Your privacy is very important to Lapointe Rosenstein Marchand Melançon LLP and the members of the firm (hereafter “LRMM” or “We”).
This privacy statement informs you of our practices regarding the collection, use and disclosure of personal information you provide to LRMM (“Privacy Statement”).
1. Accountability
The “Règlement sur la comptabilité et les normes d’exercice professionnel des avocats“, the Barreau du Québec and other bodies that regulate the legal profession requires us to collect certain information for the identification of clients, when opening files or when our services are retained in connection with the use of trust accounts. These rules provide that every lawyer practising in Québec is required to identify his client for each new file. In addition, the lawyer will, in certain specific circumstances, have to verify the identity of his client. These rules apply even to clients with whom the lawyer has been in a business relationship for many years.
Therefore, when opening a new client account for a corporation or organization, we must collect information about that entity, including its corporate name, contact information, certificate of incorporation or identification number and place of issuance, as well as the general nature of the activities of the corporation or organization that is not a financial institution, public body or reporting issuers. We must also obtain the name, position, email address, address and telephone number of the authorized persons who give instructions relating to the mandate or service agreement. When opening a new account for an individual, we need to obtain the individual’s contact details and occupation.
The regulation further obliges us, under specific circumstances, to verify the identities of clients and certain third parties involved in financial transaction, such as the receipt, payment or transfer of funds, or if the lawyer must provide instructions for such transactions, when they are done by means other than electronic funds transfers. Some exceptions further limit the scope of this obligation.
The regulation requires us to take all reasonable means to verify a client’s identity, relying on documents, data or information from a reliable independent source. We must obtain a copy of this information, to be retained in our file on any paper medium or in a digital format, provided that copies can be easily made at any time. For individuals, the documents, data or information we must obtain for our files, from a reliable independent source are a copy of their passport, driver’s licence or health insurance card.
2. What Personal Information Do We Collect
For the purposes of this Privacy Statement, “Personal Information” means any information provided to or collected by LRMM that identifies, directly or indirectly (i.e. inferred or determined from the information), an individual, as defined from time to time in applicable privacy legislation. This Privacy Statement applies to all forms of record (electronic or paper).
LRMM collects Personal Information, including your full name, date of birth, contact information (mailing address, email address, telephone number), job title, financial and banking information, whether you have subscribed to, or unsubscribed from, any of our mailing lists, or accepted any of our invitation, information and statistics on your visits to our website and tracking cookies related to its use, other identifying and verifying information, such as copies of your passport and driver’s licence, information collected in relation to mandates entrusted to us and the services we provide and any other Personal Information that you voluntarily choose to provide to us, and data related to recruitment, namely the contents of the resumes we receive.
3. When Do We Collect and How Do We Use Personal Information?
LRMM requires some of the Personal Information to accept a mandate and perform services. LRMM collects Personal Information directly from individuals during interactions, including:
- In the course of providing legal services to clients;
- When individuals register for seminars, training or newsletters; and
- When individuals apply for recruitment purposes.
LRMM may also collect Personal Information from publicly available sources (e.g., its website, social media or government agencies) or third parties (e.g., clients to whom we provide legal services, regulatory bodies, recruitment agencies, credit reporting agencies, and other service providers).
LRMM collects, uses, and discloses Personal Information only as necessary to effectively provide professional legal services, establish and maintain employment relationships, and fulfill our legal and ethical obligations. This includes understanding client needs, communicating effectively, managing accounts, and ensuring compliance with privacy regulations. LRMM only uses and discloses Personal Information about its clients with their consent, except where not required by law. If other reasons arise for collecting Personal Information, clients will be informed in advance and consent obtained as needed.
4. Where Is Your Personal Information Stored?
Your Personal Information is stored in secured locations and on servers controlled by LRMM, located either at our office in Quebec or at the offices of our service providers, which may be located outside Quebec but within Canada, as applicable. We refer you to section 7 for more information on how Personal Information outside Quebec is treated.
We also store paper files containing Personal Information at our office located in the province of Quebec.
Under no circumstances will LRMM sell any Personal Information it obtains.
5. Consent
Through our Privacy Statement, our website and our members of the firm, LRMM ensures that its clients are aware of the purposes for which we collect, use and disclose Personal Information. While providing your Personal Information to LRMM, you authorize us to collect, use, disclose and store that Personal Information in compliance with this Privacy Statement and as authorized or required by law. If you do not agree with the terms of this Privacy Statement, do not provide any Personal Information to us.
By filling out our publication subscription form, you consent to receive by email our publications, newsletters, and invitations to conferences and other activities organized by LRMM. At your request, we will stop sending you marketing information. Simply follow the unsubscribe instructions found at the bottom of each message we send or email our Marketing Department at Communications@lrmm.com.
At any time, you may refuse or withdraw your consent to the collection, use, disclosure (except as required by law) or retention of your Personal Information by contacting our Chief Privacy Officer pursuant to section 13. We reserve the right to refuse certain requests, in compliance with applicable laws. Please note that the withdrawal of your consent may force us to withdraw from representing you and may prevent us from providing the legal services and advice you require.
Please note that in certain particular circumstances, we may send you messages, electronic or otherwise, in accordance with the exceptions set out in the law.
6. Cookies
In general, you can use our website without giving us any Personal Information. If you are one of our anonymous visitors, please bear in mind that we may still record certain analytical information and as further set out in this section.
