Privacy Policy
Protecting Your Privacy
Mushtaq Law offers and provides legal services and information to a wide range of clients. We collect, use and disclose personal information as necessary to offer and provide clients and potential clients with these legal services and information and generally to fulfil our professional legal responsibilities and manage our business. As lawyers, we have a professional obligation to keep confidential all information we obtain within a lawyer-client relationship.
The Information We Collect and How We Use It
Information related to clients, potential clients and others, collected in the course of our practice
The kinds of personal information we collect and use in relation to clients and potential clients will depend upon the information and services requested. However, subject to applicable law, it may include:
If you apply for a position at Mushtaq Law, we will collect the personal information contained in, and generated in relation to, your application package, in order to evaluate your application and assess whether to offer you a position at Mushtaq Law. For candidates who are not offered or do not accept a position, we normally retain this information for a reasonable period in the event that an appropriate position becomes available or that you re-apply to Mushtaq Law. If you accept a position at Mushtaq Law, the information will be retained in accordance with our privacy procedures applicable to the personal information of employees of Mushtaq Law.
Information about our agents, vendors, supplier and expert witnesses
Mushtaq Law may collect information about third-party agents, vendors, suppliers and expert witnesses ("Service Providers") who provide goods, services and information to Mushtaq Law. This information would include name and contact information as well as any information (such as banking information) that we need to pay you for your services and other relevant information, such as experience and qualifications of Service Providers.
We use this information in order to assess suitability for particular assignments; to contact you, where necessary, in relation to the goods, services and information you are providing to Mushtaq Law; and to pay you for your services.
How We Collect Information About You
We typically collect personal information directly from you or through our interaction with you. However, sometimes we may obtain personal information about you from other sources.
For example, in relation to clients, in addition to personal information that you provide, we may collect personal information from:
We may disclose the personal information we collect about clients or other individuals we deal with to third parties, including:
Service Providers: Mushtaq Law may also transfer your personal information to our Service Providers hired to administer or provide products, services or information on our behalf. We use reasonable measures to require the organizations with whom we share your personal information for these purposes to use your personal information only to perform the services we have hired them to provide. Note that some of the Service Providers that process or handle personal information on our behalf are located outside of Canada. As a result, your personal information may be transferred, stored and/or processed outside Canada in connection with the purposes described in this privacy statement. Contractual or other measures we may use to protect your personal information are subject to the legal requirements of the foreign jurisdictions where your personal information may be transferred, stored or processed, for example lawful requirements to disclose information to government authorities in those countries.
Our Web Site
The only personal information which we collect about you when you use our Web site is what you provide to us through the "Contact" section or when you send us an e-mail. Our server also attaches “cookies” to your computer’s memory when you visit our Web site. A "cookie" is a small file that a web site transfers to your computer enabling the site you visited to remember your visit and the activity (session).
The web cookie gives you an option to either store the conversation until you decide to delete the cookie or delete it as soon as you exit the browser. You can set your browser to disable cookies or prompt you before a cookie is accepted.
As most Web sites do, however, we do track usage patterns on our Web site on an anonymous basis. Your identity cannot reasonably be ascertained from this information. Each time you visit our Web site, our server records your Internet Service Provider, the date and time of your visit, the pages you visit and the documents downloaded, the searches you performed, and the referring URL’s you came from. We use this non-personal information to optimize our Web site service.
For your convenience, we may offer links from our Web site to other Web sites. However, we are not responsible for, nor do we accept any liability for, the personal information collection, use and disclosure practices of other entities to which our Web site may link. You should consult the privacy policies of these other entities before providing any personal information on their Web sites.
Your Consent
We collect, use and disclose your personal information with your consent or as permitted or required by law. Your consent may be express or implied, depending on the circumstances and the sensitivity of the personal information in question. For example, in most cases, a client’s consent to the collection, use and disclosure of personal information by Mushtaq Law may be implied by the fact that the client has engaged Mushtaq Law to provide legal services, where the collection, use and disclosure of personal information relates to the performance of those services by Mushtaq Law. If you provide personal information about another person to us, we assume you have the consent of that individual to enable us to collect, use or disclose their information as described in this policy. If you choose to provide personal information to Mushtaq Law, we assume that you consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information as outlined in this privacy statement.
If you do not consent, please do not provide your personal information or, where applicable, exercise the opt-in or opt-out options offered. Subject to legal and contractual requirements and reasonable notice, you may refuse to consent to our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information or you may withdraw your consent to our further collection, use and disclosure of information about you, by contacting our Privacy Officer at privacy@mushtaqlaw.com or calling our office. Note that if you withdraw your consent to certain uses of your personal information, we may no longer be able to provide certain of our services.
There are instances where Mushtaq Law may collect, use or disclose your personal information without your consent, for example to collect a debt you owe to us, to comply with a subpoena or court order, or to comply with the rules of court regarding the production of records.
Security
Mushtaq Law has implemented reasonable physical, organizational and technological security measures to safeguard the personal information in our custody or control. These include safeguards to protect personal information against loss or theft, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use, or modification. Authorized members of Mushtaq Law and its agents have access to
your personal information.
