Privacy Policy

Michael Yamamoto LLP provides a range of civil litigation and non-litigation legal services to its clients. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use and share personal information through our website (“Site”), and in connection with blogs, alerts, newsletters and other communications and events we offer (collectively, the “Services”). This Privacy Policy does not address our processing of personal information in connection with our attorney-client relationships, which are addressed in our engagement agreements with our clients.

PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

Our primary goals in collecting personal information are to provide and improve the Services, to administer your use of the Site and Apps, and to provide you with information that you request from us via your use of the Site and Apps, including, but not limited to, the provision of information about Michael Yamamoto hosted events and the Michael Yamamoto Alumni Group, the delivery of our email “legal updates” to subscription groups and responding to queries about, or applications for, job listings.

Information You Provide to Us:

  • Subscriptions. When you subscribe to receive alerts, newsletters, surveys or event announcements, we collect your name and email address.
  • Document Access. Clients may gain online access to certain client records hosted by Michael Yamamoto LLP or its third-party vendors. To access these online records, we will collect the username and password from the client.
  • Your Communications with Us. We collect personal information from you such as your email address, phone number, or mailing address when you request information about our legal services and expertise, subscribe to our newsletter, register to attend a webinar or event, request customer or technical support, apply for a job or otherwise communicate with us.
  • Surveys. We may contact you to participate in surveys. If you decide to participate, you may be asked to provide certain information which may include personal information.
  • Social Media Content. We may offer forums, blogs, or links to social media pages such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. Any content you provide on these channels will be considered public, and we may use this information to tailor our engagements with you, for example, providing you with details of events or legal updates we think may be relevant to you.

Information Collected Automatically or From Others:

  • Automatic Data Collection. We may collect certain information automatically when you use the Services including information collected when you search for or view a video, publication or blog and use our Services. This information may include your Internet protocol (IP) address and inferred information such as company, area code, postal code and country; user settings; cookie identifiers and similar technology; mobile carrier; mobile advertising and other unique identifiers; details about your browser, operating system or device; location information such as inferred metro area and city; Internet service provider; pages that you visit before, during and after using the Services including information about the links you click, and other information about how you use the Services. Information we collect may be associated with accounts and other devices. In addition, we may automatically collect data regarding your use of our Services, such as the types of content you interact with and the frequency and duration of your activities. We may combine your information with information that other people provide when they use our Services.
  • Cookies, Pixel Tags/Web Beacons, Analytics Information, and Interest-Based Advertising. We, as well as third parties that provide advertising and analytics services to us, may use cookies, pixel tags, local storage, and other technologies (“Technologies”) to automatically collect information through the Services. Technologies are essentially small data files placed on your computer, tablet, mobile phone, or other devices that allow us and our partners to record certain pieces of information whenever you visit or interact with our Services.
  • Cookies. Cookies are small text files placed in visitors’ computer browsers to store their preferences. Most browsers allow you to block and delete cookies. However, if you do that, the Services may not work properly.
  • Pixel Tags/Web Beacons. A pixel tag (also known as a web beacon) is a piece of code embedded in the Services that collects information about users’ engagement on that web page. The use of a pixel allows us to record, for example, that a user has visited a particular web page or clicked on a particular advertisement.
  • Analytics. We may also use Google Analytics, Marketo, LinkedIn Analytics, Gigya, SiteImprove, Facebook Analytics, and Twitter Analytics and other service providers to collect information regarding visit, or behavior and visitor demographics on our Services. For more information about Google Analytics: google.com/policies/privacy/partners/. You can opt out of Google’s collection and processing of data generated by your use of the Services by going to http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Information from Other Sources. We may obtain information about you from other sources, including through third party services and organizations to supplement information provided by you. For example, if you access our Services through a third-party application or site, such as an app store or a social networking site, we may collect information about you from that third-party site that you have made public via your privacy settings. This supplemental information allows us to verify information that you have provided to us and to enhance our ability to provide you with information about our business, products, and Services.

HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

We use your information for a variety of business purposes, including to:

Provide you with our Services, such as:

  • Managing your information and accounts;
  • Allowing you to register for events and communicating with you about events;
  • Providing access to certain areas, functionalities, and features of our Services;
  • Communicating with you about your account, activities on our Services and policy changes;
  • Undertaking activities to verify or maintain the quality or safety of a service or device;
  • Providing Services on behalf of our clients, such as maintaining or servicing accounts, providing client service, and verifying information; and
  • Processing transactions.

Analyze and improve our Services pursuant to our legitimate interest, such as:

  • Measuring interest and engagement in our Services;
  • Undertaking research for technological development and demonstration;
  • Researching and developing the Services, marketing or security procedures to improve their performance, resilience, reliability or efficiency;
  • Improving, upgrading or enhancing our Services;
  • Developing new content and Services;
  • Ensuring internal quality control;
  • Verifying your identity and preventing fraud;
  • Detecting security incidents, protecting against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent or illegal activity;
  • Debugging to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality;
  • Enforcing our terms and policies; and
  • Complying with our legal obligations, protecting your vital interest, or as may be required for the public good.

Provide you with additional content and Services, such as:

  • Furnishing you with promotional information or materials about our legal services, including events we are holding, where we think that these may be of interest to you. Where required to do so by applicable law, we will obtain your consent in order to send you these promotional materials;
  • Auditing relating to interactions, transactions and other compliance activities; and
  • Other purposes you consent to, are notified of, or are disclosed when you provide personal information.

Where European Union data protection laws apply, such as the General Data Protection Regulation, we will process your personal information for the purposes described above and for marketing (described below) where we have a lawful basis to do so, as described above. For example, for processing necessary to provide you with the Services, the lawful basis will generally be that it is necessary for the purposes of performing our contract with you. For marketing (described below), we may send you marketing based on it being in our ‘legitimate interests’ to do so (where you are a corporate customer) or based on consent where you are acting in an individual capacity. Other processing we do, such as that for product development and improvement, may not be ‘necessary’ to provide the Services but may still be necessary for our ‘legitimate interests’ of running a business and offering the Services.

Use De-identified and Aggregated Information. We may use personal information and other data about you to create de-identified and aggregated information, such as de-identified demographic information, de-identified location information, information about the computer or device from which you access our Services, or other analyses we create.

Share Content with Friends or Colleagues. Our Services may offer various tools and functionalities. For example, we may allow you to provide information about your friends through our referral services. Our referral services may allow you to forward or share certain content with a friend or colleague, such as an email inviting your friend to use our Services.

Automatic Collection Technologies. We, as well as third parties that provide content, advertising, or other functionality on the Services, may use cookies, pixel tags, local storage, and other technologies to automatically collect information through the Services. Our uses of these Technologies fall into the following general categories:

  • Required. This includes Technologies that allow you access to our Services, applications, and tools that are required to identify irregular site behavior, prevent fraudulent activity and improve security or that allow you to make use of our functionality;
  • Functional. We may use Technologies to assess the performance and offer you enhanced functionality of our Services, including as part of our analytic practices to help us understand how our visitors use the Services or identify you when you sign into our Services;
  • Advertising. We may use first party or third-party Technologies to deliver content, including ads for Michael Yamamoto LLP on third party sites.

Cross-Device Tracking. Your browsing activity may be tracked across different websites and different devices or apps. For example, we may attempt to match your browsing activity on your mobile device with your browsing activity on your laptop. To do this our technology partners may share data, such as your browsing patterns, geo-location and device identifiers, and will match the information of the browser and devices that appear to be used by the same person.

Notice regarding Third Party Websites and Social Media Platforms. The Services may contain links to other websites, and other websites may reference or link to our website or other Services. These other websites are not controlled by us. We encourage our users to read the privacy policies of each website and application with which they interact. We do not endorse, screen or approve and are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of such other websites or applications. Visiting these other websites or applications is at your own risk.

Our Services may include publicly accessible blogs, forums, social media pages, and private messaging features. As such information will be public, the personal information provided by you may be viewed and used by third parties for any number of purposes. In addition, social media buttons such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter (that might include widgets such as the “share this” button or other interactive mini-programs) may be on our site. These features may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on our site, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. These social media features are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our site. Your interactions with these features apart from your visit to our site are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing it.

