This Policy applies to all personal information collected by Davies concerning individuals other than Davies’ professionals, employees, law students and applicants for employment. “Personal information” is a broad term that includes any information about an identifiable individual or that allows an individual to be identified. In general, personal information does not include business contact information, such as your title, business telephone number or business email address.

We may collect personal information from you whenever you interact with us, including when you communicate with us in person or via telephone, email, mail, videoconference, text message or social media; visit our offices or Website; or attend our sponsored events.

The types of personal information we may collect will depend on the nature of our relationship with you, the services we are requested to provide and our purpose in collecting the information. If you are a client or prospective client, you may be asked to provide personal information about yourself and/or other individuals (such as employees, directors, officers, shareholders, investors, business partners, customers, witnesses, other parties and/or family members). This personal information could include name, home address, occupation, personal contact information, tax, billing and other financial information; information needed to satisfy our “Know Your Client” obligations (including a copy of a personal identification document, such as your passport or driver’s licence); and/or other information relevant or incidental to our provision of legal advice or services (such as information about your dispute, business or financial affairs); or the services you are providing to us.

As explained below, we also collect certain non-identifiable information automatically when you browse our Website or open or click on emails we send to you.

We collect, use and disclose personal information only for the purposes identified herein and at the time of collection for the purposes to which you otherwise consent and as otherwise permitted or required by applicable law.

Generally speaking, Davies collects, uses and discloses personal information of clients and other individuals for the primary purposes of establishing, fostering, managing and maintaining our client and business relationships and providing legal services and advice. For these purposes, we may also collect, use and disclose personal information

• to comply with our professional and legal obligations, including the requirements under applicable Know Your Client rules;
• for administrative, business and management purposes (such as vendor selection and management, billing, payment processing and collections);
• to ensure the safety and security of our personnel, clients, premises, Website, equipment and network, and to detect and defend against fraud; and
• for any other purpose permitted or required by law, including as may be required by civil or regulatory authorities or under a subpoena or court order.

In addition, we may also ask for your consent to use your personal information for certain secondary purposes. You may vary or withdraw your consent to our use of your personal information for these secondary purposes at any time. These include our use of your personal information to communicate with you about our firm and our services, including by sending you publications and invitations to seminars and events we believe may be of interest to you.

We are subject to professional and ethical obligations and, therefore, we will not disclose personal information that is protected by solicitor-client privilege or otherwise protected from disclosure unless our client has waived privilege or we are permitted or required by law to do so.

Subject to our professional obligations in the course of providing legal services to our clients, including in the context of commercial transactions, negotiations and legal proceedings, we may share personal information with third parties. Such third parties may include opposing parties and their counsel, foreign counsel and other advisers, witnesses, courts and adjudicators, experts, service providers and others.

We may also disclose personal information to our service providers, contractors and other third parties we use to support our business. Additional information concerning such disclosures is provided below.

In addition, we may disclose personal information with your consent or as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law, including to government or regulatory authorities, courts and law enforcement.

Davies does not sell or exchange for consideration any personal information it holds.

We strive to limit the amount and types of personal information we collect, use and disclose to that necessary for the purposes identified.

To the extent possible, we obtain express or implied consent to collect, use and disclose personal information about an individual directly from such individual. By contacting us, subscribing to our mailing list or otherwise voluntarily providing us with your personal information, you consent to the collection, use and disclosure of that information in accordance with this Policy.

If you provide us with personal information concerning another individual (including your employees or other individuals involved in your business, commercial transactions or legal proceedings), you represent that before providing such information, you have obtained the necessary consent or authority to permit us to collect, use and disclose such personal information for the purposes set out in, and in accordance with, this Policy, or that the collection, use and disclosure is otherwise permitted by applicable law.

Where permitted or required by applicable law, we may collect, use or disclose personal information without seeking the consent of the individual(s) concerned. Davies will, for example, generally not seek the consent of third persons whose personal information is provided to us by a client for purposes of our representation.

If you have consented to our collection, use and disclosure of personal information, in some jurisdictions you may vary or withdraw your consent to our continued use and disclosure upon reasonable notice and subject to legal or contractual restrictions. To do so, please contact our Privacy Officer using the contact information below.

You can unsubscribe from our electronic marketing communications at any time by using the unsubscribe mechanism at the bottom of our emails or by emailing us at communication@dwpv.com.

Davies may store and process your personal information at our offices in Montréal, Toronto or New York, or elsewhere. Our servers are located in Ontario and Québec, Canada, and certain of your personal information may also be stored with third-party service providers located in the United Kingdom, the European Union and the United States.

We take our professional and ethical obligations relating to the confidentiality of the information we receive very seriously and have implemented measures to ensure that your personal information is managed in a responsible and appropriate manner.

We use safeguards that are customary in the legal profession and appropriate to the sensitivity of the information to protect the security of personal information in our possession. These safeguards include physical, organizational and technological measures such as policies and procedures, training of personnel, restricted access and physically secure facilities, network and file access restrictions, and other standard privacy and security practices.