You can generally visit the Mushtaq Law Web site without providing any personal information. However, given that electronically submitted data is not 100% secure, we make no warranties as to the security of any such personal information that you submit, which you do at your own risk.
Access, Correction, Inquiries and Complaints
If you wish to request access to, or correction of, your personal information in custody or control of Mushtaq Law, please make your request in writing to our Privacy Officer. We may need to verify your identity before searching for or providing you with personal information. In some circumstances, we may not provide access to your personal information, for example if it contains the personal information of other persons, if it constitutes confidential commercial information, if it is protected by solicitor-client privilege, or if it is otherwise not properly the subject of an access request.
Since we predominantly use personal information to provide legal services, it is important that the information be accurate and up-to-date. Please inform us as soon as possible of any changes to your personal information.
If you have any questions, requests or complaints about our personal information practices, please contact our Privacy Officer at Mushtaq Law, 393 University Avenue, Suite 2000, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1E6 or via e-mail at privacy@mushtaqlaw.com.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
Mushtaq Law reserves the right to change this privacy policy at any time and we will take reasonable steps to advise affected individuals of any material changes, if necessary. However, you should review this privacy statement from time to time to ensure that you are aware of and accept any changes made. You may contact us to obtain a current copy of this privacy statement.
Posted on: February 8, 2009
Mushtaq Law offers and provides legal services and information to a wide range of clients. We collect, use and disclose personal information as necessary to offer and provide clients and potential clients with these legal services and information and generally to fulfil our professional legal responsibilities and manage our business. As lawyers, we have a professional obligation to keep confidential all information we obtain within a lawyer-client relationship.
The Information We Collect and How We Use It
Information related to clients, potential clients and others, collected in the course of our practice
The kinds of personal information we collect and use in relation to clients and potential clients will depend upon the information and services requested. However, subject to applicable law, it may include:
- name, address, e-mail address, contact details, nature of the client or potential client’s legal issue, financial, credit, billing and account information, and other incidental information relating to the services we provide;
- information material to your legal issue, for example employment, disciplinary, benefit, financial, property ownership, family or tax information, and any other information you give to us when you ask or instruct us to act for you;
- information about individuals we collect in the course of acting for clients, including personal information about employees of clients, referrals, adverse parties and parties with parallel interests, other counsel, mediators and arbitrators, witnesses and potential witnesses, expert witnesses and consultants;
- information about you contained in communications within Mushtaq Law and between us and you, whether online or offline; and
- information we may collect with your consent or as permitted or required by law.
- to assess whether we can act for you, including to avoid conflicts of interest;
- to offer and provide legal information and services to you;
- to communicate with you regarding the services you request and to respond to your requests and inquiries;
- to administer our client time and billing databases, and issue and collect accounts;
- to develop and use our knowledge management and precedent systems and permit Members of Mushtaq Law to consult, for precedent purposes, documents that we have created on your behalf and that contain personal information;
- to manage and administer our business, including to avoid negligence and protect you and us against error and fraud;
- to fulfil our legal and professional obligations; and
- as permitted or required by law or for purposes for which you otherwise provide your consent.
We use this information:
If you apply for a position at Mushtaq Law, we will collect the personal information contained in, and generated in relation to, your application package, in order to evaluate your application and assess whether to offer you a position at Mushtaq Law. For candidates who are not offered or do not accept a position, we normally retain this information for a reasonable period in the event that an appropriate position becomes available or that you re-apply to Mushtaq Law. If you accept a position at Mushtaq Law, the information will be retained in accordance with our privacy procedures applicable to the personal information of employees of Mushtaq Law.
Information about our agents, vendors, supplier and expert witnesses
Mushtaq Law may collect information about third-party agents, vendors, suppliers and expert witnesses ("Service Providers") who provide goods, services and information to Mushtaq Law. This information would include name and contact information as well as any information (such as banking information) that we need to pay you for your services and other relevant information, such as experience and qualifications of Service Providers.
We use this information in order to assess suitability for particular assignments; to contact you, where necessary, in relation to the goods, services and information you are providing to Mushtaq Law; and to pay you for your services.
How We Collect Information About You
We typically collect personal information directly from you or through our interaction with you. However, sometimes we may obtain personal information about you from other sources.
For example, in relation to clients, in addition to personal information that you provide, we may collect personal information from:
- a government agency or registry;
- third parties, such as your real estate agent, your financial institution, your insurance company, or your employer; and
- other law firms or agents who have acted for you in the past, where these parties have information relevant to the matter in which we are acting for you.
- the third parties you provide as references in support of your application; and
- individuals involved in the evaluation and review process.
