responsibilities, their options for addressing the issue and to carry out their instructions.

A second primary purpose might be to collect personal information from third parties about a client's legal issue so that we can ascertain how the third party's perception of events can affect our client's legal situation.
It would be rare for us to collect any personal information without the client's express consent, but this might occur in a case of urgency (e.g., the client is unavailable) or where we believe the client would consent if asked and it is impractical to obtain consent (e.g., a potential witness is located).

(b) Investigations

When we act as an investigator for our client, our primary purpose for collecting personal information is to gather the necessary information and evidence to express a sound opinion on the issue for our client and represent the client in legal proceedings.  For example, we may collect information about an allegation of wrongdoing by a member of our client's organization or an employee of our client.  In such circumstances, we often act without the consent of the subject of the investigation because we are inquiring into an apparent breach of law or an agreement and obtaining consent would compromise the investigation.

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