Protecting your privacy is important to Sicotte Guilbault and its management corporations (collectively, “S.G.”, “we” or “us”). This Policy explains how S.G. collects, uses and discloses personal information concerning its clients and other individuals (“you”), other than S.G.’s professionals, employees and agents.
Any personal information you provide to us will be treated with care and, subject to this Policy and applicable law, will not be used or disclosed in a way to which you have not consented. Our professionals, employees and agents are also subject to professional and ethical obligations relating to the confidentiality of information S.G. receives in the context of providing legal services.
By submitting your personal information to S.G., you signify your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information in accordance with this Policy. If you do not consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information in accordance with this Policy, please do not provide any personal information to S.G.. Of course, certain services can only be offered to you if you provide personal information to S.G., and therefore S.G. may not be able to offer you those services if you choose not to provide us with required personal information.
The term “personal information” refers to any information about an identifiable individual or any information that allows an individual to be identified. In general, personal information does not include business contact information, such as your name, title or position, business address, business telephone or fax number in your capacity as an employee of an organization. During your relationship with S.G., you may be asked to provide certain personal information concerning you and/or other individuals (such as witnesses, family members, adverse parties, employees, directors, officers, shareholders, investors, business partners, customers, etc.). Examples of such information include name, date of birth, home address, financial and credit information, billing and account information and other information relating to the provision of legal services by S.G..
S.G. collects, uses and discloses personal information for the purposes identified at the time of collection, or as otherwise permitted or required by applicable law, including for the following purposes:
We strive to limit the amount of personal information we collect to that necessary and appropriate for the identified purposes. We will not use or disclose your personal information for purposes other than those for which it was collected, except with your consent or as permitted or required by applicable law.
To the extent possible, we will obtain consent to collect, use and disclose personal information about an individual directly from such individual. However, if you provide personal information concerning another individual (including adverse parties and other individuals involved in legal proceedings) to S.G., you represent that, prior to submitting such information, you have obtained the necessary consent or authority to permit us to collect, use and disclose such personal information for the purposes set out in this Policy, or the collection, use and disclosure is permitted by applicable law.
S.G. will not collect, use or disclose personal information without the consent of the individual(s) concerned unless we are permitted or required to do so by applicable law. We generally do not obtain the consent of the individual(s) concerned in the following circumstances:
In some jurisdictions, you may withdraw your consent to the use and disclosure of your personal information, or opt-out of certain uses and disclosures, To do that, please contact one of our Privacy Officers (identified below).
and, as such, we will not disclose personal information that is subject to solicitor-client privilege unless our client has waived privilege or we are permitted or required to do so by law.
Subject always to our professional obligations and only for the purposes of providing legal services, S.G. may disclose personal information to third parties (including adverse parties and their counsel, experts, witnesses, service providers), including in the context of legal proceedings and business transactions.
S.G. may also disclose your personal information to your agent.
S.G. may disclose your personal information to a government or regulatory entity that has asserted its lawful authority to obtain the information or where S.G. has reasonable grounds to believe the information could be useful in the investigation of unlawful activity, or to comply with a subpoena or warrant or an order made by a court, person or body with jurisdiction to compel the production of information, or to protect S.G.’s rights and property. If S.G. is involved in a merger or other reorganization, S.G. may disclose your personal information to the resulting organization.
S.G. may also disclose personal information as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law.
S.G. does not sell or exchange for consideration any personal information it holds.
S.G. may store and process your personal information at S.G.'s offices in Canada, or elsewhere. To help protect the confidentiality of your personal information, S.G. employs security safeguards that are customary in the legal profession and appropriate to the sensitivity of the information, including physical, organizational and technological measures. Examples of such measures include restricted access to offices, training of personnel, limiting access to information on a “need-to-know” basis, using passwords and well-defined internal policies and practices.
To the extent S.G. employs third-party service providers to store, handle or process personal information on our behalf (e.g. data processing or office services), we will use contractual and other means to provide a comparable level of protection while the information is being stored, handled or processed by them.
You may request access to your personal information and/or information about S.G.'s collection, use and disclosure of that information by contacting our Privacy Officer at info@sicotte.ca.