Privacy Policy - Taylor McCaffrey LLP

COMMITMENT

Taylor McCaffrey LLP ("Taylor McCaffrey") understands the importance of keeping your personal information confidential. As lawyers, we are governed by strict ethical guidelines pursuant to the Law Society of Manitoba Code of Professional Conduct. We are also committed to protecting your personal information in accordance with the terms of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act ("PIPEDA").

Effective January 1, 2004, PIPEDA began to govern the collection, use and disclosure of personal information which is collected in the course of commercial activities.

Taylor McCaffrey has created this Privacy Policy in order to explain its practices concerning the collection, use, retention, disclosure and distruction of personal information. This Privacy Policy applies to all personal information under the control of Taylor McCaffrey and Taylor McCaffrey has appointed a Privacy Officer who is accountable for its compliance with its obligations at law.

Taylor McCaffrey only collects personal information from its clients in order to provide certain legal and associated services. Taylor McCaffrey shall handle all such personal information provided in accordance with the obligations pursuant to PIPEDA and this Privacy Policy.

If there are any matters that have not been expressly addressed in this Policy, or if (i) an individual requires clarification as to how to implement or interpret this Policy, or (ii) would like to request access to his or her personal information or to amend such information, such concern should be brought to the attention of the Privacy Officer immediately.

The Privacy Officer can be contacted as follows:

Privacy Officer
Taylor McCaffrey LLP
9th Floor, 400 St. Mary Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 4K5

Phone - (204) 949-1312

I. Definitions

A. PIPEDA defines the following terms as follows:

(a) "commercial activity" means any particular transaction, act or conduct or any regular course of conduct that is of a commercial character, including the selling, bartering or leasing of donor, membership or other fundraising lists;

(b) "personal information" means information about an identifiable individual, but does not include the name, title or business address or telephone number of an employee of an organization;

II. Application of the Privacy Policy

B. This Privacy Policy applies to all personal information under the control of Taylor McCaffrey that it collects, uses or discloses in the course of commercial activities. Taylor McCaffrey actively educates its employees concerning its privacy obligations, including with respect to privilege and lawyer-client confidentiality.

III. Privacy Legislation

C. In accordance with Schedule 1 of PIPEDA, Taylor McCaffrey adheres to the following principles:

1. Accountability

The Taylor McCaffrey Privacy Officer is responsible for overseeing our firm's compliance with the principles described in this Privacy Policy.

2. Identifying Purposes for the Collection of Personal Information

Taylor McCaffrey may collect, use or disclose client personal information in association with the following services, namely:

to provide you with effective legal services;
to meet certain legal and professional obligations;
to provide you with information concerning Taylor McCaffrey's services from time to time;
to address any professional regulatory matters including complaints procedures;
associated administrative services including file maintenance and for billing and collection purposes; and
for any other purposes expressly authorized by our clients.

3. Client Consent

As lawyers, we take instructions from our clients in order to proceed with their legal matters. In order to provide the services requested, Taylor McCaffrey will proceed to collect, use, retain and disclose client personal information in accordance with its clients instructions.

Subject to certain legal and contractual exceptions at law, you may amend or withdraw your consent to the collection, use or disclosure of personal information. However, should you choose to amend or withdraw your consent, this may affect the legal services that Taylor McCaffrey is able to provide.

Taylor McCaffrey will only collect, use or disclose such personal information where it has obtained consent from its client, however, there are certain exceptions at law that permit the collection, use or disclosure of personal information without consent. Taylor McCaffrey will engage in such practices where required or permitted to do so by law.

4. Limiting Collection

Taylor McCaffrey will only collect that personal information that is actually required in order to complete the legal services requested or other specified purposes.

5. Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention of Personal Information

Taylor McCaffrey shall not be use or disclose personal information except with the consent of the individual or where required or permitted to do so by law. All personal information will be retained and handled in accordance with the Taylor McCaffrey Privacy Policy.

Taylor McCaffrey will share information about its clients amongst members of the firm and staff in order to properly and effectively provide specified legal services.

In the course of the provision of legal services, Taylor McCaffrey may disclose certain personal information to third parties, where you have authorized the disclosure or where your consent can be easily inferred.

Should Taylor McCaffrey provide information to third parties for processing, some examples of which are the creation of database or accounting software, we will use contractual means to bind such third parties to our privacy obligations at law.

6. Accuracy of Personal Information

Taylor McCaffrey has an obligation to ensure that personal information under its control is accurate, complete and up-to-date for the purpose for which it was collected. Should your personal information need to be amended during the course of the provision of legal services, please make your lawyer aware so that they may amend your file accordingly.

7. Safeguarding Personal Information

Taylor McCaffrey shall take reasonable steps to protect the personal information under its control from unauthorized use, access or disclosure.

Taylor McCaffrey will retain your personal information for a period of seven (7) years in accordance with its professional obligations as established by the Law Society of Manitoba.

8. Openness concerning Taylor McCaffrey Policies and Practices

Taylor McCaffrey shall make copies of its Privacy Policy available to individuals upon request.

9. Access to Information

Individuals may request access to their personal information under the control of Taylor McCaffrey and subject to certain limited exceptions at law, Taylor McCaffrey will generally provide you with access to your personal information.

Should your client file contain personal information about a third party, Taylor McCaffrey will not be permitted to disclose such information to you unless information concerning the third party has been severed from the record.

In responding to your request for access, Taylor McCaffrey will make every reasonable effort to reply to your inquiry within thirty (30) days.

10. Challenging Compliance

An individual may address any questions or concerns that he or she may have with respect to Taylor McCaffrey's policies or our compliance with our obligations at law by contacting our Privacy Officer.

Our Privacy Officer shall investigate all such complaints and respond within a period of thirty (30) days.