Privacy Policy
Last updated on June 26, 2023
Protecting Your Privacy. This privacy policy (this “Privacy Policy”) applies to Zemel van Kampen LLP (“ZvK”, “we”, “us”, “our”, and words of like meaning) and the canadatechlaw.com website and explains how we collect, use, store, process, and/or disclose or share (“Handle”) personal information, including in connection with this website. We appreciate the trust that you (“you”, “your”, “yourself”, and words of like meaning) place in us when you choose to access, visit, and use this website and receive our services, and we take our responsibilities regarding your personal information seriously. ZvK offers and provides legal services and information to a wide range of clients. We Handle personal information as necessary to offer and provide clients and potential clients with these legal services and information and generally to fulfill our professional legal responsibilities and manage our business. As lawyers, we have a professional obligation to keep confidential all information we obtain within a lawyer-client relationship. This Privacy Policy describes the measures we take to protect the security of your personal information, and it explains how you can contact us to ask us to access, change, or not use the personal information you have provided to us, withdraw any consent you previously provided to us, refrain from communicating with you about our products or services, and/or answer any questions you may have about our privacy practices. Please read this Privacy Policy carefully so that you understand how we Handle and protect your personal information. If you do not agree to our Handling of your personal information or if you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy, you may choose to not provide us with any of your personal information.
Personal Information and Privacy Law. In general, “personal information” is information about an identifiable individual, subject to more particular definitions or interpretations under Canadian privacy laws, including the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Canada) (PIPEDA) and similar provincial legislation (“Privacy Law”). Privacy Law gives consumers the right to limit the sharing of personal information. Privacy Law requires us to tell you how we Handle and protect your personal information. This Privacy Policy does not apply to any information that is not personal information as defined under Privacy Law or to personal information about employees, partners, or other temporary or permanent staff, consultants, lawyers on contract, students, volunteers, or other individuals assigned to ZvK (each, a “ZvK Member”).
Changes to this Privacy Policy. ZvK reserves the right to change, amend, modify, supplement, restate, or replace this Privacy Policy at any time and from time to time, including for the purposes of ensuring that our policies are in line with Privacy Law and best industry practices in Canada. You should review this Privacy Policy from time to time to ensure that you are aware of and accept any changes made. To obtain a current copy of this Privacy Policy, you may contact us via email at privacy@canadatechlaw.com or via our Contact page.
Your Consent. We Handle your personal information with your consent or as permitted or required by applicable law, including Privacy Law. Your consent may be express or implied, depending on the circumstances and the sensitivity of the personal information in question. Your consent to the Handling of your personal information may be implied by the fact that you have provided the information to access or use this website or related services or where the Handling of personal information is necessary for, or directly relates to, the provision of services by us. For example, in most cases, a client’s consent to the Handling of personal information by ZvK may be implied by the fact that the client has engaged ZvK to provide legal services or where the Handling of personal information relates to the performance of those services by ZvK. There are instances where ZvK may Handle your personal information without your consent, for example, to collect a debt you owe to us, to comply with a subpoena or court order, or to comply with the rules of court regarding the production of records. By accessing and using this website or by clicking on any of the links on this website, you consent to the Handling of your personal information by us. If you provide us with your personal information for a secondary reason (e.g., newsletter subscription or marketing messages), we will ask you directly for your express consent and provide you with an opportunity to withdraw your consent or unsubscribe. If you provide personal information about another person to us, we assume you have the consent of that individual to enable us to Handle their personal information as described in this Privacy Policy. If you choose to provide personal information to us, we assume that you consent to the Handling of your personal information as outlined in this Privacy Policy. If you do not consent, please do not provide your personal information or, where applicable, exercise the opt-in or opt-out options offered.
Revocation of Consent. Subject to legal and contractual requirements and reasonable notice, you may refuse to consent to our Handling of your personal information or you may withdraw your consent to our further Handling of your personal information by contacting us via email at privacy@canadatechlaw.com or via the Contact page. You may revoke your consent to our Handling of your personal information at any time by notifying us of your revoked consent via email to privacy@canadatechlaw.com or via our Contact page. Note that if you withdraw your consent to certain uses of your personal information, we may no longer be able to provide our services in whole or in part.
How We Collect Information. We typically collect personal information directly from you or through our interaction with you. However, sometimes we may obtain personal information about you from other sources. In relation to clients, in addition to personal information that you provide, we may collect personal information from a government agency or registry, third parties (such as your real estate agent, your financial institution, your insurance company, or your employer), and other law firms or agents who have acted for you in the past where these parties have information relevant to the matter in which we are acting for you. In relation to potential ZvK Members, in addition to personal information that you provide, we may collect personal information from the third parties you provide as references in support of your application and individuals involved in the evaluation and review process.
