Terms of Use

Last updated: May 10, 2020

Outlined below is important information regarding the terms and conditions of using the services (“Service “, collectively “ Services “) of the counselconnect.ca, firm.counselconnect.ca and app.counselconnect.ca Site (as defined below) as a CounselConnect member or as a guest to this site (as defined below.) PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING CAREFULLY. BY USING THIS SITE, YOU PROVIDE YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH ANY OF THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE, PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS SITE. This agreement is the user agreement (the “ Agreement ” or “ User Agreement “) for counselconnect.ca and app.counselconnect.ca This Agreement describes the terms and conditions applicable to your use of our services available under the domain and subdomains of http://www.counselconnect.ca (the “ Site “). IF you do not agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this agreement, do not access the site or use the services.

 

You must read, agree with and accept all of the terms and conditions contained in this User Agreement and the Privacy Policy, which include those terms and conditions expressly set out below and those incorporated by reference, before you may use the Site. Also note that other pages on this Site may contain further terms and conditions that apply to you as a CounselConnect user.

 

This Site is owned and operated by CounselConnect Ltd. (“ CounselConnect“), a company incorporated under the federal laws of Canada.

1. Access Rights

• Users of the Site shall be considered as either “Guests,” “Members,” or “Referrals” as follows:

1. “ Guests ” are allowed access to a minimal level of Services available on the Site. Access to some features may be limited; who signed up with CounselConnect and are looking for law practitioners for themselves or someone else. Members can also be law practitioners who signed up with CounselConnect.
2. “ Members ” who are allowed to access additional features that are not otherwise available to Guests. Members can be people
3. “ Referrals ” who are invited by Members to access certain Services.

• A User of the Site may also be classified by the Site as an “ Inactive Member “. An Inactive Member is a User of the Site who was at one time a Member but now no longer has access to additional features or Services due to inactivity.

2. Electronic Communications

• When you visit the Site or send emails to us, you are communicating with us electronically and you consent to receive communications from us electronically. We will communicate with you by e-mail or by posting notices on this Site. You agree that all agreements, notices, disclosures and other communications that we provide to you electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing.
• By using the Site, you acknowledge and agree that counselconnect.ca and app.counselconnect.ca will send member emails relating to their member account. You can unsubscribe to promotional emails at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in any of our e-mail communications under opt-in preferences.
• By using the Site and opting to receive text messages and emails, you acknowledge and agree that CounselConnect may contact you by text message or email to the telephone number(s) or email address(es) you provide to us. You acknowledge and agree that communications sent by text message and email may not be secure. You do not have to agree to receive telephone calls, email or text messages as a condition of receiving any Services from CounselConnect. 
• You acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for providing CounselConnect with accurate contact information, including your mobile device number and email address. CounselConnect is not responsible for user errors and omissions.

3. Materials Posted on Site: Reviews and Ratings

• it is your sole responsibility to review the content of all materials submitted by you on the Site. In the event you discover any material about you that is inappropriate, it is your responsibility to report the issue to us for investigation and possible action, or edit and change it yourself if applicable. You acknowledge that we do not and cannot monitor all the material that is posted on the Site in its entirety.
• We reserve the right to monitor all communications made by you through the Site to ensure compliance with this Agreement. Where we have determined in our sole discretion that a rating, review, posting, email, image, or communication by you through the Site is in violation of this Agreement or any content guidelines, or is otherwise unacceptable, we reserve the right to remove, edit, or move the Inappropriate Material.

4. Your Conduct When Using the Site

When using the Services available on the Site, you agree to use the Services in accordance with the following:

• you will use the Site only for any of the following general purposes and for no other purpose:

1. finding a law practitioner for yourself or for another person;
2. reading reviews and ratings of law practitioners submitted by other Guests and Members;
3. submitting your own reviews and ratings of law practitioners who you have had legitimate experience with;
4. inviting friends and family to become Members of CounselConnect;
5. or any other purpose authorized by CounselConnect from time to time

• any review of a law practitioner that you submit to be included on the Site:

1. shall be a true representation of your experience with the particular law practitioner;
2. shall not be false, misleading, or untrue;
3. shall not include any personally identifiable information, except your name and a picture of yourself if you choose to display as such.

