CASL Compliance for Businesses: Mitigating Regulatory and Class Action Risks through Effective Practice Management and Training
Canada’s Anti-Spam Law (CASL) applies to anyone who uses electronic communication to engage in any kind of commercial transaction, including businesses, charities, and clubs. CASL makes it presumptively unlawful to use email and text messages for commercial purposes, unless strict requirements are met. The CRTC has made it clear that it will expect businesses that fall short of a standard of perfection to volunteer to pay fines.
Now, class actions seeking damages against companies that use email to do business will be possible. This nutshell will help you and your clients to develop compliance to mitigate regulatory and class action risks associated with CASL.
Julie Chapman: Practice management tips and Compliance Training
As a legal professional, it is imperative to ensure your daily processes, especially those directly related to direct client contact/communications, are compliant will applicable laws and regulations. Lawyers must operate within the constraints of CASL in their business development efforts and seek to have a firm-wide “culture of compliance”. I will discuss the creation of our “CASL tool” as an example of how to implement a company/firm-wide system, which is highly dependent on frequent training updates and consistent application of policies. Julie Chapman & Jillian Swartz: Client Service and Practice Management
Complying with CASL: How to design and implement a CASL compliance program for your business or your client’s business, including: risk-based assessment, policies and training – creating a firm-wide culture of compliance, monitoring and ongoing compliance. Use of technology in a law practice (using technology in a way that complies with rules regarding the use of email and other electronic communications by lawyers); practice management (incorporating CASL compliance into practice management)
Presenters
Director Julie A. Chapman W. Michael G. Osborne Jillian M. Swartz
Toronto Lawyers Association
For more than 135 years, the Toronto Lawyers' Association, located within the Courthouse Library, has represented the interests of lawyers practising in the City of Toronto. The association was founded to support its members in three key areas: Knowledge, Advocacy, and Community. To uphold these pillars, the association offers a year-round mix of online and in-person education programs for lawyers, hosts both free and paid events to foster in-person networking, and submits advocacy pieces on behalf of its members to the Ontario bench and bar, all levels of government, and the broader public.
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