Privacy Policy

 

  1. YOUR PRIVACY

Ratcliff LLP (“Ratcliff”, “we”, “us” or “our”) is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) sets out the basis on which any personal information we collect from you or that you provide to us in conjunction with your access, navigation, and use of the Ratcliff LLP website and any services offered therein (“Service”). Please note that access and use of the Service does not constitute engagement of legal services or the formation of a lawyer-client relationship in any manner. This Policy governs only individuals’ use of the Service. Any confidentiality matters as between lawyer and client will be governed by an engagement letter, should you choose to retain us as your lawyers.

Please read the following carefully to understand our practices regarding your personal information. This Policy complies with the Personal Information Protection Act (British Columbia) (“PIPA”) and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Canada) (“PIPEDA”) as applicable (collectively, “Acts”).

  1. INFORMATION WE COLLECT & HOW WE USE IT

We may collect and use Personal Information and Non-Personal Information from you when you access or use the Service. In this section, we will describe the type of information that may be collected and how that information may be used.

2.1 Personal Information

“Personal Information” means personally identifiable information that specifically identifies someone as an individual and includes the items listed below. 

2.1.1 Paying a Retainer or Invoice Online

When you sign an engagement letter to retain us as your lawyers, you will have the option of paying for your retainer and invoices through the Service. We use LawPay Canada (“LawPay”) to process all online payments. Any Personal Information you provide, including billing information, is provided directly to LawPay. We will receive and store the confirmation of your payment from LawPay, which will include:

  1. name and billing address;
  2. purchase order number; and
  3. date and time of payment.

We use this information to track our billing process and provide you with the Service. We will not receive or store your banking information or credit card numbers.

2.1.2 Using the Service

We may collect Personal Information about you as part of your use of the Service.

2.1.3 Contacting Us

When you choose to contact us through the Service, we may collect, store and use the Personal Information that you provide us, such as your name, email address, phone number and other information you choose to provide in the content of your message, so we can respond to your inquiry. 

2.1.4 Other Uses of Your Personal Information

We may also use Personal Information that we collect to help provide you with better service. Among other things, the Personal Information we collect enables us to improve our services, communicate with you and fulfill your requests for products, services and information.

2.2 Non-Personal Information

“Non-Personal Information” means: (1) information that does not directly identify you; and (2) “aggregate” and “de-personalized” information, which is data we collect about the use of the Service from which personally identifiable information has been removed.

2.2.1 Cookies, Beacons and Tracking

When you access or use the Service, we (or a third-party provider) may use “cookies” and other technologies such as pixel tags, locally shared objects, clear GIFs and web beacons, to track what you view and interact with on the Service. We treat information collected by cookies and similar technologies as Non-Personal Information.

A “cookie” is a small bit of record-keeping information that is sent to your computer. The cookies that we use do not include Personal Information and may be used to:

  1. help you navigate around the Service,
  2. monitor how many people are using the Service, and
  3. track trends.

Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but you can disable cookies or set your browser to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, disabling cookies may affect your ability to use the Service.

2.2.2 Server Logs

Our servers may log Non-Personal Information about your use of the Service, such as: (1) your search activity, pages viewed, date and time of activity; and (2) any information provided by your computers or mobile devices in connection with your use of the Service, such as browser type, browser language, IP address, mobile carrier, unique device identifier, location, and requested and referring URLs.

2.2.3 Trusted Partners and Sponsored Companies and Organizations

We may use and disclose to our affiliated companies, contractors, trusted partners or persons the collected Non-Personal Information for the purpose of auditing, researching and analyzing usage of the Service, ensuring the technical functionality of the Service and further developing the Service and our other products.

2.2.4 Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a web analysis service provided by Google. Google collects such data as email address, browser and version, event (e.g. clicked on a given link) and operating system of the user’s computer, and utilizes the data collected to track and examine the use of the Google Analytics Service, to prepare reports on its activities and share them with other Google services. Google may use the data collected to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network. Google’s privacy policy can be found here.

We use Google Analytics to collect user information, which allows us to better know our audience characteristics and behaviour, measure cross-device and cross-platform use, conduct data analysis and testing, and manage our data effectively.

However, we will not upload information to Google Analytics that allows Google to personally identify you (such as certain names, social security or social insurance numbers, email addresses, or any similar data), or data that permanently identifies a particular device (such as your mobile phone’s unique device identifier if such an identifier cannot be reset), even in hashed form.

  1. DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

3.1 How/When the Collected Information is Disclosed

We will never sell, share, transfer or rent your Personal Information for secondary purposes.

