Department of Justice Guide on Security for Legal Agents
1. Context
The Treasury Board (TB) Policy on Government Security requires Government of Canada departments and agencies to appropriately safeguard sensitive information and assets under their control. This obligation extends to information and assets under the control of government contractors, including law practitioners acting as legal agents of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada (the AGC). Legal agents may be required to undergo Individual Security Screening, Justice Canada Legal Security Assessment (JCLSA), and the Department of Justice Canada (the Department) may ensure appropriate physical and information technology security requirements have been implemented in order to access, produce and safeguard sensitive information and assets on their premises.
When finalizing the appointment process, the Department will determine the security requirements that will be associated with each legal agent appointment based on the sensitivity of information and assets that will be accessed. As a legal agent you will be notified if there are security requirements that need to be completed. The Department is responsible for providing security screening services with respect to legal agent appointments and will notify legal agents if any security screening requirements are required, in conjunction with their legal agent appointment.
2. Objective
This Guide, sets out procedures and security requirements pertaining to legal agents and their accessing, producing, and safeguarding of Government of Canada information. It prescribes the legal agent’s responsibilities and the procedures to be applied in implementing and maintaining appropriate security measures. This Guide is intended to compliment the Terms and Conditions that were also attached to your firm’s letter of appointment.
The security measures outlined in this Guide take into consideration that confidentiality, solicitor-client privilege, litigation privilege, code of conduct and law practice insurance compliance imposed upon law practitioners, regulate legal agents and require them to implement robust security and document safeguarding measures in the conduct of their practice.
3. Law Society and Professional Regulatory Body
The Terms and Conditions of appointment, require your firm to confirm that you are in good standing and are in compliance with the rules of confidentiality and strict professional requirements set by your law society (or professional regulatory body), as well as applicable laws, and that no members of the legal agent team are subject to any disciplinary proceedings before the law society (or professional regulatory body). If at any time during the legal agent appointment, this status changes, you are to immediately notify the Departmental Instructing Counsel, as identified in the letter of appointment.
4. Security Overview
The table below provides summaries of security levels and required security screening and clearance, commonly associated with legal agent appointments:
Protected
Security Level |
Description |
Justice Canada Legal Security Assessment (JCLSA) / Individual Security Screening |
|---|---|---|
Protected A |
Applies to information when unauthorized disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause limited or moderate injury outside the national interest, for example, disclosure of an exact salary figure. |
No JCLSA // No Individual Security Screening required |
Protected B |
Applies to information when unauthorized disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause serious injury outside the national interest, for example, loss of reputation or competitive advantage |
No JCLSA // No Individual Security Screening required |
Protected C |
Applies to the very limited amount of information when unauthorized disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause extremely grave injury outside the national interest, for example, loss of life |
JCLSA required for Legal Agent Individual Security Screening: Access is restricted to a Government of Canada facility |
Classified
Security Level |
Description |
Associated Clearances |
|---|---|---|
Secret |
Applies to information when unauthorized disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause serious injury to the national interest |
JCLSA required for Legal Agent Individual Security Screening: Access is restricted to a Government of Canada facility |
Top Secret |
Applies to the very limited amount of information when unauthorized disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave injury to the national interest |
JCLSA required for Legal Agent Individual Security Screening: Access is restricted to a Government of Canada facility |
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