DD West understands the importance of our clients’ personal privacy. We have an ethical and professional obligation to keep confidential all information we receive from our clients. The following policy outlines how we manage personal information and safeguard client privacy. The following summary has been prepared to inform of our practices concerning the collection, use, and disclosure of information provided to our firm.

• DD West does not automatically gather any information from you. Information is only obtained if you supply it to us.
• Information provided to DD West is only used for DD West internal purposes including contacting you and answering your queries.
• DD West uses software that receives and records the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.  DD West will not try to link these addresses with the identity of the individuals visiting its site except in cases of abuse of its site.
• DD West does not use “cookies” to track our visitors. 
• Visitor information is treated by DD West as confidential information.  Visitor information will not be disclosed to anyone without consent except as required by law, or in accordance with this privacy statement or as permitted pursuant to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”).
• DD West will not sell the visitor information provided to it except in connection with the sale, merger or transfer of DD West business or in connection with a sale of its shares.  We will not give or sell the confidential information to any third party marketer.
• Upon the request of any visitor who has provided information to DD West, and upon provision of identification satisfactory to DD West identifying the requester as the person who supplied the information, DD West will supply a copy of the information on its files about that person to that person for verification and correction. This is provided that the supply of such information does not and will not affect or reveal any information which is confidential to any other party, and provided that the supply by DD West of such information will not affect confidentiality with respect to which any matter DD West is entitled to maintain as confidential pursuant to PIPEDA.

Privacy Rights

As of January 1, 2004, all law firms must comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (the “Act”) and the Canadian Standards Association Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information which it incorporates. The Act gives you rights concerning the privacy of your personal information.

To ensure that your rights to privacy are protected, DD West has developed this policy and trained our lawyers and support staff about our policies and practices.  

Purposes for Collecting Personal Information

DD West’s lawyers provide legal services and products to a wide range of clients. We collect information about each client’s legal issue including anything the client might have done or said that might affect their legal situation. Then we can advise the client as to their legal rights and responsibilities, their options for addressing the issue, and carry out their instructions.

We may also collect information to establish mailing lists and inform our clients of changing political, social, and legal issues. 

We do not collect information in an unreasonably intrusive way.  Wherever possible, we collect your personal information directly from you at the start of a retainer, and in the course of our representation.  In order to protect their own interests, individuals or organizations should not send confidential information to DD West LLP Western Canadian Municipal Lawyers until they have had a direct discussion with a professional at the firm regarding the retention of the firm to provide legal services.  

Occasionally, we may obtain information about you from other sources. For example:

(i) your insurance company
(ii) your real estate agent in a property transaction
(iii) a government agency or registry
(iv) your employer, if we are acting for you, at its request
(v) your accountant

Consent

In most cases, we shall 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.

Use of Your Information

We use your personal information to provide legal advice and services to you, to administer our client (time and billing databases), and to include you in any direct marketing activities.  If you tell us that you no longer wish to receive information about our services, or about new developments in the law, we will not send any further material.

In addition, from time to time, our firm may contact you requesting additional personal information to assist us in maintaining our contact or mailing lists, or to assist us in representing you. 

Disclosure of your Personal Information

Under certain circumstances, DD West will disclose your personal information:

• when we are required or 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 requires us to give your information to third parties (such as a process server or 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
• if the information is already publicly known

Updating Your Information

Since we use your personal information to provide legal services to you, it is important that the information be accurate and up-to-date.

If during the course of the retainer, any of your information changes, please inform us so that we can make any necessary changes.

Is My Personal Information Secure?

DD West takes 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: 

• premises security
• restricted file access to personal information
• deploying technological safeguards such as security software and firewalls to prevent hacking or unauthorized computer access
• internal password and security policies

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 which require archive or other retrieval costs, may be subject to our normal professional and disbursement fees.

Correcting Errors

If DD West holds information about you and you can establish that it is not accurate, complete, and up-to-date, DD West lawyers will take reasonable steps to correct it.

Can I be Denied Access to My Personal Information? 

Your rights to access your personal information are not absolute.

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
• granting you access would have an unreasonable impact on other people’s privacy
• to do so would prejudice negotiations with you
• it is necessary to protect our firm’s rights and property
• the request is frivolous or vexatious

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

Can I request anonymity?

Whenever it is legal and practicable, we may offer the opportunity to deal with general inquiries without providing your name (for example, by accessing general information on our website). 

Changes to this Privacy Policy

Since DD West regularly reviews all of their policies and procedures, we may change our Privacy Policy as necessary.

Requests for Access

If you have any questions, or wish to access your personal information, please write to our Privacy Contact at 300-305 Broadway, Winnipeg MB R3C 3J7

If you are not satisfied with our response, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada can be reached at 30, Victoria Street, Gatineau, Quebec K1A 1H3, 1-800-282-1376.