Terms of Use

Copyright
Except as otherwise noted, the contents of this website are copyright of Marcus McCann. All rights reserved.

Disclaimer
The content of the Marcus McCann website, marcusmccann.com/marcusmccannlaw.ca, is provided for purposes of information only and under no circumstances should it be construed as legal advice. Visitors to the Marcus McCann website should not act or refrain from acting without seeking the appropriate legal or professional advice having regard to the particular facts and circumstances at issue. Marcus McCann Professional Corporation (MMPC) and Marcus McCann cannot guarantee the confidentiality of any information transmitted by way of Internet e-mail or via the MMPC and Marcus McCann websites and, accordingly, transmissions should not contain confidential information. The viewing of the MMPC or Marcus McCann website, in whole or in part, and the communication with Marcus McCann or another lawyer at MMPC by way of Internet e-mail or via the website does not constitute a solicitor-client relationship between MMPC or Marcus McCann and any website visitors.

Privacy Policy
MMPC and Marcus McCann recognize the importance of protecting information about identifiable individuals. It is our commitment to provide legal services of the highest quality, in a timely manner. As lawyers, we have a professional obligation to keep confidential all information we receive within a lawyer-client relationship. We are committed to protecting any personal information we hold. This Privacy Policy outlines how we manage your personal information and safeguard your privacy. MMPC is responsible for the personal information we collect and hold. To ensure this accountability, we have developed this privacy policy and trained our lawyers and support staff about our policies and practices.

What personal information do we collect?
Personal information is any information that identifies you, or allows you to be identified, including such information as your home address/phone/email, billing information, credit information, family information, ethnicity, sexual orientation, blood type, medical information and personal financial information. Personal information does not usually include business contact information such as your name, title, employer/organization, or business address, phone/fax number or email. For the purposes of this privacy policy, personal information has the same definition as in the applicable privacy legislation. We must obtain personal information in order to provide you with legal services. If we did not collect and use personal information we could not provide you with those services. We only collect that personal information which is reasonably necessary for our commercial relationship.

Why does MMPC need personal information?
MMPC and Marcus McCann provide legal services and products to a wide range of clients. We collect personal information about and from our clients in order to:

·         Provide legal services to you and on your behalf

·         Communicate with you

·         Enter into commercial relationships with you or others for the purposes of carrying on our practice, including the issuing of accounts, collecting and processing payments, and meeting contractual or insurance obligations

·         Maintain and enhance our internal knowledge management databases

·         Comply with regulatory and audit requirements of the Law Society and other governmental or regulatory authorities

·         Advise you of developments in the law

·         Advise you of the services that we provide, firm news and firm events

·         Any other purpose to which you consent

How do we collect your personal information?
We collect information only by lawful and fair means. Wherever possible we collect your personal information directly from you, at the start of a retainer and in the course of and in connection with that retainer. Sometimes we may obtain information about you from other sources during the course of our retainer. Examples of other sources include:

·         Your employer

·         Your accountant

·         Your healthcare providers

·         Other consultants retained by you or on your behalf to assist with the retainer

·         Your insurance company

·         Your real estate agent

·         A government agency or registry

Consent
By submitting personal information to MMPC, or its service providers, agents or anyone else on its behalf, you agree that we may collect, use and disclose such information according to this privacy policy. If you provide MMPC, or its service providers, agents, or anyone on its behalf, personal information about anyone else, by giving us such information, you represent to us and confirm that you have obtained all necessary authority and or consents from that other person to enable us to collect, use and disclose that personal information according to this privacy policy.

Use of your information
We use your personal information to provide legal advice and services to you, to conduct our normal client relationships, and administer our client time and billing databases. In these respects, we assume that we have your consent to use your personal information unless you advise us to the contrary.

MMPC does not disclose your personal information to any third party to enable them to market their products and services without your consent. For example, we do not provide our client mailing lists to anyone, except as may be required by law.

Disclosure of your personal information 
Under certain circumstances, such as the following, MMPC will disclose your personal information:

·         When you consent

·         When we are required or authorized by law to do so (for example, if a court issues a subpoena or summons)

·         When the legal services we are providing to you require us to give your information to third parties, your consent will be implied, unless you tell us otherwise

·         Where it is necessary to establish or collect fees

·         If we engage a third party to provide administrative services to us (like computer back-up services, archival file storage or contract employees) 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

·         To any person whom MMPC reasonably believes is providing or requesting disclosure of personal information as your agent

·         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.
Is my personal information secure?

MMPC takes 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

·         Restricted internal file access to personal information stored electronically

·         Technological safeguards, such as security software and firewalls, to prevent hacking or unauthorized computer access

·         Internal password and security policies

In addition, each lawyer is obligated by the Rules of Professional Conduct to maintain all client information as strictly confidential. Every MMPC employee is bound by our privacy policy. People and businesses with whom we do business are required to have privacy policies that comply with the legislation.

Access to your personal information
You may ask for access to any personal information we hold about you. Summary information is available on written request. More detailed requests that require archive or other retrieval costs may be subject to our normal professional and disbursement fees.

How long do we keep personal information?
We keep personal information as long as is reasonable in order to conduct our business with you, or longer, if required by law.

Correcting errors
If we hold information about you and you can establish that it is not accurate, complete and/or up to date, we 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

·         To protect our firm’s rights and property

·         Where the request is frivolous or vexatious

If we deny your request for access to information, or refuse a request to correct information, we shall explain why. MMPC and Marcus McCann does not use your Social Insurance Number as a way of identifying or organizing the information we hold upon you.

Can I request anonymity?
You may access general information on our website without providing us with personal information. However, in order to provide you with legal services we will require your personal information including confirmation of your identity.

Driver’s License 
To comply with the rules set out by the Law Society of Ontario, we will require a copy of your driver’s license if you retain our firm.

Communicating with us
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.

Employment inquiries
If you apply to MMPC for a job, we need to consider your personal information as part of our review process. We normally retain information from candidates after a decision has been made, unless you ask us not to retain the information. If we offer you a job, which you accept, the information will be retained in your confidential employee records.

Website
This website may contain links to other sites which are not governed by this privacy policy.

We may collect personal information through our website, but only when you voluntarily enter the website, submit a form electronically, use links contained on the website or send us email. When you provide information to us through these mechanisms, you consent to our collection, use and disclosure of such information according to this privacy policy. Personal information provided through these mechanisms will be used only for the purpose(s) for which you submitted the personal information, to respond to you, and to send you information from time to time that we think may be of interest to you.

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.

Changes to this privacy policy
MMPC and Marcus McCann regularly review all of their policies and procedures. We may change our Privacy Policy. Please review our website periodically.