Terms of Use

By accessing this website and the online resources of Vallillee Family Lawyers, you agree that nothing contained in this website constitutes legal advice to you. You acknowledge, understand, and agree that you should seek advice from a licensed legal practitioner in your jurisdiction to request legal advice specific to your situation.

The information contained in this website is for general informational purposes only and may not apply to you or your situation. You understand and agree that using this website, or contacting our office/Eric Vallillee through this website does not create a solicitor-client relationship. We cannot guarantee the confidentiality of any electronic communications, including the contact forms contained on this website, or any social media channels. As such you should not share any confidential information through these channels. We are not responsible for any adverse consequences that may result from your reliance on information or features contained within this website as legal advice or for any unintended purpose.

The use of this website is governed by all applicable laws and regulations of the Province of Ontario, and of Canada, and as applicable the United States of America as our website is hosted on American servers. The information contained within this website is copyright, with all rights reserved, by Eric Vallillee, and may not be re-published without advance, written permission unless otherwise noted.

We take all reasonable steps to safeguard your personal information when you contact us, and you should do the same. Your data may be processed through servers in Canada, the United States, or internationally. Please use care when deciding what information to send over the internet or through WIFI connections. We use third party private investigators and service providers like Forest City Filing for process serving, and may share your information with these vendors and service providers in order to provide you with the best service possible.

Privacy Policy

Vallillee Family Lawyers and Eric Vallillee recognize 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. 

Your privacy rights

The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act applies to lawyers and law firms, and there are also have confidentiality obligations that arise from the solicitor-client relationship, though such a relationship is not created by your use of or access to this website.

Why do Vallillee Family Lawyers need my personal information?

Eric Vallillee and Vallillee Family Lawyers provide legal services and advice to a wide range of clients. Collecting your personal information helps us to understand client needs, represent our clients, meeting legal, regulatory and contractual requirements, maintain client contact information, and provide materials concerning our services and legal developments.

What personal information do you collect?

“Personal information” is any information about an individual. This could include information such as age, identification information, income, ethnicity and nationality, credit or banking information, employment information, health information and records, and any other information relevant to the reason for your contact with us. We collect and use such personal information to provide legal services. This information may be about our clients or may be about individuals who are not clients but who are involved in transactions, matters or disputes with clients or with our office.

How do you collect personal information?

We collect personal information in the normal course of client representation and business practice, and only by lawful and reasonable means. We collect personal information directly from our clients and also obtain information from sources other than the individual: for example, insurance companies, real estate agents in a property transaction, government agencies or registries, employers, accountants, internally generated work product, dispute and litigation investigations, and other parties to a transaction, matter or dispute. The Law Society of Ontario now requires that we also take additional steps to verify the identities of our clients, and so we may ask you to provide identification and personal information through a third party ID verification service as well.

Consent

In most cases, we ask individuals to specifically consent, if we collect, use, or disclose their personal information where such collection, use and disclosure is such that would not be considered normal for a law firm’s representation of a client. Permission may be expressed in writing or be implied and may be given to us verbally, electronically, or through an authorized representative. Privacy and other laws allow us to collect, use, and disclose information for matters in dispute or litigation without consent. Individuals may withdraw permission to collect, use and disclose their personal information at any time, subject to legal and contractual restrictions and reasonable notice. Sometimes consent is implied through conduct with us. During the client intake process, or at any time after you have retained our office, by using our third party identification service, you authorise your mobile carrier to disclose your mobile account details for the purpose of verifying your identity. Those details may include your name, address, and device details.

Use of personal information

We use personal information to provide legal advice and services to clients, to administer client accounting, to include clients in any direct marketing activities, and to comply with Law Society rules governing client identification. If an individual tells us they no longer wish to receive information about our services, or about new developments in the law, we will not send any further material.

Disclosure of your personal information

Eric Vallillee and Vallillee Family Lawyers do not disclose personal information to any third parties to enable them to market their products and services without consent. Under certain circumstances, we may disclose personal information; such as: when we are required or authorized by law or ethical reasons to do so, for example by court order or pursuant to exemptions to consents provided in applicable privacy legislation; when an individual has consented to the disclosure; when the legal services we are providing requires us give information to third parties (for example a lender in a real estate mortgage transaction, or as necessary for court actions); where it is necessary to establish or collect fees; if we engage expert witnesses on a client’s behalf; if we retain other law firms in other jurisdictions on a client’s behalf; if the information is already publicly known, or if our law firm was to merge with another or otherwise become part of another firm, or to verify client identification or contact information in accordance with Law Society rules and bylaws, or as otherwise necessary to provide legal services to our clients. We may provide personal information to our consultants, subcontractors and professional advisers (which will be bound by privacy obligations) to assist our uses disclosed herein. While we strive to keep information in Canada wherever practical, we may use subcontractors or service providers who process or store personal information in the United States or other countries, such as for email, back-up, accounting, and document processing.

Updating personal information

It is important that the information be accurate and up-to-date. If during the course of the retainer, any personal information changes, the individual should inform us so we can make any necessary changes. If we hold information about an individual that the individual can show is not accurate, complete and up-to-date, we will take reasonable steps to correct it. 

Is my personal information secure?

We take all reasonable precautions to ensure that personal information is kept safe from loss, unauthorized access, modification or disclosure. Among the steps taken to protect personal information are: premises security; restricted file access; deploying technological safeguards like security software and firewalls; and internal password and security policies.

Access to personal information

Individuals may ask for access to any personal information we hold about them, subject to the exceptions below. Summary information is available on request. More detailed requests which require archive or other retrieval costs may be subject to our normal professional and disbursement fees.

Can I be denied access to my personal information?

An individual’s right to access their personal information is not absolute. We may deny access when, for example: denial of access is required or authorized by law (for example, when a record containing personal information is subject to a claim of legal professional privilege by one of our clients, or is allowed under relevant privacy legislation); information relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings against the individual; granting access would have an unreasonable impact on other people’s privacy; to do so would prejudice negotiations; to protect our firm’s rights and property; or the request is frivolous or vexatious. Certain ethical, procedural and confidentiality rules may prevent access in certain circumstances. If an individual is represented by other counsel for a dispute or transaction, we are not able to discuss privacy or other matters directly with that person. In those circumstances, the individual’s counsel must contact us. If we deny a request for access to, or refuse a request to correct information, we will explain why.

Requests for access

If you have any privacy questions,  wish to access your personal information, have a privacy complaint, or have any other complaint about Vallillee Family Lawyers, please contact:

Vallillee Family Lawyers
200 Queens Avenue
Suite 440
London, ON
N6A 1J3

Tel: 519-488-5263

Communicating with Vallillee Family Lawyers

Some view Internet e-mail as less confidential than other more traditional forms of communication. If a client does not wish us to use Internet e-mail, please advise us in writing and we will attempt to work with you to make alternative arrangements.

Changes to this privacy policy

We regularly review all of our policies and procedures and may change our Privacy Policy from time to time.

Employment inquiries

When one applies to Eric Vallillee and Vallillee Family Lawyers for a job, we need to consider personal information as part of our review process. We normally retain information from candidates for a limited time after a decision has been made, unless the individual asks us not to retain the information. If a job offer is accepted, the information will be retained as part of our employee records.

Website

Our website contains links to other sites, which are not governed by this privacy policy. On our website, like most other commercial websites, we may monitor traffic patterns, site usage and related site information in order to optimize our web service. We may provide aggregated information to third parties, which will not include any identifiable personal information.