Our Commitment to Privacy
Brigitte Nepveu Avocate Inc. (hereinafter referred to as “BNA” or “we”) is committed to ensuring the security, confidentiality, and protection of personal information. This Privacy Policy demonstrates our ongoing commitment and has been developed in accordance with applicable privacy protection laws.
If you do not consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information in accordance with this Policy, please do not provide us with any personal information.
Scope of the Policy
This Policy pertains to the personal information of our clients, potential clients, and service providers. This Policy does not apply to the collection, use, or disclosure of the following information:
- Business contact details;
- Information that is publicly available and recognized as such under applicable privacy protection legislation.
Any personal information you provide to us is subject to the terms of this Policy and applicable legislation. Our professionals, employees, and agents are also bound by professional and ethical obligations regarding the confidentiality of the information BNA receives in the context of providing legal services.
Personal Information
The term “personal information” refers to any information that qualifies as such under applicable privacy protection legislation. During your business relationship with BNA, you may be asked to provide certain personal information about yourself or other individuals, which may include witnesses, family members, opposing parties, employees, directors, officers, agents, shareholders, investors, affiliated third parties, clients, etc.
The information we collect about you or about other individuals includes, but is not limited to, the following: name, date of birth, residential address, phone number, email address, details of a government-issued photo ID (driver’s license, passport, or other government-recognized ID), tax information, financial and credit information, billing and accounting information, as well as any other personal information collected in the course of providing legal services.
- Responsibility
BNA is responsible for the personal information in its custody. We have designated a Privacy Officer who is responsible for ensuring that BNA complies with this Policy. The contact details for our Privacy Officer are provided below.
- Purposes of Collection
We collect, use, and disclose personal information for purposes permitted or required by applicable privacy protection laws or other laws, as well as for the following purposes:
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- Providing legal advice and services;
- Complying with our professional obligations, including client identification and verification rules;
- Establishing and maintaining relationships with clients and suppliers, which may include assessing creditworthiness as well as obtaining and providing credit information and reports;
- Fulfilling legal obligations and avoiding conflicts of interest;
- Sharing information with third parties for the purpose of providing legal services, including data service providers, printers, registrars, other law firms from which we seek specialized advice, other product and service providers, opposing party’s lawyers, foreign lawyers, witnesses, and experts;
- Managing and developing our business and operations;
- Detecting and protecting BNA, yourself, and others against errors, negligence, fraud, or other illegal activities, which may include providing information to insurers;
- Providing information to anyone working with or for BNA in connection with our services;
- Issuing invoices, processing payments, and collecting debts owed to BNA;
- Conducting business transactions;
- Complying with legal and regulatory requirements.
The aforementioned collections, uses, and disclosures are integral to your relationship with us.
When you consent, we may also use your personal information for the following purposes:
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- To offer you additional or alternative services and may add you to client lists that we prepare and use for this purpose, in accordance with Canadian anti-spam legislation;
- To provide you with newsletters, bulletins, information on upcoming seminars, and other information regarding areas of law and BNA, in accordance with Canadian anti-spam legislation;
- For any other purpose for which you have given consent under applicable law;
- To contact you for the purpose of surveys.
Before using or disclosing personal information for an unidentified or unrelated purpose, we will identify the new purpose and obtain your consent, unless the use or disclosure is authorized or required by law.
- Consent
Consent may be given orally, in writing, electronically, by inaction (e.g., by not informing us that you do not wish your personal information to be collected/used/disclosed for optional purposes after receiving reasonable notice), or in any other manner. By providing us with personal information, you agree that we may collect, use, and disclose it as described in this Privacy Policy and as permitted or required by law.
You may withdraw your consent at any time by notifying the Privacy Officer, subject to legal or contractual restrictions, provided that reasonable notice of withdrawal of consent is given to BNA. Upon receipt of the notice of withdrawal of consent, we will inform you of the likely consequences of such withdrawal, which may include our inability to provide the services for which the information is required. The withdrawal of consent will not affect the validity of any consent previously given for a purpose that has already been fulfilled.
To the extent possible, we will obtain consent to collect, use, and disclose an individual’s personal information directly from the individual. However, if you provide BNA with personal information about another person (including opposing parties and others involved in legal proceedings), you represent that, before submitting this information, you have obtained the necessary consent or authority to allow us to collect, use, and disclose this personal information for the purposes stated in this Policy, or that the collection, use, and disclosure are authorized by applicable law.
