- 1.Electronic mail is not confidential. Email is routed through
any number of intermediate computers before reaching its intended destination.
Your Email messages are roughly equivalent to a picture post card. Anyone
with a desire to do so can intercept Email and view the contents of your
communications. You should never send confidential or sensitive information
by electronic mail.
- 2. Unsolicited communication to a lawyer is NOT protected by the
Solicitor Client Privilege. Privilege, the right to keep information
confidential, only arises when you have a pre-existing relationship with
the person to whom you are sending the communication, and that person has
a contractual or other legal obligation to keep the communication confidential.
This means that until a lawyer agrees to represent you, there can be no
"Privileged" communication.
- 3. The Lawyer you are contacting, or one of his associates, MAY
already be acting for a party with an adverse interest to yours. Before
accepting confidential information from a prospective client, a lawyer
will need to clearly identify you and any opposing parties to determine
whether anyone in his or her firm has already spoken to one of the other
parties. Only after ensuring that there are no conflicts, will the lawyer
proceed to accept the retainer. Once the Lawyer is retained, then the lawyer-client
privilege is created, but even then the nature of the confidentiality is
governed by complex rules.
- 4. You MAY be disclosing important facts to an opposing party. For
example, if you are seeking legal advice and you send Email to a lawyer
whom you have not already retained, and if that lawyer represents someone
else in the same case, that lawyer has a duty to disclose your information
to that other client. Although communications between an lawyer and client
are confidential, your communication is not confidential if you are not
the lawyer's client or if your communication is made in a setting where
others are likely to receive it.
If you think you have a legal action, do not delay seeing a lawyer.
Almost all legal actions have deadlines called "Limitation Dates".
These are extremely important in most legal matters. You may lose your
legal rights if you do not commence your action within the time limited
by the applicable statute. Hire a lawyer immediately to advise you of your
legal rights and the time frame in which they must be exercised. Phone
for an appointment and attend in person to retain a lawyer. DO NOT rely
upon a lawyer to answer his Email or even Voice Mail for an important case.
THEREFORE:
Do Not send confidential information to us!
Do Not contact us by Email if your legal action has a limitation
date!
Do contact a lawyer in person.
Bassett & Company does not provide free legal advice. The lawyers
in our firm are licensed to practice law in the Province of British Columbia
only. We cannot respond to inquiries regarding the laws of other Provinces
or the United States.
If you want to send us Email to enquire whether our firm will be
able to act for you, you may click here: E-mail:
info@OkanaganLaw.com No solicitor client relationship will be created
by simply addressing Email to our firm, and we shall not be responsible
for any loss that may occur as a result of any failure to respond or to
respond in a timely manner to any unsolicited Email.
BASSETT &
COMPANY 