POLICY ON THE COLLECTION, USE AND DISCLOSURE
OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
Objective and Scope of Policy
Benson•Myles, is one of the largest law firms
based in Newfoundland and Labrador. Benson•Myles
has a wide and varied clientele, providing legal services
to individuals, corporations, and a variety of agencies
and organizations. Our obligations as legal professionals
are governed, in part, by the rules of professional
conduct, that govern each of our professionals as members
of the provincial law society. In keeping with our professional
obligations, we recognize the importance of maintaining
the confidentiality of our client information and our
obligations concerning the personal information of all
individuals that we collect, use or disclose in our
practice. This policy statement has been prepared to
supplement these existing obligations and to affirm
our commitment to maintaining the privacy of our clients
and all individuals, about whom we collect personal
information, and to inform you of our practices concerning
the collection, use and disclosure of personal information
collected by Benson•Myles.
For the purposes of this policy, “personal information”
means any information, recorded in any form about an
identifiable individual, or an individual whose identity
may be inferred or determined from that information.
This does not apply, however, to information including
the name, title or business address or telephone number
of an employee of any organization. This policy also
does not cover any information about more than one individual,
where the identity of any individual is not known, and
cannot be inferred from the information (aggregated
information). Benson•Myles retains the right to
use aggregated information in any way that it determines
appropriate.
By using contractual or other arrangements, Benson•Myles
shall ensure that agents, contractors or third party
service providers, who may receive personal information
in the course of providing services to Benson•Myles
as part of our delivery of products and services, protect
that personal information in a manner consistent with
principals articulated in this policy statement.
Professional Relationship
As a general rule, all information concerning the business
and affairs of a person or organization, acquired: 1)
for the purpose of determining whether Benson•Myles
will enter into a professional relationship; or 2) in
the course of a professional relationship, shall be
held in strict confidence and not revealed to anyone,
unless expressly or implicitly authorized by the person
or organization concerned. A professional relationship
develops when Benson•Myles agrees to be retained
to provides services to a particular individual or organization.
In order to protect their own interests, individuals
or organizations should not send confidential information
to Benson•Myles until they have had a direct discussion
with a professional at the firm regarding their retention
of Benson•Myles to provide legal services.
Our Need for Personal Information
In order to be able to give legal advice to our clients,
we need access to all relevant facts and information
that relate to our retainer, and to the representation
of our clients. This information will necessarily include
personal information about our clients, and about individuals
other than our clients. We collect personal information
for the following purposes:
(a) To determine whether Benson•Myles can enter
into a professional relationship with you;
(b) With respect to the collection and use of third
party personal information, in the course and scope
of representing clients and providing legal services
to such clients;
(c) With respect to the collection and use of your personal
information, to provide legal services or information
to you;
(d) To establish and maintain general and client mailing
lists;
(e) To communicate with you to inform you of legal developments,
new services, or seminars and events put on by Benson•Myles;
(f) To ensure your satisfaction with our services;
(g) For administration, billing, accounting, auditing
and collection purposes in relation to you or your business
and your relationship to us;
(h) Through our website, for the purposes of tracking
(for internal marketing and security purposes) access
to and usage of the Benson•Myles website; and
(i) Generally, to fulfill our professional and legal
obligations.
The Collection, Use and Disclosure of Personal Information
Where practical, we endeavour to collect personal information
directly from the person to whom the information pertains.
When necessary, and where permitted by the laws governing
personal information, we will collect personal information
from other sources. Your provision of personal information
to Benson•Myles, means that you agree and consent
that we may collect, use and disclose your personal
information in accordance with this privacy policy.
If you do not agree with these terms, you are requested
not to provide any personal information to Benson•Myles.
Unfortunately, certain services can only be offered,
if you provide personal information to Benson•Myles.
Consequently, if you choose not to provide us with any
required personal information, Benson•Myles may
not be able to offer you those services. It is our policy
to collect personal information about individuals other
than our clients, in accordance with the relevant laws
governing collection of personal information. Benson•Myles
collects only such information from individuals or organizations
as is required, for the purposes of providing services
or information to them. Benson•Myles does not
sell, trade, barter, exchange for consideration or give
away any personal information without your consent.
Unless permitted by law, no personal information is
collected about an individual without first obtaining
the consent of the individual to the collection, use
and dissemination of that information.
Benson•Myles may disclose personal information
to organizations that perform services on behalf of
the firm. Personal information will only be provided
to such organizations if they agree to use such information,
solely for the purposes of providing services to Benson•Myles,
and under the instruction of Benson•Myles, and,
with respect to that information, to act in a manner
consistent with the relevant principals articulated
in this policy. Please note that there are circumstances
where the use and/or disclosure of personal information
may be justified or permitted, or where Benson•Myles
is obliged to disclose information, without consent.
