Lette recognizes the importance of and is committed to the respect of the privacy of individuals.
POLICY COVERAGE
"Lette", "us", "we" or similar expressions mean LETTE & ASSOCIÉS s.e.n.c.r.l. and/or LETTE LLP.
This policy (the "Policy"), as amended from time to time, covers the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information collected by Lette from current and former clients, prospective clients, and other persons from whom we may be required to collect Personal Information.
This Policy does not apply to Personal Information of Lette employees, employment candidates, partners, or contractors.
We may change this Policy at any time by posting an updated version of the Policy on our website. Changes to the Policy are effective as of the time of posting. This Policy was last updated on March 25, 2024.
PERSONAL INFORMATION
"Personal Information" means any information that permits an individual to be identified, including but not limited to: name, home telephone number, home address, personal email address, billing information, and individual client information.
Personal Information that we collect may also include information about a client’s legal issues and other information required in the course of or incidental to providing legal services to and representing a client, such as Personal Information concerning other parties to a lawsuit or a transaction, family members, witnesses, shareholders, directors, employees, heirs.
Personal Information does not extend to information provided to Lette for business purposes and that does not on its own permit an individual to be identified, such as a professional or business title. It also does not include any business contact information which has been provided to us for business purposes, such as a business address, telephone number, facsimile number or email.
USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
Lette collects, uses and discloses Personal Information for purposes authorized or required by applicable privacy legislation or other law and for the following purposes:
- to provide legal advice, perform legal services, fulfil legal duties and avoid conflicts of interest;
- to establish and maintain client relationships;
- to share information with third parties for the purpose of providing legal services and maintaining client relationships, which may also include providing information to our insurers and to regulatory agencies such as provincial law societies or others in connection with regulatory or other activities relating to Lette's professional obligations and its practice of the profession of law;
- to manage and develop our business and operations;
- to administer clients’ accounts, issue invoices, process payments and collect debts owed to us;
- to service providers, including organizations or individuals retained by Lette to perform functions on its behalf, such as data processing, document management, and office services;
- to engage in business transactions, including the sale, transfer, financing or other disposition of assets or liabilities of Lette;
- as permitted by, and to comply with legal and regulatory requirements.
We may also use Personal Information for the following additional purposes, where you have consented:
- to provide you with newsletters and other general information about areas of law and about Lette;
- to contact you for survey purposes.
If you have consented to and no longer want us to use your Personal Information for these additional purposes, you may at any time provide written notice to a Privacy Officer at one of the contact addresses set out below.
CONSENT
By providing Lette with Personal Information, you are consenting to the collection, use and disclosure of such Personal Information in accordance with the terms of this Policy.
If you provide us Personal Information of another individual, you represent that you have all necessary authority and/or have obtained all necessary consents from that person to enable us to collect, use and disclose their Personal Information for the purposes set forth in this Privacy Policy.
We collect your Personal Information only by lawful means. We may collect, use or disclose Personal Information without your knowledge or consent where the Personal Information is publicly available from a public source or where your consent can be express, implied or given through a third party who you have informed us or who we have reasonable grounds to believe to be your authorized representative (such as a lawyer, accountant, agent or broker) or other sources, such as other parties in a litigation matter or implicated in a transaction or file, government agencies or registries.
COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION FROM WEBSITE
You may visit our website www.lette.ca (the "Website") without providing any Personal Information to us.
The Personal Information collected through the Website is limited to such information that you have voluntarily provided to us by sending an email to either of our offices (by clicking on the general email address for that office on the Offices or Contact pages) or to a person at Lette by clicking the email address contained in that person’s contact information on our Website.
We do not use cookies or other technological means to collect information about you through our website.
EXCHANGE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION BETWEEN FIRMS
Either of the Lette offices may receive, exchange and disclose Personal Information from and to the other Lette office to verify that no conflicts of interest arise, or where a person in one office may be consulted on a question pertaining to provincial laws in the jurisdiction of the other province, or where we are of the view that your needs will be better served.
Our offices and allied firms are located in: Montreal, Quebec; Toronto, Ontario; Munich, Germany, and Paris, France. Lette may from time to time receive and exchange Personal Information through one of the other allied firms referred to in our Website, where we may be consulted on a question pertaining to Canadian provincial or federal laws and where, in the view of an acting attorney of one of these firms, their client’s or prospective client’s needs are better served by one or both of the offices of Lette. Lette treats such Personal Information in the same manner as the Personal Information which we directly collect ourselves.
Lette is concerned with identity theft. Upon opening of a file, Lette will proceed with verifications of the identity of all new clients. At other times when required by law, Lette will proceed with verification of identity of all clients, including existing clients, to the extent so required. All documents received in the course of these verifications are only used for the purposes of such verification.
LIMITED DISCLOSURE TO THIRD PARTIES
Lette does not sell or otherwise communicate Personal Information to other parties, except as specifically described in this Policy or except as may be permitted or required by law, and insofar as may be necessary to protect the rights, including proprietary rights, and interests of Lette.
1) Transfer of information to allied law firms
Where your request for legal advice or services involves an issue that may have to be resolved under the laws of another jurisdiction, or where we are of the view that your interests will be better served, Lette may transfer your email and/or other written communication containing Personal Information to an attorney, qualified to practice in that jurisdiction, of another allied firm identified on our Website. Lette will obtain your consent and advise you of the name of the allied law firm before transferring your Personal Information. These firms are listed on our Offices and Contact pages, and all their members have confidentiality obligations under the regulations of their respective professional orders and their local legislation concerning privacy of personal information.