Any information or documentation that we collect in compliance with our Know Your Client obligations is stored separately from other files and access thereto is limited to personnel who are responsible for ensuring that we comply with our obligations.

Davies retains personal information for as long as it is needed for the purposes for which it was collected or in accordance with applicable legal requirements and professional standards.

When we enter into arrangements with service providers, agents and contractors to store, use, communicate or otherwise access or process personal information on our behalf, such as for data processing, document storage and office services, we take reasonable steps, by contractual means and otherwise, to ensure that these parties use the information only for the purposes of complying with such arrangements and that they provide a comparable level of privacy protection while the information is in their possession or control.

Some of our service providers may be located in Ontario, Québec, elsewhere in Canada and/or in other jurisdictions with different privacy laws that may or may not be as comprehensive as Canadian law. In these circumstances, the governments, courts, law enforcement and national security or regulatory agencies of those foreign jurisdictions may be able to obtain access to your personal information through the laws of their respective jurisdictions.

If you have questions about the collection, use, disclosure or storage of your personal information by our service providers outside Canada, please contact our Privacy Officer using the contact information below.

By using our Website, you signify your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information in accordance with this Policy, including as described below. If you do not agree with this Policy, please do not use our Website.

Visitors to our Website are not required to provide any personal information to use the Website. If you voluntarily provide us with personal information such as your name, email address or mailing address through the Website, we will use such information only in accordance with this Policy, including to communicate with you, for the purposes for which the information was provided and as otherwise permitted or required by applicable law.

Certain information is also automatically collected when you visit our Website.

• Our Website may automatically collect certain non-identifiable information about Website visitors. If you visit our Website, we may, for example, automatically collect the general (non-granular) geographic location of your device, your operating system, the IP address of your Internet Service Provider, the date and time of your visit and details regarding your interactions with our Website and the address of the website from which you linked to our Website. This non-identifiable information is used for Website and system administration purposes and to improve our Website, and may be disclosed to others and be permanently archived for future use.
• Our Website may use ”cookies,” a technology that installs a small file on your computer to permit our Website to recognize future visits from that computer. Cookies optimize the convenience and use of our Website. You may decline cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser; however, doing so may affect or limit your use of our Website and ability to access certain features of our Website. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will decline cookies, our Website will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Website.
• Our Website uses Google Analytics to collect information, in an anonymous form, about how visitors use our Website, including the number of visitors to our Website and the pages they have visited. We use such information in aggregated form to improve our Website. By using our Website, you agree to such use of Google Analytics. Should you wish to opt out of the use of Google Analytics, please click here.

In addition, our electronic marketing communications, such as our publications and bulletins, may contain a small electronic file called a “web beacon” or “pixel” that will indicate to us whether our emails are opened and, combined with other technology, will verify any clicks through to links within the email. We may use this information to determine which of our emails are more interesting to you and to compile aggregated data regarding the preferences and interests of our subscribers.

You can unsubscribe from our electronic marketing communications at any time by using the unsubscribe mechanism at the bottom of our emails or by emailing us at communication@dwpv.com.

From time to time, our Website may contain links to other websites that may collect your personal information. We do not assume any responsibility for the privacy practices of the third parties operating such websites. You should read the privacy policies of these websites and, in light of their policies, decide whether or not you want to provide your personal information to the operators of these third-party websites.

It is important that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and current. Please inform us of changes to your personal information.

Subject to exceptions permitted or required by applicable law, you may have the right to access your personal information that we hold and to obtain additional information regarding our use and disclosure of such information. You may also have the right to challenge the correctness, accuracy and completeness of such personal information, cause certain personal information to be deleted or deposit written comments with respect to your personal information.

To request to exercise any of these rights, please contact our Privacy Officer using the contact information below. Once a request has been submitted, we may ask you for additional information to verify your identity or to provide additional details to help us respond to your request.

In certain circumstances, we may refuse to act or impose limitations on your rights, as permitted or required by applicable law. For example, we may not disclose information that contains references to other individuals, information that cannot be disclosed for legal, security or commercial proprietary reasons and information that is subject to solicitor-client or litigation privilege. If we cannot provide you with access to your personal information, we will inform you of the reasons why, subject to any legal or regulatory restrictions.

If you have any questions or complaints relating to our handling of personal information or this Policy, or wish to exercise any rights relating to your personal information, please communicate with our Privacy Officer using the following contact information.

Privacy Officer
Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
155 Wellington Street West
Toronto, ON M5V 3J7

or

privacyofficer@dwpv.com

We encourage you to periodically review this Policy, as we may change or update it from time to time in our full discretion and without any prior notice or liability to any person. Updates will be posted on our Website, and we will take reasonable steps to alert clients to any significant changes before they take effect. Please check back frequently for the most current version of our Policy.