The Information We Collect. The kinds of personal information we collect in relation to clients and potential clients will depend upon the information and services requested. However, subject to Privacy Law, it may include:
name, address, email address, contact details, nature of the client, or potential client’s legal issue, financial, credit, billing, and account information, and other incidental information relating to the services we provide;
information material to your legal issue, for example, financial, property ownership, family, employment, disciplinary, benefit, or tax information, and any other information you give to us when you ask or instruct us to act for you;
legal issue or area of law of interest, for instance, when you sign up to attend a ZvK seminar or function, or when you request receipt of materials concerning our services and developments in the law;
information about individuals we collect in the course of acting for clients, including personal information about employees of clients, referrals, adverse parties and parties with parallel interests, other counsel, mediators and arbitrators, witnesses and potential witnesses, expert witnesses, and consultants;
information about you contained in communications within ZvK and between us and you, whether online or offline; and
information we may collect with your consent or as permitted or required by law.
How We Use Information. We use the personal information we collect:
to assess whether we can act for you, including to avoid conflicts of interest;
to offer and provide legal information and services to you;
to communicate with you regarding the services you request and to respond to your requests and inquiries;
to administer our client time and billing databases and issue and collect accounts;
to provide you with material on our services and developments in the law, and to invite you to ZvK seminars and functions;
to develop and use our knowledge management and precedent systems and permit ZvK Members to consult, for precedent purposes, documents that we have created on your behalf and that contain personal information;
to manage and administer our business, including to avoid negligence and protect you and us against error and fraud;
to fulfill our legal and professional obligations; and
as permitted or required by law or for purposes for which you otherwise provide your consent.
If you apply for a position at ZvK, we will collect the personal information contained in, and generated in relation to, your application package, in order to evaluate your application and assess whether to offer you a position at ZvK. For candidates who are not offered or do not accept a position, we normally retain this information for a reasonable period in the event that an appropriate position becomes available or that you re-apply to ZvK. If you accept a position with ZvK, the information will be retained in accordance with our privacy procedures applicable to the personal information of ZvK Members. ZvK may collect information about third-party agents, vendors, suppliers, expert witnesses, and foreign associates (each, a “Service Provider”) who provide goods, services, and information to ZvK. This information may include name and contact information as well as any information (such as banking information) that we need to pay you for your services and other relevant information, such as experience and qualifications of Service Providers. We use this information in order to assess suitability for particular assignments, to contact you, where necessary, in relation to the goods, services, and information you are providing to ZvK, and to pay you for your services. We may also use this information to provide you with material regarding our services or developments in the law or to invite you to ZvK seminars and functions. If you do not wish to receive further materials about our services and legal developments or if you do not wish to receive further invitations to seminars and functions, you may unsubscribe or ask us not to contact you for these purposes.
How We Share Information. We may disclose or share the personal information we collect about clients or other individuals we deal with to third parties, including:
where we are required or authorized by law to do so, for example, where the rules of court require us to provide personal information to the opposite side and the court in a litigation matter or where a court issues a subpoena or order;
where we engage an expert or consultant on your behalf in a litigation matter;
where we retain another law firm or agent to act or assist us in acting on your behalf;
where it is necessary to collect fees, for instance, to a financial institution or collection agent;
to regulatory (including self-regulatory) or governmental authorities, for example, disclosure of personal information reasonably requested or required by governing bodies of the legal profession in the course of its oversight of our practice;
where you have instructed us to disclose your personal information to a third party for a designated purpose;
where we reasonably believe a third party requesting your information is your agent; and
where you consent or as permitted or required by law.
ZvK may also transfer your personal information to our Service Providers hired to administer or provide products, services, or information on our behalf. We use reasonable measures to require the organizations with whom we share your personal information for these purposes to use your personal information only to perform the services we have hired them to provide. Note that some of the Service Providers that process or handle personal information on our behalf are located outside of Canada. As a result, your personal information may be transferred and Handled outside Canada in connection with the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. Contractual or other measures we may use to protect your personal information are subject to the legal requirements of the foreign jurisdictions where your personal information may be transferred and Handled, for example, lawful requirements to disclose information to government authorities in those countries. We may also share certain personal information to parties connected with the proposed or actual financing, insuring, sale or other disposal of all or part of our business or assets, for purposes connected to evaluating and performing your transaction. These purposes may include determining whether to proceed with the transaction or business relationship or fulfilling any records or other reporting requirements to those parties. Where applicable, we will take steps to require that such parties Handle your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and only for the purposes for which it was collected, including to provide the services or information that ZvK would otherwise provide to you and generally to carry on ZvK’s business.
Our Website. The only personal information that we collect about you when you use our website is what you tell us about yourself, for example, by completing an online form when you request receipt of a ZvK publication, or information you provide to us through our Contact page or when you send us an email. As most websites do, we track usage patterns on our website on an anonymous basis. Your identity cannot reasonably be ascertained from this information. Each time you visit our website, our server records your Internet service provider, the date and time of your visit, the pages you visit and the documents downloaded, the searches you performed, and the referring URLs you came from; we use this information to optimize our website service, as more particularly described below. For your convenience, we may offer links from our website to other third-party websites. However, ZvK is not responsible for, nor do we accept any liability for, the personal information collection, use, and disclosure practices of other entities to which our website may link. You should consult the privacy policies of these other entities before providing any personal information on their websites.
