Welcome to JurisRéférence!

These Terms and Conditions of Use for Registered Lawyers (the “Terms” ) constitute an agreement pertaining to the use of the website found at www.jurisreference.ca or at any other address to which it could be added or by which it could be substituted (the “Site” ). In particular, these Terms govern the relationship between the owner and operator of the Site, Juris, Inc. ( “JurisRéférence” , “we” , or “us” ) and you, as a lawyer duly registered on the Site (the “Lawyer(s)” or “you” ) for the use of the Site, including that of various functionalities and related services at your disposal on the Site, such as a profile page where you can display your information, etc. (the “Service”).

By using this site, you consent to all the terms of use provided herein and in the Privacy Policy displayed on the site ( www.jurisreference.ca). You also acknowledge that you have read and understand the Terms and the Privacy Policy.

Juris Référence has discretion to amend said Terms and Conditions as well as any policies or Guidelines displayed on this Site at any time. By using this Site after the display of any amendment, you agree to the latter. You are responsible for duly verifying any amendments made to any Terms and Conditions, policies or guidelines.

First and foremost, a few things must be specified…

What JurisRéférence is :

A tool that provides a referral service, as offered by our partner regional bars, to be available online. Juris Référence is entirely free of use for any user looking to obtain legal counsel. There are no hidden fees and no banking information is required at any time.

What JurisRéférence is not:

A lawyer recommendation service.

JurisRéférence never intervenes in the selection of any particular Counsel made by any User, or in the process leading up to said selection, except where the availability of computer-based tools that apply automatically and consistently to all Users is concerned. Likewise, Juris Référence never intervenes in decisions whether to accept or not to accept a mandate, in the drafting of Service offers made by Counsel or in the process leading up to said selection, except where the availability of computer-based tools that apply automatically and consistently to all registered Counsel is concerned.

JurisRéférence shall never intervene in any contractual relationship entered into between Counsel and his or her client following use of the Service. Mandates issued by Users to Counsel shall not fall within the Services provided by Juris Référence and Juris Référence shall not in any way be liable therefor.

JurisRéférence is not a law firm and does not offer any legal services or legal opinion of any kind whatsoever.

1. Registration process and the creation of a customer account

1.1 Qualifications for membership in the Service: To be eligible for membership in the Service, you must be a practicing lawyer and be duly registered on the Tableau de l’Ordre du Barreau du Québec (Québec Roll of the Order of Advocates) you must not be subject to any judgment or be subject to any disciplinary measure or action (current or past) liable to impair or prejudice your license to practice, the integrity of your legal services and/or public safety.

1.2 : Any lawyer who is a member of the Barreau du Québec can register to the Service by completing the registration form and consenting to the terms of use and privacy policy.

1.3 : Any lawyer who registers to the Service must indicate, on the registration form, the fields of law for which they represent that they are competent and ready to provide counsel. Participation to the Service is a privilege, not a way to develop skills and knowledge.

1.4 : Any Lawyer who registers to the Service commits to take in, in the shortest delay possible, any client whose issue is related to the fields of expertise they indicated on the form. They also agree to receive a maximum fee of $30 for a half-hour consultation.

1.5 : JurisRéférence will deny registration to, or bar from the Service, any Lawyer who becomes incompetent in their profession

1.6 : Any Lawyer may withdraw or modify their registration to the Service by providing JurisRéférence with a written notice.

1.7 Mandatory information: Subscription to the Service is available only following registration with JurisRéférence and after such registration was accepted. To register and create a client account on the Site, you must, using the functionalities available on the Site, provide us with the following mandatory information:

• i. Your email address
• ii. A confidential password of your choosing
• iii. Your name(s) and given name(s) (and occupational qualification(s) optional)
• iv. The name of your firm
• v. Your full business address
• vi. Your phone and fax numbers

1.8 Verification of your registration to the Roll of Order: After you have finished your registration on the Site, JurisRéférence will check the status of your registration to the Roll of Order with the Barreau du Québec. If you are not a member of the Barreau du Québec, or if you have a disciplinary record, JurisRéférence will have the right to cancel your registration and transaction. In any other case, you will have to fill in the mandatory and optional (but very useful and relevant) information fields in your profile.

1.9 : JurisRéférence reserves the right to decline a lawyer’s registration request or, if that lawyer is already registered to the Service, to deny them clients or even to withdraw their access to the Service for any reason deemed sufficiently serious, including the following:

• i. the lawyer is involved in a penal or criminal action
• ii. the lawyer is the subject of a complaint from the Syndic
• iii. the lawyer’s behaviour could jeopardize public safety or the image of the profession

1.10 Approval of the registration request:Your registration will be considered approved by JurisRéférence if your mandatory information record is completed, your registration to the Roll of Order confirmed, and your disciplinary record checked.

