Privacy Policy

Bereskin & Parr LLP/S.E.N.C.R.L., s.r.l. is a firm that specializes in intellectual property law with offices in Ontario (Toronto, Mississauga and Waterloo Region) and Québec (Montréal). The lawyers, patent and trademark agents and staff at Bereskin & Parr (sometimes referred to as “we,” “us” or “our”) are committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy outlines how we handle your personal information to protect your privacy.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully as it describes how we collect, use, disclose and process your personal information through our Website, products and services (collectively, the “Services”) and the types of personal information that we may hold about you when you interact with us or when third parties provide us with your information. It also explains how we protect your personal information, the choices you have regarding such use and disclosure and how you can access and correct your personal information. As a professional services firm, we have professional and ethical obligations to keep confidential the information we receive in the context of a lawyer-client and agent-client relationship. By doing business with us, accessing our Website, using our Services or otherwise providing us your personal information, you are consenting to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

We may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time by publishing it on our Website at www.bereskinparr.com/privacy-policy (“Website”). We encourage you to check our Website periodically to ensure that you are aware of our current Privacy Policy.

  1. What personal information do we collect?
    Personal information is defined as information about an identifiable individual, but does not include the name, title or business address or telephone number of an employee of an organization. In other words, it does not include the information that one expects to find on a business card.

    We may collect personal information in a number of ways in the course of our dealings with you. We limit the collection, use and disclosure of personal information to what is necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected. The types of information we may ask for depends on the nature of your interaction with us. This information may include:
    1. Identity and contact information: such as your name, postal address, telephone number, country of residence, occupation, email address, job title, government-issued identification such as a valid passport or driver’s license, as well as other documents or means of confirming your identity.
    2. Financial information: such as payment, banking and billing information.
    3. Information relevant to our legal services: such as personal information related to your legal issues and provided in the course of our relationship with you relevant to any dispute or legal advice you have asked us to provide you.
    4. Professional recruitment information: such as education information or other information included in your CV or resumé that you provide to us as part of our recruiting activities.
    5. Marketing information: such as the information you provide us with to subscribe to our newsletters or be included on our mailing lists and receive invitations to events or optional surveys.
    6. Health Information: such as dietary needs and accessibility requirements for attendance at events.
    7. Technical and usage information: such as information about your browser and device such as your language settings, internet protocol (“IP”) address, operating system type, browser type, unique device identifier and log information or information collected using cookies or other tracking technologies, such as Google Analytics, about your activity on our Website including pages viewed, access time and pages interactions. Like most other commercial websites, we may monitor traffic patterns, site usage and related site information to optimize your visit to our Website. You should be aware that we use “cookies”, which are small files containing information about your visit to our Website. We use cookies to remember your usage preference, including language preference, and to generally make it easier and faster for you to use and explore our Website. If you do not wish cookies to be used, your browser’s options can be set to refuse cookies or to delete any cookies already stored on your computer.
  2. Why do we collect and use your personal information?
    We collect, use, disclose and process your personal information for the following purposes:
    1. Establish your identity to conduct conflict searches to confirm that we are able to represent you and comply with anti-money laundering requirements and other legal obligations.
    2. Provide our Services and conduct our business, including administering, managing and performing our legal services in relation to you.
    3. Marketing purposes, such as providing information about products and Services that you have requested and may be of interest to you, sending you our newsletters, legal updates, event details, invitations, surveys or other marketing communications in compliance with CASL. You may opt out of receiving such messages at any time.
    4. Comply with applicable laws and regulatory requirements, including due diligence requirements.
    5. Assess and manage our risks, operations and relationship with you.
    6. Protect you and us against fraud or error.
    7. Help us recover any debt or enforce an obligation owed to us by you.
    8. Analyze, maintain, monitor and improve our products and Services.
    9. Consider you for employment and respond to your application.
    10. Customize your experience on our Website to your preferences and interests.
  3. How do we collect personal information?
    For the purposes set out above, we may collect personal information in a number of ways including:
    1. Directly from you, including through your interaction with us such as from your communication with us when you seek legal advice, register for our events, subscribe to our marketing communications or apply for employment.
    2. From third parties such as financial institutions or other organizations with whom you may have dealings.
    3. Publicly available sources.
    4. Through our Website using cookies or other tracking technologies.
  4. Whom do we share your personal information with?
    As a professional services firm, we have strict professional and ethical obligations to keep confidential the information we receive in the context of a lawyer-client and agent-client relationship. For the purposes set out above, your personal information may be shared with and between any of our offices. In strict compliance with our confidentiality obligations, when appropriate, for the purposes set out above, we may also disclose your personal information to:
    1. Our employees, agents, affiliates and subsidiaries.
    2. Third party experts, witness, consultants, translators, mediators, arbiters, foreign associates and other third-party advisors, and other third parties including adverse parties, opposing counsels and parties in interest as required to provide the Services to you.
    3. Third-party service providers to process or handle personal information on our behalf, such as our data storage and cloud computing provider.
    4. Courts, tribunals and other decision makers.
    5. Government agencies and law enforcement or regulatory authorities when required by law.
    6. Our insurers and external legal advisors.
    7. In the event of a merger, acquisition sale or reorganization, or the potential thereof, we may transfer the personal information we hold to third parties to the extent the personal information is necessary to execute the business or activity that was the object of the transaction.
    8. Third parties in accordance with your requests.

