Privacy Policy
Consent
The terms in this policy are defined as the terms outlined in the Terms of Use. By providing personal information to Venture House Legal (“Venture House”) or its agents and service providers, you agree to our use, collection and disclosure of that information in accordance with this privacy policy and as allowed or required by law. You may choose to refuse or withdraw your consent to some of the purposes outlined here at any time by contacting Venture House, subject to legal and contractual obligations. However, this may prevent us from offering you certain services or information that may be valuable to you. If you share another person’s personal information with Venture House or our agents and service providers, you confirm that you have the necessary permission and/or consent from that individual for us to use their information as described in this Privacy Policy.
Personal information we do collect
In this policy, we use the term “Personal Information” to refer to information about an identifiable individual or any information that can be used to identify someone as defined by applicable Canadian privacy laws.
Generally, business contact information such as your name, job title, business address, phone number, fax number or email address is not considered Personal Information.
Venture House may collect various types of Personal Information about you, including your name, home address, phone number, personal email address, billing and account information, details about a client’s legal issue and other information related to providing legal advice and services. This may also include Personal Information about witnesses, family members, beneficiaries, directors, officers, employees, opposing parties, interested parties, investigators, decision-makers, experts and other professional advisors as well as our clients’ business partners, investors, shareholders, competitors and customers who are individuals.
We may obtain personal information pertaining to prospective or current employees, contractors and partners from former employers, third parties and publicly available sources. This information is reasonably required for the purpose of establishing, managing or terminating an employment, contractual or partnership relationship.
Collection of your personal information
In general, Venture House collects, utilizes and discloses Personal Information pertaining to our clients and service providers for the purpose of delivering professional legal services. Additionally, we collect Personal Information about applicants for positions at Venture House in order to evaluate their applications and determine whether to establish, manage or terminate an employment, contractual or partnership relationship. More specifically, the collection, utilization and disclosure of your Personal Information is carried out for the following purposes:
(a) to build and maintain client relationships, offer legal advice, carry out legal services, meet legal obligations and prevent conflicts of interest. This may involve sharing Personal Information among Venture House staff and affiliated companies and partnerships for these purposes.;
(b) to share Personal Information with third parties in order to provide legal services. These third parties may include opposing parties, interested parties, opposing and foreign counsel and advisors, witnesses, decision-makers and experts;
(c) to evaluate whether to establish a business relationship with clients, suppliers and other third parties, including assessing creditworthiness and verifying information with credit bureaus or credit reporting agencies;
(d) to establish and maintain business relationships with clients, suppliers and other third parties, including invoicing, managing accounts, processing payments and fulfilling contractual obligations;
(e) to create, manage and end employment, contractual and partnership relationships;
(f) to ascertain and address the needs and preferences of clients, suppliers and other third parties, including through communication and engagement with such parties and the undertaking of surveys, research and evaluations;
(g) to improve, market, promote, sell or provide Venture House’s products and services or of third parties with whom Venture House has a commercial relationship;
(h) to send out our newsletters and other emails with info, conference details and other stuff to people on our mailing and email lists. We might use third-party mailing houses and email service providers to do this;
(i) to oversee and direct the business and operations of Venture House;
(j) to safeguard Venture House and third parties from errors, negligence, contract breaches, fraud, theft, and other illegal activities by monitoring compliance with policies and contractual obligations;
(k) to conduct business transactions such as purchases, sales, leases, mergers, amalgamations, acquisitions, disposals, securitizations or financings involving Venture House; or
(l) as permitted by, and to comply with, any legal or regulatory requirements or provisions; and for any other purpose to which you consent.
Disclosure of your personal information
Venture House may occasionally share your Personal Information with:
(a) Service providers hired by Venture House to perform tasks such as marketing, data processing, document management, and office services;
(b) Organizations or individuals hired by Venture House to assess your creditworthiness or collect outstanding debts;
(c) Financial institutions, solely for the purpose of assigning payment rights, providing security, or arranging financing;
(d) A person who Venture House reasonably believes is acting as your agent;
(e) Insurers and regulatory agencies such as provincial law societies in connection with Venture House’s legal obligations and practice;
(f) Venture House personnel, government authorities, insurers, benefits providers, consultants or agents for the purpose of managing employment, contractual and partnership relationships; or
(g) Any third party with your consent or as required or permitted by law.
Data Retention
When you place a request for information or inquiry for services through the Website, we will retain your information to maintain accurate records for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
Upon your written request, and subject to certain exceptions, Venture House will inform you of the existence, use, and disclosure of your Personal Information and provide access to it. Please direct access requests to info@venturehouselegal.ca.