• you acknowledge that:

1. The list of law practitioners listed on the Site may not be a complete list of every law practitioner within the specified specialty categories or specified distance of the addressed specified and may not be updated on a regular basis even if we have been advised of incorrect or incomplete information;
2. the information contained about a particular law practitioner may not be accurate or complete and may not be updated on a regular basis even if we have been advised of incorrect or incomplete information;
3. any map displayed may not be complete, accurate, or up-to-date;
4. Iany request to show results of law practitioners who are accepting new clients may not be complete, accurate, or up-to-date and may not be updated on a regular basis even if we have been advised of incorrect or incomplete information;
5. any records of a particular law practitioner that states such legal service provider accepts new clients may not be complete, accurate, or up-to-date and may not be updated on a regular basis even if we have been advised of incorrect or incomplete information;
6. some members (law practitioners) may be unavailable to request appointments depending on whether they are premium users or not.
7. some members may be subject to ads placed on their pages depending on whether they are premium users or not.
8. when you refer a friend, you are solely responsible for entering and verifying the correct recipient’s name and contact information; CounselConnect is not responsible for user errors or omissions.

• any ratings or reviews on the Site:

1. are submitted by other Users of the Site;
2. may not be complete, accurate, or up-to-date;
3. Ido not convey the views or opinions of CounselConnect;

• the inclusion of any law practitioner on the Site shall not be considered as an endorsement of such law practitioner by CounselConnect and shall not in any way mean that CounselConnect has conducted any due diligence or other investigation regarding the law practitioner;
• you agree that CounselConnect is not held liable for any advice or information a member may provide to you.
• you agree that you will not submit ratings or reviews of any law practitioner which contains material that in the sole discretion of CounselConnect constitutes libel, slander, harassment, abuse or defamation, or is pornographic, racist, obscene, or otherwise offensive as determined by CounselConnect in its sole discretion;
• you agree that you will not use any of the Services in any way that infringes the privacy rights, intellectual property rights, or any other rights of any law practitioner, client, person or entity;
• you will not post or otherwise distribute messages or pictures or use any of the Services in any way which:

1. violates, plagiarizes or infringes upon the rights of any third party, including but not limited to any copyright or trademark law, privacy or other personal or proprietary rights, including intellectual property rights; or
2. is misleading, fraudulent, or is otherwise unlawful or violates any law;

• you will not use any of the Services to distribute, promote or otherwise publish any material containing any solicitation for funds, advertising or solicitation for goods or services, promoting any website;
• you will not post or transmit in any manner any contact information including, but not limited to, email addresses, instant messenger usernames, telephone numbers, postal mail addresses, website URLs, or full names through your publicly posted information unless instructed to do so.

5. Your CounselConnect Password

CounselConnect is entitled to act on instructions received under your password. You are responsible for keeping your user ID, password, and any and all other account information confidential. CounselConnect is not responsible for any actions taken or transaction made to or from your accounts by any other party using your password.

6. Proprietary Rights

• All materials on this Site, including, without limitation, ratings reviews, information, images, illustrations, audio clips, video clips, surveys and special promotions, are protected by intellectual property rights owned and controlled either by CounselConnect or its affiliates and subsidiaries, or by other Users or by third parties who have licensed their material to CounselConnect. Material from the Site may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted or distributed in any way without the prior written consent of CounselConnect or except as specifically permitted on the Site. Use of material for any purpose and other than your own personal, non-commercial or home use is a violation of copyrights and other intellectual property rights. The use of any such material on any other website, social network, blog, handheld device application, web based application, or networked computer is prohibited.
• The trade marks, logos and service marks that you see on this Site are registered and unregistered marks of CounselConnect or its affiliates and subsidiaries, or third parties who have licensed the use of such marks to CounselConnect. Nothing in this Site grants any license or right to use any marks displayed on this site without the written permission of the owner of the mark. Your misuse of the marks displayed on this Site or any other content on this Site is strictly prohibited.
• CounselConnect makes no representation that materials on the Site are appropriate or available for use in locations other than Canada. Those who choose to access this site from locations outside Canada do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws, if and to the extent, local laws apply.
• CounselConnect welcomes your comments on our services, including the CounselConnect Site. However, any notes, messages, billboard postings, ideas, suggestions or other material that you submit to CounselConnect will become the sole and exclusive property of CounselConnect. CounselConnect is entitled to use any material that you submit for any type of use forever in any media, whether now known or later developed. When you submit material to CounselConnect’s Site, you agree that CounselConnect has the right to publish the material for any use as outlined above including, but not limited to, promotional and advertising purposes, without compensation to you of any kind. As a result, we must ask that you do not send us any original creative materials such as stories, product ideas or artwork.

