MacDonald & Partners LLP Policy on the Collection, Use and Disclosure of Personal Information

Objective & Scope of Policy

Consistent with our obligations as professionals, we at MacDonald & Partners are dedicated to maintaining high standards of confidentiality with respect to the information that has been provided to us. This Policy Statement has been prepared to affirm our commitment to maintaining the privacy of our clients and others and to inform you of our practices concerning the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information collected by MacDonald & Partners.

Our obligations as legal professionals are governed, in part, by the Rules of Professional Conduct that govern each of our professionals as members of Law Societies. These obligations apply to all professionals, employees, contractors and agents who provide services in connection with our delivery of legal and other services to our clients. Other applicable laws and internal Firm policies govern the protection of Personal Information of partners, associates and employees of MacDonald & Partners.

For the purposes of this Policy, “Personal Information” means any information, recorded in any form, about an identified individual, or an individual whose identity may be inferred or determined from the information.

Using contractual or other arrangements, MacDonald & Partners shall ensure that agents, contractors or third party service providers, who may receive Personal Information in the course of providing services to MacDonald & Partners as part of our delivery of services, protect that Personal Information in a manner consistent with the principles articulated in this Policy Statement.

Professional Relationship

As a general rule, all information concerning the business and affairs of a person acquired (1) for the purpose of determining whether MacDonald & Partners will enter into a professional relationship, or (2) in the course of a professional relationship, shall be held in strict confidence and not revealed to anyone unless expressly or implicitly authorized by the person or organization concerned. A professional relationship develops when MacDonald & Partners agrees to be retained to provide services to a particular individual. In order to protect their own interests, individuals should not send confidential information to MacDonald & Partners until they have had a direct discussion with a professional at the firm regarding the retention of MacDonald & Partners to provide legal services.

The Collection, Use & Disclosure of Personal Information

Your provision of Personal Information to MacDonald & Partners means that you agree and consent that we may collect, use and disclose your Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with these terms, you are requested not to provide any Personal Information to MacDonald & Partners. Unfortunately, certain services can only be offered if you provide Personal Information to MacDonald & Partners. Consequently, if you choose not provide us with any required Personal Information, MacDonald & Partners may not be able to offer you those services.

MacDonald & Partners collects only such information from individuals or organizations as is required for the purposes of providing services or information to them.

Personal Information will be collected, to the extent possible, directly from the individual concerned.

MacDonald & Partners may disclose Personal Information to organizations that perform services on behalf of the Firm. Personal Information will only be provided to such organizations if they agree to use such information solely for the purposes of providing services to MacDonald & Partners and under the instruction of MacDonald & Partners and, with respect to that information, to act in a manner consistent with the relevant principles articulated in this Policy.

Personal Information may also be subject to transfer to another organization in the event of a merger or change of ownership of all or part of MacDonald & Partners.

Please note that there are circumstances where the use and/or disclosure of Personal Information may be justified or permitted or where MacDonald & Partners is obliged to disclose information without consent. Such circumstances may include:

• Where required by law or by order or requirement of a court, administrative agency or other governmental tribunal;
• Where MacDonald & Partners believes, upon reasonable grounds, that it is necessary to protect the rights, privacy, safety or property of an identifiable person or group;
• Where it is necessary to establish or collect monies owing to MacDonald & Partners;
• Where it is necessary to permit MacDonald & Partners to pursue available remedies or limit any damages that MacDonald & Partners may sustain; or
• Where the information is public.

Where obliged or permitted to disclose information without consent, MacDonald & Partners will not disclose more information than is required.

Accuracy

MacDonald & Partners endeavours to ensure that any Personal Information provided and in its possession is as accurate, current and complete as necessary for the purposes for which MacDonald & Partners uses that information.

Retention

MacDonald & Partners keep Personal Information only as long as it is required for the reasons it was collected. The length of time we retain information varies, depending on the product or service and the nature of the information. This period may extend beyond the end of a person's relationship with us but it will be only for so long as it is necessary for us to have sufficient information to respond to any issues that may arise at a later date. When your Personal Information is no longer required for MacDonald & Partners' purposes, we have procedures to destroy, delete, erase or convert it into an anonymous form.

Security

MacDonald & Partners endeavours to maintain adequate physical, procedural and technical security with respect to its offices and information storage facilities so as to prevent any loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, or modification of Personal Information.

MacDonald & Partners further protects Personal Information by restricting access to it to those employees that the management of MacDonald & Partners has determined need to know that information in order that MacDonald & Partners may provide its services.

In terms of communicating Personal Information to MacDonald & Partners, you may wish to note that there is no method of transmitting or storing data that is completely secure. While the physical characteristics of each are different, mail, telephone calls, faxes and transmissions over the Internet are all susceptible to possible loss, misrouting, interception and misuse of the information being communicated or transmitted.

As do many organizations, MacDonald & Partners attempts to strike a reasonable balance between security and convenience. In communicating with clients and others, MacDonald & Partners often requests the right to use a method of communication that is less secure than some of its less convenient alternatives. An example of this is e-mail. At this time, when we use e-mail, it may be sent as unencrypted plain text. We do this because MacDonald & Partners believes that many of our clients and others cannot readily process encrypted e-mail. This is done for their convenience but has the security concern that, if misrouted or intercepted, it could be read more easily than encrypted e-mail.

Amendment of MacDonald & Partners Practices and This Policy

From time to time MacDonald & Partners will review and revise its privacy practices and this Policy Statement. MacDonald & Partners web site. Policy changes will apply to the information collected from the date of posting of the revised Policy Statement to MacDonald & Partners' web site as well as to existing information held by MacDonald & Partners.

Questions

In the event an individual has questions about (a) access to Personal Information; (b) the collection, use, management or disclosure of Personal Information; or (c) this Policy Statement, that person should contact any of the lawyers at MacDonald & Partners.