Don’t Let CASL Crunch Your Business

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, starting in July 2017, 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)