Effective October 2026.
Keystone Legal is a law firm in Alberta, and the confidentiality of what clients and prospective clients entrust to it is at the centre of its work. This policy explains what personal information the firm collects, why it is collected, how it is used, stored and protected, and how a person may ask to see or correct the information the firm holds about them. It is written to comply with Alberta’s Personal Information Protection Act and with the professional obligations of confidentiality that every lawyer in Alberta owes under the rules of the Law Society of Alberta.
Information the firm collects
The firm collects the personal information needed to respond to enquiries, to provide legal services and to meet its professional and legal obligations. That ordinarily includes a person’s name and contact details; the information they provide about their matter; the names of other people involved, which the firm needs in order to check for conflicts of interest; identification documents, which the Law Society of Alberta requires the firm to obtain and verify before acting; billing, trust and payment information; and the documents and correspondence that form part of a client’s file.
When someone visits the website, the site and its service providers may collect technical information such as the type of browser and device used, the pages visited and the approximate location from which the visit was made. That information is collected through cookies and similar technologies, as described below.
How the information is used
Personal information is used to respond to enquiries and arrange consultations, to check for conflicts of interest, to verify identity, to provide legal advice and representation, to keep trust and billing records, to communicate with clients and others involved in a matter, and to meet the firm’s obligations under the law and the rules of the Law Society of Alberta. The firm does not sell personal information, does not share it with anyone for marketing purposes, and does not use it for any purpose unrelated to the reasons for which it was provided, unless the person consents or the law requires or permits it.
Consent
By contacting the firm, booking a consultation or retaining the firm, a person consents to the collection, use and disclosure of their personal information for the purposes described in this policy. Consent may be withdrawn at any time, subject to legal and professional obligations and reasonable notice, although withdrawing consent may mean that the firm is unable to continue to act.
Confidentiality and privilege
Information shared with the firm in connection with a legal matter is confidential, and much of it is protected by solicitor-client privilege. That protection applies from the first conversation, whether or not the person goes on to retain the firm. The firm discloses confidential information only with the client’s consent, where it is necessary to carry out the client’s instructions, or where the law or the rules of the Law Society of Alberta require it.
Service providers and storage outside Canada
Like most law firms, Keystone Legal relies on established technology providers for practice management and trust accounting, document storage and sharing, electronic signature, video meetings, email, online booking, payment processing, office software and the operation of this website. Some of these providers store or process information outside Canada, including in the United States, where it may be accessible to authorities under the laws of that country, which the firm cannot control. The firm chooses its providers with care and expects them to protect personal information to a standard consistent with this policy.
Written information about the firm’s policies and practices concerning service providers outside Canada is available on request from the firm’s privacy officer, named below, who can also answer questions about the collection, use, disclosure or storage of personal information by those providers.
Sending documents to the firm
Ordinary email is not a fully secure means of communication. Clients who would rather not send financial or personal documents by email can ask the firm for a link to TitanFile, a Canadian secure file-sharing service that encrypts uploads, stores them in Canada and delivers them directly to the file. Please do not send confidential details through the website’s contact form before the firm has confirmed that it is able to act, since a conflict check must be completed first.
Cookies and the website
The website uses cookies and similar technologies to operate properly, to remember preferences and to understand how visitors use the site. Visitors can accept, refuse or change their choices at any time through the cookie banner, and can also control cookies through their browser settings. Refusing some cookies may affect how parts of the site work. The website may link to other sites, whose privacy practices are their own responsibility.
Safeguards and retention
The firm protects personal information with physical, administrative and technical safeguards appropriate to its sensitivity, including access controls, encryption where available and confidentiality obligations on everyone who works with the firm. Personal information is kept for as long as it is needed for the purposes for which it was collected and for the periods required by the Law Society of Alberta’s rules and the firm’s other legal obligations, after which it is securely destroyed.
Access and correction
A person may ask to see the personal information the firm holds about them and how it has been used or disclosed, and may ask for any error to be corrected. Requests should be made in writing to the privacy officer. The firm responds within the time set by the Personal Information Protection Act, generally 45 days, and may decline access where the Act permits, including where the information is subject to solicitor-client privilege or would reveal personal information about another person.
Privacy officer and complaints
Questions, requests and concerns about this policy or the firm’s handling of personal information may be directed to the firm’s privacy officer, Naomi Iskra, at Keystone Legal, Suite 107, 255 Railway Street East, Cochrane, Alberta T4C 2C3, or by email at info@keystone-legal.ca. A person who is not satisfied with the firm’s response may contact the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta.
The firm may update this policy from time to time, and the current version is always the one published on this page, with its effective date at the top.
