Professionals FAQ

You should expect:

a. Your services are provided consistent with the timelines you need them provided in, and, if that timeline cannot be met, to be reasonably advised.

b. That your correspondence to Disclosure Clinic will be acknowledged and returned as quickly as reasonably possible within normal business hours, or otherwise reasonably advised.

c. That, within the limits of the use of technology agreement below, to ensure your communications remain confidential and protected by solicitor-client privilege.

As these services are limited in scope, you remain responsible for all aspects of your family law legal matter, except those specifically assigned to Disclosure Clinic as confirmed in writing.

In addition, you must:

a. not assume Disclosure Clinic is assisting you with any part of your family law situation or proceeding, if any, apart from what is specifically confirmed.

b. comply with all reasonable requests for information about you or the state of your family law matter.

c. provide Disclosure Clinic with copies of correspondence or documents relevant to your case if asked;

d. immediately notify Disclosure Clinic of any pending negotiations, conferences, hearings, deadlines (either contractual or imposed by a court), or other court events that may affect your expectations of our schedule of work;

e. review and re-evaluate all information provided by Disclosure Clinic to ensure continuing accuracy;

f. advise of any concerns you may have regarding your case or the services provided; and

g. immediately notify of any changes to your contact information.

1. See FAQ II above for general fee policies.

2. For continuing services, time is recorded in increments of one tenth of an hour, as is current industry standard.

3. Time spent on telephone calls and responding to e-mails will be billed, unless advised otherwise.

4. In addition to legal fees, if you instruct, or agree to in advance, to incur expenses (also called disbursements) that result from work on your matter then you agree to pay for, or reimburse for, such expenses. Disbursements specifically include expenses such as the cost of obtaining documents like property parcels, car value estimates, mail and courier charges, process server fees (if any). You will not be billed for communication costs such as phone, fax, or online services.

5. If you have a question or concern as to a fee or disbursement charged to you, please email me and we will mutually address it before the upcoming payment period.

1. Disclosure Clinic uses cloud-based programs to communicate and store client files and records, including free online services such as Google (Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Forms, Hangouts, etc.), Zoom, Whatsapp, SMS, Facetime and the like. Some of these programs use servers located outside of Canada.

2. Using these programs may create some risks for your information. By using our service, you are agreeing to the use of these programs – with their own terms of use as may change time to time – for your personal information, and assume any reasonable risk that your information can be compromised by factors outside your control or our control.

3. Disclosure Clinic assures that the information in our control will be as secure as possible, including use and periodic change of complex passwords, two-factor identification and the like. In turn, we commit to cease using such services and promptly move/delete any existing information if the service provider cannot assure reasonable privacy expectations, or is known to be compromised.

4. You can request that we provide you with, and/or delete, your information at any time.

5. You are likewise responsible for choosing the technology you wish to communicate with us, and assume the related risks. You are strongly advised not to use an employer’s email address for personal communications.

6. Confidentiality: All information you provide to Disclosure Clinic will be kept strictly private and confidential. The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act gives you rights concerning the privacy of your personal information, and we will ensure they are protected while in our control. Only you have the power to decide if the information you share with us will also be shared with others, unless we are obligated to do so pursuant to a statute (whether in Canada or elsewhere), court order (if justified) or the Law Society of Ontario’s Rules of Professional Conduct.

1. Your Dismissal:  You can end Disclosure Clinic services at any time by written notice which will take effect when your notice is received. Unless we specifically agree otherwise, no further services will be provided to you after receipt of the notice. Notwithstanding the dismissal, you understand and agree that you will remain obligated to pay the agreed rate for all services that provided prior to being dismissed. 

2.  Our Withdrawal:  Disclosure Clinic may withdraw at any time subject to restrictions imposed by the Law Society of Ontario’s Rules of Professional Conduct and/or the Family Law Rules, as may be applicable. Circumstances can include: 

    a. You consent to our withdrawal;

    b. You mislead us in a material way;

    c. You instruct us to do something that is prohibited by the Rules of Professional Conduct;

    d. Our continuing to act would be unethical or impractical, including the circumstance where our relationship is discovered to create a conflict of interest.

    e. Your conduct renders it unreasonably difficult for us to carry out the services effectively;

    f.  You fail to cooperate with us in any reasonable request;

    g. You fail to communicate with us on a timely basis; 

    h. There is a serious loss of confidence between us; or

    i.   You fail to pay our fees or expenses.

3. Upon the end of services under this agreement, and upon your request, we will archive all of your electronic documentation. The archive will be securely stored for a period of no less than 6 years, unless you instruct us earlier to delete them.