Introduction:

Ciyou & Associates (“the Firm”) strives to comply with all local, state, and federal laws and regulatory guidance on privacy and use of “cookies”.[1]  Please review this Privacy Policy carefully. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Herbert Hopkins, the Business and Operations Manager at the Firm at hhopkins@ciyoulaw.com and provide him with your specific concern(s) or request(s) and this will be brought to the Firm’s committee on same.  We want you to have an exceptional experience at Ciyou & Associates, P.C.; and if the Firm’s Privacy Policy causes you concern, we want to know it and address same immediately, if you elect to access our website after review of this Privacy Policy.  Immediate notification is the only feasible way the Firm can address your concerns.

User-supplied information:

If you fill out any form on the Firm’s website, the Firm will ask you to provide some specific personal information.  This information may include, at a minimum, your email address, legal name, and state of residency.  Further, should a chat feature be available now or in the future on Firm’s on-line materials that seeks information from you, please do not provide any information that is confidential, proprietary, or highly unique to you, such as date of birth and driver’s license.  Clearly, you should not provide any credit card information or financial data as it is “sensitive data”.  Chat sources are typically third-party providers that assist the Firm in connecting with potential clients on a timely basis.

The Firm must advise you that in addition to obtaining counsel, disclosure of “sensitive data” to the Firm is at your own peril and risk and may not always be subject to attorney-client confidentiality or the legal evidentiary privilege associated therewith and may thus be used against you in some circumstances.  Again, providing same is at your own risk and peril.

Nevertheless, any information you provide may be used to contact you to determine if we are a match with you and your legal objectives. Unless you tell us otherwise, any information you provide us, until retained, will be treated as that in the public domain and useful to us in responding to your query.  We may also use the information, including “sensitive data,” to communicate with you in the future. 

If you do not wish to receive such potential communications in the future, you may opt-out or unsubscribe as set forth hereinafter.  

Web server logs:

When you visit the Firm’s website, we may track information about your visit and store that information in web server logs.  Web server logs are records of the activities on our site(s).  The servers automatically capture and save the information electronically.  Examples of the information we may collect are, but not limited to, the following:

• your unique Internet protocol address;
• the name of your unique Internet service provider;
• the town/city, county/state, and country from which you access our website;
• the kind of browser or computer you use;
• the number of links you click within the site;
• the date and time of your visit;
• the web page from which you arrived at/to our site;
• the pages you viewed on the site; and
• certain searches/queries that you conducted via our website(s).

The information we collect in web server logs helps us administer the site, analyze its usage, protect the website and its content from inappropriate use, and improve the user’s experience.

Cookies:

In order to offer and provide a customized and personal service, our website(s) and applications may use cookies and similar technologies to store and help track information about you.  Cookies are simply small pieces of data that are sent to your browser from a web server and stored on your computer’s hard drive.  We use cookies to help remind us who you are and to help you navigate our sites during your visits. Cookies also can tell us where visitors go on a website and allow us to save preferences for you, so you won’t have to re-enter them each time you visit.  The use of cookies is relatively standard.  Most Internet browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but you can use your browser to either notify you when you receive a cookie or disable cookies.

If you wish to disable cookies from this site, you may be able to do so in some cases with your browser.  You should understand that some features of many sites may not function properly if you do not accept cookies.  Ample information about using browsers to manage cookies is readily available on the web.  Also, you can refuse to accept Flash cookies from this site using Adobe’s Flash management tools.  You can opt out of Google’s use of cookies by visiting Google’s Ad Settings. If cookies are concerning to you, you should fully educate yourself about them before entering the Firm’s site.

By visiting this website, you consent to the use of cookies and similar technologies in accordance with the Firm’s Privacy and Cookie Policies.