DISCLOSING YOUR INFORMATION TO THIRD PARTIES

Except as provided below, we do not disclose or sell your personal information with the following categories of third parties.

Service Providers. We may share any personal information we collect about you with our third-party service providers. The categories of service providers (processors) to whom we entrust personal information include: IT and related services; payment processors; customer service providers; and vendors to support the provision of the Services.

Advertising Partners. Through our Services, we may allow third party advertising partners to set Technologies and other tracking tools to collect information regarding your activities and your device (e.g., your IP address, mobile identifiers, page(s) visited, location, time of day). We may also combine and share such information and other information (such as demographic information) with third party advertising partners. These advertising partners may use this information (and similar information collected from other websites) for purposes of delivering targeted advertisements for Michael Yamamoto LLP to you when you visit third party websites within their networks. This practice is commonly referred to as “interest-based advertising” or “online behavioral advertising. We may allow access to other data collected by the Services to share information that may be useful, relevant, valuable or otherwise of interest to you. If you prefer not to share your personal information with third party advertising partners, you may follow the instructions below.

Disclosures to Protect Us or Others. We may access, preserve, and disclose any information we store associated with you to external parties if we, in good faith, believe doing so is required or appropriate to: comply with law enforcement or national security requests and legal process, such as a court order or subpoena; protect your, our or others’ rights, property, or safety; enforce our policies or contracts; collect amounts owed to us; or assist with an investigation or prosecution of suspected or actual illegal activity.

Disclosure in the Event of Merger, Sale, or Other Asset Transfers. If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, financing due diligence, reorganization, bankruptcy, receivership, purchase or sale of assets, or transition of service to another provider, then your information may be sold or transferred as part of such a transaction, as permitted by law and/or contract.

International Data Transfers. Information processed by us may be transferred, processed, and stored anywhere in the world, including but not limited to, the United States or other countries, which may have data protection laws that are different from the laws where you live. Where required by applicable law, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your personal information. If we engage a third party to process personal information on our behalf, we will also contractually require them to handle your personal information appropriately. Further details can be provided upon request.

YOUR CHOICES

General. You have certain choices about your personal information. Where you have consented to the processing of your personal information, you may withdraw that consent at any time and prevent further processing by contacting us as described below. Even if you opt out, we may still collect and use non-personal information regarding your activities on our Services and for other legal purposes as described above.

Email and Telephone Communications. If you receive an unwanted promotional email from us, you can use the unsubscribe link found at the bottom of the email to opt out of receiving future emails. We may also send you certain non-promotional communications regarding us and our Services, and you will not be able to opt out of those communications (e.g., communications regarding the Services or updates to our terms or this Privacy Policy).

We process requests to be placed on do-not-mail, do-not-phone and do-not-contact lists as required by applicable law.

“Do Not Track”. Do Not Track (“DNT”) is a privacy preference that users can set in certain web browsers. Please note that we do not respond to or honor DNT signals or similar mechanisms transmitted by web browsers.

Cookies and Interest-Based Advertising. You may stop or restrict the placement of Technologies on your device or remove them by adjusting your preferences as your browser or device permits. The online advertising industry also provides websites from which you may opt out of receiving targeted ads from data partners and other advertising partners that participate in self-regulatory programs. You can access these and learn more about targeted advertising and consumer choice and privacy, at www.aboutads.info/choices/, https://youradchoices.ca/choices/, www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp, and http://www.youronlinechoices.eu/. Alternatively, for some devices you may use your device’s platform controls in your settings to exercise choice.

Please note you must separately opt out in each browser and on each device. Advertisements on third party websites that contain the AdChoices link may have been directed to you based on information collected by advertising partners over time and across websites. These advertisements provide a mechanism to opt out of the advertising partners’ use of this information for interest-based advertising purposes.

Your Privacy Rights. In accordance with applicable law, you may have the right to:

  • Access personal information about you consistent with legal requirements. In addition, you may have the right in some cases to receive or have your electronic personal information transferred to another party.
  • Request correction of your personal information where it is inaccurate or incomplete. In some cases, we may provide self-service tools that enable you to update your personal information or we may refer you to the controller of your personal information who is able to make the correction.
  • Request deletion of your personal information, subject to certain exceptions prescribed by law.
  • Request restriction of or object to processing of your personal information, including the right to opt in or opt out of the sale of your personal information to third parties, if applicable, where such requests are permitted by law.
  • Obtain categories of personal information we have either disclosed or sold about consumers in California for a business purpose in the past 12 months.

