Privacy Statement and Cookie Policy
As a professional legal services provider to our valued clients, HeplerBroom, LLC (the firm) is committed to protecting the privacy of confidential and “Personal Information” (information that directly or indirectly identifies individuals who may be clients, staff, agents, lawyers, law students, job applicants, or others inside or outside the firm). We, of course, comply with the rules of professional conduct, which impose a duty on all our lawyers and associated personnel to preserve and protect confidential client information. There are also privacy protections provided under various state and federal laws and, in some instances, laws of other countries. We meet or exceed these requirements when applicable.
This Privacy Statement and Cookie Policy (the “Statement”) is based on the privacy and data protection principles common to the jurisdictions in which we operate. We apply these principles and safeguards to comply with applicable laws, to preserve client confidentiality, to be transparent in our privacy practices, and to represent our clients as effectively and securely as possible. This Statement summarizes the firm’s data protection practices generally, to advise our clients, insurance carriers, interested law students, job applicants, website visitors, and other third parties about the firm’s privacy policies that may apply in their interaction with us.
This Statement also applies to parties outside the firm who provide Personal Information to the firm or who visit or use the firm’s websites, apps, social media sites, file sharing software, or extranets, as well as email messages that we send to you that contain a link to this Statement (collectively, the “Internet Services”). This Statement also describes how the firm collects, processes, and discloses Personal Information in connection with the provision of legal services and the Internet Services.
Please Note: HeplerBroom, LLC will not rent or sell your personal information for commercial use or share it with third parties for their marketing purposes.
Collection and Use of Personal Information
The firm collects Personal Information in the course of providing legal services to clients and as provided by visitors to its website or users of Internet Services. We may also collect Personal Information about you when you interact with us on social media sites and from other third parties; we may also automatically collect information that may contain Personal Information as described below in the cookie policy.
We do not sell or market your Personal Information. We may use Personal Information, when in our interest, for the following legitimate purposes to:
- contact you and respond to your requests and inquiries
- personalize your visit and use of our Internet Services and to assist you while you use those services
- carry out, monitor, analyze, and improve our business or website operations
- conduct our recruiting and selection process
- provide you with legal services, if you are or become a client of the firm, and otherwise deal with you and administer matters in which you may be involved
- communicate with you regarding business, legal, or law firm developments that may be of interest to you unless you tell us that you prefer we not provide such communications. If you do not want to receive publications or details of events or seminars that we consider may be of interest to you, you may do so by clicking on the unsubscribe link in electronic marketing communications.
- enter into or carry out contracts of various kinds
- comply with applicable laws, regulations, guidance, or professional obligations that may apply to us, including anti-money laundering requirements. Where Personal Information is necessary for the firm to carry out its anti-money laundering checks, failure to provide such information may result in the firm not being able to provide representation.
Confidentiality, Security, and Retention of Personal Information
Consistent with our professional obligations, it has always been the policy of the firm to exercise the utmost discretion regarding the information our clients entrust to us.
We maintain reasonable and appropriate, albeit not infallible, physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards intended to maintain the confidentiality of and avoid unauthorized access to Personal Information, including that provided by a visitor to this website and provided while using other Internet Services. We cannot guarantee that our safeguards will always work.
We require consultants, suppliers, and vendors to maintain data protections consistent with reasonable and appropriate obligations of data processors to comply with applicable data protection laws and regulations.
We may retain information provided by you, including Personal Information, for as long as necessary to comply with our legal obligations or to achieve the purposes for which the information was originally collected and for the purposes described in the Statement and in our applicable policies. If you wish to obtain more details on our information practices, please refer to the “Contact Us” section below.
Disclosure and Transfer of Personal Information
We do not disclose any Personal Information to unrelated parties outside of the firm except in limited circumstances. Such circumstances include disclosures to our agents or data processors or other contractors acting on our behalf and at our direction, subject to appropriate confidentiality, privacy, and information security commitments provided by the receiving party, or where we believe it necessary to provide a service which you have requested, or as permitted or required by law, or as otherwise authorized or directed by you. Consistent with our professional obligations, we may provide Personal Information to regulatory authorities and law enforcement officials in accordance with applicable law or when we otherwise believe in good faith that the provision of such information is required or permitted by law, such as in connection with the investigation or assertion of legal claims, defenses, or for our compliance matters.