LRMM may use cookies, web beacons/pixel tags, log files and other technologies to collect certain information about visitors to our website, and recipients of our newsletters, invitations and other communications. When you visit our website, we may collect information about your visit including your IP address, your geographic region (as determined from IP address), clickstream through our website, the date and time or your visit, information about your device and network such as the browser you use and its configuration, your connection speed, the pages you view or search for on our website, what links you click, what you download, our page response times, any download or other errors, the length of your visit, and whether the emails we send are opened. LRMM may use this information to improve the functionality of our website, to tailor or improve the content that we may send or show you, and for analytical purposes to understand how visitors interact with our website, messages and the information we provide.
Cookies track your visit to our website, and we only use them to better customize your visit and to identify your favourite pages. You may refuse cookies by modifying the acceptance settings in your internet browser. However, rejecting cookies may impact your user experience or limit your use of certain website functionalities, thereby reducing your access to certain options.
7. Service Providers and Third Parties
LRMM may, when necessary, share certain Personal Information with affiliated entities and trusted third-party service providers in the course of providing services on our behalf including Personal Information processing and technology service. In such an eventuality, LRMM ensures that there is a written agreement with the service provider concerning the processing of the Personal Information provided, specifying that the service provider will take appropriate measures to protect the confidentiality of this information and that it will only be used for the purposes of the mandate, in accordance with this Privacy Statement and any confidentiality obligation.
From time to time, LRMM may also confidentially disclose your Personal Information to the following parties: an organization or company retained by LRMM to evaluate your creditworthiness or collect debts outstanding on an account, a regulatory body or a company related to LRMM’s professional obligations and the practice of law, or for any other purpose as permitted or required by applicable law. Furthermore, LRMM may share your Personal Information with its professional advisors (legal, financial, commercial, banking, insurance, insurance brokerage and auditing), as required.
Some of these service providers may operate outside Quebec. When LRMM discloses Personal Information outside Quebec or Canada, LRMM ensures that it is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Statement, and that there is a written agreement with the third party regarding the treatment of the Personal Information LRMM provides. In addition, before disclosing your Personal Information outside Quebec, LRMM always performs a Privacy Impact Assessment to evaluate, among other things, the risks inherent in disclosure and the legal regime applicable in the jurisdiction where your Personal Information would be disclosed.
8. Limited Use, Communication and Retention of Personal Information
LRMM limits the use and communication of its clients’ Personal Information to the purposes set out in the Privacy Statement. LRMM has implemented procedures for the secure retention and destruction of Personal Information in our custody. LRMM only retains Personal Information where necessary for the purposes set out above. We reserve the right to close completed files and accounts that have been inactive. When a file is complete or an account is closed, the Personal Information associated with that file or account is archived for audit purposes and will be destroyed after it no longer serves the purposes for which it was collected and in compliance with our professional regulations and other applicable laws.
9. Accuracy
LRMM ask its clients to update and correct their Personal Information by informing us whenever possible about any relevant changes. Be advised that we do not systematically update our clients’ Personal Information unless required for the purposes set out above.
The marketing email messages sent by LRMM will give you the opportunity to update your contact details and mailing list preferences or unsubscribe from our mailing lists altogether.
10. Security Measures
Given the importance of privacy, LRMM has implemented security measures appropriate to the sensitivity of the Personal Information in our custody. LRMM maintains an adequate level of physical, procedural and technical security in our offices and where Personal Information is stored. We limit access to your Personal Information to the members of our firm and collaborators who require access to perform their duties. To secure Personal Information in digital format from loss, theft, unwanted intrusions, abusive use, unauthorized modification and malicious attacks, we employ technology solutions, including passwords, firewalls, antivirus and other security software, and the encryption of certain data. LRMM houses its servers in secure environments, and specialists manage our computing infrastructure to ensure data protection.
11. Accessibility
Upon request, any individual has the right to be informed of the existence of Personal Information about them. If you make such a request, you also have the right to consult the information that LRMM holds about you, subject to certain exceptions as provided by the applicable legislation. You may also challenge the accuracy and completeness of the information and have LRMM amend it as appropriate and as soon as possible, after you have proven such inaccuracy or incompleteness.
To exercise your Personal Information rights, please submit a written request to our Chief Privacy Officer pursuant to section 13. In that request, you must provide sufficient information to allow us to clearly identify you and inform you about the existence, use and disclosure of the Personal Information that we hold about you.
LRMM is committed to provide timely access to your Personal Information. However, LRMM may require you to verify your identity to our satisfaction prior to doing so. Further, there may be circumstances where access cannot be granted. For example, LRMM will not grant access where doing so would lead to the disclosure of Personal Information of another individual and that individual refuses to provide consent to the disclosure, or where the information is subject to privilege or other legal restrictions. In such cases you will be notified of the reason why it is not possible to grant access to your Personal Information.
12. Updates to the Policy
LRMM reserves the right to modify this statement and its Privacy Statement at any time, in compliance with all applicable laws. You can find the date and details of the most recent changes at the end of this Privacy Statement.
By your continued supplying of Personal Information to LRMM or use of its website, following the posting of changes to this Privacy Statement, your consent to the Privacy Statement changes is explicit.
Please note that the French version of this statement and of our Policy is the official version, and that it prevails over the version translated into English.
13. Contacting Us
LRMM ensures that its Privacy Statement is easily accessible through its website, its written communications and its personnel. If you have any questions or comments, complaints or if you would like to inform us of your preferences regarding your Personal Information, please contact:
Chief Privacy Officer
privacy@lrmm.com
1 Place Ville Marie, suite 1300
Montréal, QC H3B 0E6
We will answer your written request within thirty (30) days of receipt.