      We do not sell your personal information to others.
  5. Where do we store your personal information?
    We may transfer personal information that we collect about you outside of Canada, including the United States, for the purposes set out above and in the Privacy Policy, including for processing by our data storage and cloud computer providers. Our affiliates and service providers may perform processing activities outside of Canada.

    We and our service providers may be required to disclose your personal information to the courts, government authorities, law enforcement or regulatory authorities of the country where personal information is being stored in response to a valid demand or request in accordance with applicable laws. We require all our third-party service providers and affiliates to implement and maintain technical and organizational measures to protect your personal information in a manner consistent with our Privacy Policy and confidentiality standards.
  6. How long will we use, disclose and retain your personal information?
    We will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the identified purpose for which it was collected, or as required by law. Upon expiry of the applicable retention period, we will either securely destroy your personal information or render it anonymous.
  7. How do we protect your personal information?
    We use various safeguards to ensure that your personal information is protected against loss, theft, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, alteration, or destruction. These include but are not limited to: security of our physical premises; our professional obligations; security software and firewalls to prevent unauthorized computer access; and internal passwords that restrict access to our electronic files.
  8. Accuracy of your information
    It is important that the information that we have on file 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. We may also ask you from time to time whether your personal information is up-to-date.
  9. How can you access and update your personal information?
    You have a right to challenge the accuracy and completeness of your personal information and to have it amended, as appropriate. You also have a right to request access to your personal information and receive an accounting of how that information has been used and disclosed, subject to certain exceptions prescribed by law. To process your request, we may ask you to provide us with information to verify your identity and confirm the scope of your request. Subject to legal restrictions or specific rights of refusal, we will inform you of the existence, use and disclosure of personal information relating to you and give you access to that information.

    To request access or to amend your personal information, please contact the lawyer or agent with whom you normally correspond or write to our Privacy Officer at the address below.
  10. Links to other websites
    Our Website may contain links to third-party websites. Please note that we are not responsible or liable for the privacy practices of third parties, and we strongly recommend that you review these third parties’ privacy policies before disclosing any personal information to them.
  11. Children privacy
    We recognize the importance of protecting children’s privacy and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. This Website is not intended for individuals under the legal age of majority. If we learn that we have collected personal information from children, we will take reasonable steps to locate and delete this personal information.
  12. Withdrawal of consent
    You may withdraw your consent to our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information at any time, subject to legal and/or contractual restrictions and upon reasonable notice. Your withdrawal of consent to our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information may impact our ability to represent you and provide you with legal advice.

    You can ask us not to send you marketing communications by following the opt-out instructions in each communication or you may let us know by contacting our Marketing Department at marketing@bereskinparr.com.
  13. How to contact us?
    If you have any questions or complaints about this Privacy Policy or the handling of your personal information, if you wish to withdraw your consent to our use of your personal information, or to request access to or update any information we have on file, please contact the lawyer or agent with whom you are dealing, or contact our Privacy Officer:

    Privacy Officer – privacyofficer@bereskinparr.com

    Bereskin & Parr
    40 King Street West
    40th Floor
    Toronto, Ontario
    M5H 3Y2

    We will respond to inquiries about our policies and practices relating to our handling of your personal information. We will investigate all complaints and will promptly respond to any written inquiry. If the complaint is found to be justified, we will take appropriate measures to resolve it, including, if necessary, amending this Policy and our procedures.

Last updated [March, 2023]

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