7. Linked Sites

SOME LINKS IN THE CounselConnect SITE LET YOU LEAVE THE CounselConnect SITE. THE LINKED SITES ARE NOT UNDER THE CONTROL OF CounselConnect AND CounselConnect IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONTENT OF ANY LINKED SITE OR ANY LINK CONTAINED IN A LINKED SITE. CounselConnect IS PROVIDING THESE LINKS TO YOU ONLY AS A CONVENIENCE, AND THE INCLUSION OF ANY LINK DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT BY CounselConnect OF THE LINKED SITE.

8. Disclaimer and Disruptions or Interruptions in Service

THE MATERIALS IN THE CounselConnect SITE ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFICALLY NOTED HEREIN. CounselConnect DOES NOT WARRANT THE FUNCTIONS, INFORMATION OR LINKS CONTAINED ON THESE SITES OR THAT THEIR CONTENTS WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, THAT THESE SITES OR THEIR CONTENTS ARE FIT FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR THAT THE OPERATIONS OF THE CounselConnect NETWORK OR ITS CONTENTS WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, OR THAT THESE SITES OR THE SERVER THAT MAKES THEM AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES, WORMS OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. WITHOUT LIMITATION, CounselConnect MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO ANY SPECIFIC MERCHANDISE OR SERVICE THAT WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR OR OBTAINED BY MEMBERS.

 

IN THE EVENT THAT THERE IS AN INTERRUPTION OR DISRUPTION IN ANY OF THE SERVICES OFFERED BY CounselConnect FOR WHATEVER REASON, EVEN IF CounselConnect OFFICIALS HAVE BEEN MADE AWARE OF AN ISSUE THAT COULD RESULT IN OR IS LIKELY TO RESULT IN AN INTERRUPTION OR DISRUPTION OF SERVICES, CounselConnect SHALL NOT BE REQUIRED TO ISSUE A REFUND FOR ANY PURCHASE MADE BY YOU. AS SOON AS CounselConnect OFFICIALS HAVE IDENTIFIED THE CAUSE OF AN INTERRUPTION OR DISRUPTION, CounselConnect SHALL USE ITS REASONABLE EFFORTS TO RETURN SERVICE AS SOON AS REASONABLY POSSIBLE.

9. Use of the Term “Partner”

The use of term “partner” on this Site and in any other materials is not intended to indicate that the “partners” are in a legal partnership with CounselConnect. Rather, the term is used in a marketing sense to show participation by the other parties involved in the CounselConnect products and services.

10. Termination

These terms and conditions of use constitute an agreement that is effective until terminated by CounselConnect at any time without notice. CounselConnect may terminate your right to use this Site immediately, without notice to you if, in the sole discretion of CounselConnect, you fail to comply with any of these terms and conditions of use or engage in any fraudulent activity. In the event of termination, you are no longer authorized to access the benefits of this Site. You will also not receive a refund on your existing premium subscription if you are terminated from our site under reasonable grounds. The restrictions imposed on you with respect to material copied or downloaded, the disclaimers and limitations of liabilities set forth in these terms and conditions of use, shall survive the termination of this agreement. These terms and conditions of use together with the Privacy Policy of the Site constitute the entire agreement between you and CounselConnect related to this Site.

11. Governing Law

This agreement is governed by and shall be construed in accordance with the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of law. You agree to bring any claims against CounselConnect exclusively in the courts of the Province of Ontario. If any provision of these terms of use proves unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this agreement and will not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

12. Compliance with Laws

• You agree that your use of the site shall not violate any applicable local, national or international law, including but not limited to any regulations having the force of law. Some jurisdictions may have restrictions on the use of the Internet by their residents.
• You agree not to impersonate another person in your use of the site including without limiting the generality of the foregoing any content of a review submitted.

13. Assignment

You do not have any right to assign this Agreement or any of your rights to the Service to anyone. CounselConnect may assign any or all of its rights and obligations under this Agreement or to the Service to any third party. At the election of CounselConnect, if CounselConnect’s obligations herein are assumed by a third party, CounselConnect shall be relieved of any and all obligations and liability under this Agreement.

14. Viruses

While effort is made to ensure that information provided on the site does not contain computer viruses, you should take reasonable and appropriate precautions to scan your computer for viruses and other malware. You should also ensure that you have a complete and current backup of the applicable items of information contained on your computer. You should pay specific attention to some of the newer viruses that have been written to automatically execute when an infected word processing document is loaded into certain word processing programs.