Safeguards to your Personal Information
To protect the confidentiality of your Personal Information, Venture House uses administrative and technological safeguards appropriate to its sensitivity. Our data networks are protected by industry-standard firewalls and password protection system.
If you are a resident of the European Economic Area (EEA), you have certain data protection rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We aim to take reasonable steps to allow you to correct, amend, delete, or limit the use of your Personal Data. Your rights include:
1. **The Right to Access**: You have the right to request copies of your personal data that we hold.
2. **The Right to Rectification**: You have the right to request that we correct any information you believe is inaccurate. You also have the right to request us to complete information you believe is incomplete.
3. **The Right to Erasure**: You have the right to request that we erase your personal data, under certain conditions.
4. **The Right to Restrict Processing**: You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
5. **The Right to Object to Processing**: You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
6. **The Right to Data Portability**: You have the right to request that we transfer the data that we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions.
7. **The Right to Withdraw Consent**: You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time where we relied on your consent to process your personal information. Please note that this will not affect the lawfulness of the processing before its withdrawal.
If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact us at info@venturehouselegal.ca.
Please note that we may ask you to verify your identity before responding to such requests to ensure the security of your data. You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority that has jurisdiction over issues related to the General Data Protection Regulation. We require only the information that is reasonably required to enter into a contract with you. We will not require you to provide consent for any unnecessary processing as a condition of entering into a contract with us.
Privacy and our Website
A: Cookies: A cookie is a data file that is stored on a user’s computer by a website and transmitted to the website by the user’s browser upon each subsequent visit. We utilize cookies to identify and monitor users, their utilization of the Website, and their preferences. Users may configure their browsers to reject cookies; however, this may impair the functionality of certain features of the Website.
We may employ the standard cookie functionality of major web browsers. We do not retain any Confidential Information in cookies or utilize any data capture mechanisms other than cookies. Disabling cookies may adversely impact your experience on the Website and some features may not operate as intended. We have no control over information collected by third parties whose websites or materials may be linked to our Services and Resources.
B. Online & Email Communications: To provide our Website visitors with services or information, they may voluntarily submit Personal Information for purposes such as asking a question, obtaining information, downloading a publication, subscribing to a newsletter or mailing list, participating in an event, or taking part in contests and surveys. If you are a registered user of an online service, we may combine and store information about your website usage and online submissions with other information we have collected.
We may occasionally send marketing or promotional emails with information about Venture House’s services and those of our partners. We may collect information such as the date and time you opened our emails, the number of times you opened them, click-through activity on their contents, and compile related statistics. We may combine and store this information to improve our email communications. Instructions on how to unsubscribe will be included if you decide not to receive future marketing or promotional emails from Venture House.
C. Third Party Links: For your convenience, our Website may contain links to other websites. Kindly note that these third-party websites may maintain distinct privacy policies and practices from those of Venture House, and we bear no responsibility for their content or actions. Further, Venture House does not endorse the information contained in those web sites or guarantee their quality, accuracy, reliability, completeness, currency, timeliness, non-infringement, merchantability or fitness for any purpose. The content in any linked website is not under Venture House' control and if you choose to access any such website, you do so entirely at your own risk.
Changes to the privacy policy
Venture House reserves the right to modify or supplement this Privacy Policy at any time. If we make a change to this Privacy Policy, we will post such changes on our Website and make such revised policy and changes available upon request to the Venture House Chief Privacy Officer. However, Venture House will obtain the necessary consents required under applicable privacy laws if it seeks to collect, use or disclose your Personal Information for purposes other than those to which consent has been obtained unless otherwise required or permitted by law.
Limited Collection, Use, and Disclosure
We obtain personal information through fair and lawful means, and, where appropriate, directly from the individual concerned. Wherever possible, we restrict the quantity of personal information we collect, use, or disclose to that which is necessary and suitable for the provision of our legal services, advice and representation, and the operation of our firm. For client relationship and development purposes and for our publication and seminar programs, we limit the personal information we collect and use to contact information and preference data provided by the individual.
Governing Law
This privacy policy is governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the applicable laws of Canada and these laws apply to the use of the Site or the Content by you, notwithstanding your domicile, residency or physical location. The Website and the Content are intended for use only in jurisdictions where it may lawfully be offered for use.
Contact
For information on Venture House ’s privacy practices, please contact info@venturehouselegal.ca .