We may disclose the personal information we collect about clients or other individuals we deal with to third parties, including:
- where the legal services we are providing to you require us to give your personal information to third parties, such as a lender in a real estate mortgage transaction;
- where we are required or authorized by law to do so, for example where the rules of court require us to provide personal information to the opposite side and the court in a litigation matter or where a court issues a subpoena or order;
- where we engage an expert or consultant on your behalf in a litigation matter;
- where we retain another law firm or agent to act or assist us in acting on your behalf;
- where it is necessary to collect fees, for instance to a financial institution or collection agent;
- to regulatory (including self-regulatory) or governmental authorities, for example, disclosure of personal information reasonably requested or required by governing bodies of the legal profession in the course of its oversight of our practice;
- where you have instructed us to disclose your personal information to a third party for a designated purpose;
- where we reasonably believe a third party requesting your information is your agent; and
- where you consent or as permitted or required by law.
Service Providers: Mushtaq Law may also transfer your personal information to our Service Providers hired to administer or provide products, services or information on our behalf. We use reasonable measures to require the organizations with whom we share your personal information for these purposes to use your personal information only to perform the services we have hired them to provide. Note that some of the Service Providers that process or handle personal information on our behalf are located outside of Canada. As a result, your personal information may be transferred, stored and/or processed outside Canada in connection with the purposes described in this privacy statement. Contractual or other measures we may use to protect your personal information are subject to the legal requirements of the foreign jurisdictions where your personal information may be transferred, stored or processed, for example lawful requirements to disclose information to government authorities in those countries.
Our Web Site
The only personal information which we collect about you when you use our Web site is what you provide to us through the "Contact" section or when you send us an e-mail. Our server also attaches “cookies” to your computer’s memory when you visit our Web site. A "cookie" is a small file that a web site transfers to your computer enabling the site you visited to remember your visit and the activity (session).
The web cookie gives you an option to either store the conversation until you decide to delete the cookie or delete it as soon as you exit the browser. You can set your browser to disable cookies or prompt you before a cookie is accepted.
As most Web sites do, however, we do track usage patterns on our Web site on an anonymous basis. Your identity cannot reasonably be ascertained from this information. Each time you visit our Web site, our server records your Internet Service Provider, the date and time of your visit, the pages you visit and the documents downloaded, the searches you performed, and the referring URL’s you came from. We use this non-personal information to optimize our Web site service.
For your convenience, we may offer links from our Web site to other Web sites. However, we are not responsible for, nor do we accept any liability for, the personal information collection, use and disclosure practices of other entities to which our Web site may link. You should consult the privacy policies of these other entities before providing any personal information on their Web sites.
Your Consent
We collect, use and disclose your personal information with your consent or as permitted or required by law. Your consent may be express or implied, depending on the circumstances and the sensitivity of the personal information in question. For example, in most cases, a client’s consent to the collection, use and disclosure of personal information by Mushtaq Law may be implied by the fact that the client has engaged Mushtaq Law to provide legal services, where the collection, use and disclosure of personal information relates to the performance of those services by Mushtaq Law. If you provide personal information about another person to us, we assume you have the consent of that individual to enable us to collect, use or disclose their information as described in this policy. If you choose to provide personal information to Mushtaq Law, we assume that you consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information as outlined in this privacy statement.
If you do not consent, please do not provide your personal information or, where applicable, exercise the opt-in or opt-out options offered. Subject to legal and contractual requirements and reasonable notice, you may refuse to consent to our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information or you may withdraw your consent to our further collection, use and disclosure of information about you, by contacting our Privacy Officer at privacy@mushtaqlaw.com or calling our office. Note that if you withdraw your consent to certain uses of your personal information, we may no longer be able to provide certain of our services.
There are instances where Mushtaq Law may collect, use or disclose your personal information without your consent, for example to collect a debt you owe to us, to comply with a subpoena or court order, or to comply with the rules of court regarding the production of records.
Security
Mushtaq Law has implemented reasonable physical, organizational and technological security measures to safeguard the personal information in our custody or control. These include safeguards to protect personal information against loss or theft, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use, or modification. Authorized members of Mushtaq Law and its agents have access to
your personal information.
You can generally visit the Mushtaq Law Web site without providing any personal information. However, given that electronically submitted data is not 100% secure, we make no warranties as to the security of any such personal information that you submit, which you do at your own risk.
Access, Correction, Inquiries and Complaints
If you wish to request access to, or correction of, your personal information in custody or control of Mushtaq Law, please make your request in writing to our Privacy Officer. We may need to verify your identity before searching for or providing you with personal information. In some circumstances, we may not provide access to your personal information, for example if it contains the personal information of other persons, if it constitutes confidential commercial information, if it is protected by solicitor-client privilege, or if it is otherwise not properly the subject of an access request.
Since we predominantly use personal information to provide legal services, it is important that the information be accurate and up-to-date. Please inform us as soon as possible of any changes to your personal information.
If you have any questions, requests or complaints about our personal information practices, please contact our Privacy Officer at Mushtaq Law, 393 University Avenue, Suite 2000, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1E6 or via e-mail at privacy@mushtaqlaw.com.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
Mushtaq Law reserves the right to change this privacy policy at any time and we will take reasonable steps to advise affected individuals of any material changes, if necessary. However, you should review this privacy statement from time to time to ensure that you are aware of and accept any changes made. You may contact us to obtain a current copy of this privacy statement.
Posted on: February 8, 2009
