Privacy Policy
Updated as of November 1, 2022
Holmes Weinberg, PC (“HW” or the “Company”) respects the sensitive nature of any personal information provided to us by website visitors. We have created this Privacy Policy to demonstrate our commitment to the privacy of those who visit our website www.holmesweinberg.com (the “Site”).
This Privacy Policy describes our online information collection, storage, and disclosure practices and the choices you have regarding how your Personal Information is collected and used by us and by third-parties who provide services for us.
Residents of the European Economic Area (“EEA”), which includes the member states of the European Union (“EU”), should consult the sections of this policy relating to the “Rights of EEA Residents” and “International Data Transfers” for provisions that may apply to them.
If you are a resident of the State of California, you should consult the sections of this policy pertaining to “California Privacy Rights,” including rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which went into effect on January 1, 2020.
We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time. In the event we make changes to this Privacy Policy, such policy will be re-posted in the “Privacy Policy” section of the Site with the date such modifications were made indicated on the top of the page. All changes are effective on the date listed at the top of this page and will apply to all information that we have about you. Your continued use of the Site or the services that we provide (“Services”) after any change is posted indicates your acceptance of the changes and your continued consent to our processing of your personal information. If at any point you do not agree to any portion of the Privacy Policy then in effect you should immediately stop using the Site and the Services. You may unsubscribe from certain communications by following the procedures set forth in this Privacy Policy, including the section below on “Notifications and Communications from Our Site.”
If you have any questions concerning this Privacy Policy or our information collection, storage, and disclosure practices, please contact us at iplaw@holmesweinberg.com or by mail at Holmes Weinberg, PC, 30765 Pacific Coast Highway, Suite 411, Malibu, CA 90265, or by phone at 1-310-457-6100.
Personal Information We Collect & When We Collect It
HW collects personal information about you when you visit the Site. “Personal Information” is information that may be used to directly or indirectly identify an individual (which in some cases, may include certain device information). Personal Information includes (a) names, aliases, postal addresses, unique personal identifiers, online identifiers, Internet Protocol (IP) address, email address, account names, social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, passport numbers, or other similar identifiers; (b) bank account numbers, insurance policy numbers, education, employment, employment history, financial information, medical information, or health insurance information; (c) characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law; (d) commercial information, including records of personal property, products or services purchased, obtained or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies; (e) internet or other electronic network activity information; (f) audio, electronic, visual or similar information; (g) professional or employment-related information; and (h) education information that is not publicly available. We may combine the Personal Information that we obtain about individuals from more than one source.
The majority of such Personal Information is collected when you visit or register with the Site, subscribe to our newsletter, submit a Contact Us form, email HW or any of our personnel, or in connection with the Company’s provision of Services. We collect Personal Information that you enter on our Site or otherwise volunteer to us when you contact us through the Site or via other means, among other things, to request Services or information. Some of the Personal Information that we collect is required if you wish to partake in the Services that we provide.
In general, the type of Personal Information we collect through the Site includes, but is not limited to:
- Personal Information to contact you, including through e-mail and postal direct marketing;
- Personal Information necessary to use our Services; and
- Un-identifiable or aggregated Personal Information pertaining to your Site visits that help us maintain the appropriate features, functionality, and user experience.
In addition, we may collect additional types of Personal Information through other means, including through our business relationship with our clients.
Use of Personal Information
You provide Personal Information to use the Services. HW uses this data to: (i) enable you to log in to the Site; (ii) provide Services; (iii) guard against potential fraud; (iv) contact you if there is a problem with your account; (v) provide answers to your inquiries or questions; and (v) maintain regular communication with you as may be necessary to inform you of updates and other information regarding HW and its Services.
Non-Identifiable Data and Aggregated Personal Information
Regardless of whether or not you submit information to us, HW and third-parties performing services for us may send one or more “cookies” or device identifiers to your computer. Cookies are small text files placed on your web browser when you visit our Site that store information on your computer, such as your Site preferences. We use cookies when you sign in to keep track of your personal session. We also use cookies to track your activity on the Site as a unique person. For security purposes, all of this information is stored in encrypted form.
You can set your web browser to inform you when cookies are set, or to prevent cookies from being set altogether. Please note, however, that if you decline to use cookies, you may experience reduced functionality and slower site response times.
HW or our service providers, including Google Analytics, may also collect web surfing data related to your use of the Site. Such information may include: your Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type, and internet service provider (ISP); your operating system; which of our web pages you access and how frequently you access them; referral or exit pages; click stream data; and the dates and times that you visit the Site. This data may be collected using cookies, web beacons, page tags or similar tools. As with cookies, the web surfing information is anonymous, “click stream” transactional data that is not associated with any users as individuals.
Web surfing data and similar information may be aggregated for administrative purposes. HW may, for example, use this aggregated information in the administration of the Site to improve its usability and to evaluate the success of search engine optimization strategies, operation and effectiveness of pages on our website, and other activities. We also use it to help optimize the Site based on the needs of our users.
