PRIVACY POLICY

Protecting your private information is our priority.  This Privacy Policy governs data collection and usage of the products, services, software, platform and website (collectively "Services") provided by JCArteche’s Online Documentation & Referral Services and any of its affiliates (collectively "Legal Tree").  By using the Services you consent to the data practices described in this policy as well as our Terms of Service. If you do not agree to any part of this Privacy Policy then you should stop accessing the Services.  

1. Collecting your personal information

Legal Tree may collect personally identifiable information such as, but not limited to, your name, e-mail address and contact number. If you purchase the Services, Legal Tree may collect and store your billing and credit card information. Legal Tree may also collect anonymous demographic information, which is not unique to you, such as your postal code, age, gender, preferences, interests and favorites.  If you access our "Ask an Attorney" services, we collect and store your name, email address and information about the relevant jurisdiction and your legal matter or question for quality assurance purposes and to connect you with the right attorney (but we do not monitor or access any communications between you and your counsel that occur outside of our Services).

Information about your computer hardware and software may be automatically collected by Legal Tree. This information can include: your IP address, browser type, domain names, access times, operating system, cookie information, referring website addresses, and Internet Service Provider. Legal Tree uses this information to operate the Services, to maintain the quality of the Services and to provide general statistics regarding use of the Services. In order to better understand how users use the website and to improve the Services, Legal Tree may also collect information on your use of the website such as pages visited, links clicked, text entered, and mouse movements.

Please keep in mind that if you directly disclose personally identifiable information or personally sensitive data through the Services, such as to lawyers, this information may be collected and used by others. Legal Tree encourages you to review the privacy statements of websites you choose to link to from our website so that you can understand how those websites collect, use and share your information. Legal Tree is not responsible for the privacy statements or other content on websites outside of the website we operate.

2. Using your personal information

Legal Tree collects and uses your personal information to operate the website and deliver the Services you have requested. Legal Tree may also use your personally identifiable information to inform you of other products or services available from Legal Tree. Legal Tree may also contact you to participate in surveys, to conduct research about your opinion of current services or of potential new services that may be offered.

Legal Tree does not sell, rent or lease its customer lists to third parties. Legal Tree may, from time to time, contact you on behalf of external business partners about a particular offering that may be of interest to you. In those cases your unique personally identifiable information (including, but not limited to, name, e-mail address and contact number) is not transferred to the third party without your express consent.

In addition, Legal Tree may share data with trusted partners to help us perform statistical analysis, send you emails, perform tasks required to complete a purchase transaction and provide customer support. Legal Tree may also share information on your use of our website such as pages visited, links clicked, non-sensitive text entered and mouse movements with third party providers of web analytic software to enable Legal Tree to improve its services. All such third parties are prohibited from using your personal information except to provide these Services and they are obligated to maintain the confidentiality of your information.

Legal Tree keeps track of the pages customers visit within the website to determine what Services are the most popular.  This data is used to deliver customized content and advertising within the website to users whose behavior indicates that they are interested in a particular subject area.  Other parties who perform data analytics for Legal Tree, such as Google Analytics, may collect personally identifiable information about your online activities when you use our Services. 

Legal Tree only shares browser-level data through third party vendor tracking such as Google Analytics.  Legal Tree may use email addresses to target users with custom advertisements through 3rd party advertising platforms.  Legal Tree shares customer information with third parties to perform services (advertising) on our behalf. 

Legal Tree may disclose personal information when we are required to or we believe it is appropriate to comply with the law (e.g., a lawful subpoena, warrant or court order); to enforce or apply this Privacy Policy or our other policies or agreements; to initiate, render, bill, and collect for amounts owed to us; to protect our or our users' rights, property or safety; to protect our users from fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful use of the Services; or if we believe that an emergency involving the danger of death or serious physical injury to any person requires or justifies disclosure of personal information.

Information about our customers, including personal information, may be disclosed as part of any merger, acquisition, debt financing, sale of company assets, as well as in the event of an insolvency, bankruptcy or receivership in which personal information could be transferred to 3rd parties as one of Legal Tree’s business assets. In such an event we will attempt to notify you before your personal information is transferred, but you may not have the right to opt out of any such transfer.

3. Communications with attorneys

In order to ensure delivery of Services and for quality assurance purposes, Legal Tree will have access to certain communications with attorneys which are transmitted through the Services (such as the "Ask an Attorney" service). If you access our "Ask an Attorney" service, we collect and store your name, email address and information about the relevant jurisdiction and your legal matter or question for quality assurance purposes and to connect you with the right attorney (but we do not monitor or access any communications between you and your counsel that occur outside of our Services). Legal Tree does not interfere with or control the content of legal advice from attorneys to clients in any way. Although we believe such communications should be subject to the attorney-client privilege, whether any particular communication is privileged is a fact-specific analysis. As a result, if you choose to communicate with an attorney through the Services, please note that any such communications between you and a Partner Lawyer may not necessarily be protected by the attorney-client privilege doctrine. For additional information, please read the section in our Terms of Service entitled "Interactions with attorneys on Legal Tree" and consult with your attorney.

4. Use of cookies

Our website may use "cookies" to help you personalize your online experience.  A cookie is a text file that is placed on your hard disk by a web page server.  Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer.  Cookies are uniquely assigned to you and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you.

One of the primary purposes of cookies is to provide a convenience feature to save you time.  A cookie’s purpose is to tell the web server that you have returned to a specific page. For example, if you register an account with Legal Tree a cookie helps us recall your specific information on subsequent visits.  This simplifies the process of recording your personal information.  When you return to our website the information you previously provided can be retrieved, so you can easily use the features that you customized.

You have the ability to accept or decline cookies.  Most web browsers automatically accept cookies but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer.  If you choose to decline cookies you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of the Services.

5. Securing your personal information

You are responsible for safeguarding and preventing unauthorized access to the user information and password that you use to access our Services.  You agree not to disclose your password to any 3rd party and you are responsible for any activity using your account, whether or not you authorized that activity.  Please immediately notify Legal Tree of any unauthorized use of your account.

Legal Tree secures your personal information from unauthorized access, use or disclosure.  In addition, Legal Tree secures the personally identifiable information you provide on computer servers in a controlled, secure environment, protected from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. When personal information (such as a credit card number) is transmitted to other websites, it is protected through the use of encryption, such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol.

6. Prohibited use by minors

Our Services are not intended for use by minors, and such use is prohibited by our Terms of Service. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from minors.  If you become aware that a minor has provided us with personal information, please contact us as set forth in this Privacy Policy.

7. Changes to the Privacy Policy

Legal Tree may change the provisions of this Privacy Policy at any time and will always post the most up-to-date version on our website.