Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP ("Cassels Brock") recognizes the importance of privacy and the sensitivity of personal information. As lawyers we have a professional obligation to keep confidential all information we receive within a lawyer-client relationship. 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 organizations engaged in commercial activities must comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (the "Act"), unless the federal cabinet has exempted the organization because it is subject to "substantially similar" provincial legislation. To date, lawyers and law firms in Ontario are not subject to any such exemption orders. Therefore, these obligations extend to lawyers and law firms, including Cassels Brock. Although, as lawyers, we have always been obligated by the Law Society of Upper Canada's Rules of Professional Conduct to maintain the confidentiality of client information, the Act gives you additional rights concerning the privacy of your personal information.

Cassels Brock is responsible for the personal information we collect, use, maintain and disclose. To ensure this accountability, we have developed this policy, and trained our lawyers and support staff about our policies and practices.

What is "Personal Information?"

Personal information is any information that identifies you, or by which your identity could be deduced. It does not include the name or business address or telephone number of an employee of an organization.

Why Do We Collect Personal Information from You?

We collect personal information from our clients to:

• provide legal services to you, in accordance with your instructions;
• bill you for legal services rendered;
• provide information to you about developments in the law; and
• advise you of upcoming firm events.

How Do We Collect Your Personal Information?

We collect information only by lawful and fair means and not in indiscriminately. We may collect personal information directly from you at the start of a retainer and in the course of our representation of you.

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

• your insurance company;
• your real estate agent in a property transaction;
• a government agency or registry;
• your employer, if we are acting for you at your employer's request;
• your accountant; and
• other consultants obtained by you to assist with your legal concerns.

Consent

Consent for the collection, use and/or disclosure of personal information may be obtained orally or in writing and may be expressly given or implied. In determining how we obtain your consent, we will take into account the sensitivity of the personal information about you that we are collecting, using and/or disclosing.

Use of Your Information

When we use your personal information to provide legal advice and services to you, including for billing purposes and when we use your personal information to include you in any direct marketing activities, we will assume that you have consented to such use unless you specifically advise otherwise. 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.

Cassels Brock does not disclose your personal information to any third party to enable them to market their products and services without first obtaining express consent from you. For example, we do not provide our client mailing lists to other law firms or to consultants we work with from time to time.

Disclosure of Your Personal Information

Under certain circumstances, Cassels Brock may disclose your personal information:

• when we are required our 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 require us to give your information to a third party (for example, to 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 in other jurisdictions, on your behalf; or
• if the information is already publicly known.

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?

Cassels Brock takes all 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:

• premises security;
• restricted access to personal information stored electronically;
• deploying technological safeguards like security software and firewalls to prevent hacking or unauthorized computer access;
• internal password and security policies;
• obligation of each lawyer to maintain client confidentiality under the Rules of Professional Conduct of the Law Society of Upper Canada;
• all employees and third parties that have access to personal information collected by Cassels Brock will be required to sign a confidentiality agreement that is in keeping with this Policy.

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 that require archival or other retrieval costs may be subject to our normal professional and disbursement fees.

Correcting Errors

If Cassels Brock holds information about you and if you can establish that it is not accurate, complete and up-to-date, Cassels Brock 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:

• denial of access is required or authorized by law (for example, when a record containing personal information about you is subject to a claim of legal professional privilege by one of our clients);
• information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings against you;
• when granting you access would have an unreasonable impact on other people's privacy;
• when to do so would prejudice negotiations with you;
• to protect our firm's rights and property;
• where the request is frivolous or vexatious.

If we deny your request for access to, or refuse a request to correct information, we shall explain why.

Cassels Brock does not use your Social Insurance Number as a way of identifying or organizing the information we hold about you.

Can I Request Anonymity?

Whenever it is legal and practical, we may elect to deal with general inquiries on an anonymous basis (for example, by accessing general information on our website).

Credit Bureaus

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

How Long Do You Keep My Personal Information?

We keep your personal information as long as is reasonably necessary for us to complete our dealings with you, or as may be required by law, whichever is longer.

Employment Inquiries

Although the Act does not apply to our employee information, we have elected to follow privacy "best practices" in this area. If you apply to Cassels Brock 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 the privacy policy.

We may also collect personal information on our website (www.casselsbrock.com). We only collect the information you provide to us voluntarily by sending us an email message, completing forms or using the links contained on the website. Cassels Brock collects and uses your name, address, telephone number, email address and other information you submit on or through the website for the purposes for which you provided the personal information, to respond to your inquiries (and applications for positions), and to provide you with updates and information that we think may be of interest to you. In providing Cassels Brock with any personal information on or through this website, you consent to the collection and use of that information for these stated purposes. We currently do not use cookies on this website. "Cookies" are small text files that recognize repeat visitors and track their visits to a website.

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.

Communicating with Us

You should be aware that email is not a 100% secure medium, and you should be aware of this when contacting us to send personal or confidential information.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

Since Cassels Brock regularly reviews all of its policies and procedures, we may change our Privacy Policy from time to time. Please review our website for updates.

Request for Access

If you have any questions, or wish to access your personal information, please write to our Privacy Officer.

Inquiries / Complaints

If you have any questions or concerns about how your personal information has, is or will be handled by Cassels Brock or if you would like to register a complaint, please contact our Privacy Officer.