This Privacy Policy outlines how I manage your personal information and safeguard your privacy.

Your Privacy Rights
From January 1, 2004, all businesses engaged in commercial activities must comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, and the Canadian Standards Association Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information, which it incorporates. These obligations extend to lawyers and law firms, including Carvalho Law. The Act gives you rights concerning the privacy of your personal information. I am responsible for the personal information I collect and hold. To ensure this accountability, I have developed this policy, and trained my support staff about my policies and practices.

What is personal information?
Personal information is any information that identifies you, or by which your identity could be deduced but does not include business contact information such as an employee’s name, title, business address, telephone number or email addresses.

How do I collect your personal information?
I collect information only by lawful and fair means, and not in an unreasonably intrusive way. Wherever possible I collect your personal information directly from you, both at the start of a retainer and in the course of my representation.
Sometimes I may obtain information about you from other sources such as:
• your insurance company;
• your real estate agent in a property transaction;
• your mortgage broker or specialist in a mortgage transaction
• from a government agency or registry;
• your accountant

Consent
If you have retained me for my legal services, and I require information about you from other sources, I will normally ask for your consent in writing, but in some circumstances,
I may accept your oral consent. Sometimes, your consent may be implied through your
conduct with me. In the event the nature of my retainer requires that I complete a virtual identification verification of you, 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 Your Information
I use your personal information to provide legal advice and services to you, and to administer my
client databases such as file management, billing, and cloud services.
Disclosure of your Personal Information
Under certain circumstances, I will disclose your personal information:
• when I am 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 I am providing to you requires me to use your information with third
parties (for example a lender in a real estate mortgage transaction) your consent will be implied,
unless you tell me otherwise;
• if I 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.

Is My Personal Information Secure?
Carvalho Law 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.

Access to Your Personal Information
You may ask for access to any personal information I hold about you. Summary information is available on request. More detailed requests which require archive or other retrieval costs may be subject to my normal professional and disbursement fees. Your rights to access your personal information are not absolute. I may deny access in some situations, such as if it is required or authorized by law to do so. If I deny your request for access to, I shall provide you with an explanation.

Email
While email is a preferred means of communication, you should be aware it is not a 100% secure medium. Please keep this in mind when sending personal or confidential information. 

Changes to this Privacy Policy
Since I review all policies and procedures, reserve the right to amend my Privacy Policy from time to time.

Requests for Access
If you have any questions, or wish to access your personal information, please write to:

Kristin Carvalho

2 Hillavon Drive
Toronto, Ontario M9B 2P5 

If you are not satisfied with my response or have a question of a general nature, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada can be reached at
112 Kent Street,
Ottawa Ontario, K1A 1H3
1.800.282.1376.

WEBSITE
My website may contain links to other sites, which are not governed by this privacy policy.