In certain circumstances, we may share any or all information we have collected, including Personal Information.

For example:

  1. we might share your Personal Information during due diligence or in preparation for or after a sale, merger, consolidation, change in control, transfer of substantial assets, reorganization or liquidation;
  2. your Personal Information may be transferred to anyone who is helping us make our website and the Service available and functional, like technical agents, payment processing vendors, other subcontractors, and our affiliates and consultants, subject to obligations consistent with this Fine Print;
  3. as in any transaction, if you use the Service to provide your credit card information to LawPay for payments, your credit card company will be provided with all relevant information about LawPay, item(s) purchased, cost and other information necessary to process the transaction;
  4. if we are required to disclose or share your Personal Information under a legal obligation, in order to enforce or apply our contractual agreements or without your consent pursuant to any of the exceptions in the Acts; and
  5. we may share anonymous information (meaning information that does not identify you personally) with or to business partners.

3.2 Data Processing

We may also disclose Personal Information to our service providers for the purpose of processing Personal Information on our behalf or assisting in the operation of the Service. We require that these parties agree to process such Personal Information based on our instructions and in compliance with this Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.

  1. CHOICES FOR PERSONAL INFORMATION

If we propose to collect, use or disclose Personal Information for any purpose other than those described in this Policy, we will obtain your consent.

You may choose to withdraw your consent to the collection, use or disclosure of your Personal Information as outlined in this Policy at any time. If you withdraw consent, then we may no longer be able to provide you with full or any access to the Service.

Users are also given the opportunity to “opt-out” of having their Personal Information used for specific purposes, such as receiving newsletters or other information from us.

Withdrawals of consent will not have an effect on personal or other data that we have used or disclosed in accordance with this Policy prior to such withdrawals.

  1. THIRD PARTY PRIVACY POLICIES

We may make available third-party links through hyperlinks or otherwise enable you to access third party products or services from the Service that are not affiliated with or controlled by us. We are not responsible for those parties, the content of their products or services, or the use of information you provide to them. Providing links or otherwise enabling access to third party products or services does not constitute sponsorship of or affiliation with those people or companies. You recognize and agree that we are not liable for any third parties use of your Personal Information and you should review the privacy policies of these third parties.

  1. DATA STORAGE

We take commercially reasonable steps as necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely in accordance with this Policy and the Acts. However, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, we cannot guarantee or warrant the security of any information you transmit through use of the Service and you do so at your own risk.

Your Personal Information may be transferred to and maintained on servers or databases located in Canada and the U.S. in accordance with the Acts, as applicable. You consent to such processing and storage.

  1. INFORMATION SECURITY

We take appropriate security measures to protect against unauthorized access to or unauthorized alteration, disclosure or destruction of Personal Information. We use physical, electronic and/or procedural safeguards to protect our systems and all Personal Information under our control against unauthorized access and use. We only use third party server hosts with certified facilities that contain the industry standard physical, operational and digital security and restriction protocols. All safety and security measures are reasonable and appropriate to the sensitivity level of the information collected.

  1. ACCURACY AND ACCESS/CONTROL OVER PERSONAL INFORMATION

We will take reasonable steps to ensure that the Personal Information collected by us or on our behalf is accurate and complete, as required pursuant to the Acts.

We will allow you to access your Personal Information in our custody or control, and you may request that we:

  1. update or correct such Personal Information;
  2. change your preferences with respect to communications and other information received from us; or
  3. delete your Personal Information on our primary system, by submitting a request to [email protected], though this may result in your inability to use the Service.

If we are satisfied on reasonable grounds that your request to update or correct your information should be implemented, we will correct your Personal Information on our primary system as soon as reasonably possible. We may retain an archived copy of your records as required or authorized by law.

  1. COMMUNICATING WITH YOU BY EMAIL

By providing your email address to us or communicating with us via email, you are deemed to expressly consent to receiving email communications from us in conjunction with the Service that we provide to you.

  1. RETENTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We retain Personal Information collected pursuant to this Policy only as long as is reasonably required to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, or as required or authorized by law.

  1. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this Policy at any time. We may provide you with notice of such modifications, by sending you an email message or otherwise bringing it to your attention in the Service. Your continued use of the Service will signify your acceptance of the modifications to this Policy. If you disagree with any changes to this Policy, you will need to stop using the Service.

  1. CONTACT INFORMATION

If you have any questions relating to this Policy or our privacy practices, please write to us at: [email protected].