Privacy Policy

The Law Office of Kalina & Tejpal recognizes the importance of privacy and the sensitivity toward personal information. Our firm will handle your file in accordance with this policy pursuant to all applicable Federal and Provincial legislation including, but not limited to, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”). We have an obligation to keep confidential all information we receive within a lawyer-client relationship. Everyone within our firm is aware and practices this policy on a daily basis. This document explains how we use and disclose that information, the choices you have regarding such use and disclosure, and how you may correct and have access to that information.

Our Firm provides legal services and products to many people and a wide range of clients. This personal information identifies you, or by means which your identity could be deduced. We could not provide you with legal services if we did not collect and use your personal information. Your personal information may include: name, age, weight, height, medical records, income, spending habits, race, ethnic origin, fingerprints, marital status, religion, education, home address, work address, telephone number and criminal record.How do we collect personal information? We collect information by lawful and fair means only. We usually collect your personal information directly from you, at the beginning and in the course of our representation. Sometimes we may obtain information about you from other sources including:
1. your insurance company;
2. from a government agency or registry;
3. your employer, if we are acting for you, at its request;
4. your accountant.

When and how do we obtain consent? We will usually ask you to specifically consent, if we collect, use, or disclose your personal information. Normally, we ask for your consent in writing, but in some circumstances, we may accept your oral consent. Sometimes, your consent may be implied through your conduct with us. In some circumstances, as permitted or required by law, we may collect, use or disclose personal information without your knowledge or consent. Some of these circumstances could include:
1. personal information which is subject to solicitor-client privilege;
2. information on individuals which is publicly available where collection or use is clearly in the interests of the individual and consent cannot be obtained in a timely way;
3. to investigate a breach of any agreement or contravention of a law;
4. to comply with a subpoena, warrant, court order or as required or otherwise permitted by law.

You can withdraw consent at any time (unless withdrawing the consent would frustrate the performance of legal obligations). However, the withdrawal of your consent may impact on our ability to serve you and to maintain our relationship.

How do we make use of this information? Our Firm only collects the personal information necessary to fulfill the purposes identified to you at the time of collection; or for any other reasonable and legitimate purposes; or as required by law. Our Firm collects and uses your personal information for the following purposes:
1. collecting, recording and using the information relevant to the performance of the services rendered to and for you;
2. recording and determining your various services in your relationship with us;
3. administration, billing, accounting and collection in relation to your business and relationship with us;
4. protecting against fraud and error;
5. communicating with you generally or to ensure your satisfaction; and
6. communicating the information to a sub-contractor (or other agents or intermediaries) in the course of a contract or mandate for the performance of any of the purposes listed above.

How do we disclose your personal information? Under certain circumstances, Our Firm will disclose a limited amount of your personal information:

1. when we are required or authorized by law to do so, for example if a court issues a subpoena; (Note that the information subpoenaed may be subject to lawyer-client privilege)
2. when you have consented to the disclosure;
3. when the legal services we are providing to you requires us give your information to third parties;
4. where it is necessary to establish or collect fees;
5. if we engage a third party to provide administrative services to us;
6. if we engage expert witnesses on your behalf;
7. if we retain other law firms in other jurisdictions, on your behalf;
8. if the information is already publicly known.
9. Our Firm will not disclose your personal information to any third party to enable them to market their products and services. As an example, we do not provide our client mailing lists to others. We demand that third parties will not use or disclose the personal information for any other purpose than for which the personal information was communicated.

How long will we use, disclose or retain your personal information? We may choose to keep a record of your personal information, including correspondence or comments, in an applicable file specific to you. We will use, disclose or retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected and as required or otherwise permitted by law. We have established procedures for maintaining and destroying your personal information.

Why is updating your information important? Since we use your personal information to provide legal services to you, it is important that the information be accurate and up-to-date. We will not routinely update your personal information, unless such a process is necessary. If during the course of the retainer, any of your information changes, please inform us so that we can make any necessary changes.

How do we correct errors? If Our Firm holds information about you and you can establish that it is not accurate, complete and up-to-date, our firm will take reasonable steps to correct it.

Is my personal information secure? Our Firm will take all reasonable precautions to ensure that your personal information is kept safe from loss, unauthorized access, modification or disclosure. Among the steps taken to protect your information are:
1. premises security;
2. restricted file access to personal information;
3. deploying technological safeguards like security software and firewalls to prevent hacking or unauthorized computer access;
4. internal password and security policies.

How fast will we respond to your written request? We will make every reasonable effort to respond to each of your written requests not later than thirty (30) days after receipt of such requests. When applicable, we will advise you in writing if we cannot meet your requests within this time limit. When applicable, you have the right to make a complaint to the appropriate Privacy Authority in respect of this time limit.

How can you access your personal information? Subject to the exceptions provided by the applicable law, Our Firm will make available to you any specific personal information about you that we have collected, utilized or disclosed, upon your written request. Summary information is available on request. More detailed requests which require archive or other retrieval costs may be subject to our normal professional and disbursement fees.

Can I be denied access to my personal information? Your rights to access your personal information are not absolute. We may deny access when:
1. 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);
2. information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings against you;
3. when granting you access would have an unreasonable impact on other people’s privacy;
4. when to do so would prejudice negotiations with you;
5. to protect our firm’s rights and property;
6. where the request is frivolous or vexatious.

If we deny your request for access to, or refuse a request to correct information, we shall explain why. Our Firm will not use your Social Insurance Number as a way of identifying or organizing the information we hold upon you.

To help make credit decisions about clients, prevent fraud, check the identity of new clients and prevent money-laundering, Our Firm may on occasion, request information about you from the files of consumer reporting agencies.

When communicating with us, be aware that electronic mail is not a 100% secure medium, and by doing so, you are consenting to contacting us and sending personal or confidential information. Your use of this medium constitutes consent to our communicating with you.

Changes to this privacy policy may occur when Our Firm regularly reviews all of its policies and procedures; we may change our Privacy Policy from time to time

Information on requests for access can found at:

Privacy Commissioner of Canada

112 Kent Street Ottawa Ontario K1A 1H3

1-800-282-1376

www.privcom.gc.ca

Information and Privacy of Commissioner of Ontario

2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1400
Toronto, Ontario M4W 1A8

416-326-3333
www.ipc.on.ca

Our website contains links to other sites, which are not governed by this privacy policy. We may monitor traffic patterns, site usage and related site information on our website in order to optimize our web service. We may provide information to third parties, but these statistics do not include any identifiable personal information.

Disclaimer: The information on this website is provided as a convenience only and should not be relied on as authoritative. This web site has been prepared for general information purposes and should not be considered legal advice. The information provided here does not create a lawyer-client relationship with the rights holders of this web site and should never be considered legal advice. For authentic legal advice, you may want to contact a lawyer with Our Firm to discuss the unique nature of your situation.