Attorneys, like other professionals
who advise clients on personal financial matters, are required pursuant to the
Gramm-Leach-Biliey Act, Public Law No. 106-102, and rules issued by the Federal
Trade Commission regarding the privacy of consumer financial information, 16
Code of 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 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' needs and to comply with professional guidelines or requirements of
the law. In order to safeguard 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.