Privacy Policy

We have posted this privacy policy to notify you of the current privacy practices of Simmerman Law Office, PLLC, (hereafter “Simmerman Law”). As lawyers, we recognize and take seriously our professional obligation to keep information about current and former clients confidential and secure. We also follow best practices regarding information we collect about individuals we may be in contact with in the course of our professional activities. We refer in this policy to individuals whose personal information we hold as “you.” This policy provides information about how Simmerman Law collects, processes, and shares your personal data. Please read this policy carefully together with any other notices that Simmerman Law may from time to time provide so that you are aware of how and why we use your personal data. This policy is intended to be consistent with (and supplement) our obligations under applicable laws.

Information We Collect and How We Use It

Simmerman Law may collect various types of personal information directly from you and third parties such as clients, prospective clients, former clients, accountants, financial advisors, insurance agents, banking institutions, and other advisors. Simmerman Law collects personal information when you, your organization, or a third party that holds your personal information retains Simmerman Law to provide legal advice or other services; when you, your company, or a third party that holds your personal information makes inquiries regarding our services; when you use the Simmerman Law website or provide personal information; when you provide us with your personal information at professional events or other events; when you or a person who holds your personal information provide information to us for the purpose of recruitment; and when you or your organization provides or offers services to us. 

Examples of personal information that we collect are contact information, such as name, physical and email address; financial data, such as bank account or credit card information, accounts receivable or payable balance information, personal balance sheet, and income information; services information, including business information necessary for us to perform services requested by our clients; user data and usage information collected by the Simmerman Law website or provided by you when using our electronic services; marketing data, including information provided by you about your preferences for marketing material and updates on legal developments; professional information, including job title, previous positions, employment history, academic record, awards, and membership in professional organizations; and other screening and due diligence information, such as information we are legally or professionally required to collect from third parties when evaluating whether we can provide you or your organization services.

We use your personal data for a number of purposes and activities, such as to provide legal advice and other services for our clients; to evaluate prospective clients in accordance with our professional and legal obligations; to manage our business relationships with our clients and service providers; to analyze and improve the Simmerman Law website and our marketing services and communications; to evaluate and interview or other third parties; to comply with our legal obligations, including conducting due diligence, know-your-client, and other compliance obligations; and responding to legal requests for information or court orders; and to protect and manage our business, including analyzing and improving data security, acquiring insurance and managing liability, assessing compliance with our policies, and defending our legal rights. We will not use your personal data to take any automated decision affecting you, or create profiles other than those described above.

We use your personal data only when necessary to enter or perform a contract with you; when necessary to comply with our legal or regulatory obligations; where necessary to pursue our or a third party’s legitimate interests, provided that your fundamental rights and freedoms do not outweigh that interest; or where you have provided your consent. Our legitimate interest in processing your data is to provide legal services to our clients in accordance with applicable law and our professional responsibilities; to secure prompt repayment of fees, costs, and debts; and to promote and market our legal and other client services.

When you provide us the personal data of other people, you must ensure that you are entitled to share that data with us and that we can collect, use, and disclose that personal information without taking further action in a way that is consistent with our privacy policy.

Cookies

We may use cookies to collect information about your browsing activities in order to help us improve our website and provide you with more relevant content and materials.  When you receive a marketing email or direct mailing from us, we may use cookies (installed by third party software that we license) to collect information about you in the following ways: 

• If you click on a “view as a web page” link in an email, a session cookie is recorded by us so that the web page is personalized in the same way as the email.
• If you click on any web link, we will record a session cookie and automatically log such activity in our database.
• If you click “unsubscribe,” we will automatically log this information on our database. If you unsubscribe from any email invitation or alert, we will continue to store your personal data on a “marketing suppression list” so as to record your preferences.
• In our event invitations and confirmations, we provide buttons to allow you to accept, decline, register, or cancel. Clicking these buttons will generate session cookies and your choice will be recorded in our database to help us manage the event. 

Sharing Your Information

Simmerman Law does not sell or otherwise share personal information with third-party marketers offering their products and services. Accordingly, you do not need to take any action to prevent disclosure.

We do not disclose any nonpublic personal information about clients, prospective clients, or former clients except as required or permitted by law; as required to provide services to our clients; or in limited situations in which we must defend our legal rights.

Lawyers, unlike many others who handle your personal information, are subject to Rules of Professional Conduct, often referred to as “ethical rules.” These ethical rules limit an attorney’s disclosures of information obtained in the course of representing clients in ways that are more restrictive than applicable laws.

Protecting the Confidentiality of Nonpublic Personal Information

We value your trust and handle information about you with care. It is our policy to restrict access to personal information about you. To protect your personal information, Simmerman Law maintains physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to avoid unauthorized disclosure.

Rights Regarding Your Information

You may request access to, correction or deletion of your personal information held by Simmerman Law. We will consider any such request seriously, although we may choose not to delete information where it is necessary for compliance with our professional obligations or provision of services to others, or we otherwise have a substantial need to retain the data.

Retention of Information

We keep personal information obtained during the course of client representations for a period of time that is consistent with our professional responsibilities and that is reasonably necessary for the purpose for which the data was collected.

For other types of personal information, we will retain the data until no longer reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected or until consent to hold the data is revoked, provided that there is no other basis for us to hold the information and the deletion of the personal information is legal and consistent with our professional responsibilities.