TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE:

1.0 INTRODUCTION
(a) The term " Access Pro Bono Society of BC " includes: Access Pro Bono Society of BC Society, the owner and general administrator of the website, its employees, directors and officers, and the individuals and organizations serving as coordinators of each practice area.  The term “Website” means the website at www.probononet.bc.ca.

(b) The Website is for the use of lawyers, non-lawyer legal professionals, representatives of community organizations and the general public. The following groups may register on the Website if they meet the following conditions:
*Lawyers using the Website must be a member in good standing of the Law Society of BC.
*Representatives from community groups must provide proof of their identity and their connection to the community group.
*Non-lawyer legal professionals who apply to the Website will be reviewed by the administrator in order to determine their eligibility.

(c) Access Pro Bono Society of BC reserves the right to amend, change, modify, add, or remove portions of this Agreement at any time.  Notice of any changes will be posted on the home page of the Website.  Your continued use of the Website following the posting of changes to these terms means you accept these changes.  If you do not agree to any change to this Agreement, you must immediately stop using the Website and notify us that you are terminating this Agreement. 

2.0 NOT A LEGAL SERVICE
(a) Although the Website may provide information concerning potential legal issues, it is not a substitute for legal advice from a qualified lawyer. You should not, and are not authorized to, rely on the Website as a source of legal advice.

(b) Your use of the Website does not create any lawyer-client or fiduciary relationship between you and Access Pro Bono Society of BC.  Nor does it create any lawyer-client or fiduciary relationship between you and any other users of the website, including administrators of any user group.

(c) You alone are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of any information you may give. You are responsible for how you use information that you get from the Website. You are responsible for checking and ensuring the accuracy of any information you receive from the Website.

3.0 LIABILITY
(a) You agree that you are solely responsible for any statements or information you post on the Website or send to Access Pro Bono Society of BC. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Access Pro Bono Society of BC and its other users from any legal consequences resulting from your use of the Website, the system, or the materials, statements or information you upload or post on the system. You will not post anything which may be defamatory to Access Pro Bono Society of BC or other users, or which infringes the intellectual property rights of Access Pro Bono Society of BC or third parties.

(b) WARNING! THE WEBSITE IS PROVIDED "AS IS".  YOU AGREE TO ASSUME ALL RISKS IN YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE.  We do not warrant any particular results or the reliability, accuracy or completeness of any information in the Website or in connection with the Website.   We strive for accuracy, but the Website may include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors.  Access Pro Bono Society of BC assumes no liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in the content of the Website.

(c) DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY. Access Pro Bono Society OF BC MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS AND EXTENDS NO WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.  IN PARTICULAR, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, Access Pro Bono Society OF BC EXCLUDES ALL EXPRESS AND IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS OF THE WEBSITE FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR THAT THE USE OF THE WEBSITE WILL PRODUCE A DESIRED RESULT.

(d) LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. Access Pro Bono Society OF BC WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU, OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FOR ANY LIABILITY, LOSS OR DAMAGES CAUSED OR ALLEGED TO HAVE BEEN CAUSED, EITHER DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, BY YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE WEBSITE.   YOU WILL NOT SUE Access Pro Bono Society OF BC IF ANYTHING POSTED TO THE WEBSITE DEFAMES YOU OR IF ANYTHING POSTED ON THE WEBSITE INFRINGES COPYRIGHT OWNED BY YOU.   WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT WILL Access Pro Bono Society OF BC BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOST REVENUE, PROFIT, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION OR DATA, OR FOR SPECIAL, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, HOWEVER CAUSED AND REGARDLESS OF THE THEORY OF LIABILITY, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE WEBSITE, EVEN IF Access Pro Bono Society OF BC HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

(e) You acknowledge that your client’s rights or remedies may be subject to limitation dates.  You release Access Pro Bono Society of BC from any liability if you fail to meet any relevant limitation dates.

4.0 CONFIDENTIALITY

4.1 Client Confidentiality

(a) No client confidences or lawyer-client communications should be posted on the Website.

(b) You may discuss general scenarios in the form of hypotheticals, so long as there is no risk that another user of the Website would be able to identify a client or any unique legal strategy involved.

(c) You will ask your client's permission before posting any information about his or her case on the Website.

(d) Access Pro Bono Society of BC cannot guarantee that others involved with a case you are handling will not have access to anything you post.

(e) In addition to being a breach of these terms and conditions of use, posting  confidential information on the Website relating to a client or case may breach your ethical obligation to protect client confidences.  Lawyers who breach client confidences may lose the protection of lawyer work product protection and lawyer-client privilege.

4.2 User Privacy

(a)You will take all possible steps to preserve the confidentiality of your password to the website.  You will not tell your password to anyone else, or leave it in a place where anyone else may see it.  If you find that the password may have been given to someone, you will tell the Website administrators immediately.

(b) Access Pro Bono Society of BC uses "cookies" to recognize a subscriber and his or her access privileges, as well as to track usage.  Demographic information may be combined with reports on who is using the Website to profile, in aggregate form, users and their interests.

(c) Except if the law requires it, Access Pro Bono Society of BC will not knowingly disclose any information from confidential areas of the Website to anyone other than those authorized to receive it, or to those to whom such disclosure is necessary to assure forwarding, delivery, or the security or quality of the system.

