OUR PRIVACY POLICY
Mahoon Law Professional Corporation (“Mahoon Law”) recognizes the importance of privacy and the sensitivity of personal information. Mahoon Law is under a professional obligation to keep all information received in relation to the solicitor-client relationship confidential. We are committed to protecting any personal information we hold. This Privacy Policy details how Mahoon Law handles and protects your privacy.
YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS
As of January 1, 2004 any and all organizations engaged in commercial activities must comply with the *Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act* (the “Act”), unless the federal cabinet has exempted the organization because it is subject to “substantially similar” provincial legislation. At present, lawyers and law firms in Ontario are not subject to any such exemption orders. Therefore, these obligations extend to lawyers and law firms, including Mahoon Law. The obligations under the Act are separate and distinct from the obligations to client confidentiality Law Society of Ontario’s Rules of Professional Conduct 3.3-1 (https://lso.ca/about-lso/legislation-rules/rules-of-professional-conduct/chapter-3).
Mahoon Law is responsible for the personal information we collect, use, maintain and disclose. To ensure this accountability, we have developed this policy for implementation by all lawyers and staff.
“PERSONAL INFORMATION” DEFINED
Personal information is any information about you, or by which your identity could be concluded. It does not include the name or business address or telephone number of an employee of an organization.
WHY DO WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION FROM YOU?
We collect personal information from you to:
- Provide legal services to you, in accordance with your instructions and under the parameters of a retainer/engagement agreement;
- Billing and issuing a Statement of Account;
- Advertising our services to you.
GENERAL COLLECTION OF YOUR INFORMATION
Mahoon Law collect information by lawful means only and information may be collected directly from you at the start of a retainer or during the course of our retainer.
Information may be sent to Mahoon Law from other sources such as:
- Real Estate Agents or Brokerages;
- A government agency or registry;
- Corporations;
- Banks and Lending Institutions;
- your accountant; or
- other consultants or individuals obtained by you or with your consent to assist with your legal concerns.
CONSENT
Consent for the collection, use and/or disclosure of personal information may be obtained orally or in writing and may be expressly given or implied. In determining how we obtain your consent, we will take into account the sensitivity of the personal information that we are collecting, using and/or disclosing.
USE OF YOUR INFORMATION
We use your personal information to provide legal advice and services to you, including for billing purposes. We may also use your personal information to include you in any direct marketing activities. We will assume that you have consented to such use unless you specifically advise otherwise. 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.
Mahoon Law will not disclose your personal information to any third party to enable them to market their products and services without first obtaining express consent from you.
DISCLOSURE OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
Under certain circumstances, Mahoon Law may disclose your personal information:
- When we are required by court order or other means legal means;
- You have consented to the disclosure as part of a retainer;
- When the legal services we are providing to you require us to give your information to a third party (for example, to a lender in a real estate mortgage transaction) your consent will be implied, unless you tell us otherwise;
- Collection of Fees;
- We retain other law firms on your behalf to complete a matter; or
- The information is already publicly available.
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 our retainer, any of your information changes, please inform us so that we can make any necessary changes.
SECURITY OF INFORMATION
Mahoon Law takes all reasonable precautions to ensure that your personal information is kept safe from loss, unauthorized access, modification or disclosure.
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 that require archival or other retrieval costs may be subject to our normal professional and disbursement fees.
UPDATING YOUR INFORMATION
If Mahoon Law holds information about you which is not accurate, complete and up-to-date, Mahoon Law will take reasonable steps to correct it.
CAN YOU BE DENIED ACCESS TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?
Your rights to access your personal information are not absolute. We may deny access when:
- Due to Court Order;
- Information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings against you;
- When granting you access would have an unreasonable impact on other people’s privacy;
- When to do so would prejudice negotiations with you;
- When releasing information may jeopardize or other compromise the health and safety of an individual;
- to protect Mahoon Law’s rights and property;
- frivolous or vexatious are not entertained.
If we deny your request for access to, or refuse a request to correct information, you may send a request for explanation in writing to: info@mahoonlaw.com
CREDIT BUREAUS
To help us make credit decisions about clients, prevent fraud, check the identity of new clients and prevent money-laundering, we may, on occasion, request information about you from the files of consumer reporting agencies.
HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?
We keep your personal information as long as is reasonably necessary for us to complete our dealings with you, or as may be required or necessitated by law, whichever is longer.
WEB SITE
Our website contains links to other sites which are not governed by the privacy policy.
We only collect the information you provide to us voluntarily by sending us an e-mail message, completing forms or using the links contained on the website. Mahoon Law collects and uses your name, address, telephone number, email address and other information you submit on or through the website for the purposes for which you provided the personal information, to respond to your inquiries (and applications for positions), and to provide you with updates and information that we think may be of interest to you. In providing Mahoon Law with any personal information on or through this website, you consent to the collection and use of that information for these stated purposes.
On our website, like most other commercial websites, we may monitor traffic patterns, site usage and related site information in order to optimize our web service. We may provide aggregated information to third parties, but these statistics do not include any identifiable personal information.
COMMUNICATING WITH MAHOON LAW
You should be aware that email is not a 100% secure medium, and you should be aware of this when contacting us to send personal or confidential information.
CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
Since Mahoon Law regularly reviews all of its policies and procedures, we may change our Privacy Policy from time to time. Please review our website for updates.
REQUEST FOR ACCESS
If you have any questions, or wish to access your personal information, please write to us, c/o our Privacy Officer.
INQUIRIES / COMPLAINTS
If you have any questions or concerns about how your personal information has, is or will be handled by Mahoon Law or if you would like to register a complaint, please contact our principal Feher M. Mansoor at: info@mahoonlaw.com