Third-party services:

The Firm may use services hosted by third parties to assist in providing our services and to help us understand the use of our site by our visitors.  These services may collect information sent by your browser as a part of a web page request, including your IP address or cookies.  If these third-party services collect information, they do so anonymously and in the aggregate to provide information helpful to us such as website trends, without identifying individual visitors.

In addition, we may use services provided by third parties to display relevant content, products, services, and advertising to you.  The third parties may use cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies to collect or receive information from this website and elsewhere on the internet.  They may then use that information to provide measurement services so we can understand your interests and retarget advertisements based on your previous visits to this website.  Please keep in mind that we do not share your personal information with any third-party advertiser, ad server, or ad network.

You may be able to opt-out of the collection of information for ad targeting by some third parties by your own research on the tools to do so available on the web and through other sources. You can opt out of Google’s use of cookies by visiting Google’s Ad Settings. Please see “Cookies” in this section above for more information on how you can control the use of cookies on your computer. 

California do not track:

Our web services do not alter, change, or respond upon receiving Do Not Track (DNT) requests or signals in browsers.  As described above in detail, we track user activity using web server logs, cookies, and similar technologies.  Information collected in web server logs helps us analyze website usage and improve the user’s experience.  Cookies allow us to offer you a customized experience and present relevant advertising to you.

How is personal information protected?

We take certain appropriate security measures that are standard in the industry to help us protect your personal information from accidental loss or unauthorized access, use, or disclosure.  However, we cannot guarantee that unauthorized persons or entities will always be unable to defeat our security measures.

Who has access to the information?

We do not sell, rent, or lease mailing lists or other user data to others, and we will not make your personal information available to any unaffiliated parties, except as follows:

• to agents, website vendors, and/or contractors who may use it on our behalf or in connection with their relationship with us at any given time;
• if we are unable to assist you with your matter, but know an unaffiliated attorney or firm that may be able to help you, we may refer you and share information you provided us with that party; and
• as required by law, in a matter of public safety or policy, as needed in connection with the transfer of our business assets (for example, if we are acquired by another firm or if we are liquidated during bankruptcy proceedings), or if we believe in good faith the data disclosure is necessary to protect our rights and/or property.

How can I correct, amend, or delete my personal information and/or opt out of future communications?

You may opt out of future contacts from us at any reasonable time. Contact us via the phone number, contact form, or mailing address found on our website at any time to:

• see what data we have about you, if any;
• change/correct any data we have about you;
• ask us to delete any data we have about you; and/or
• opt out of future communications from you.

Please note some data may be stored in such a format that it cannot be corrected, amended, or deleted. 

If you have any additional questions or concerns about this privacy policy, please contact us via the phone number, contact form, or mailing address listed on this website.  If our information practices change in any material and/or substantial way, we will post the changes here in our Privacy and Cookies policy of this website.

What happens if I do not agree with your Privacy and Cookies Policy:

If you do not agree with and accept our Privacy and Cookies Policy, your access to our website or any companion material is DENIED.  Thus, do not access our website or companion on-line resources. Should you proceed, you do so at your peril and are deemed to accept our Privacy and Cookies Policy.

Conclusion:

Please know the Firm takes reasonable efforts to comply with all guidance, rules, and regulations, as well as local, state, and federal laws on privacy and cookies. However, the law in the area changes frequently. This may be by a case decided in a state or federal court or otherwise.  The Firm expressly notifies you that no website can be compliant with every such dictate as some are ambiguous and/or contradictory.  The Firm uses industry standard means in compliance.   You access and use this website at your own risk and accept the legal dynamics noted.   The Firm’s Privacy and Cookies Policy is to be construed where possible to be in compliance with all laws, rules, and regulations, as well as the Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct.  Again, we urge you to contact the firm if you have any question or concerns and not access or use our website until that time or you obtain your own legal counsel’s guidance on same.

[1]          The Firm’s Privacy and Cookie policies are collectively referred to herein as “Privacy Policy” unless the context indicates otherwise, as the use of cookies inherently involves privacy.