PRIVACY POLICY
At Nixon Wenger protecting your personal information is a priority. We are committed to maintaining the confidentiality, security, and accuracy of your personal information. Providing this service includes the collection and use of some personal information. This Privacy Policy governs Nixon Wenger LLP, and applies only to activities that are subject to the provisions of Canada’s federal and provincial privacy legislation including, where applicable, the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, and British Columbia’s Personal Information Protection Act.
This Privacy Policy does not apply to, and Nixon Wenger is not responsible for, any third-party websites which may be accessible through the Nixon Wenger Website.
PERSONAL INFORMATION COLLECTED
Personal information means information about an identifiable individual, such as name, age, physical address, phone number, marital status, income, credit history, medical information, employment information, social registration numbers, billing and financial information, but does not include contact information for an employee at a place of business.
In the course of providing legal services to you, we may collect personal information from you. We know your privacy is of the utmost importance and we are committed to protecting your personal information. We will only collect personal information with your consent, where required, and will not use or share your personal information with anyone except as described in this Privacy Policy.
*Unsolicited emails sent to us from non-clients do not establish a lawyer-client relationship. Such communication may not be privileged and, therefore, may be subject to disclosure to third parties.
* We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from any person under the age of 19 (“Minors”). If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that a Minor has provided us with personal information, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected Personal Information from Minors without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our servers.
LOG DATA AND COOKIES
Nixon Wenger LLP does collect and maintain statistics relating to the number of visits to the website, the types of browsers used and the Internet Protocol Address of the originator; this information is used only for internal purposes. In addition, we may use third party services such as Google Analytics that collect, monitor, and analyze this type of information in order to increase our Service’s functionality. These third party service providers have their own privacy policies addressing how they use such information.
Cookies are files with small amount of data, which may include an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies are sent to your browser from a web site and stored on your computer’s hard drive.
We may use “Cookies” to collect information. You can instruct your browser to refuse all Cookies or to indicate when a Cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept Cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our Service. If you do not instruct your browser to refuse all Cookies or to indicate when a Cookie is being sent, your consent to our use of your Personal Information may be implied.
COLLECTION AND USE
We will only collect Personal Information:
- to provide legal and other services and to conduct our business, including to carry out our obligations arising from any agreements between you and Nixon Wenger;
- to respond to requests for information;
- to verify identity and identify your preferences;
- to open and manage accounts, including payment for our services;
- to meet regulatory, legal, and risk management requirements;
- to enforce our legal rights and/or to protect the rights of third parties;
- to facilitate the use of our Website;
- for marketing, research, and business development;
- for recruitment purposes; and
- to reorganize or make changes to our business.
We may share personal information within the Nixon Wenger firm and between Nixon Wenger Personnel, and to certain parties such as:
- Third party service providers who provide website, application development, hosting, maintenance, and other services to us. Information provided to any services providers is limited to that which is reasonably necessary for them to perform their functions.
- Law enforcement and governmental entities, as required by law.
CONSENT
We will obtain client consent to collect, use or disclose personal information (except where, as noted below, we are authorized to do so without consent).
Consent can be provided orally, in writing, electronically, through an authorized representative, or it can be implied where the purpose for collecting using or disclosing the personal information would be considered obvious and the client voluntarily provides personal information for that purpose.
We may collect, use or disclose personal information without the client’s knowledge or consent in the following limited circumstances:
- when the collection, use or disclosure of personal information is permitted or required by law;
- in an emergency that threatens an individual’s life, health, or personal security;
- when the personal information is available from a public source;
- if we require legal advice;
- for the purposes of collecting a debt;
- to protect ourselves from fraud; or
- to investigate an anticipated breach of an agreement or a contravention of law.
We will not sell your personal information to other parties. We do retain your personal information for the time necessary to fulfill the identified purposes or a legal or business purpose.
SECURING PERSONAL INFORMATION
We are committed to ensuring the security of client personal information in order to protect it from unauthorized access, collection, use, disclosure, copying, modification or disposal or similar risks. We will use appropriate security measures when destroying personal information of clients. We will continually review and update our security policies and controls as technology changes to ensure ongoing personal information security. However, no method of transmission over the internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. We cannot ensure or warrant the security of ay information you transmit or provide to us, and you do so at your own risk. We also cannot guarantee that such information may not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed by breach of any of our physical, technical, or administrative safeguards.
ACCESS TO PERSONAL INFORMATION
Our clients have a right to access their personal information, subject to applicable law. A request to access personal information must be made in writing and provide sufficient detail to identify the personal information being sought. A reasonable fee may be charged for providing access to personal information. Where a fee may apply, we will inform the client of the cost and request further instructions from the client. If a request is refused in full or in part, we will notify the client in writing, providing the reasons for refusal and the recourse available to the client. We also take steps to ensure that personal information in our possession is accurate and complete and as such, our clients may also request correction of their personal information.
CHANGES TO THE NIXON WENGER PRIVACY POLICY
Our privacy commitment includes maintaining and updating a Privacy Policy which ensures the accuracy, confidentiality and security of our clients’ personal information. All changes will be posted on our Website.
QUESTIONS AND COMPLAINTS: THE ROLE OF THE PRIVACY OFFICER
Our Privacy Officer is a designated individual responsible for ensuring that Nixon Wenger is compliant with our Privacy Policy and the Personal Information Protection Act. Clients should direct any complaints, concerns or questions regarding Nixon Wenger’s compliance in writing to the Privacy Officer. If the Privacy Officer is unable to resolve the concern, the client may also write to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia.
Contact information for Nixon Wenger’s Officer: 250-541-4311, Office Manager