Such circumstances may include:
Where required by law, or by order,
or requirement of the Court, administrative agency
or other governmental tribunal.
- In emergency situations where Benson•Myles
believes, upon reasonable grounds, that it is necessary
to protect the life, health or security of an individual.
- Where it is necessary to establish
or collect monies owing to Benson•Myles.
Where obliged or permitted to disclose personal information
without consent, Benson•Myles will not disclose
more information than is required.
Accuracy
Benson•Myles endeavours to ensure that any personal
information provided and in its possession is as accurate,
current and complete as necessary for the purposes for
which Benson•Myles uses that information.
Retention
Benson•Myles keeps personal information only
as long as it is required for the reasons it was collected.
The length of time we retain information varies, depending
on the product or service and the nature of the information.
Retention of client information is also guided by the
rules relating to file closure, retention and destruction
created by the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador.
The period of retention will extend beyond the end of
a person’s relationship with us, but it will be
only for so long as it is necessary for us to have sufficient
information to respond to any issues that may arise
at a later date. When your personal information is no
longer required for Benson•Myles’ purposes,
we have procedures to destroy, delete, erase, or convert
it into an anonymous form. Currently, Benson•Myles
holds personal information in our offices in CBS and
St. John’s, and in our storage facilities in St.
John’s.
Security
Benson•Myles endeavours to maintain adequate
physical, procedural and technical security with respect
to its offices and information storage facilities, so
as to prevent any loss, misuse, unauthorized access,
disclosure, or modification of personal information.
Benson•Myles further protects personal information
by restricting access to it to those employees that
the management of Benson•Myles has determined
need to know that information, in order that Benson•Myles
may provide its services. In terms of communicating
personal information to Benson•Myles, you may
wish to note that there is no method of transmitting
or storing data that is completely secure. While the
physical characteristics of each are different, mail,
telephone calls, faxes and transmissions over the internet
are all susceptible to possible loss, misrouting, interception
and misuse of the information being communicated or
transmitted.
As do many organizations, Benson•Myles attempts
to strike a reasonable balance between security and
convenience. In communicating with clients and others,
Benson•Myles often requests the right to use a
method of communication that is less secure than some
of its less convenient alternatives. An example of this
is e-mail. At this time, when we use e-mail, it is sent
as unencrypted plain text. We do this because Benson•Myles
believes that many of our clients and others cannot
readily process encrypted e-mail. This is done for their
convenience, but has the security concern that if misrooted
or intercepted, it could be read more easily than encrypted
e-mail.
Access
You may make a request for information concerning any
personal information that Benson•Myles holds on
you. Upon request, Benson•Myles will inform you
of the existence of any such personal information, and
will provide you with details of the personal information.
If requested, access will be given to your own personal
information within a reasonable period of time. Benson•Myles
reserves the right to charge a fee for this access and
will notify you of the approximate cost at the time
of considering your request.
Benson•Myles’ Website
Our webserver may track general information about visitors,
such as their domain name and time of visit. Benson•Myles’
webserver may also collect and aggregate information
regarding which pages are being accessed. This information
maybe used internally, only in aggregate form, to better
serve visitors, by helping us to:
1. manage our websites;
2. diagnose any technical problems;
3. improve the content of our website.
During the course of an individual’s use of the
internet, he/she will learn of the common use of “cookies”.
Cookies are files or pieces of information that may
be stored in a computer’s harddrive when an individual
visits a website. Most internet browsers are initially
sent to accept cookies. If you do not wish to accept
cookies, you can set yours to refuse cookies, or to
alert you when cookies are being sent. Benson•Myles’
websites do not presently use cookies, clear GIFs or
any type of “web bug”.
Amendment of Benson•Myles’ Practices
and this Policy
This statement is in effect as of January 1, 2004.
Benson•Myles will from time to time review and
revise its privacy practices, and its policy statement.
In the event of any amendment, an appropriate notice
will be posted on Benson•Myles’ website.
Policy changes will apply to the information collected
from the date of posting of the revised policy statement
to Benson•Myles’ website, as well as to
existing information held by Benson•Myles.
Questions
In the event an individual has questions about:
a) access to personal information;
b) the collection, use, management or disclosure of
personal information; or
c) this policy statement,
that person should contact any of the following:
1) the professional with whom he/she has had contact
with at the time, or
2) the firm’s Chief Privacy Officer.
The Chief Privacy Officer may be contacted in writing
or by e-mail at the address listed below:
Gregory J. Peddle , Chief Privacy Officer
Benson•Myles, Barristers & Solicitors
215 Water Street, Atlantic Place, Suite 900
P. O. Box 1538, St. John’s, NL A1C 5N8
Tel#: (709) 579-2081
Fax#: (709) 739-8184
E-mail: Chief
Privacy Officer
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