Privacy policy
What this website collects, why, and what you can do about it. Last updated September 3, 2026.
What this policy covers
This policy explains what personal information Boggs & Levin collects through this website, why we collect it, what we do with it, and how you can reach us about it. It is written to meet the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), which governs how personal information is handled in the course of commercial activity in Ontario.
Information you give us in the course of a retainer is also protected by solicitor-client privilege and by our professional obligations under the Rules of Professional Conduct. Those duties are stricter than this policy and are not limited by it.
What we collect
Only what is needed to call you back and to check for conflicts.
- What the form collects
Your name and telephone number, which are required; and your email address, the charge or area you select, and anything you type into the message box, which are not.
- What your browser sends
Ordinary web server records: the address of the page requested, the date and time, and the internet protocol address the request came from. These are generated by the hosting provider, not by us.
- Cookies
One cookie, written when you answer the notice at the foot of the screen, and written whichever way you answer. It holds a single word, allowed or declined, so you are not asked again. It contains nothing personal and is not used to follow you.
Declining is not the absence of a record. It is a record that says you declined, which is what stops the notice returning on every page.
- Page views
Our host counts page views using Cloudflare Web Analytics. It runs a small script that uses your browser’s own timing information rather than a cookie, and it records the country, the page address, the site that sent you here if there was one, the device type, the browser, the operating system, and how the page was loaded.
It does not follow you to other websites, and Cloudflare states that it does not collect visitors’ personal data. Any content blocker will stop it, and the site works exactly the same without it.
There is no advertising pixel and no cross-site tracker on this site, and nothing here is sold or shared with anybody for marketing.
- What we do not collect
We do not ask for, and you should not send through this website, your date of birth, your social insurance number, banking details, or documents relating to your matter.
Why we collect it
Under PIPEDA we may only use personal information for purposes a reasonable person would consider appropriate, and we must say what those purposes are.
- To answer you
So that a lawyer can call you back and tell you whether this is a matter the firm can take, and what it is likely to involve.
- To run a conflicts check
Before we can act we must check that acting for you would not conflict with a duty owed to an existing or former client. That check uses the names you give us.
- For our own records
To keep a record of inquiries received, which we are required to do in order to demonstrate that conflicts were checked.
Consent
You give consent by sending the form. Nothing is collected from you unless you choose to send it.
The contact form carries a statement of what you are agreeing to, immediately above the button that sends it. Sending the form is your consent to us using the information for the purposes set out above, and for no other purpose.
Consent to a cookie is separate, and is asked for in the notice at the foot of the screen. Declining it does not affect your use of this site.
Who else sees it
Two suppliers handle an inquiry on the way to us. Both are named here.
Inside the firm, an inquiry is read by the lawyers and staff who need to read it in order to answer you and to check for conflicts.
Outside the firm, two companies handle it. Cloudflare, Inc. hosts this website and stores what you send. When you press the button, your message is written to a Cloudflare database. It is not published on the site and no visitor can reach it. Cloudflare also counts page views, which is described under Cookies and page views above and involves none of what you write in the form.
Brevo, a French company, sends the email that tells the firm an inquiry has arrived. That email repeats what you wrote, so Brevo handles the text in the course of delivering it and keeps a record that it was delivered. Brevo holds this in the European Union under a published data processing agreement.
That is the entire list. No analytics company, no advertising network, no form service, and nothing sold, rented, traded or shared with anybody for marketing. Beyond those two suppliers we disclose personal information only where the law, a court order, or the Law Society of Ontario in the exercise of its regulatory functions requires it of us.
Both companies store information outside Canada. Information held in another country can be reached by the courts and law enforcement of that country. That is the reason the form asks you to keep the message short and to leave the detail for the telephone.
How long we keep it, and how it is protected
Twelve months for an inquiry that does not become a file, and it deletes itself.
An inquiry that does not become a file is deleted 12 months after it arrives. The deletion runs on a schedule rather than by hand, so it happens whether or not anybody remembers to do it. Ask us before then and we will delete it sooner.
If you retain the firm, what you told us becomes part of the client file and is kept for the period the Rules of Professional Conduct and the Law Society of Ontario require for client files. That period is longer, and it is not ours to shorten.
Information is held on access-controlled systems and this site is served over an encrypted connection. No system is perfectly secure. That is why the form asks you to keep your message brief, why it asks you to leave the detail for the telephone, and why you should not send documents about your matter through it.
Your rights
PIPEDA gives you the following rights, and we will honour them.
- Access
You may ask what personal information we hold about you and request a copy of it. We will respond within 30 days, as PIPEDA requires.
- Correction
If something we hold is wrong, tell us and we will correct it.
- Withdrawing consent
You may withdraw consent at any time, subject to legal and professional record-keeping obligations that may require us to retain a file for a period after a matter closes.
- Complaints
Write to us first, at privacy@criminaldefencelawyers.ca. If you are not satisfied, you may complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
Reaching us about privacy
- Privacy contact
- By telephone
- By post
Boggs & Levin
4040 Steeles Avenue West, Suite 35
Vaughan, Ontario
If this policy changes, the date at the top of this page changes with it. Material changes will be described here rather than made quietly.
Talk it through with a lawyer
The first conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing. We will give you an honest read on where you stand, whether you retain us or not.
We are a private practice and our fees reflect the work involved. A serious matter is prepared over months, and we keep our numbers low so each file gets the hours it needs. We will tell you what your case is likely to cost on the first call, before you commit to anything. And if the honest answer is that duty counsel, Legal Aid or another firm would serve you better, we will tell you that instead.