How and When Personal Information Is Shared With Other Parties
We do not sell, trade, or license Personal Information about our clients or any individuals for marketing purposes. We do, however, work with a number of trusted partners who perform vital functions as part of our operations, including managing customer support, facilitating marketing communications by e-mail and post, and other functions. We do not share Personal Information unless it is necessary to fulfill our responsibilities, including providing information or Services to clients.
We do not monitor or profile visitors to our Site or collect, in any automated manner, any special categories of sensitive Personal Information. No automated decision-making, including profiling, is used when processing your Personal Information.
Additional Sharing of Information
We may engage third-parties to help us carry out certain other internal functions such as account processing, client services, or other data collection relevant to our business. Personal Information is shared with these third-parties only to the extent necessary for us to process the transactions you initiate or perform other specific Services. Our partners are legally required to keep Personal Information private and secure.
We may share Personal Information with law enforcement or other government agencies as required by law or for the purposes of limiting fraud. We reserve the right to disclose Personal Information when we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights or to comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process. We further reserve the right to disclose any Personal Information that we believe, in good faith, appropriate or necessary to take precautions against liability, to investigate and defend against any third-party claims or allegations, to assist government enforcement agencies, to protect the security or integrity of the Services, or to protect the rights, property, or personal safety of us, our clients, or others.
We will not share Personal Information if such sharing is prohibited by applicable privacy and data protection laws, including, without limitation, the EEA’s General Data Protection Regulation effective May 25, 2018 (“GDPR”) or the CCPA.
Notifications and Communications from HW
LEGAL OR SECURITY COMMUNICATIONS
We send out notices that are required for legal or security purposes. For example, certain notifications are sent for your own protection. In other cases, these notifications involve changes to various legal agreements or policies. Generally, you may not opt out of such emails.
OTHER COMMUNICATIONS
We may also send you responses to emails you send us, if appropriate.
Clients’ Rights
OPTING OUT OF COMMUNICATIONS
As described above, we may use the Personal Information we collect from clients to send you newsletters or other communications from us. If you do not want to receive such communications, you can opt out by using the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our communications or responding with the word ‘unsubscribe.’ You may also at any time opt out of receiving communications from us by sending an e-mail to iplaw@holmesweinberg.com with the subject line “Unsubscribe.”
CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS
The following section pertains to the rights of individuals or households in California (“California consumers”).
Civil Code Section 1798.83
Under certain circumstances, California Civil Code Section 1798.83 states that, upon receipt of a request by a California consumer, a business may be required to provide detailed information regarding how that business has shared that customer’s Personal Information with third parties for direct marking purposes. However, the foregoing does not apply to businesses like ours that do not disclose Personal Information to third parties for direct marketing purposes without prior approval or give customers a free mechanism to opt out of having their Personal Information disclosed to third parties for their direct marketing purposes.
Rights under the CCPA
After January 1, 2020, the CCPA (California Civil Code Section 1798.100 et seq.) will provide California consumers with additional rights regarding Personal Information that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly with a particular consumer or household. The categories of Personal Information are generally described above but differ for individual consumers depending on the Services used by such consumers.
Under the CCPA, qualifying California consumers may have the following rights:
RIGHT TO KNOW AND RIGHT TO DELETE.
A California consumer has the right to request that we disclose what Personal Information we collect, use, disclose and sell. A California consumer also has the right to submit requests to delete Personal Information.
When we receive a request to know or delete from a California consumer, we will confirm receipt of the request within 10 days and provide information about how we will process the request, including our verification process. We will respond to such requests within 45 days.
RIGHT FOR DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION.
A California consumer may also submit requests that we disclose specific types or categories of Personal Information that we collect.
Under certain circumstances, we will not provide such information, including where the disclosure creates a substantial, articulable, and unreasonable risk to the security of that Personal Information, clients’ account with us, or the security of our systems or networks. We also will not disclose California consumers’ social security numbers, driver’s license numbers or other government-issued identification numbers, financial account numbers, any health insurance or medical identification numbers, or account passwords and security questions and answers.
If we receive requests from a California consumer who has a relationship with a client (for example, from an employee or customer of a client), we will inform the client.
SUBMITTING REQUESTS
If you are a California consumer and would like to make any requests under the CCPA, please direct them as follows:
Mailing Address:
Holmes Weinberg, PC
30765 Pacific Coast Highway, Suite 411
Malibu, CA 90265
E-mail Address:
Telephone Number:
1-310-457-6100
VERIFYING REQUESTS
If we receive any request we will use a two-step process for online requests where the California consumer must first, clearly submit the request and then second, separately confirm the request. We will use other appropriate measures to verify requests received by mail or telephone.