15. Service Providers

To provide and process the services to you, CounselConnect shares your personally identifiable information with our authorized service providers that perform certain services or functions on our behalf.

16. Our Obligations

CounselConnect may be required by law to disclose information you have provided in using any of the services on the Website. CounselConnect may also disclose information where someone poses a threat to CounselConnect’s interests (such as user fraud) or whose activities could bring upon harm to others. In addition, it may be necessary in the reasonable opinion of officials of CounselConnect that certain information be provided to third parties, such as law enforcement authorities. In the event that CounselConnect receives a court order to disclose information on the Website about you or your activities on the Website, you agree that such information may be disclosed.

17. Other Web Sites

• There are several places throughout CounselConnect that may link you to other websites that do not operate under CounselConnect’s information privacy practices. When you click through to these websites, CounselConnect’s information privacy practices no longer apply. We recommend that you read the privacy statements for all third party Web sites to understand their procedures for collecting, using, and disclosing your information.
• You have the option of sending an Email to Customer Support requesting a change to the information you provided to us or to receive a copy of the information we have stored. We will make every reasonable effort to honour your wishes. Proof of identity will be required.

18. Other Web Sites

• To help us improve CounselConnect and serve you better, from time to time we may Email surveys to you to learn more about your experience with our site and services. You are under no obligation to respond to these surveys, and you may unsubscribe from receiving them by following the unsubscribe instructions in any e-mail survey you receive.
• CounselConnect may contact a reputable third party to facilitate the distribution of survey, promotion, or sweepstakes programs. Upon completion of these projects, all information is returned to CounselConnect.
• We reserve the right to disclose certain information about your usage of the Site in a form that does not disclose your identity.

19. Request Customer Support or Submit Questions/Suggestions

When you request assistance with viewing your profile, logging on to the CounselConnect Web site, or accessing your account, we will respond to you via e-mail or telephone.

20. Privacy

We do not sell or rent your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes without your explicit consent and we only use your information as described in the Privacy Policy. We view protection of users’ privacy as a very important community principle. We understand clearly that you and your information are one of our most important assets. We store and process your information on a secure and encrypted database. Our current Privacy Policy is available on the Site. If you object to your information being transferred or used in this way, please do not use the Service.

21. Liability Limit

IN NO EVENT SHALL WE, OUR SUBSIDIARIES, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES OR OUR SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR LOST PROFITS OR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH OUR SITE, OUR SERVICES OR THIS AGREEMENT, HOWEVER ARISING, INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE. Neither CounselConnect, nor its affiliated or related entities or its content providers are responsible or liable to any person or entity whatsoever for any direct or indirect loss, damage (whether actual, consequential, punitive, special or otherwise), injury, claim, liability or other cause of any kind or character whatsoever based upon or resulting from any information or reviews, ratings or opinions provided on the CounselConnect site or from the use of, or the inability to use CounselConnect materials. You specifically agree that CounselConnect is not liable for any defamatory, offensive, or illegal conduct of any user. If you are dissatisfied with the CounselConnect site or any materials on the site, or with any of CounselConnect’s terms and conditions of use or the CounselConnect Privacy Policy, your exclusive remedy is to discontinue using the Site.

22. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable legal fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of your breach of this Agreement or the documents it incorporates by reference, or your violation of any law or the rights of a third party.

23. No Agency

You and CounselConnect are independent contractors, and no agency, partnership, joint venture, employee-employer or franchisor-franchisee relationship is intended or created by this Agreement.

24. Corrections and Additions to Law Practitioner Profile

CounselConnect reserves the right to make corrections and additions to an incomplete profile solely for the betterment of the law practitioners profile effectiveness. The edits and additions will be derived from public resources that the law practitioner has provided online. CounselConnect will not make any changes to a profile that might limit, slander, or harm the law practitioners business. We will only make changes to maximize the proficiency of the law practitioners profile.

25. Changes to These Terms and Conditions of Use

CounselConnect reserves the right, at any time, to modify, alter, or update these Terms and Conditions of Use by posting the modified, altered or updated terms on the Site, and you agree to be bound by such modifications, alterations or updates. If you do not agree to such modifications, alterations or updates, you should terminate your use of the Services. Your continued use of any of the Services following the posting of notice of any changes in this Agreement shall constitute your acceptance of such modifications, alterations and updates.