1.11 Limit of one subscription per Lawyer: Please note that s subscription to the Service is only valid for the Lawyers who are registered on the Site, and that no substitution or agglomeration of lawyers and no transfers are allowed, except in accordance with the provisions of Section 3.5 of these Terms.

1.12 Optional additional information: To complete your profile, you will have the option to upload a picture of yourself and to provide any other relevant information such as your fields of practice, your education, your diplomas, the year of your call to the Barreau, your languages (written and spoken), the number of lawyers at your firm, the addresses of your website, Facebook page, Twitter page, etc., your biographical notes, your publications, your accomplishments, etc.

Since the minimum criteria for the attribution of the service requests to the Lawyers are the fields of practice/competence indicated on their profiles, if you have not chosen (ticked) any field of practice while creating your profile, you will not be attributed any request.

1.13 Public nature of the information: All the information entered in your client account is accessible to the Users of the Site, and to JurisRéférence, for administrative purposes only. You consent and acknowledge that this information may be made available to the Users on the Site.

2. Processing of the User Service Requests and Lawyer Service Offers

2.1 User service requests ¹ : As soon as a User completes their registration, their legal service request, which includes all the relevant information they have provided (the “Request”), is attributed automatically and electronically to the Lawyers whose profile information fits the criteria of the Request (including region/city, field of law, company or individual, number of employees, revenues/turnover, etc.). Please note that JurisRéférence does not get involved in the preparation of the User Requests or their content and that it is the responsibility of the Lawyers receiving such Requests to assess their validity and accuracy.

It is important to note that JurisRéférence is not involved in preparing or in determining the contents of Requests made by Users and that Counsel to whom such Requests are made are responsible for assessing the validity and accuracy thereof.

At this stage in the process, none of User’s personal or identifying information shall be disclosed to Counsel to whom User’s Request is sent.

2.2 Lawyer service offers²: Upon reception of a User Request, any available and interested Lawyer can, using the relevant functionality in their client account, accept that Request and obtain the User’s contact information.

The User can consult the profile(s) of the interested Lawyer(s) using the relevant functionalities in their User account.

2.3 The fundamental obligation to inform JurisRéférence of the acceptance of a User mandate. It is fundamental that any Lawyer who provides legal services to a User or obtains a mandate to provide such services to a User following the use of the Service informs JurisRéférence immediately or, at the latest, within the following fifteen (15) days, through the means at their disposal in their client account or by any other means indicated by Juris Référence.

3. Lawyer Commitments

3.1 Member in good standing of the Tableau de l’Ordre du Barreau du Québec (Québec Roll of the Order of Advocates): Counsel undertake always to maintain their license to practice in the Province of Quebec. Should they be suspended or disbarred or if he is the subject of any disciplinary measures, Counsel shall forthwith cease using the Service and close their Customer Account and hereby undertake to notify in such case any and all User(s) to whom they have sent any Offer still firm or standing.

3.2 JurisRéférence conducts regular checks with the Barreau du Québec to validate the continued registration of the registered Lawyers. The client account of any disbarred, suspended, or otherwise disciplined Lawyer will be closed, with or without notice, at our own discretion, and any pending Request sent to that Lawyer will be cancelled. JurisRéférence will not be held liable for the maintenance of a Lawyer’s registration based on any false information obtained of good faith on that matter.

3.3 Ethical practice: Counsel registered on the Site undertake to abide by business practices consistent with all statutes, regulations, by-laws and general ethical rules in respect of the profession of counsel and their field of practice.

3.4 Confidentiality: Counsel undertakes to maintain the confidentiality of any information received and/or exchanged with User in connection with the Service, regardless of the existence of any counsel-client relationship or of any mandate, and to use said information only in accordance with these Terms and Conditions. Counsel agrees to make every reasonable effort to cooperate with Juris Référence should any third party attempt to unjustifiably force disclosure of said information.

3.5 No substitution: The Lawyer consents not to transfer the business of Users and leads contacted through the Service to any other Lawyer of their own firm or of any other firm, unless 1) the Lawyer remains responsible for the client and ensures all communications with them; or 2) the Lawyer does not receive any referral fees for such transfer, the transfer is made in the client’s best interest and the transfer is not made in order to bypass registration to the Service by the lawyer and/or law firm benefiting from the transfer.

4. Accuracy of information

4.1 Accuracy and credibility of information and data: Any information sent, registered, published or displayed on the Site or by means of the Site, shall be accurate as far as you know. Any personal and/or identifying data relating to you or relating to your firm provided when you registered and when your Customer Account was established shall be valid complete and up to date.

4.2 Subsequent amendment of information in Customer Account: You shall always be entitled to amend your password in accordance with the procedure established for such purpose, and with the information registered in your Customer Account. You shall be in charge of updating any information and any particular displayed on the Site. You more particularly undertake to keep up your e-mail address active for the entire duration of your operation of the Site. Should you change your address, you shall promptly effect your change of address in your Customer Account.

