Hum Law Firm

Privacy and Security of Information Policy

Hum Law Firm, A Professional Corporation recognizes the importance of privacy and the sensitivity of personal information.  We take seriously our professional obligation to maintain all information we receive from you in confidence.  We are committed to protecting any personal information we hold.  This Privacy Policy outlines how we manage your personal information and safeguard your privacy.

Your Privacy Rights

From January 1, 2004, all businesses engaged in commercial activities must comply with the

Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Acts (“PIPEDA”). and the Canadian Standards Association Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information, which it incorporates.  The following is a link to PIPEDA:  http://www.canlii.org/en/ca/laws/stat/sc2000–c–5/latest/sc–2000–c–5.html. These obligations extend to lawyers and law firms, including Hum Law Firm, A Professional Corporation.  PIPEDA gives you rights concerning the privacy of your personal information.

Hum Law Firm, A Professional Corporation is responsible for the personal information we collect and hold.  To ensure this accountability, we have developed this policy.

Why Does Hum Law Firm, A Professional Corporation Need Personal Information

Hum Law Firm, A Professional Corporation provides legal services and products to a wide range of clients.  In doing so, it produces direct marketing materials concerning its services and developments in the law.

What personal information do we collect?

Personal information is any information that identifies you, or by which your identity could be deduced.

If we did not collect and use your personal information, we could not provide you with legal services.

How do we collect your personal information?

We collect information only by lawful and fair means, and not in an unreasonably intrusive way.  Wherever possible we collect your personal information directly from you, both at the start of a retainer and in the course of our representation.

Sometimes we may obtain information about you from other sources, for example:

  • your insurance company;
  • your real estate agent in a property transaction;
  • from a government agency or registry;
  • your employer, if we are acting for you, at its request;
  • your accountant.

Consent

In most cases, we shall ask you to specifically consent, if we collect, use, or disclose your personal information.  Normally, we ask for your consent in writing, but in some circumstances, we may accept your oral consent.  Sometimes, your consent may be implied through your conduct with us.

Use of Your Information

We use your personal information to provide legal advice and services to you, to administer our client (time and billing databases) and to include you in any direct marketing activities.  If you tell us that you no longer wish to receive information about our services, or about new developments in the law, we will not send any further material.

Hum Law Firm, A Professional Corporation does not disclose your personal information to any third party to enable them to market their products and services.  For example, we do not provide our client mailing lists to other law firms.

Disclosure of your Personal Information

Under certain circumstances, Hum Law Firm, A Professional Corporation will disclose your personal information:

  • when we are required or authorized by law to do so, for example if a court issues a subpoena;
  • when you have consented to the disclosure;
  • when the legal services we are providing to you requires us give your information to third parties (for example a lender in a real estate mortgage transaction) your consent will be implied, unless you tell us otherwise;
  • where it is necessary to establish or collect fees;
  • if we engage a third party to provide administrative services to us (like computer back-up services or archival file storage) and the third party is bound by our privacy policy;
  • if we engage expert witnesses on your behalf;
  • if we retain other law firms at your request, and on your behalf;
  • if the information is Publicly Available Personal Information, as it is defined under PIPEDA.

Updating Your Information

Since we use your personal information to provide legal services to you, it is important that the information be accurate and up-to-date.

If during the course of the retainer, any of your information changes, please inform us so that we can make any necessary changes.

Is My Personal Information Secure?

Hum Law Firm, A Professional Corporation takes reasonable precautions to ensure that your personal information is kept safe from loss, unauthorized access, modification or disclosure.  Among the steps taken to protect your information are:

  • restricted file access to personal information;
  • deploying technological safeguards like security software and firewalls to prevent hacking or unauthorized computer access;
  • internal password and security policies.

We have also made reasonable inquiries regarding our cloud-based file management system.  We are assured that this service uses strict communication security using bankgrade 256-bit SSL encryption.   This system’s infrastructure is hosted using physically secure, managed datacenters that meet the rigid SAS70 Type II specifications. We are assured that its georedundant backups are performed multiple times per day, and site security and privacy are routinely audited by respected 3rd parties, McAfee and Trustee.

Access to Your Personal Information

You may ask for access to any personal information we hold about you.

Summary information is available on request.  More detailed requests which require archive or other retrieval costs may be subject to our normal professional and disbursement fees.

Correcting Errors

If Hum Law Firm, A Professional Corporation holds information about you and you can establish that it is not accurate, complete and up-to-date, Hum Law Firm, A Professional Corporation will take reasonable steps to correct it.

Can I be denied access to my Personal Information? 

Your rights to access your personal information are not absolute.  We may deny access when:

  • it is required or authorized by law (for example, when a record containing personal information about you is protected by lawyer-client privilege);
  • to do so would reveal confidential commercial information, and the personal information cannot be severed from the record;
  • to do so could reasonably be expected to threaten the life or security of another individual, and the personal information cannot be severed from the record; or
  • the information was generated in the course of a formal dispute resolution process.

If we deny your request for access to, or refuse a request to correct information, we shall explain why.   If we have it on file, Hum Law Firm, A Professional Corporation will not use your Social Insurance Number as a way of identifying or organizing the information we hold upon you.

Can I request anonymity?

Whenever it is legal and practicable, we may offer the opportunity to deal with general inquiries without providing your name (for example, by accessing general information on our website). The Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act requires us to verify the identity of all new clients.  It may also require us to disclose information to FINTRAC in relation to certain large cash transactions.

Credit Bureaus

To help us make credit decisions about clients, prevent fraud, check the identity of new clients and prevent money-laundering, we may – with your consent –  request information about you from the files of consumer reporting agencies.

Communicating with Us

We use Microsoft’s Office 365 to host our email and calendar entries, and we have made reasonable inquiries regarding its security.  We are assured that Office 365 maintains cutting edge security practices.  For a detailed description of Office 365 security, you may read its security white paper.

However, notwithstanding the assurances from Office 365, you should be aware that email is not a 100% secure medium, and therefore we do not guarantee its security.  You should be aware of this when contacting us to send personal or confidential information.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

As Hum Law Firm, A Professional Corporation reviews all of its policies and procedures, we may change our Privacy and Security of Information Policy from time to time.  Please visit our website at www.thehumlawfirm.ca for the latest version of our Privacy and Security of Information Policy.

Requests for Access

If you have any questions, or wish to access your personal information, please contact the Principal of Hum Law Firm, A Professional Corporation  in writing at or Hum Law Firm, A Professional Corporation at 100 Simcoe Street, Suite 305, Toronto, ON M5H 3G2 or email at lhum@thehumlawfirm.ca.

If you are not satisfied with our response, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada can be reached at:

112 Kent Street
Ottawa, Ontario  K1A 1H3
1.800.282.1376

Employment Inquiries

If you apply to Hum Law Firm, A Professional Corporation for a job, we need to consider your personal information, as part of our review process.  We normally retain information from candidates after a decision has been made, unless you ask us not to retain the information.  If we offer you a job, which you accept, the information will be retained in accordance with our privacy procedures for employee records.

Web Site

Our website contains links to other sites, which are not governed by this Privacy and Security of Information Policy.

On our website, like most other commercial websites, we may monitor traffic patterns, site usage and related site information in order to optimise our web service.  We may provide aggregated information to third parties, but these statistics do not include any identifiable personal information.