Privacy Policy

LAST UPDATED: March 1, 2020

This Privacy Policy describes the practices followed by The Law Office of Michael A. Villa, P.C. (“the Firm”) with respect to the collection and use of information about visitors to its website (“the Site”). By using the Site, you, the user/viewer thereof, consent to the Firm’s practices as described herein. The Firm may modify its Privacy Policy from time to time without notice to its users. Modifications will be effective the date posted on the Site. For these reasons, you should periodically check the “Last Updated” date above and review these provisions to ensure that you continue to agree therewith.

1. What Information Does The Firm Collect?

When you visit the Site, which is hosted by a third-party, the Firm collects the following types of information: (1) personally identifiable information you may voluntarily disclose to the Firm; and (2) activity information which is automatically collected on a user-specific and aggregate basis by means of Internet “session cookies” as you and others browse the Site.

1.1 Personally Identifiable Information

Although not required to do so in order to use the Site, you may voluntarily send the Firm an e-mail containing “personally identifiable information,” which is information, such as your name, physical address, e-mail address, telephone number, which would permit the Firm to identify or contact you. If you choose to send the Firm an e-mail, the Firm may retain your e-mail message and use your e-mail address, and any information you provided in your message, to respond to your inquiry.

1.2 Activity Information

The Firm collects information about all visitors to the Site through the use of Internet “session cookies.” “Session cookies” are small pieces of data which are placed in the temporary memory of computer browsers (also referred to as “cache”) of all visitors to the Site. “Session cookies” expire and are deleted once visitors leave the Site. The information collected by means of “session cookies” includes the name of your Internet service provider, IP address (the number automatically assigned to your computer when you use the Internet), operating system, web browser and screen preference, the pages of the Site viewed by you, the date and time you visited the Site, and traffic history (the website address, if any, from which you linked directly to the Site and the website address, if any, to which you traveled from the Site). The activity information gathered in this way is anonymous information that does not personally identify you. If your computer’s browser permits, you may adjust your computer’s settings to decline “cookies.” However, if you disable this function, some portions of the Site may not operate properly.

2. Children’s Online Privacy Act of 1998 (“COPPA”) Disclosure

The Site is not directed at children under 13 years of age, and the Firm does not solicit or knowingly collect personally identifiable information from such children. No one under 13 years of age should submit any personal identifiable information to the Firm while using the Site.

3. How The Firm Uses The Information It Gathers

3.1 Personally Identifiable Information

Except as otherwise stated in this paragraph, the Firm will not use non-public personally identifiable information that is voluntarily provided by you for any purpose other than to provide the legal services you have requested, after completing its standard conflicts of interest check and entering into a written, fully signed Legal Services Agreement with you as described in the Firm’s related Terms & Conditions. Under no circumstances will your non-public personally identifiable information be used by the Firm, or shared or disclosed to any third-party unaffiliated with the Firm, for any form of direct marketing, including but not limited to sending you unsolicited information about the Firm or any other products or services. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Firm reserves the right to provide such information to third-parties if it reasonably believes it must do so for any or all of the following reasons: (1) to conform with the law or comply with legal process served on the Firm; (2) to prevent, investigate, detect or prosecute criminal or otherwise wrongful acts directed at the Site or the Firm’s computer network; and/or (3) to protect the rights, property, or safety of the Firm, its employees, contractors and agents, users of the Site, or the public. The Firm will cooperate with law enforcement authorities in each and all of these circumstances.

3.2 Activity Information

The activity information collected from you will be aggregated with similar data collected from other users of the Site to help the Firm determine the overall number of visitors to the Site and provide it with feedback concerning which areas of the Site are useful and which areas need improvement.

4. Security

The Firm utilizes commercially reasonable security measures consistent with legal industry practices, but not encryption, to protect against the risks of unauthorized access to, loss, erroneous disclosure or unlawful interception of personally identifiable information that you may transmit to it via email through its Site. You should be aware, however, that e-mail and the Internet in general are not secure communications media, and that no security measures can be guaranteed to be 100% effective in eliminating those risks. For these reasons, the Firm cannot accept responsibility for the security of any information transmitted to it through its Site. You provide all such information entirely at your own risk.

5. Third-Party Websites

The Site may contain hyperlinks to websites owned and maintained by third-parties. This is done solely for the convenience of visitors to the Site. If you use a hyperlink to travel from the Site to another website, this Privacy Policy is no longer in effect. The Firm is not responsible for the content or privacy policies of those websites and it is recommended you review the privacy policies at those websites to confirm that you understand and agree therewith.

6. Contacting The Firm

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, or, alternatively, if at any time you would like for the Firm to remove your personally identifiable information from its database, please contact Michael A. Villa, Esq., at 105 C Plaza St., Healdsburg, California 95448, (707) 756-5090.