In submitting a request, a California consumer must provide sufficient information to identify the consumer, such as name, e-mail address, home or work address, or other such information that is on record with us so that we can match such information to the Personal Information that we maintain. Do not provide social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, account numbers, credit or debit card numbers, medical information or health information with requests. If requests are unclear or submitted through means other than outline above, we will provide the California consumer with specific directions on how to submit the request or remedy any deficiencies. If we cannot verify the identity of the requestor, we may deny the request.
CALIFORNIA DO NOT TRACK DISCLOSURES
Although some browsers currently offer a “do not track (‘DNT’) option,” no common industry standard for DNT exists. We therefore do not currently commit to responding to browsers’ DNT signals.
RIGHTS OF EEA RESIDENTS
This section of the Privacy Policy is applicable to residents of the European Economic Area (“EEA”). The EEA consists of the member states of the European Union, i.e., Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, and Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. This section also applies to residents of Switzerland and, in the event of its departure from the EU, residents of the United Kingdom. Residents of the EEA and Switzerland are referred to here as “EEA Residents.”
From May 25, 2018, all processing of Personal Information of EEA Residents is performed by us in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons regarding the processing of Personal Information and on the free movement of such data (“GDPR”).
Under the GDPR, we are a processor or co-processor of the Personal Information of EEA Residents. Our purpose for collecting and processing Personal Information from or about EEA Residents is to authenticate contacts and to provide our Services to our clients, who may be controllers or processors of Personal Information about EEA Residents. The legal basis for collecting Personal Information is to fulfill these purposes, including contracts between us and those for whom we provide Services. We also rely on your consent to use our Services, including receiving communications regarding us and our Services.
We will not share the Personal Information that we obtain about residents of the EEA with third parties except as described above regarding Personal Information.
Under the GDPR EEA Residents may also have the right to: obtain confirmation that we hold Personal Information about the resident, request access to and receive information about the Personal Information we maintain about the resident, receive copies of the Personal Information we maintain about the resident, update and correct inaccuracies in Personal Information, object to the continued processing of Personal Information, and have the Personal Information blocked, anonymized or deleted, as appropriate. The right to access Personal Information may be limited in some circumstances by local law. We are also limited by the terms of our agreements with our clients in responding to such requests and may refer any requests received from EEA Residents to our clients.
If you qualify, in order to exercise these rights, please contact us through one of the methods below:
Mailing Address:
Holmes Weinberg, PC
30765 Pacific Coast Highway, Suite 411
Malibu, CA 90265
E-mail Address:
Telephone Number:
1-310-457-6100
We may ask individuals making requests to provide additional information for identity verification purposes.
Please understand, however, that we reserve the right to retain an archive of such Personal Information for a commercially reasonable time to ensure that its deletion does not affect the integrity of our data; and we further reserve the right to retain an anonymous version of such Information.
For information regarding opt-out rights to communications from us please see above section regarding “Notifications and Communications from HW” and “Opting Out of Communications.”
International Data Transfers
If you are resident outside the United States, including in the EEA, we transfer Personal Information provided by clients for processing in the United States. Under the GDPR, we are considered a processor or co-processor of the Personal Information of EEA Residents and provide processing of data at the request of our clients, who may be controllers or processors of such data. By providing Personal Information to us for the purpose of obtaining information about us and our Services, clients consent to the processing of such data in the United States. The transfer of Personal Information to the United States is necessary for the performance of a contract between clients and us. Please note that you may always remove yourself from our mailing list by contacting us at ip@holmesweinberg.com.
Please note that the United States does not have data protection laws equivalent to those in the EEA and other jurisdictions.
Personal Information Retention
We retain the Personal Information we receive as described in this Privacy Policy for as long as clients use our Services or as necessary to fulfill the purpose(s) for which it was collected, provide our Services, resolve disputes, establish legal defenses, conduct audits, pursue legitimate business purposes, enforce our agreements, and comply with applicable laws.
Security Policy
We limit access to the Personal Information we have about clients or other individuals to those employees who have a legitimate business need to access such information. We take commercially reasonable steps to protect our customers’ Personal Information against unauthorized disclosure or loss. However, no data transmission over the Internet or any security measures can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Therefore, while we strive to protect user information we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us. You engage in such transmissions at your risk.
If you believe your Personal Information is being improperly used by us or any third party, please immediately notify us via email at ip@holmesweinberg.com.
Links to Other Sites
If you follow any links that direct you away from the Site, including links to social media sites, among others, this Privacy Policy will not apply to your activity on the other sites you visit. We do not control the privacy policies or the privacy practices of any third parties.
Children Under 13
This Site is restricted to the use of adults over the age of majority in their place of residence. No portion of the Site is directed to children under the age of 13. Consequently, we do not knowingly collect personal identifying information from any person we know is a child under the age of 13.
Your Responsibilities
We ask that you keep the Personal Information that you provide to us current and that you correct any information you have provided us by contacting us at iplaw@holmesweinberg.com.