ALEXANDER JACKSON LAW OFFICE PRIVACY POLICY

Find out about how the ALEXANDER JACKSON LAW OFFICE protects your privacy rights in light of the new Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Canada).

ALEXANDER JACKSON LAW OFFICE

PRIVACY POLICY

December 31, 2003

The ALEXANDER JACKSON LAW OFFICE understands the importance of your privacy and the sensitivity of your personal information. As lawyers, we have a professional obligation to keep confidential all information we receive within a lawyer-client relationship. In addition, we are obligated to maintain certain information for a period of time in order to preserve it for future reference both in connection with audit and other obligations to our insurer, The Law Society of Manitoba, and in addition, we keep information and documents for your convenience if information or documents supplied to you should be lost. We are committed to protecting any personal information we hold. This Privacy Policy outlines how we manage your personal information and safeguard your privacy.

Your Privacy Rights

From January 1, 2004, all businesses engaged in commercial activities 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. These obligations extend to lawyers and law firms, including the ALEXANDER JACKSON LAW OFFICE. The Act gives you rights concerning the privacy of your personal information. The ALEXANDER JACKSON LAW OFFICE is responsible for the personal information we collect and hold. To ensure this accountability, we have developed this policy and trained our staff about our policies and practices.

We have designated Frederick Alexander Jackson to be responsible for the day-to-day care and control of personal information.

Why Does the ALEXANDER JACKSON LAW OFFICE Need Personal Information?

The ALEXANDER JACKSON LAW OFFICE provides legal services to a wide range of clients. In doing so, we may produce direct marketing materials concerning our services and developments in the law.

For our individual clients, we collect information about the client’s legal issue including anything the client might have done or said that might affect their legal situation, so that we can advise the client as to their legal rights and responsibilities, their options for addressing the issue and then to carry out their instructions.

What Personal Information Do We Collect?

Personal information is any information that identifies you or by which your identity could be deduced.

If we did not collect and use your personal information, we could not provide you with legal services.

How Do We Collect Your Personal Information?

We collect information only by lawful and fair means and not 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.

Sometimes we may obtain information about you from other sources, for example:

● Your insurance company;

● Your real estate agent in a property transaction;

● From a government agency or registry; and,

● Your accountant.

Consent

In most cases, we will ask you to specifically consent if we collect, use or disclose your personal information. Normally, we would ask for your consent in writing or orally. 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 your file (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.

The ALEXANDER JACKSON LAW OFFICE does not disclose your personal information to any third party to enable them to market their products and services. For example, we do not provide our client mailing lists to third parties.

Disclosure of Your Personal Information

Under certain circumstances, the ALEXANDER JACKSON LAW OFFICE 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 require us to give your information to third parties (for example, a lender in a real estate mortgage transaction) you consent will be implied, unless you tell us otherwise in writing;

● Where it is necessary to establish or collect fees;

● If we engage a third party to provide administrative services to us (for example, 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; and,

● 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 the necessary changes.

Is My Personal Information Secure?

The ALEXANDER JACKSON LAW OFFICE 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 by way of a monitored alarm system;

● Restricted file access to personal information;

● Deploying technological safeguards like security software and managed firewalls to prevent hacking or unauthorized computer access;

● Internal passwords and security policites.

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 the ALEXANDER JACKSON LAW OFFICE holds information about you and you can establish that it is not accurate, complete and up-to-date, the ALEXANDER JACKSON LAW OFFICE 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 or legal professional privilege by one of our clients;)

● Information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings against you;

● When granting you access would have an unreasonable impact upon other people’s privacy;

● When to do so would prejudice negotiations with you;

● To protect our firm’s rights and property; and,

● 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.

The ALEXANDER JACKSON LAW OFFICE does not use your Social Insurance Number as a way of identifying or organizing information we hold about you. If we ask for your Social Insurance Number it is only for the purpose of complying with government reporting requirements, such as, for example, income tax and pension.

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 or by reference to publicly available resources.)

Changes to this Privacy Policy

Since the ALEXANDER JACKSON LAW OFFICE regularly reviews all of its policies and procedures, we may change our Privacy Policy from time to time.

Requests for Access

If you have any questions, or wish to access your personal information, please write to our Privacy Officer, F. Alexander Jackson, at:

ALEXANDER JACKSON LAW OFFICE
Barrister ● Solicitor ● Notary Public
Post Office Box 1800
MINNEDOSA, MB R0J 1E0
Tel: (204) 867-3981 Fax: (204) 867-5008
Email: ajaxlaw@cybersmith.mb.ca

If you are not satisfied with our response, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada can be reached at:

112 Kent Street, OTTAWA, ON K1A 1H3
Tel: (800) 282-1376

Document: Alexander Jackson Law Office - Administration-Alexander Jackson Law Office Privacy Policy.WPD