4.3 Erratic information or data: Should there be any reasonable grounds to believe that any Required Information registered in your profile or that any information you have sent, provided, registered, downloaded or displayed on the Site or by means of the Site is not accurate, valid, complete or up to date, as the case may be, JurisRéférence shall always be entitled to deny you access to the Site or to some of its features, interrupt or to abort your right to use the Service or to close your Customer Account. However, Juris Référence is under no obligation to ascertain that any information and data you send is accurate, valid or useful.

5. Unlawful, prohibited or unauthorized conduct

5.1 Unlawful, prohibited or unauthorized conduct: Whenever you use the Site or any Service offered on the Site, you thereby undertake to refrain from performing and from authorizing the following conduct :

5.1.1 Disclosing your password to any third party, except to persons under your immediate supervision in the performance of your duties;

5.1.2 Displaying, linking or otherwise sending out or transmitting any false or misleading, unlawful, threatening, abusive, harmful, injurious, libelous, defamatory, slanderous, pornographic or indecent information, in contravention of any third-party right or conveying illegal content in any other form;

5.1.3 Sending any frivolous Offer intended solely to cause a waste of time or to disrupt;

5.1.4 Engaging in activities involving unfair competition and/or intended to secure any undue advantage over Users of the Service and/or over other counsel;

5.1.5 Using the Service so as to create a semblance of breach or irregularity likely to affect Users and/or other counsel and/or JurisRéférence’s legitimate business interests;

5.1.6 Displaying, linking or otherwise sending out or transmitting any information or claim in respect of drugs, drug products, surgeries or treatments for sexual, recreational or non essentially therapeutic purposes;

5.1.7 Hiding the source of any information sent;

5.1.8 Falsely personating any other individual or of any other entity or making misrepresentations in respect of any affiliation with any individual or entity;

5.1.9 Displaying or sending any information containing viruses, files or codes designed to interrupt, destroy, damage, corrupt or collapse features for this Site or for any site, computer or computer equipment directly or indirectly linked thereto;

5.1.10 Promoting the sale of products and/or services that are pirated or deemed substandard according to Canadian legislation.

6. Intellectual property

6.1 JurisRéférence’s intellectual property: The contents of the Site and any Service offered on the Site, the design, the page layout, page setup and pagination of the Site as well as any trademarks displayed on the Site are owned by JurisRéférence and/or its partners and are protected by copyright, trademark, unfair competition legislation and by any other applicable legislation, as the case may be, and all or any part thereof shall not be copied or forwarded unless expressly authorized by Juris Référence.

6.2 Limited Site user license: You are hereby authorized to use this Site within the limits expressly contemplated by these Terms and Conditions. You shall not be entitled to use this Site for any other purpose without first obtaining Juris Référence’s express written consent. On a non-restrictive basis, in the absence of said written consent, you shall not be entitled to change, duplicate, distribute, forward, display, publish, license, assign, transfer or sell any contents, data, software, products or services obtained on this Site, or create any works derived therefrom.

6.3 Transmission of content: Whenever you send, download or display any content in connection with any use made of the Service, whether it be text, photographs, sound or image files, or other forms of content (hereinafter referred to as « Content »), you are totally liable with respect to said Content. You represent that you are the originator of said Content and rightful holder of all rights therein, or else you represent that you have secured any and all required authorizations in due form allowing you to use said Content in accordance herewith.

Please note that in some instances, several authorizations may be required. For instance, should photographs be concerned, you shall secure permission from the holder of the photography copyright as well as from the person appearing on the photograph. If you are not familiar with the rules respecting content protection we advise you to ask counsel specializing in such matters for information.

6.4 License to use your Content : You grant Reference Juris a nonexclusive license to use, as part of the Service, any Content downloaded , posted or transmitted by you on the Site or through the Site, in accordance with the Terms set forth herein, without territorial restrictions, and this for the duration of your subscription.

7. Warranties and warranty limitations

7.1 Undertakings given by Juris Référence respecting the Site and the quality of Service: JurisRéférence undertakes to do its best to ensure proper Site operating performance and continuous accessibility to its Service. Juris Référence undertakes to do its best and to use its best efforts in order to offer its clients a wide-ranging Service that satisfies their needs.

7.2 Warranty limitations respecting Service performance: Under no circumstances does JurisRéférence warrant that the Site and/or the Services will come up to all of Service users’ expectations and more particularly that Counsel will find any mandates and/or clients, or that Users will find the Counsel they are looking for. Under no circumstances will Juris Référence be held liable with respect to the outcome of cases Counsel or Users have obtained by using the Service.

