Privacy Policy

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PRIVACY POLICY & TERMS AND CONDITIONS

At AR Legal Services, we recognized the importance of your privacy and your sensitivity to collecting personal information. Note that as paralegals, we have professional and ethical obligations to keep all confidential information we receive in the strict context of a paralegal-client relationship. At AR Legal Services, we are committed to protecting your privacy and this Privacy Policy (“Policy”) aims to set out how we manage your personal information to protect your privacy obtained. 

Privacy Legislation 

Note that as of January 1, 2004, all businesses whether large or small in Canada that are collecting, using and/or disclosing personal information during their business operations are required to comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”) as well as any substantially similar provincial legislation. The abovementioned obligations are extended to paralegals and paralegal practices, including AR Legal Services. 

Personal Information Obtained

PIPEDA definition of personal information is information that is about identifying an individual, but it does not include the name, title, business address or telephone number of an employee of any organization. 

Collection Consent, Use and Disclosure of Your Personal Information 

Note that, we will obtain your consent to collect, use and disclose your personal information. Once you retain AR Legal Services, it is assumed that we have your implied consent to our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information to provide legal services to you.  We will however also ask for your express consent, either verbally or in writing. Upon providing your personal information to us, you are agreeing that we may collect, use, and disclose your personal information as outlined herein in our Policy. 

Consent Withdrawal

You are at liberty to withdraw your consent for the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information, subject to any legal and/or contractual restrictions. Note further, that your withdrawal may restrict the ability of us to represent and provide legal advice to you. 

Personal Information Collected

When your personal information is collected from you, at the beginning of, and/or during your retainer with AR Legal Services we may also obtain personal information about you from other sources, namely from:

· government agencies;

· insurance broker/company; 

· certified accountants;

· government registry; 

· or from witnesses’ testimony in a litigation matter, to name a few. 

Personal Information Uses

At AR Legal Services, we will use your personal information obtained to provide you with legal advice and/or legal services, to also issue invoices and for us to maintain a client database. AR Legal Services will not sell or rent any information collected to anyone. It is understood that you may restrict how we use your information, but again these restrictions may limit our ability to provide legal services to you. 

Personal Information Disclosure 

AR Legal Services will not disclose your personal information to any third parties without your consent to such disclosure unless the same is permitted or required by law. The consent obtained by you can be in the form of verbal, written, or implied. At AR Legal Services, we may disclose your personal information to a third party, in cases that include but are not limited to, information from expert witnesses, during the course of providing legal services to you. 

Personal Information Accuracy 

At AR Legal Services, we aim to maintain the most current updated complete accurate personal information on our records. Once there are any changes to your personal information, kindly inform us so that we can make the necessary updates to our client files. It is expected that periodically, we may ask whether your personal information has changed.

Personal Information Safeguards

Your Personal Information that we obtained from you is kept strictly confidential. At AR Legal Services, we use safeguard technologies to ensure that the personal information we obtained from you is protected against any loss, theft, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, copying or alteration, disposal, or destruction of personal information. 

The following measures to protect your Personal Information have been implemented: 

o 24-hours security surveillance 

o Password codes restrict access to our electronic filing system. 

o Firewall and software security systems to prevent unauthorized access and/hacking to our computer.

o Strictest confidential policies implemented as part of our ethical professional obligations. 

Personal Information Access

Concerning the PIPEDA, it is understood that you have the right to access your personal information held by AR Legal Services. Once we receive your written request and our authentication of your identity, we will give you all your personal information obtained, along with a description detailing how the information has been utilized and disclosed. Note that, however, this request by you is subject to special exceptions, for instance, if your requested information will reveal information that is personal about another individual or that the personal information is protected by paralegal-client privilege, this will result in your access being limited or even denied. Once your request to access is denied, we will then notify you always in writing of the reason for this denial of access. There may be a charge of a reasonable fee for providing information in response to your request and we may require payment in advance. We will respond within 30 days or provide written notice should we require additional time to complete your request. 

Our Website

At AR Legal Services, we may monitor traffic patterns, site usage and related site information to optimize our web service. We do not give any identifiable personal information to third parties. Our website contains links to other sites that are not governed by this Policy. AR Legal Services does not assume responsibility for the content or the privacy of the sites we provide links to. We strongly encourage you to review the privacy policies of all external websites. Kindly note that electronic data submission by email or contact form completion on our website may be subject to transmission vulnerabilities. Due to this, we will not be liable for personal information that you or third parties send electronically to us that becomes lost, misused, or altered.

Policy Changes

At AR Legal Services, note that we are at liberty to change this Policy at any time. We will always post the amended version of our Policy on our website, and this will be made available only upon written request. This Policy is current and is reviewed on an annual basis. 

Privacy Officer 

If you have any questions and/or complaints about this Policy, or concerns regarding the handling of your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer. 

Andrea Gail Douglas-Rowe, Privacy Officer 

AR Legal Services 

7385 Torbram Road

Mississauga, ON L4T 3Y9

info@arlegalservice.ca

416-543-6540