Privacy Policy

OUR PRIVACY PROMISES

We at Green and Spiegel LLP offer immigration legal services to individuals and corporations from a variety of countries around the world. As a firm, we are committed to respecting your rights and obeying the law – explaining your privacy and data protection rights is important to us.

In this statement, we explain how we protect your personal information.

 

PRIVACY AND INDIVIDUALS

This statement is about the rights of individuals. While we are also committed to protecting information about companies and other businesses we act for, this policy isn’t about them. When we act for individual clients, we always need personal information to provide immigration legal services, regardless of the type of matter.

 

OUR PRIVACY COMMITMENTS

  • We are accountable for the information you give us.
  • We will tell you why we need information when we ask for it.
  • We will use your personal information only for that purpose, or as the law requires.
  • We do not sell your information.
  • We keep your information safe. We take security seriously.

The work that we do generally requires that your information will be shared with a third party. Your application may be submitted to various government departments, courts, tribunals and government agencies. If the work that we are doing requires us to involve others, we will tell you. 

If you want to know what personal data we have about you, please ask us – we will tell you unless the law prevents us doing so.

If you ask us for marketing material or attend an event, we will keep your contact information in a database so that we can contact you in the future. If you don’t want this, please tell us and we will remove your name.

 

PLEASE TALK TO US

Our privacy staff will answer any questions you may have. You can contact them at chiefprivacyofficer@gands.com.

 

PRIVACY POLICY

Green and Spiegel LLP (“we“, “us” and “our“) is an independent entity. This is the Privacy Policy of Green and Spiegel LLP, which describes how we process Personal Information. Green and Spiegel ULC (Green and Spiegel USA) has a separate privacy policy that explains their practices.

Consistent with our obligations as professionals, we are dedicated to maintaining high standards of confidentiality and security. Green and Spiegel LLP follows certain privacy principles to help ensure the confidentiality of the Personal Information we hold.

This Privacy Policy informs you of how we collect, use and disclose Personal Information.

 

Personal Information

In this Privacy Policy, “Personal Information” means any information provided to or collected by Green and Spiegel LLP about an identifiable individual, or an individual whose identity may be inferred or determined from the information. This Privacy Policy applies regardless of how Personal Information is recorded (for example, electronically, or on paper). This Privacy Policy does not cover any information about more than one individual where the identity of the individuals is not known and cannot be inferred from the information (“Aggregated Information”). Green and Spiegel LLP retains the right to use Aggregated Information in any way that it reasonably determines is appropriate. This Privacy Policy also does not apply to information about companies or other legal entities.

 

Accountability

Green and Spiegel LLP takes the protection of Personal Information seriously. Our obligations as legal professionals are governed, in part, by rules of professional conduct which impose duties and obligations regarding the confidentiality of the information provided to Green and Spiegel LLP by its clients. We require all professionals, staff, other employees, contractors and agents who provide services in connection with our delivery of legal and other services to our clients to comply with these obligations.

 

What Information do we Collect?

We may collect Personal Information: (1) for the purpose of determining whether Green and Spiegel LLP will enter into a professional relationship; (2) in the course of a professional relationship, or (3) when we otherwise collect Personal Information, for example, when you provide us with information about yourself, or someone else associated with your need for legal services. We hold this information in strict confidence and do not reveal it to anyone unless expressly or implicitly authorized by the person or organization concerned or where permitted or required by applicable law.

In the course of our relationship with you, Green and Spiegel LLP will need to collect, use, and sometimes disclose different types of Personal Information for various purposes associated with the services we provide as directed by you or your organization. Given the nature of our services, it is impractical to list all of types of Personal Information that may be collected, used or disclosed. However, the Personal Information we collect may include but is not limited to:

  • your full name;
  • contact information, such as your address, telephone number, e-mail address, or job titles;
  • information to help establish your identity;
  • medical and criminal records;
  • information regarding your legal requirements, situation, and interests;
  • whether you have subscribed to, or unsubscribed from, any our mailing lists, or accepted any of our invitations;
  • information regarding your organization or other organizations, including information regarding directors, officers, or employees of our clients or other parties, witnesses, beneficiaries, adverse parties, related parties, parties in interest, business partners, investors, shareholders, security holders, buyers, sellers, business partners, and customers of clients;
  • Information regarding your preferences, for example, if you attend one of our events and we collect data relating to your dietary needs;
  • your payment information; and
  • any other Personal Information that you voluntarily choose to provide to us.

