Zimmerman Law Office Privacy Policy
The Zimmerman Law Office recognizes the importance of privacy and the sensitivity of personal information. As lawyers we have a professional obligation to keep confidential all information we receive within a lawyer-client relationship. We are committed to protecting any personal information we hold. This Privacy Policy outlines how we manage your personal information and safeguard your privacy.
Your Privacy Rights
Various state and federal laws gives you rights concerning the privacy of your personal information. Ina Kay Zimmerman and the Zimmerman Law Office are responsible for the personal information we collect and hold. To ensure this accountability, we have developed this policy, and trained our support staff about our policies and practices.
Why Des the Zimmerman Law Office Need Personal Information?
The Zimmerman Law Office provides legal services and products to a wide range of clients. In doing so, personal information is often critical in advising clients concerning estate planning and other issues.
What personal information do we collect?
Personal information is any information that identifies you, or by which your identity could be deduced. If we did not collect and use your personal information, we could not provide you with legal services.
How do we collect your personal information?
We collect information only by lawful and fair means, and not in an unreasonably intrusive way. Wherever possible we collect your personal information directly from you, both at the start of our relationship when you are still a prospective client, in the course f our representation after being engaged. Sometimes we may obtain information about you from other sources, for example:
• your insurance company;
• your family members or friends who volunteer such information;
• your real estate agent in a property transaction;
• from a government agency or registry;
• your employer, if we are acting for you;
• your accountant.
Consent
In most cases, we shall ask you to specifically consent if we collect, use, or disclose your
personal information. Normally, we ask for your consent in writing, but in some circumstances,
we may accept your oral consent. Sometimes, your consent may be implied through your
conduct with us, and sometimes it is not possible to gain consent in the case of volunteered information we did not solicit.
Use of Your Information
We use your personal information to provide legal advice and services to you, to administer our client time and billing databases and to include you in any direct marketing activities. If you tell us that you no longer wish to receive information about our services, or about new developments in the law, we will not send any further material. The Zimmerman Law Office does not disclose your personal information to any third party to enable them to market their products and services. For example, we do not provide our client mailing lists to other law firms.
Disclosure of your Personal Information
Under certain circumstances, the Zimmerman Law Office will disclose your personal information:
• when we are required or authorized by law to do so, for example if a court issues a subpoena;
• when you have consented to the disclosure;
• when the legal services we are providing to you requires us give your information to third parties (for example a lender in a real estate mortgage transaction) your consent will be implied, unless you tell us otherwise;
• where it is necessary to establish or collect fees;
• if we engage a third party to provide administrative services to us (like computer back-up services or archival file storage) and the third party is bound by our privacy policy;
• if we engage expert witnesses on your behalf;
• if we retain other law firms on your behalf, with your consent;
• if the information is a public record not protected by federal or state privacy law.
Updating Your Information
Since we use your personal information to provide legal services to you, it is important that the information be accurate and up-to-date. If during the course of our relationship, any of your information changes, please inform us so that we can make any necessary changes in our records.
Is My Personal Information Secure?
The Zimmerman Law Office takes all reasonable precautions to ensure that your personal information is kept safe from loss, unauthorized access, modification or disclosure. Among the steps taken to protect your information are:
• limited premises security;
• restricted file access to personal information;
• technological safeguards deployed in our office such as security software and firewalls to prevent hacking or unauthorized computer access;
• internal password and security policies.
Access to Your Personal Information
You may ask for access to any personal information we hold about you. Summary information is available on request. More detailed requests which require archive or
other retrieval efforts or costs may be subject to our normal professional and disbursement fees.
Correcting Errors
If the Zimmerman Law Office holds information about you and you can establish that it is not accurate, complete and up-to-date, the Zimmerman Law Office will take reasonable steps to correct it.
Can I be denied access to my Personal Information?
Your rights to access your personal information are not absolute. We may deny access when:
• it is required or authorized by law (for example, when a record containing personal information about you is protected by attorney-client privilege);
• to do so would reveal confidential commercial information, and the personal information cannot be severed from the record;
• to do so could reasonably be expected to threaten the life or security of another individual, and the personal information cannot be severed from the record; or
• the information was generated in the course of a formal dispute resolution process.
If we deny your request for access to, or refuse a request to correct your information, we shall explain why. The Zimmerman Law Office does not use your Social Security Number as a way of identifying or organizing the information we hold upon you.
May I request anonymity?
Whenever it is legal and practicable, we may offer the opportunity to deal with general inquiries without providing your name (for example, by accessing general information on our website). Federal or state law may require us to confirm the identity of certain clients, or disclose information in relation to certain large cash transactions.
Credit Bureaus
To help us make credit decisions about clients, prevent fraud, check the identity of new clients and prevent money-laundering, we may – with your consent – request information about you from the files of consumer reporting agencies. We do not report delinquency in fee payments or other financial arrangements to credit bureaus, but we may report suspected fraud.
Communicating with Us
You should be aware that e-mail is not a 100% secure medium, and you should be aware of this when contacting us to send personal or confidential information.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
Since the Zimmerman Law Office regularly reviews all of its policies and procedures, we may change or Privacy Policy from time to time.
Requests for Access
If you have any questions, or wish to access your personal information, please write to our office, as such requests cannot be honored if delivered by telephone or email.
Employment Inquiries
If you apply to the Zimmerman Law Office for a job, we need to consider your personal information, as part of our review process. We normally retain information from candidates after a decision has been made, unless you ask us not to retain the information. If we offer you a job, which you accept the information will be retained in accordance with our privacy procedures for employee records.
Web Site
Our website may contain links to other sites, which are not governed by this privacy policy. On our website, like most other commercial websites, we may monitor traffic patterns, site usage, and related site information in order to optimize our web service. We may provide aggregated information to third parties, but these statistics do not include any identifiable personal information.