5.0 COPYRIGHT

5.1 Materials Created by probononet.bc.ca

(a) Access Pro Bono Society of BC owns the copyright in the layout and graphics of the Website, all databases and navigation design, and all other content created by employees of Access Pro Bono Society of BC.  Other elements of the Website are used by Access Pro Bono Society of BC under license from third parties.

(b) Access Pro Bono Society of BC authorizes you to view, copy, download, and print the materials on the Website in which it has a copyright, subject to the following conditions:
*The materials may be used only for personal, noncommercial, and informational purposes.
*The materials may not be modified.
*Any original copyright notice that appears on the work must appear on all copies.

(c) You are not authorized to reproduce, copy, or redistribute for commercial purposes materials in which Access Pro Bono Society of BC has a copyright without the express written permission of Access Pro Bono Society of BC.

(d) Access Pro Bono Society of BC reserves the right to refuse permission to copy, distribute, broadcast, or publish any of its copyrighted material, including text and images on our Website.

(e) Nothing in this Agreement prohibits the use of Access Pro Bono Society of BC graphics for the purposes of linking to the homepage of the Website.

6.0 RULES REGARDING TRADEMARKS AND TRADE DRESS

(a) Access Pro Bono Society of BC trademarks and trade dress identify the products and services of Access Pro Bono Society of BC and let the public know their source.  You may make fair use of Access Pro Bono Society of BC’s trademarks in referring (eg. in a magazine article or in creating a link to the Website) to our products and services without our permission, provided you follow standard trademark usage practices and provide proper attribution.  Other uses require our written permission.  If you are in doubt as to whether you need our permission for a specific type of use, please contact Access Pro Bono Society of BC.

(b) You may not use Access Pro Bono Society of BC logos, "design" marks (as opposed to our trademarks consisting solely of words), or trade dress without our prior written authorization, except to link to the homepage of the Website.

(c) In addition, you may not use Access Pro Bono Society of BC’s trademarks (whether design or word marks) or trade dress in the following ways:
*in a service name or publication title that is not from Access Pro Bono Society of BC
*in, as, or as part of, your own trademarks or domain names
*to identify products or services that do not belong to or are not offered by Access Pro Bono Society of BC
*in a manner likely to cause confusion
*in a manner that implies inaccurately that Access Pro Bono Society of BC sponsors or endorses, or is otherwise affiliated with, your own activities, products, and services
*as hidden or embedded text in web pages in an effort to cause an internet search to result in a hit on a page not maintained by Access Pro Bono Society of BC
*in a manner disparaging of Access Pro Bono Society of BC

7.0 LINKS TO THIRD PARTY SITES

(a) Any links in the Website to websites not maintained by Access Pro Bono Society of BC are not under its control. Access Pro Bono Society of BC is not responsible for the contents of any linked website or any link contained in a linked website.

(b) The inclusion of any link on the Website does not imply that Access Pro Bono Society of BC recommends, approves or endorses the linked website.

8.0 ENDING YOUR MEMBERSHIP

(a) You are free to end your membership at any time for any reason.

(b)Without notice and for any reason, including if Access Pro Bono Society of BC concludes that any member has breached these terms and conditions, Access Pro Bono Society of BC may end or suspend the privileges of any person using the Website and its related services. 

(c) Access Pro Bono Society of BC is free to stop providing the Website service at anytime.

9.0 CHANGE IN YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

(a)If any information you provided when joining a user group has changed, you must inform probononet.bc.ca. 

10.0 CHOICE OF FORUM

(a)This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the province of British Columbia, without giving any effect to any principles of conflicts of law.  You agree that any action at law or in equity arising out of, or relating to, this Agreement shall be filed only in the courts in British Columbia.  You consent to the personal jurisdiction of such courts for the purpose of any legal dispute arising from your use of probononet.bc.ca.

11.0 ARBITRATION

(a) All Disputes To Be Resolved in Vancouver, B.C.  Any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to your use of probononet.bc.ca, this Agreement, or the breach of this Agreement will be settled by binding arbitration conducted before one arbitrator who is knowledgeable in computer and cyberspace law.  The site of any such arbitration will be in Vancouver, B.C.   The arbitration will be conducted in accordance with the then applicable rules of the BC International Commercial Arbitration Centre.  The award rendered by the arbitrator will be binding and conclusive on the parties and judgment upon such award may be entered in any court having jurisdiction.  Each party will bear its own costs and expenses, including fees and expenses of counsel, associated with the arbitration.  The arbitrator will not be empowered to award punitive damages to either party.

12.0 INTEGRATION

(a) This Agreement, including any supplemental rules posted on the system, constitute the complete statement of the agreement between the parties. This supersedes and merges all prior proposals, understandings, and all other agreements, oral and written, between the parties relating to the subject matter in this Agreement.

13.0 SEVERABILITY

(a) If any provision of this Agreement is found to be invalid, void, or unenforceable, the parties agree that the remaining provisions will not be affected, and that the provision in question may be replaced by the lawful provision that most nearly embodies the original intention of the parties.  If a provision must be replaced, this Agreement will remain valid and enforceable.

14.0 LANGUAGE

(a)You consent to the use of the English language in this Agreement and all documents or notices relating to this Agreement.  Les parties aux présentes ont exigé que le présent contrat et tous autres contrats, documents ou avis afférents aux présentes soient rédigés en langue anglaise.