Ratzlaff Law (“we”) recognizes the importance the privacy of our website visitors (“you”) and the sensitivity of your personal information. We are committed to keep confidential all information we receive from you, unless you direct us otherwise, and take active steps to protect your personal information we hold. This privacy policy outlines how we manage and safeguard your personal information and protect your privacy.
The Alberta government passed laws giving you certain rights concerning the collection, storage, and use of your personal information by private sector businesses like Ratzlaff Law and setting certain standards in how private sector businesses manage and safeguard personal information. These laws are found in a particular statute called the Personal Information Protection Act (“PIPA”) of Alberta which you can read at http://canlii.ca/t/52d5r.
Personal information means information that can identify an individual (for example, name, home address, home phone number, e-mail address, ID numbers, etc), and information about an individual (for example, medical conditions, relationship status, educational qualifications, financial assets, etc). For PIPA to apply, the personal information in question must be about an individual, identify an individual, or be able to identify an individual.
Communications between a lawyer and client relating to legal advice or services is protected by lawyer-client privilege. Initial communications to us through our website does not necessarily create a lawyer-client relationship.
The following are the types of personal information that we may collect through our website.
Our website allows you to provide us with personal information including
You may also provide us with further information if you email, phone, fax, or contact us in a manner not anticipated by our website.
As is true of most web sites, our servers gather certain information automatically and store it in log files. This information may include internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and/or clickstream data.
Some pages on our website may use small files called “cookies” that the website stores on your device for identification purposes. A cookie can contain information such as a user ID to track the pages visited, but the only personal information a cookie contains is information you or your device has supplied us.
Cookies cannot read data off of your hard drive. Your web browser may allow you to be notified when you are receiving a cookie, giving you the choice to accept it or not. If you prefer not to receive cookies while browsing our website, you can set your browser to warn you before accepting cookies and refuse the cookie when your browser alerts you to its presence. You can also refuse all cookies by turning them off in your browser. By not accepting cookies, some pages may not fully function and you may not be able to access certain information on this site.
We collect information only by lawful and fair means. Other than personal information that you voluntarily send to us by way of an online contact form, email, phone, or fax we also collect personal information as follows:
Our log files are created from personal information provided to our servers in the course of your device establishing a connection with our servers. This information is collected automatically and requires no action on your part.
Cookies are generated from small pieces of data sent from our servers to your device. When you access our website, our servers can retrieve these small pieces of data from your device.
We use your personal information that you provide us to respond to your initial inquiries for legal information, advice, or representation.
If you request, we will use your name and email address to send newsletters to you to help keep you up-to-date about our legal services and about new developments in the law. Out of respect for your privacy, you may choose to stop receiving our newsletters or marketing emails by following the unsubscribe instructions included in these emails or contacting us at office@ratzlafflaw.ca.
We create log files from website visitor requests to enable us to analyze how our visitors use this site. This data enables us to become more familiar with which people visit our site, how often they visit, and what parts of the website they visit most often. Ratzlaff Law uses this information to improve its website offerings and in some cases protect our website from attacks.
We use cookies for content personalization, analytics/performance, functional purposes, as well as the ability to access secure areas of our site. Users can control the use of cookies at the individual browser level. If you reject cookies, you may still use our site, but your ability to use some features or areas of our site may be limited.
We do not disclose or sell your personal information or your business contact information to any third party for their marketing purposes.
If you volunteer to provide your personal information, we assume that you are consenting its collection, use, and disclosure in accordance with this privacy policy.
Upon collection of your personal information, we only provide the following persons access to your personal information, unless you instruct us otherwise:
Under certain circumstances, we will disclose your personal information without your consent if:
In any such circumstances, if a lawyer-client relationship has been established, lawyer-client privilege and/or confidentiality will affect and may prevent us from disclosing your personal information without your consent, even in the above circumstances.
We do not disclose your personal information or business contact information to third parties, other than as outlined above. We do not sell your personal information or business contact information to third parties.
We take data and information protection seriously. The following are some of the ways we protect your personal information:
If you initiate communication with us by email, we assume that you authorize us to communicate with you by email.
We store your personal information in digital form
We use trusted third party service providers from the USA to provide secure methods for you to provide us with your personal information and to securely store and backup your personal information. Our service providers are not permitted to sell or otherwise disclose your personal information to any other party except as authorized by us or the law.
As is the case in Alberta, personal information transferred outside of Alberta may be accessible to regulatory authorities and enforcement agencies in accordance with the laws of the respective jurisdiction(s). We regularly review and evaluate how such laws may affect the security of your personal information.
You may request access to your personal information that we store. The request must be in writing and be directed to our firm’s privacy officer (identified below). We may charge a reasonable fee for retrieval and copying of your personal information if the retrieval, copying, or request is extensive.
There are exceptions to your right to access your personal information. We must deny access when we are required by law not to grant access to personal information. If we deny a request for access to personal information, we will explain why and attempt to mediate a resolution.
We take steps to ensure that your information is accurate and up to date. You have the right to request a correction of the personal information held by us. You can correct factual errors in your personal information by sending us a request with sufficient detail to enable us to identify the record and error.
We may review and change this privacy policy from time to time in order to update our privacy commitment to you and to keep current with respect to privacy laws.
You may contact our Privacy Officer if:
Our firm’s Privacy Officer is:
Luke Ratzlaff