Privacy Policy

Ben Martin Law Group Privacy Policy

Ben Martin Law Group recognizes the importance of privacy and the sensitivity of personal information. As attorneys, we embrace our professional obligation to keep confidential all information we receive within an attorney-client relationship. We are committed to protecting any personal information we hold. This Privacy Policy discloses our privacy policy practices and outlines how we manage your personal information and safeguard your privacy.

Why Does the Staff at Ben Martin Law Group Need Personal Information?

Ben Martin Law Group provides legal services and products to a wide range of clients. In doing so, it produces online marketing materials, websites, direct mail, and other direct marketing materials concerning its services and developments in the law.

What Personal Information Do We Collect?

Personal information is any information that identifies you, or by which your identity could be deduced. If we did not collect and use your personal information, we could not provide you with legal services.

How Do We Collect Your Personal Information?

We collect information only by lawful and fair means, and not in an unreasonably intrusive way. When visitors access our online site and enter their information within the fields to submit to us, we collect your name, address, phone number, email address, type of case, and how we can help. When possible, we may collect your personal information directly from you, both at the start of a retainer and in the course of our representation. Sometimes we may obtain information about you from other sources including: your insurance company, your real estate agent in a property transaction, from a government agency or registry, your employer, if we are acting for you, at its request, your accountant.

Consent

In most cases, we shall ask you to specifically consent, if we collect, use, or disclose your personal information. Normally, we ask for your consent in writing, but in some circumstances, we may accept your oral consent. Sometimes, your consent may be implied through your conduct with us.

Use of Your Information

We use your personal information to provide legal advice and services to you, to administer our client (time and billing databases), and to include you in any direct marketing activities. If you tell us that you no longer wish to receive information about our services, or about new developments in the law, we will not send any further material.

Ben Martin Law Group does not disclose your personal information to any third party to enable them to market their products and services. For example, we do not provide our client mailing lists to other law firms.

Disclosure of your Personal Information

Under certain circumstances, Ben Martin Law Group will disclose your personal information:

  • when we are required or authorized by law to do so, for example if a court issues a subpoena;
  • when you have consented to the disclosure;
  • when the legal services we are providing to you requires us give your information to third parties (for example a lender in a real estate mortgage transaction) your consent will be implied, unless you tell us otherwise;
  • where it is necessary to establish or collect fees;
  • if we engage a third party to provide administrative services to us (like computer back-up services or archival file storage) and the third party is bound by our privacy policy;
  • if we engage expert witnesses on your behalf;
  • if we retain other law firms at your request, and on your behalf;
  • if the information is Publicly Available Personal Information, as it is defined under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

Updating Your Information

We use your personal information to provide legal services to you. Thus, it is important that the information be accurate and up-to-date. If during the course of the retainer, any of your information changes, please inform us so that we can make any necessary changes.

Is My Personal Information Secure?

Ben Martin Law Group takes all reasonable precautions to ensure that your personal information is kept safe from loss, unauthorized access, modification or disclosure. Among the steps taken to protect your information are: premises security; restricted file access to personal information; deploying technological safeguards like security software and firewalls to prevent hacking or unauthorized computer access; internal password and security policies. Regarding our online information requests, we do not ask you to supply any credit card information or social security numbers through our website, and any personal health information you supply is voluntary. Regarding our offline information, we protect such information as it is deemed sensitive.

Access to Your Personal Information

You may ask for access to any personal information we hold about you. 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.

Correcting Errors

If Ben Martin Law Group holds information about you and you can establish that it is not accurate, complete and up-to-date, Ben Martin Law Group will take reasonable steps to correct it.

Can I be denied access to my Personal Information?

Your rights to access your personal information are not absolute. We may deny access when:

  • it is required or authorized by law (for example, when a record containing personal information about you is protected by solicitor-client privilege);
  • to do so would reveal confidential commercial information, and the personal information cannot be severed from the record;
  • to do so could reasonably be expected to threaten the life or security of another individual, and the personal information cannot be severed from the record; or
  • the information was generated in the course of a formal dispute resolution process.

If we deny your request for access to, or refuse a request to correct information, we shall explain why. Ben Martin Law Group does not use your Social Insurance Number as a way of identifying or organizing the information we hold upon you.

Can I Request Anonymity?

Whenever it is legal and practicable, we may offer the opportunity to deal with general inquiries without providing your name (for example, by accessing general information on our website). We may be required to confirm the identity of all new clients. We may also be required to disclose information to FINTRAC in relation to certain large cash transactions.

Credit Bureaus

To help us make credit decisions about clients, prevent fraud, check the identity of new clients and prevent money-laundering, we may – with your consent – request information about you from the files of consumer reporting agencies.

Communicating with Us

You should be aware that e-mail is not a 100% secure medium, and you should be aware of this when contacting us to send personal or confidential information. Changes to this Privacy Policy Since Ben Martin Law Group regularly reviews all of its policies and procedures, we may change our Privacy Policy from time to time.

Requests for Access

If you have any questions, or wish to access your personal information, please write to our Privacy Contact at 3219 McKinney Avenue, Suite 100, Dallas, TX 75204

If you are not satisfied with our response, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada can be reached at 112 Kent Street, Ottawa Ontario, K1A 1H3 1.800.282.1376.

Employment Inquiries

If you apply to for a job, we need to consider your personal information, as part of our review process. We normally retain information from candidates after a decision has been made, unless you ask us not to retain the information. If we offer you a job, which you accept, the information will be retained in accordance with our privacy procedures for employee records.

Web Site

On our website, like most other commercial websites, we may monitor traffic patterns, site usage and related site information in order to optimise our web service. We may provide aggregated information to third parties, but these statistics do not include any identifiable personal information.

If you feel that we are not abiding by this privacy policy, please contact us immediately
at 214-761-6614 or email.