PRIVACY POLICY

INTRODUCTION

This Privacy Policy applies to Ephraim Fung Professional Law Corporation d.b.a. Fung Law Group and its affiliates, management, corporations, and partnerships (collectively “we,” “our,” or “us”) and explains how we collect, use, disclose and process personal information while we run our business and deliver our services. Our Privacy Policy only applies to information collected by us and our website www.funglaw.ca. We are not responsible for the privacy practices, policies, or websites of third parties.

WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?

We collect and use “personal information”, meaning information about you, or information that lets you to be identified as defined and regulated under the Personal Information Protection Act (British Columbia) and other similar Provincial legislation, and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Federal).

Your “personal information’ can include:

  • Personal information, that we can reasonably use to directly or indirectly identify you, such as your name, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone number, Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet, and any other identifier we may use to contact you.

  • Non-personal information, that does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity or directly relate to an identifiable individual, such as statistical or aggregated information. Statistical or aggregated data does not directly identify a specific person, but we may derive non-personal statistical or aggregated data from personal information. For example, we may aggregate personal information to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific Website feature.

  • Technical information, including your browser type and version, time zone setting, operating system, or information about your internet connection, the equipment you use to access our Website, and usage details.

  • Non-personal details about your Website interactions, including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), clickstream to, through and from our Website, services you viewed, page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interactions (such as scrolling and clicks), or any phone number used to call our customer service number.

CONSENT

We collect, use, or disclose personal information for our stated purposes, or for purposes associated with or follow logically from our stated purposes, with your express (in writing or orally) or implied consent. In certain circumstances, applicable privacy laws allow us to collect personal information without your express consent such as providing legal services to a third party, collecting or paying a debt, ensuring the accuracy of the information, or for use in an investigation or proceeding.

We do not exchange or sell personal information. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. If you would like to withdraw your consent, please contact us at ef@funglaw.ca.

HOW DO WE COLLECT YOUR INFORMATION?

The information we collect will include personal information about our clients and individuals other than our clients. We collect personal information that relates to our retainers and representation of our clients, or is essential to run our business, manage client and supplier relationships, avoid conflicts of interest, and guard against errors or fraud. We collect personal information:

  • provided by or on behalf of our clients,

  • from third parties such as real estate agents, insurers, lenders, employers, accountants and other consultants, or from other sources as necessary;

  • generated by us while providing our services;

  • as part of a legal retainer, without consent, where it relates to an investigation or proceeding;

  • for identification and other background verification such as a copy of a driver’s licence, passport, or utility bill;

  • from credit monitoring and identity theft prevention service providers;

  • as evidence of beneficial ownership or the source of funds to follow anti-money laundering laws or other applicable laws, and collected as part of our client acceptance and ongoing monitoring procedures;

  • for billing and financial transactions such as billing address, bank account and payment information;

  • as marketing and communication preferences and related information such as feedback and survey responses;

  • as contact or business information such as name, job title, role, employer, postal address, email address and telephone number; and

  • for recruitment such as a resume, education and employment history, details of professional memberships and other information relevant to potential association to or with us.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children or other persons who are under 16 years old. If you are under 16 years old, you may not provide us with any personal information.

HOW DO WE USE YOUR INFORMATION?

We use your personal information in the following circumstances:

  • assessing whether we can act for you, including reviewing conflicts of interest;

  • providing legal advice and related services;

  • conducting an investigation or proceeding;

  • conducting client due diligence to prevent fraud or crime under anti-money laundering, sanctions screening and other crime prevention and detection laws and regulatory requirements which may involve automated screening checks to ensure that clients and contacts are genuine;

  • following our legal and regulatory obligations as lawyers and a law firm including auditing, accounting, reporting, and professional requirements of the Law Society of British Columbia;

  • managing and administering our relationship with our clients including keeping records about business contacts, services, and payments so we can customise our services, develop our relationships and focus our marketing and legal information services;

  • office administration;

  • managing vendor services, and accounts and payables;

  • sending emails, newsletters, and other messages to keep you informed of legal developments, market insights and our services;

  • offering webinars, seminars, and other events;

  • ensuring our website and other technology services are used appropriately and function optimally;

  • establishing or collecting fees, engaging experts, retaining local counsel in other jurisdictions;

  • protecting our information assets and technology platforms from unauthorised access or usage and to check for malware and other security threats; and

  • as otherwise allowed by applicable law.

DISCLOSURE OF YOUR INFORMATION

We may disclose your personal information:

  • when we have your permission to do so;

  • to an authorised agent;

  • to credit monitoring and identity theft prevention service providers to verify your identity following Law Society Rules governing client identification and verification;

  • when collecting or paying a debt;

  • to third parties including adverse parties and their counsel, witnesses, service providers and experts in the context of legal proceedings and business transactions or as allowed by law, subject to our professional obligations; and

  • to government or regulatory entities that have asserted their lawful authority to obtain the information or to follow other legal requirements such as a subpoena or an order of the court.

We may also disclose your personal information to third parties before and after a transaction if we merge or reorganize. If the transaction is completed, we will require the third party to provide a comparable level of protection for your personal information. If the transaction is not completed, we will require the third party to securely destroy, or to return to us, any records containing your personal information.

DATA RETENTION

We will keep your personal information for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the relevant purposes set out in this Privacy Policy and to meet our legal and regulatory obligations. After such periods have expired, destruction of closed files occurs on a regular basis. Certain files (such as files relating to wills and estates) are retained for significantly extended periods of time. If you would like further information about the periods for which personal information will be kept, please contact us.

DATA SECURITY

Personal information in our custody is secured and kept at our premises using premises security, organizational restrictions, policies and procedures, and appropriate electronic security protocol. Personal information in our control is secured on hosted or cloud servers located in Canada that are protected by equal electronic security protocol. Certain closed physical files are stored off-site in secure arrangements with our service providers.

Clients and others often expect us to communicate with them using email or other electronic communication. Confidentiality and security cannot be guaranteed when personal information is transmitted over the Internet. If you believe your personal information provided to us has been compromised, please contact us.

ACCESSING AND CORRECTING YOUR INFORMATION

We strive to ensure your personal information is correct. Please contact us if you:

  • would like to challenge the accuracy of your personal information in our custody;

  • would like to request access to your personal information, or more information on our collection, use, disclosure or retention of your personal information;

  • have any questions or concerns about our personal information policies and procedures; or

  • would like a copy of an earlier version of this Privacy Policy.

A written response will usually be provided within 45 days. We reserve the right to confirm your identity before responding to any access request. Access may be denied if authorized by law including following the ethical requirements of client confidentiality or lawyer-client privilege. If a request for access is denied, we will provide you with an explanation of the reasons for the refusal.

UPDATES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We may change this Privacy Policy at any time and will post any revised or updated Privacy Policy on our website.

Last modified: October 22, 2023.