Attorneys, like other professionals who advise clients on personal financial
matters, are required pursuant to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, Public
Law No. 106-102, and rules issued by the Federal Trade Commission regarding
the privacy of consumer financial information, 16 Code of the Federal
Regulations, Part 313, to inform certain clients of their policies regarding
privacy of client information. The foregoing laws and federal regulations
apply to non-public personal information of the individual clients who
obtain financial services such as tax preparation and planning services,
real estate settlement services, debt collection services, and financial
advisory and management services, which are to be used primarily for
personal, family, or household purposes. In the course of providing such
services to our clients, we collect non-public personal information that
is provided to us by our clients and, with our clients' authorization,
from third parties such as accountants, financial advisors, insurance
agents, real estate agents, banking institutions, and other advisors.
We do not disclose any non-public personal information about our clients
to anyone outside our law firm except as agreed to by our clients or
as permitted by law.
Attorneys have been and continue to be bound by stringent professional
standards of confidentiality embodied in state law and our own professional
ethics standards. Therefore, we have always protected our clients' right
to privacy. In circumstances where our professional standards governing
privacy are stricter than the new federal laws, we will continue to adhere
to the more stringent professional standards of client confidentiality
and attorney-client privilege. The purpose of this notice is to explain
our privacy policy with regard to personal information about our clients
that we obtain and how we keep that information secure.
We retain records relating to professional services that we provide
so that we are better able to assist with our clients' professional needs
and to comply with professional guidelines or requirements of the law.
In order to guard non-public personal information, we maintain physical,
electronic and procedural safeguards that comply with our professional
standards.
We may amend this privacy notice at any time, and we will notify our
clients of any such changes as required by law.