In some cases, we collect Personal Information from third parties such as clients to whom we provide legal services, regulatory and legal authorities, other organizations with whom we or you have dealings, such as government agencies,  recruitment agencies, information or service providers, and from publicly available records. We may also collect information from public sources in the context of an investigation or proceedings related to the legal services we are providing to one of our clients.

 

How do we Use and Disclose Personal Information?

Green and Spiegel LLP uses and discloses Personal Information for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. Under no circumstances will Green and Spiegel LLP sell any Personal Information it has obtained.

Green and Spiegel LLP may use and disclose Personal Information for the following purposes:

  • Establishing your identity and compliance with “Know Your Client” and anti-money laundering requirements and other legal obligations. This may require you to provide name, address, employment/business information, and/or other legally mandated forms of identification;
  • Billing: which will include the collection, use and disclosure of names, addresses, banking, financial details and/or payment information;
  • Provision and development of services/products, such as the provision of legal advice or the conduct of litigation, or other legal proceedings, which will include any Personal Information necessary to provide the services requested by you or your organization;
  • Analytics: we may also use and analyze the Personal Information provided to us to offer you additional services or products, as well as to track and manage your consent preferences, event reservations and any unsubscribe requests. You may, at any time, advise Green and Spiegel LLP Canada that you do not wish to receive such information from us;
  • Internal record keeping and to analyse and help us manage the provision of our legal services;
  • Answering your questions, and/or providing you with information or materials you have asked to receive;
  • To conduct market research;
  • Marketing our own services and products to you by email or other means if you have subscribed to one our mailing lists;
  • To keep your information and preferences accurate. For example, from time to time, we may ask you (by email or otherwise) to review your contact details and mailing list preferences and update them as necessary;
  • To meet our high quality and professional standards, and to obtain and maintain certification and accreditations which may involve audits of our internal processes;
  • To ensure regulatory compliance – for example to conduct conflict checks before we start work and to erect information barriers to restrict access to certain information;
  • To detect help prevent fraud or other illegal activities;
  • To meet our insurance requirements;
  • Any purpose which is permitted or required by applicable law; and
  • To carry out any other purpose which is disclosed to you and to which you consent.

The marketing email messages sent by Green and Spiegel LLP will give you the opportunity to update your contact details and mailing list preferences or unsubscribe from our mailing lists altogether.

If you no longer wish to receive marketing emails from Green and Spiegel LLP, please follow the unsubscribe link in one of our marketing email messages. You may also contact us using the contact information below, and ask us to update your preferences or unsubscribe from any marketing lists.

Green and Spiegel LLP may share Personal Information with other Green and Spiegel ULC (“Green and Spiegel USA”)  for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy.

Green and Spiegel LLP allows certain authorized third party providers to track and store certain information about visitors to our websites (including domain names, IP addresses and page views as described below).

Green and Spiegel LLP may also disclose Personal Information to organizations that perform services for us. Personal Information will only be provided to such organizations if they agree by way of contract to provide appropriate protection for such information.

Personal Information may also be subject to transfer to another organization in the event of corporate transaction such as a merger, or change of ownership. This will occur only if the parties have entered into an agreement under which the collection, use and disclosure of the information is restricted to those purposes that relate to the business transaction, including determining whether or not to proceed with the business transaction, and is used by the parties to carry out and complete the business transaction.

Lastly, we may disclose your Personal Information for any other purpose to which you consent.

 

Limiting Collection, Use, Disclosure and Retention of Personal Information

Green and Spiegel LLP may collect Personal Information in many forms (for example, hard/soft copy, electronically, facsimile, telephone conversations/recordings, email, etc.), but will only do so by lawful means and only for necessary purposes that have been disclosed to you, are described in this Privacy Policy, or are permitted or required by applicable law.