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, contact us as set forth below. We will process such requests in accordance with applicable law. To protect your privacy, we will take steps to verify your identity before fulfilling your request.

DATA RETENTION

We store the personal information we receive as described in this Privacy Policy for as long as you use our Services or as necessary to fulfill the purpose(s) for which it was collected, provide our Services, resolve disputes, establish legal defenses, conduct audits, pursue legitimate business purposes, enforce our agreements, and comply with applicable laws.

SECURITY OF YOUR INFORMATION

We take steps to ensure that your information is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Unfortunately, no system is 100% secure, and we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you provide to us. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, we do not accept liability for unintentional disclosure.

By using the Services or providing personal information to us, you agree that we may communicate with you electronically regarding security, privacy, and administrative issues relating to your use of the Services. If we learn of a security system’s breach, we may attempt to notify you electronically by posting a notice on the Services, by mail or by sending an e-mail to you.

CHILDREN’S INFORMATION

The Services are not directed to children under 18 (or other age as required by local law), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you learn that your child has provided us with personal information without your consent, you may contact us as set forth below. If we learn that we have collected any personal information in violation of applicable law, we will promptly take steps to delete such information.

SUPERVISORY AUTHORITY

If you are located in the European Economic Area or the UK and required by applicable law, you may have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority if you believe our processing of your personal information violates applicable law.

CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY

We may revise this Privacy Policy from time to time in our sole discretion. If there are any material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you as required by applicable law. You understand and agree that you will be deemed to have accepted the updated Privacy Policy if you continue to use the Services after the new Privacy Policy takes effect.

ADDITIONAL PRIVACY INFORMATION FOR CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS

This section of our Policy (the “California Notice”) provides additional information for California residents, as required under the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”). This section is effective January 1, 2020. Please note that we may update this section, our relevant data practices, or our processes for handling CCPA requests, in response to any final CCPA regulations issued by state authorities or other CCPA legal developments.

Scope. This California Notice applies to the personal information we collect, both online and offline, about California consumers, including personal information that we collect:

  • from users of our Sites, including the services available via our Sites
  • about clients and individuals that use or inquire about our legal and related services that we make available (“Services”)
  • about individuals that attend events hosted or sponsored by us, reply to our emails or communications, visit our offices, or otherwise communicate or engage with us
  • about individuals from clients and others related to the Services we provide

Personal information. As used in this California Notice, “personal information” means any information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular California resident or household; it does not include publicly available information made lawfully available by state or federal governments or deidentified information that cannot reasonably identify, relate to, describe, be capable of being associated with, or be linked directly or indirectly to a particular individual.

Not covered by this California Notice. This California Notice does not address or apply to

  • our handling of personal information that is exempt under Section 1798.145 of the CCPA,
  • personal information we collect about employees, contractors or job applicants or other individuals who are not California residents, or
  • personal information we collect about individuals acting in their capacity as representatives (“B2B contacts”) of our clients, prospective clients, vendors and other businesses that we conduct business with, to the extent we use their personal information only in the context of conducting our business relationship with the respective business.

Categories of personal information that we collect and disclose. Our collection, use and disclosure of personal information about a California resident will vary depending upon the circumstances and nature of our interactions or relationship with such resident. Pursuant to the CCPA, we may collect and disclose for a business purpose, and have done so in the prior 12 months, the following categories of personal information (as defined by the CCPA):

