Victoria Bazan

PRIVACY

Privacy Policy
I recognize the importance of privacy and the sensitivity of personal information. As a lawyer I have a professional obligation to keep confidential all information I receive within a lawyer-client relationship. I am committed to protecting any personal information I hold. This Privacy Policy describes how I manage your personal information and safeguard its 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, and the Canadian Standards Association Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information, which it incorporates. Other laws and regulations may also apply. These obligations extend to lawyers and law firms, including me. The Act gives you rights concerning the privacy of your personal information.

I am responsible for the personal information I collect and hold. To ensure this accountability, I have developed this policy.

What personal information do I collect?
Personal information is any information that identifies you, or by which your identity could be deduced. If I did not collect and use your personal information I could not provide you with legal services. In general, business contact information, including your name, title or position, business address, telephone and facsimile number, is not considered personal information, and I would therefore not normally protect it. However, I do treat any e-mail address you provide as personal information.

How do I collect your personal information?
I collect information only by lawful means and not in an unreasonably intrusive way. Wherever possible I collect your personal information directly from you at the start of a retainer and in the course of my representation. Sometimes I may obtain information about you from other public sources, or from private sources, at your request.

Consent
In most cases, I shall ask you to specifically consent, if I collect, use, or disclose your personal information. Normally, I ask for your consent in writing, but in some circumstances I may accept your oral consent. I assume that you have consented to my reasonable collection and use of personal information consistent with the purposes for which the information was given, when you initiate contact with me or voluntarily provide personal information to me. I also assume that clients who retain me, or individuals involved in proceedings or matters opposite or adverse to my clients, consent to the reasonable collection, use and disclosure of their personal information by me and my agents for purposes of my representation or provision of legal advice to my clients and the conduct of the transactions or proceedings involving my clients.

Use of Your Information
I use your personal information to provide legal advice and services to you, to administer my account for you (such as time and billing databases) and to include you in any direct marketing activities I undertake. If you tell me that you no longer wish to receive information about my services, or about new developments in the law, I will not send any further material.

I do not disclose your personal information to any third party to enable them to market their products and services. For example, I do not provide my client mailing lists to other lawyers.

Disclosure of your Personal Information
Under certain circumstances, I will disclose your personal information:

  • when I am 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 I am providing to you require me to give your information
    to third parties your consent will be implied, unless you tell me otherwise;
  • where it is necessary to establish or collect fees;
  • if I engage a third party to provide administrative services to me (like archival file storage) and the third party is bound by this privacy policy;
  • if I retain other law firms in other jurisdictions, on your behalf;
  • if the information is already publicly known.

Updating Your Information
Since I 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 me so that I can make any necessary changes.

Is My Personal Information Secure?
I take 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;
  • restricted file access to personal information;
  • deploying technological safeguards like security software and firewalls to prevent hacking or unauthorized computer access;
  • internal password and security policies.

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

Correcting Errors
If I hold information about you and you establish that it is not accurate, complete and up-to-date, I 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. I 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 of legal professional privilege by one of my clients);
  • when 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;
  • to protect my rights and property;
  • where the request is frivolous or vexatious.

If I deny your request for access to, or refuse a request to correct information, I shall explain why. I do not use your Social Insurance Number as a way of identifying or organizing the information I hold upon you.

Can I request anonymity?
Whenever it is legal and practicable, I may offer the opportunity to deal with general inquiries without providing your name (for example, by accessing general information on this website). The Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act requires me to confirm the identity of all new clients. It may also require me to disclose information to FINTRAC in relation to certain large cash transactions.

Credit Bureaus
To help me make credit decisions about clients, prevent fraud, check the identity of new clients and prevent money-laundering, I may on occasion request information about you from the files of consumer reporting agencies.

Communicating with Me
You should be aware that e-mail is not a fully secure medium and be governed by this knowledge when contacting me to send personal or confidential information.

Changes to this Privacy Policy
Since I regularly review all of my policies and procedures, I may change this Privacy Policy from time to time.

Requests for Access
If you have any questions, or wish to access your personal information, please e-mail me at vbazan@bazanlaw.com or contact me at the address located on this website. If you are not satisfied with my response, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada can be reached at 112 Kent Street, Ottawa Ontario, K1A 1H3, 1.800.282.1376.

Employment Inquiries
If you apply to me for a job, I need to consider your personal information as part of my review process. I normally retain information from candidates after a decision has been made, unless you ask me not to retain the information. If I offer you a job, which you accept, the information will be retained in accordance with my privacy procedures for employee records.

Web Site
My website contains links to other sites that are not governed by this privacy policy.

On my website, like most other commercial websites, I may monitor traffic patterns, site usage and related site information in order to optimise my web service. I may provide aggregated information to third parties, but these statistics do not include any identifiable personal information.