Personal Information collected in any form will only be retained by Green and Spiegel LLP so long as it is required: a) for the purpose for which it was collected and those purposes set out in this Privacy Policy; b) to be retained by law; or c) to address any issues that may arise at a later date. When Personal Information is no longer required for these identified purposes, Green and Spiegel LLP uses secure procedures to destroy, delete, erase or convert the Personal Information into an anonymous form.

 

Our Websites and Cookies

In general, you can use our websites 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.

Green and Spiegel LLP may use cookies, web beacons/pixel tags, log files and other technologies to collect certain information about visitors to our websites, and recipients of our newsletters, invitations and other communications.

When you visit our websites, 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.

We 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.

 

Consent

Your provision of Personal Information to Green and Spiegel LLP means that you agree and consent to our collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Information under this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with these terms, do not provide any Personal Information to us. However, while providing some Personal Information may be optional, most immigration legal services can only be offered if you provide Personal Information to us.  We may not be able to offer you certain services if you choose not provide us with any required Personal Information.

Consent may be given in different ways such as: a) expressly by signing a document, agreeing through electronic means or verbally; or b) implicitly by providing the Personal Information voluntarily.

There may be circumstances where you have provided Personal Information for one purpose, and Green and Spiegel LLP later needs to use that information for a different purpose. In such circumstances, Green and Spiegel LLP will seek your consent to use the information for the new purpose unless the law permits or requires us to use the information for that new purpose.

Please note that there are circumstances where the collection, use and/or disclosure of Personal Information may be justified or permitted without consent, or where Green and Spiegel LLP may or must disclose information without consent, in accordance with  applicable law.

You have the right to revoke your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Information at any time. However, revocation of your consent may prevent us from providing services or products to you; in such circumstances, we will discuss with you the reason we need your Personal Information and why the revocation of your consent affects our ability to provide our services or products to you.

 

Storage and Security

Green and Spiegel LLP has taken steps to maintain physical, procedural and technical security for Personal Information.

Green and Spiegel LLP holds Personal Information principally in the cities in which it has offices or production facilities and nearby municipalities where off-site storage facilities may be located, and such information may be accessed by those individuals that need to know such information in order that Green and Spiegel LLP may provide our services.

Personal Information may be stored outside of the jurisdiction in which you live, if a third party provider or other entity to whom we disclose Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy is located outside of that jurisdiction. In such cases, Personal Information may be subject to the local laws of the jurisdictions within which it is collected, used, disclosed and/or stored, and may be accessed by governmental and law enforcement authorities in those jurisdictions.

 

Accuracy and Access

Green and Spiegel LLP endeavours to ensure that any Personal Information provided and in its possession is as accurate, current and complete as necessary for the purposes for which we use that information.

You have a right to request access to your Personal Information and to request a correction to it if you believe it is inaccurate. In the event that you believe that your Personal Information is not accurate or you wish access to your Personal Information, you may make a request using the contact information provided below.

We endeavor to provide timely access to your Personal Information. However, we 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, we 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.

 

Amendment of our practices and this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy is in effect as of May 25, 2018. Green and Spiegel LLP Canada will from time to time review and revise its privacy practices and this Privacy Policy. In the event of any amendment, an appropriate notice will be posted on our website.

Your continued access to and/or use of our website or provision of Personal Information to us after any such changes constitutes your acceptance of, and agreement to this Privacy Policy, as revised. Please periodically review this Privacy Policy so that you know what Personal Information we collect, how we use it, and with whom we may share it.

 

Contact Us

If you ever have any questions, complaints or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy, any Personal Information you have submitted to Green and Spiegel LLP Canada, or if you would like to:

  • access Personal Information that you have already provided so that you can correct or update it, or request that it be deleted, or
  • report any violation of this Privacy Policy

you may contact Green and Spiegel LLP’s Chief Privacy Officer or the Green and Spiegel LLP professional with whom you have a relationship.

You may contact Green and Spiegel LLP’s Canada Chief Privacy Officer by email at chiefprivacyofficer@gands.com, or by mail at:

Green and Spiegel LLP

150 York Street, 5th Floor

Toronto, Ontario

M5H 2S5

ATTN: Chief Privacy Officer

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