Cookies. We understand that your privacy is important to you, and we are committed to being transparent about the technologies we use. When you visit this website, our systems track the pages you visit, the pages you download, the websites you came from, and your browser type and software. It also notes your IP address. We use cookies, web beacons, pixels, clear gifs, and other similar tracking technologies (“Cookies”), which may be stored on, or accessed from, your device when you use or visit this website or any website or app that posts a link to this website. A Cookie is a small text file that can be stored on and accessed from your device when you visit this website. It takes up very little room on your system, enables us to collect information about how you use this website, and helps us estimate the number of people who use our website and which areas of the website are most popular. The use of Cookies enables us to create a more customized experience for you. It allows this website to recognize your device as distinct from those of other users. Login Cookies can eliminate the need for you to re-enter your username and password each time you return to our website. By continuing to access and use this website, you agree that we can store and access Cookies. We use Cookies to, among other things, identify you and your interests, to remember your preferences, to enhance your user experience, for marketing purposes, to track your use of this website, and for analytical purposes. We may collect information about your online activities in connection with this website to provide you with advertising about products and services tailored to your individual interests. We may use Cookies to control access to certain content on this website, to protect this website, to prevent spam and fraud, for compliance purposes, and to process any requests that you make from us or third parties. We may use persistent Cookies to improve your experience of using this website. This includes recording your acceptance of our Cookie policy to remove the Cookie message which first appears when you use this website. Session Cookies are temporary and deleted from your machine when your web browser closes. We use session Cookies to help us track Internet usage. To administer this website and for research purposes, we may also contract with third parties to track and analyze statistical usage and volume information from the users of this website. These third parties may use Cookies to help us improve the user experience on this website, manage associated content, and analyze how users navigate and utilize this website. We may contract with third parties to send emails to users who have provided us or such third parties with their contact information. To help measure and improve the effectiveness of such email communications, or to determine whether messages have been opened and links clicked on, such third parties may place Cookies on the devices of these users. You may refuse to accept Cookies by activating or adjusting the appropriate setting of your Internet browser to reject the setting of all or some Cookies or alert you when a Cookie is placed on your device. However, if you refuse to accept Cookies or use your browser settings to block all Cookies, you may be unable to access or use this website or related functionalities (in whole or part). If you want to remove previously stored Cookies, you can manually delete these Cookies at any time. However, this will not prevent this website from placing further Cookies on your device unless you adjust your Internet browser setting so that it will refuse Cookies. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse Cookies, our website will issue Cookies when you direct your browser to them. If you have any questions regarding this Cookie policy, please contact us via email to privacy@canadatechlaw.com or via our Contact page.
Security. ZvK implements and uses reasonable physical, organizational, and technological security measures to safeguard the personal information in our custody or control. These include safeguards to protect personal information against loss or theft, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use, or modification. Authorized ZvK Members, agents, and mandatories have access to your personal information. You can generally visit this website without providing any personal information. However, given that electronically submitted data is not 100% secure, we make no warranties as to the security of any such personal information that you submit, which you do at your own risk.
Your Rights. Your principal rights under Privacy Law include the right to access, the right to rectification, the right to erasure, the right to object to processing, the right to data portability, the right to complain to a supervisory authority, and the right to withdraw consent. You have the right to confirm whether we process your personal information and, where we do, access to the personal information, together with certain additional information. That additional information includes details of the purposes of the processing, the categories of personal information concerned and the recipients of the personal information. Providing the rights and freedoms of others are not affected, we will supply you with a copy of your personal information. The first copy will be provided at no cost, but additional copies may be subject to a reasonable fee. In some circumstances, you have the right to the deletion of your personal information without undue delay, including where the personal information is no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which it was collected or otherwise processed, you withdraw consent to consent-based processing, you object to the processing under certain rules of applicable data protection law, the processing is for direct marketing purposes, and the personal information has been unlawfully processed. However, there are exclusions of the right to deletion. The general exclusions include where processing is necessary for exercising the right of freedom of expression and information, for compliance with a legal obligation, or for the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims.
Access, Correction, Inquiries, and Complaints. We maintain a file of your personal information for the above-mentioned purposes. If you wish to request access to, or correction of, your personal information in custody or control of ZvK, please make your request in writing to us at the address above. We may need to verify your identity before searching for or providing you with personal information. In some circumstances, we may not provide access to your personal information, for example, if it contains the personal information of other persons, if it constitutes confidential commercial information, if it is protected by solicitor-client privilege, in accordance with the Ontario Solicitors Act and the Law Society Rules of Professional Conduct, or if it is otherwise not properly the subject of an access request. Since we predominantly use personal information to provide legal services, it is important that the information be accurate and up to date. Please inform us as soon as possible of any changes to your personal information.
Contact Us. If you have any questions regarding these Terms, please contact us via email at privacy@canadatechlaw.com or via the Contact page of this website.
Zemel van Kampen LLP
First Canadian Place
100 King Street West, Suite 5700
Toronto, ON M5X 1C7 Canada