Changes to Our Privacy Notice
We reserve the right to update and change this Notice from time to time in order to reflect any changes to the way in which we process your personal data or changing legal requirements. Any changes we may make to our Notice in the future will be posted on this page. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our Notice.
COOKIE POLICY
HeplerBroom, LLC uses cookies to distinguish you from other visitors of our website, to provide you with a better user experience, and to improve our sites. This cookie policy provides you with information about the types of cookies we use and the purposes for using them.
A cookie is a text file sent by a web server and placed on your computer by your web browser. Cookies can be usefully divided into two different types: session and persistent. Session cookies differ from persistent cookies primarily in that session cookies are temporary and expire and are normally deleted when you close your browser. Persistent cookies remain stored on your computer after you close your browser until they are deleted either because they expire or you delete them.
Cookies are often used in conjunction with other Internet technologies, such as web beacons, to understand behavior on the Internet. For example, the firm uses cookies in conjunction with web beacons, which are small sections of code that we may place in our Internet Services to understand the number of unique users who have visited a specific page. Similarly, we may use or receive reporting from tracking scripts that recognize unique cookies issued by another website. These tracking scripts are not used to gather information on your use of the Internet unrelated to the firm, and they do not identify you.
How We Use Cookies
Our firm uses both session and persistent cookies in connection with its Internet Services. We use cookies to identify unique visitors, identify unique sessions, and store information about a visitors’ session. We utilize Google analytics to report on visitor interactions on our website. Google Analytics also collects Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to provide and protect the security of the service and to give us a sense of which country, state, or city in the world our users come from (also known as "IP geolocation"). In-depth information regarding Google Analytics can be found here: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=en.
Although the firm uses the services of third parties in connection with these cookies, we do not allow the third-party service provider to use Personal Information about the users of our Internet Services.
Children
In order to respect the privacy of minors, the firm does not knowingly collect, maintain, or process Personal Information submitted online via our Internet Services by anyone under the age of 18.
California Privacy Rights
Under California Civil Code Section 1798.83, Californians are entitled to request information relating to whether a business has disclosed their Personal Information to any third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes. The firm does not sell or share your Personal Information with third-party companies for their direct marketing purposes without your consent.
European Union (EU) Data Protection Rights
The firm’s practice is primarily limited to domestic legal matters in the U.S. Rarely will data protection rights from other countries apply, such as the EU’s data protection rights (“General Data Privacy Regulation or GDPR”) and China’s privacy protections. Nevertheless, on occasion there will be international communications and transactions that might make them applicable. When applicable, we strive to comply with them.
Under EU data protection laws, individuals may have certain data protection rights (subject to important limitations and/or restrictions) which include: (i) the right to request access to and rectification or erasure of your Personal Information; and (ii) the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your Personal Information. You may also have a right to object to processing of your Personal Information when carried out for our legitimate interest or direct marketing. To exercise your rights under this Privacy Policy, please send us your request using the “Contact Us” section below.
Individuals may also have a right to lodge a complaint about the processing of their Personal Information with their local data protection authority.
The firm’s EU data protection representative is HeplerBroom, LLC, 130 North Main Street; Edwardsville, IL 62025.
Changes
We reserve the right to change this Statement at any time without advance notice. Should any new policy go into effect for our Internet Services, the firm will post it on this website and relevant Internet Services.
Contact Us
The firm maintains a detailed Cybersecurity Policy, supported by an active team, which includes continuous efforts to enhance and promote privacy protection compliance and data protection principles. The team also serves as a point of contact for answering questions; accessing, amending, or correcting your information; and resolving issues and disputes. If you have any questions relating to our use of your Personal Information, please contact the Chief Information Security Officer at privacy@heplerbroom.com.