7.3 Warranty limitations respecting the Site: Considering the potential for instability on the Internet network and as permitted by law and by any applicable regulation, JurisRéférence shall not be liable in any way for the performance of the Site from a technical and/or business point of view. Juris Référence does not pledge that services provided on the Site will be uninterrupted, safe or free from any error and that it will be possible to correct any defect found in any feature offered or in any software used. You alone will be responsible for any damage caused to your computer and for any data loss resulting from the downloading of any materials by means of the Site.

7.4 Limitation of liability in the event of damage: As permitted by law and by any applicable regulation, JurisRéférence shall on no account be liable for any damage, whether directly or indirectly resulting from any use made or from any inability to use the Site and/or the Service, including any damage connected to any loss of profit, loss of means or potential, to any Service interruption or to loss of data, whether or not JurisRéférence is notified of any likelihood thereof.

7.5 Warranty limitations respecting Contents of others: JurisRéférence shall on no account be liable in any way for any Content displayed, sent or otherwise conveyed, on the Site or by means of the Site, by Counsel, Users, associates or third parties.

7.6 Warranty limitation respecting the provision of mandates, services and legal opinion: JurisRéférence shall not in any way take part in the selection of Counsel by User, in User’s decision to entrust Counsel with any mandate or in Counsel’s decision to accept or not to accept any mandate from User. JurisRéférence shall under no circumstances be held liable in any way whatsoever with respect to such selections and decisions or with respect to any consequences of any such selections and decisions made by Users and by Counsel.

Likewise, JurisRéférence shall not be held liable with respect to the quality of any offers made by Counsel or with respect to any legal services rendered by any Counsel to any User as a result of any use of the Service, Counsel being fully accountable therefor.

JurisRéférence is not a law firm and does not offer any legal service or legal advice of any kind through the Site. Any legal advice that is published on or through the Site, if any, is the sole responsibility of its author and JurisRéférence will not be held liable in any manner for such legal advice. If, however, JurisRéférence is notified or has reasonable reasons to believe that a legal advice or other legal document that is false, misleading, unlawful or threatening to the rights of others is displayed on or transmitted through the Site, Juris Référence reserves the right, without prior notice and at its own discretion, to remove such advice or document and/or to close the account of the Lawyer responsible for that Content.

8. Sanctions and indemnities in the event of contravention

8.1 Penalties for failure to comply: JurisRéférence reserves the right, at its own discretion, to temporarily or permanently suspend your access to the Site and/or the Service or to certain functionalities, and to take any other measure deemed appropriate under the circumstances should JurisRéférence have good reasons to believe that you have failed to conform to any of your obligations herein. Those measures can include, without being limited to, the termination of your registration and client account and the transmission of any illegal content to the competent authorities. Without any obligation, JurisRéférence reserves the right to notify you of your failure by email or other means of communication and to give you the opportunity to resolve the issue.

8.2 Deletion of information: JurisRéférence performs regular backups of its systems and the files they contain. You accept that JurisRéférence may delete the information or files saved on the servers linked to your client account should you fail to comply with these Terms.

8.3 Indemnification: You accept to indemnify and hold harmless JurisRéférence and to take up the defence of JurisRéférence, its employees, agents, right-holders, representatives and/or business partners for any damage, loss or expense (including their lawyers’ reasonable fees) that they could have experienced from your failure to meet your obligations herein in the case of any claim, legal action or request for settlement on the basis of the violation of copyrights, the application of the law or applicable agreements, or any harm to the rights of others, including any monetary damage or other damage resulting from an illegal, prohibited or forbidden act described herein.

8.4 Notification of third party faults : You also undertake to notify and to cooperate with JurisRéférence in the event that you should find out about any unlawful or unauthorized act provided for hereunder.

9. JurisRéférence’s liability in regard to external sites

9.1 Links to external sites: JurisRéférence is not responsible for the content of other websites accessible through links included on the Site, including websites owned by Lawyers registered on the Site (the “Linked sites”), since those Sites were not created by JurisRéférence and are not under its control.

9.2 Hyperlinks to Site : You cannot create any hyperlink to said Site or use said Site in association with any third party trademark in such a way as to let people believe that said Site is endorsed or associated with the present Site or with JurisRéférence without first obtaining JurisRéférence’s express written authorization. JurisRéférence reserves the right to deny you the use of any hyperlink to the present Site where the context in which said hyperlink is used has any adverse effect on JurisRéférence’s honour, reputation or business interests.

10. Laws and applicable jurisdiction

These Terms shall be governed, applied, and construed in accordance with the laws of the province of Québec. The parties agree that the courts of the district of Québec, Quebec, Canada, shall have jurisdiction over any dispute, claim or legal action pertaining to these Terms.

11. Information on complaints or abuses

All complaints or abuses noticed on JurisRéférence’s Site or servers shall be sent by email or to the following address :

Juris Concept
2700 rue Jean-Perrin, bureau 400
Québec, Qc,
G2C 1S9