  • Identifiers: such as a real name, alias, address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, Internet Protocol (IP) address, email address, account name, social security number, driver’s license number, passport number, or other similar identifiers.
  • Customer records (categories of personal information set forth in Cal. Civ. Code 1798.80(e)): paper and electronic customer records containing personal information, such as name, signature, physical characteristics or description, address, telephone number, education, current employment, employment history, social security number, passport number, driver’s license or state identification card number, insurance policy number, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, or any other financial or payment information, medical information, or health insurance information.
  • Characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law: such as race, color, sex, age, religion, national origin, disability, citizenship status, and genetic information.
  • Commercial information: including records of property, products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or use histories or tendencies.
  • Internet or other electronic network activity information: including but not limited to browsing history, search history, and information regarding a consumer’s interaction with an Internet website, application, or advertisement.
  • Geolocation data: precise location information about a particular individual or device.
  • Audio, electronic, visual, olfactory, or similar information: such as CCTV footage, photographs, and audio recordings.
  • Employment information: professional or employment-related information.
  • Education information: information that is not publicly available personally identifiable information as defined in the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1232g; 34 C.F.R. Part 99)
  • Inferences from personal information collected: inferences drawn from any of the information identified above to create a profile reflecting a resident’s preferences, characteristics, behavior or attitudes.
    We do not sell, and have not in the prior 12 months sold, personal information about California residents. We do disclose personal information for business purposes as described in the Disclosure of personal information section above.

Sources of personal information. We may collect the above categories of personal information directly from you, automatically about your use of our Sites, and from third parties such as clients of our legal services, government and public entities, public records, data aggregators and resellers, parties and related parties in litigation matters, and others (see the Information we collect section above for more information).

Purposes for collecting, using and disclosing personal information. We use these categories of personal information we collect to provide our legal and other Services, to operate our Sites, to optimize and personalize your experiences with our Sites (e.g., to recognize or store your location, language or other settings), to analyze and improve our Sites and Services, to provide customer support and respond to requests, to comply with legal and ethical obligations and regulatory requirements, in support of our business operations (e.g., accounting, recordkeeping and legal functions), to protect or defend our rights and the rights of others, to prevent misuse of our Sites and Services, and as otherwise required by law. We also use personal information we collect about clients, potential clients, event attendees and others who subscribe to receive our communications for direct marketing purposes and contact them about news, information and events they may be interested in (see the Use of personal information section above for more information about our use of personal information).

Rights of California residents under the CCPA. California law grants California residents certain rights and imposes restrictions on particular business practices as set forth below.

  • Notice before collection: We are required to notify California residents, at or before the point of collection of their personal information, the categories of personal information collected and the purposes for which such information is used.
  • Request to delete: California residents have the right to request, at no charge, deletion of their personal information that we have collected about them and to have such personal information deleted, except where an exemption applies. We will respond to verifiable requests received from California residents as required by law.
  • Request to know: California residents have the right to request and, subject to certain exemptions, receive a copy of the specific pieces of personal information that we have collected about them in the prior 12 months and to have this delivered, free of charge, either (a) by mail or (b) electronically in a portable and, to the extent technically feasible, readily useable format that allows the individual to transmit this information to another entity without hindrance. California residents also have the right to request that we provide them certain information about how we have handled their personal information in the prior 12 months, including:
  • categories of personal information collected;
  • categories of sources of personal information;
  • business and/or commercial purposes for collecting and selling their personal information;
  • categories of third parties/with whom we have disclosed or shared their personal information;
  • categories of personal information that we have disclosed or shared with a third party for a business purpose; and
  • categories of third parties to whom the residents’ personal information has been sold and the specific categories of personal information sold to each category of third party.
  • Do-not-sell (opt-out/opt-in): California residents have the right to opt-out of our sale of their personal information. Further businesses may not knowingly sell personal information about minors under 16 years old without prior express consent.
  • Discrimination and financial incentives: The CCPA prohibits discrimination against California residents for exercising their rights under the CCPA. A business may offer financial incentives for the collection, sale or deletion of California residents’ personal information, where the incentive is not unjust, unreasonable, coercive or usurious, and is made available in compliance with applicable transparency, informed consent, and opt-out requirements. California residents have the right to be notified of any financial incentives offers and their material terms, the right to opt-out of such incentives at any time, and may not be included in such incentives without their prior informed opt-in consent. We do not offer any such incentives at this time.

CONTACT US

If you have any questions about our privacy practices or this Privacy Policy, or if you wish to submit a request to exercise your rights as detailed in this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:

Michael Yamamoto, LLP
1400 Shattuck Ave., #412
Berkeley, CA 94709
[email protected]
+1 510.296.5600