- Limits on Collection of Personal Information
We do not collect personal information without discernment and will limit the collection of personal information to what is reasonable and necessary to provide our services and to the extent reasonable and necessary for the purposes to which you have consented. BNA also collects personal information where required or permitted by law.
- Limits on Use, Disclosure, and Retention of Personal Information
Your personal information will only be used or disclosed for the purposes outlined above and within the limits authorized by law.
We will retain personal information used to make a decision about an individual for at least one year after it has been used to make the decision, or for a longer period if permitted or required by applicable law.
We will destroy, delete, or anonymize documents or other records containing personal information as soon as it is reasonable to assume that the original purpose is no longer served by retaining the information and retention is no longer necessary for legal or business purposes.
We will take all necessary precautions in the destruction of personal information to prevent unauthorized access to such information.
- Accuracy of Information
We will make reasonable efforts to ensure that the personal information we collect, use, or disclose is accurate and complete. In some cases, we rely on you to ensure that certain information, such as your address or phone number, is up-to-date, complete, and accurate.
If you demonstrate that personal information is inaccurate or incomplete, we will amend it accordingly. If applicable, we will send the amended information to third parties to whom the information has been disclosed.
When a dispute regarding the accuracy of personal information is not resolved to your satisfaction, we will annotate the personal information under our control with a note indicating that a correction has been requested but not made.
- Protection of Personal Information
We recognize our professional, ethical, and legal obligations to protect the confidential information of our clients. We also acknowledge our legal obligations to protect the personal information we have collected about our clients and others in the course of our practice.
Therefore, we have taken measures to secure personal information against unauthorized access, collection, use, disclosure, copying, modification, deletion, or destruction.
Please note that confidentiality and security cannot be guaranteed when information is transmitted via email or other electronic communication methods. We will not be liable for losses or damages resulting from a breach of security and/or confidentiality when you transmit information to us via email or other electronic communication methods or when we transmit such information by such means at your request.
- Transfers of Information Outside Québec
In the course of providing services, BNA may need to communicate collected personal information to third parties, other service providers (e.g., IT service providers, hosts, or specialized consultants), agents acting on its behalf, or as required by law.
As a result, personal information may be communicated outside of Quebec or Canada for the purposes described above. When personal information is communicated to third parties, BNA enters into agreements with these third parties stipulating authorized uses and including commitments to protect personal information from unauthorized access, collection, use, or disclosure. Our service providers are not allowed to disclose your information to others, except as expressly permitted by applicable law. BNA does not sell, rent, or trade client lists or any other personal information.
- Providing Access
You have the right to access your personal information held by BNA.
Upon written request and after verifying your identity, we will provide you with your personal information under our control, information on how this information is used, and a description of the individuals and organizations to whom this information has been disclosed.
We will make the information available to you within 30 days as required by law.
In certain situations, we may not be able to provide access to certain personal information. This may occur, for example, when disclosure would reveal personal information about another person, when the personal information is protected by solicitor-client privilege, when the information has been collected for investigative purposes, or when disclosure would reveal confidential commercial information that, if disclosed, could harm BNA’s competitive position. Additionally, BNA may be legally prohibited from providing access to certain personal information.
When access is denied, we will inform you in writing, document the reasons for the denial, and provide information on other measures you can take.
- Changes
We may revise and amend our Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make significant changes, we are committed to obtaining your consent if required by law.
- Website and Cookies
BNA’s website automatically collects IP addresses, date and time of each website visit, pages viewed, searches performed, and the URL link used to access the site. This information is used for troubleshooting the site and resolving operational issues.
By navigating the BNA site, the user consents to the collection, use, and disclosure of information in accordance with this Policy.
- Your Rights
In addition to the rights described in this Policy, residents of the province of Québec may have the following rights concerning their personal information:
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- You may have the right to obtain a readable copy of your personal information or request that we transfer it to a third party of your choice (data portability).
- Under certain circumstances and as applicable, you may have the right to request that we cease sharing your personal information or deindex any hyperlink that allows access to such personal information through technological means, if such sharing violates applicable law or a court order (right to deindexing).
- Compliance
For more information on the handling of your data, please contact the person responsible for personal information protection:
Brigitte Nepveu
