First, as members of the Quebec bar, we are bound by a strict duty of confidentiality regarding all information brought to our attention by a client in the course of our professional relationship with him or her. We take great care to respect this ethical duty and we ensure that every person who works for our firm does so, the whole subject to any waiver of this solicitor-client privilege by the client, permission or obligation provided by the law.

 

Furthermore, in accordance with the Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private section (RLRQ, ch. P-39.1), our firm has adopted the following policy concerning the collection, use and disclosure of personal information. Any personal information you provide us will be treated with care, subject to the terms of the following policy and to exceptions provided by the law.

 

As the aforementioned Act can change rapidly, this policy may be changed by us from time to time in our full discretion, without any prior notice and liability to you or any other person. Should our policy change, the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information by Schirm & Tremblay Avocats will be governed by its most recent version in effect at that time.

 

You have the right to refuse to allow our firm to collect, use and disclose your personal information in accordance with the following policy. However, we may not be able to offer you our legal services if you choose not to provide us with required personal information.

Our Privacy Policy:

For what purposes Schirm & Tremblay Avocats collects personal information?

What are the limits to the collection, use and disclosure of personal information?

How does Schirm & Tremblay Avocats obtain consent to the collection, use and disclosure of personal information?

Can the consent to the use and disclosure of personal information be withdrawn?

How might Schirm & Tremblay Avocats disclose personal information?

How does Schirm & Tremblay Avocats store the personal information it collects?

How to access your personal information?

Who is our privacy agent?

What does the term “personal information” refer to?

Personal information is any information about an identifiable individual or any information that allows an individual to be identified. During our professional relationship, you may be asked to provide us with certain personal information concerning you and/or other individuals (for example, the adverse party, witnesses, family members, etc.). Accordingly, in relation to the provision of our legal services, we may ask you to provide us with names, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers, identity cards, details of government issued documents, information about your financial situation including bank statements and tax returns, and so on.   For what purposes Schirm & Tremblay Avocats collects personal information?  We collect, use and disclose personal information for the purposes identified at the time of collection and/or as otherwise permitted or required by the law, including the following purposes:

• To provide legal services in your file;
• To comply with our professional obligations, including the rules regarding client identification and verification for conflicts of interests;
• For administrative and management purposes, including the issuance of invoices in your file;
• Etc.

What are the limits to the collection, use and disclosure of personal information? Our firm collects only the personal information necessary and appropriate for the identified purposes and uses and discloses that information only for the purposes for which it was collected. Otherwise, we may collect, use or disclose personal information with your consent or as permitted or required by law. How does Schirm & Tremblay Avocats obtain consent to the collection, use and disclosure of personal information? To the extent possible, we will obtain consent directly from the individual concerned by the collection, use or disclosure of personal information. However, if you provide us personal information concerning another individual, unless the collection, use and disclosure of the his personal information is permitted by law, you represent that prior to submitting such information to us, you have obtained from that individual the necessary consent or authority allowing us to collect, use and disclose the information for the purposes set out in this policy. For example, we generally do not obtain consent directly from the individual concerned in the following cases:

• If a client provides us with personal information about another individual (including the adverse party) for the purposes of our legal services in his or her file;
• If it’s impossible or impractical to obtain the consent of the individual concerned for legal, medical or security reasons.

Unless the collection of personal information is clearly for the benefit of a minor under the age of 14, we collect information about a minor with the consent of at least one of the minor’s parents or guardians. Can the consent to the use and disclosure of personal information be withdrawn? You may at any time modify or withdraw your consent to Schirm and Tremblay Avocats’ use and disclosure of your personal information, or refuse to participate in certain uses and disclosures, the whole subject to applicable legal restrictions. However, withdrawing your consent may affect our ability to offer you our legal services and to complete our legal services in your file. In this regard, please contact our privacy officer. How might Schirm & Tremblay Avocats disclose personal information?  Subject to our ethical and professional obligations regarding our duty of confidentiality, to exceptions provided by the law and to any mandate or power of attorney you may give to a third party, we may disclose personal information to third parties only to the extent necessary to the provision of our legal services in your file. We may disclose personal information in the following circumstances:

• If a government entity asserts its lawful right to obtain information from us;
• To comply with an order made by a court to disclose or otherwise communicate the information to a third party;
• If it’s necessary for Schirm & Tremblay Avocats or one of its members to protect its rights and/or property.

At no case will Schirm & Tremblay Avocats sell or exchange for consideration any personal information it holds. How does Schirm & Tremblay Avocats store the personal information it collects? We may safely store and process the personal information we collect at our office located at 355, Drapeau St. in the city of Laval (Quebec) H7L 2B8. We use security safeguards customary to the legal profession and appropriate to the sensitivity of the information, including physical, organizational, and technological measures. Access to both our offices and the personal information we store is restricted and controlled, and we train our employees to protect personal information at all times. We may employ third-party service providers to store, handle or process personal information on our behalf and, to this end, we use contractual means to provide a comparable level of protection to that implemented within our office. These third-party service providers are required to protect personal information against unauthorized access, collection, use and/or disclosure. Our firm is subject to strict professional and ethical requirements regarding the keeping, filing, storage, archiving and destruction of clients’ files, and we ensure that these requirements are always met. If you have questions about the collection, use and disclosure or storage of your personal information by us and/or our service providers, please contact our privacy officer. How to access your personal information? You may at any time request to access your personal information or request information regarding the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information by our firm, by contacting our privacy officer. Subject to exceptions provided by the law, any individual may access his or her personal information, challenge its accuracy and/or completeness and request that it be amended. We invite you to contact us to keep your personal information accurate and up to date, and to notify us of any changes. Who is our privacy agent? Our privacy agent is: Mtre Marie-Elaine Tremblay Schirm & Tremblay Avocats 355, Drapeau St. Laval  QC H7L 2B8 Phone: 450-241-0121 met@schirmtremblay.com If you have any inquiry or complaint regarding our policies and/or procedures relating to the handling of personal information, we invite you to communicate with our privacy agent.