. recording the popularity of certain Website content and verifying system and server integrity). If you would prefer that I don't record this information, do not interact with the Website.

How I use your information
 

• To provide and improve this Website, including auditing and monitoring its use, and ensure content is provided in the most effective way for you and the devices you are using
   

• To become retained or engaged by a client for the provision of legal services 
   

• To provide and improve my services to you and to my clients and to monitor compliance with my policies and standards
   

• To provide information requested by you
   

• To manage and administer my business and my relationship with you and my clients

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• To better understand my clients’ or potential clients’ services and marketing requirements and to develop my services and offerings
   

• For professional networking purposes
   

• To fulfil my legal, regulatory, and risk management obligations, including establishing, exercising or defending legal claims, preventing crime or fraud, and protecting the rights of third parties
   

• In any other way I may describe when you provide the information
   

• ​For any other purpose with your consent

A number of forms and applications on this Website invite you to provide me with personal information, such as the contact form and Client Intake Form.  The purpose of these forms and applications is apparent at the point that you provide your personal information, and I only use that information for those purposes.

I use the web beacons on the Website to ensure that I provide content that is of interest to you and other audience members.  I may use the information gathered to determine what future subjects are likely to be of interest to Website visitors or how best to reformat the Website.

How long I keep your personal information

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

Disclosure of your personal information

I may share your personal information with certain trusted third parties in accordance with contractual arrangements in place with them (which require them to keep personal information confidential, use it only for the purposes for which I disclose it to them, and to process the personal information with the same (or more rigorous) standards set out in this Policy), including:
 

• the data storage and security supplier for the Client Intake Form;

• IT, analytics, and search engine providers; and

• my professional advisers.

I may also disclose your personal information:
 

• 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 the Terms of Use and any other agreement you may have with the Company.
   

• If I believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of the Company, my client, or others.

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

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• With your consent.

I do not sell or otherwise share personal information with a third party in return for monetary compensation.

Transferring your personal information

The personal information collected in accordance with this Policy is stored in Canada or transferred to and stored in the United States or Germany.  The laws of the host country may or may not be as comprehensive as Canadian law and may permit the country’s governments, courts, law enforcement, or regulatory agencies to obtain access to your personal information.

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

How I protect your personal information

The security of your personal information is very important to me. I use physical, electronic, and administrative measures designed to secure your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorised access, use, alteration, and disclosure.

All data you submit on the contact form, Client Intake Form, and LawPay payment form are encrypted in transit, end to end, and at rest.  I ensure a range of other security measures are implemented, such as native Multi-Factor Authentication to access the information and redundant data backups. The security technology also undergoes comprehensive regular security testing and malware scanning. LawPay also maintains PCI DSS Level 1 compliance (the premier security certification for payment processors).

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

Accessing and Correcting Your Personal Information

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

Please contact me if you want to review, verify, correct, delete, or withdraw consent to the use of your personal information. I may not accommodate a request to change information if I believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect. I may charge you a fee to access your personal information; however, I will notify you of any fee in advance.

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

Proper access to and use of information provided on the Website, including your online submissions, is governed by the Terms of Use.

Withdrawing Your Consent

If you object to the processing of your personal information, or if you have provided your consent to processing and you later choose to withdraw it, I will respect that choice in accordance with my legal obligations.

Your objection (or withdrawal of any previously given consent) could mean that I am unable to perform the actions necessary to achieve the purposes set out above (see “How I Use Your Information”) or that you may not be able to make use of the services and products I offer.  I will explain the specific impact to you at the time of your request to help you with your decision.

Even after you have chosen to withdraw your consent, I may be able to continue to process your personal information to the extent required or otherwise permitted by law, in particular in connection with exercising and defending my legal rights or meeting my legal and regulatory obligations.

Complaints to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner

If you think I have mishandled your personal information, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (“OPC”) encourages you to first bring your concerns to me for resolution. If you can’t resolve the issue directly with me, you may decide to file a formal complaint.

If you decide not to make a formal complaint, you still have the option to report your privacy concern to the OPC by:
 

• calling their office at 1-800-282-1376; or

• filling out the online form.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

I will update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to the way in which I use your personal information. Please check the Website regularly for any updates.  Your continued use of this Website after I make changes indicates that you accept and consent to those changes.

If I make material changes to how I treat my users' personal information, I will notify you by email (if you have provided an email address) and through a notice on the Website’s home page.  These changes will not apply to you until you confirm your consent.  Refusal to consent could mean that I am unable to perform the actions necessary to achieve the purposes set out above (see “How I Use Your Information”) or that you may not be able to make use of my services.  I will explain the specific impact to you at the time of notice.

Contact

If you need further information or have any questions or complaints about this Privacy Policy, please contact:

Rika Sawatsky
Principal Lawyer
Clausework Professional Corporation
privacy@clausework.ca

October 2024