2) Transfer of information to non-allied law firms
We may likewise, in the circumstances described in (1) above, after notifying you and having received your consent and advised you of the name of the attorney or law firm, transfer your Personal Information to other non-affiliated attorneys qualified to practise in such other jurisdiction.
3) Transfer of information within the scope of rendering services to you
Subject to our legal obligations of confidentiality, Lette may provide Personal Information on a confidential basis to other professionals and suppliers or service providers (e.g. accountants, land surveyors, notaries, registry agents, experts, etc.) in the scope of providing our legal services where this may be required and/or in your interest.
Personal Information may also be transferred for other purposes where permitted or required by law, such as: when necessary to collect outstanding accounts, when necessary to comply with court orders, regulatory rules (including the rules of applicable provincial law societies), to satisfy our insurance requirements where the use of the information is necessary to prevent or detect fraud, or to assess and improve our security measures.
ROLE OF STAFF
Our employees are subject to confidentiality obligations and must ensure that Personal Information is kept secure and treated in accordance with this Policy.
RETAINING PERSONAL INFORMATION
Lette retains Personal Information as long as necessary for the purposes described in the Policy, or for such other period as may be required by our professional regulations for our legal and business purposes.
Before accepting any mandate, we are obligated by our professional regulations to ensure that we will not be placed in a conflict of interest. We maintain a record of the names of all clients and former clients, which we consult prior to accepting a new mandate to ensure that no conflict of interest exists. Your name will be added to and kept in this record. No other Personal Information that can identify you is contained in this record. In order for us to continue to perform conflict of interest verifications, all names of clients and former clients will be retained indefinitely in our client record.
PROTECTION OF INFORMATION
We have made arrangements and have policies and procedures in place to protect all Personal Information that is provided to us and have taken security measures to ensure the confidentiality and safeguarding of same, including security software, password requirements and firewalls.
However, no security procedure can be fully guaranteed. If we become aware that there has been a breach of our security safeguards and that there is a risk of significant harm to you, we will notify you unless prohibited by law. In the event of any unauthorised disclosure of your Personal Information, such as through unauthorised access or theft, we will use our best efforts to inform you as soon as possible after we obtain knowledge of such disclosure.
Furthermore, no transmission of information of any kind over the internet can be guaranteed to be secure. Therefore, Lette cannot guarantee the confidentiality of any information transmitted by way of this Website or by email, and we decline all liability with respect to any loss, misuse or alteration of Personal Information transmitted by way of this Website or by email or internet. Other means of communication should be used if confidentiality is required.
STORAGE OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
The Personal Information that we collect is store at secure locations and on servers located in Canada. Personal Information may also be stored with our service providers.
INFORMATION TRANSFERRED TO SERVICE PROVIDERS
Our service providers are bound by written confidentiality agreements and are not permitted to disclose your Personal Information to third parties.
You may obtain more information about Personal Information that is transferred or processed outside of Canada by contacting one of our Privacy Officers.
Quebec: You may obtain more information about Personal Information that is transferred or processed outside of the province of Quebec by contacting our Privacy Officer at our Montreal location.
UPDATING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
You are solely responsible for providing us with accurate Personal Information on yourself or other persons (e.g. your minor children), where required and to notify us of any changes.
accessing your personal information
Individual clients may access and review their Personal Information (or that of a person they are authorized to represent, such as a minor child) by communicating with their lawyer.
Other individual persons may request access to their Personal Information that we hold by contacting one of our Privacy Officers at the address below. We will acknowledge your request on receipt of same. If not already provided with your request, we will ask you to present proof of your identity before providing the information requested by you. Upon authentication of your identity, we will provide you with particulars of your Personal Information under our control, subject to exceptions under applicable legislation, such as protection of solicitor-client privilege. We may charge a reasonable fee for providing information in response to an access request and will provide an estimate of any such fee upon receiving an access to information request and prior to processing your request. We may require a deposit for all or part of the fee.
Should you discover any inaccuracies in the Personal Information we have, please notify us as soon as possible and provide us with the corrected information.
THIRD PARTY WEBSITES
Our Website contains links to websites operated by third parties ("Third Party Websites") who may collect Personal Information from their users. Third Party Websites are not under our control and Lette and its member firms cannot be responsible for the content of Third Party Websites. By accessing a Third Party Website from our Website, you release Lette and its member firms of any responsibility for the actions, practices and omissions of third parties who operate these Third Party Websites. You are advised to consult the privacy policies on every Third Party Website you visit before providing any Personal Information to such website.
CONTACTING OUR PRIVACY OFFICERS
Each of our Privacy Officers is responsible for ensuring compliance with this Policy and with the applicable privacy legislation, as well as for responding to any questions, complaints or concerns, and can be contacted at.
Lette & Associés S.E.N.C.R.L.
Attn: Monica Schirdewahn, Privacy Officer, Montreal
630 René-Lévesque Blvd. West
Suite 2800
Montreal, Quebec H3B 1S6
Canada
Tel: +1 (514) 788-0989
Fax: +1 (514) 876-4217
email: montreal@lette.ca
OR:
Lette LLP
Attn: Kevin Johnson, Privacy Officer, Toronto
40 University Avenue, Suite 904
Toronto ON M5J 1T1
Canada
Tel: +1 (416) 971-4848
Fax: +1 (416) 971-4849
email: toronto@lette.ca
We will acknowledge your request on receipt of same. If not already provided with your request, we may ask you to present proof of your identity if your request contains any question with regard to your own Personal Information, or that of another individual you are representing.
All requests will be treated seriously. Your request will be examined and investigated by the Privacy Officer, who will attempt to resolve it and respond to you within a reasonable time.
LANGUAGES
The English and French versions of our Privacy Policy have equal legal value.