Privacy Policy

I. Scope of this privacy statement

This Privacy Statement describes the types of personal information Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell & Jernigan, LLP (“Smith Anderson,” “us,” “we” or “our”) collects through http://www.SmithLaw.com/ (the “Site”), and how we collect, use, share and protect that information. This Privacy Statement does not govern our collection of personal information through any website or other means, other than through the Site.

Please see our Cookie Policy (Section II.B) for further explanation on how we use cookies and other web tracking devices on our Site.

If you are a client of Smith Anderson and would like to know more about our client confidentiality obligations, please refer to your Engagement Letter.

Our processing of personal information, such as the name, address, e-mail address, or telephone number, shall be undertaken consistent with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). The purpose of this Privacy Statement is to provide users of our website information about the nature, scope, and purpose of the personal information we collect, use and process and to advise data subjects of their rights. Whether as the data controller or processor, Smith Anderson has implemented numerous technical and organizational measures to ensure the protection of personal information processed through this website. However, Internet-based data transmissions may in principle have security gaps, so absolute protection may not be guaranteed.

By using the Site, you accept and consent to our practices surrounding the collection, use, and sharing of personal information provided by you in the manner described in this Privacy Statement. If you do not agree with the terms of this Privacy Statement, you cannot access, browse, or use the Site.

II. Personal Information We Collect

A. Information You Give Us
You do not have to give us any personal information to browse this Site. However, to use the services offered through this Site, you may be asked to provide personal information to submit or request information from us, or, and by doing so, you consent to our processing of such information as described in this Privacy Statement. Once you provide us with your personal information, you are no longer anonymous to us. This information may include your full name, e-mail address, postal address, other demographic information, location, photographs, videos, your relationship to Smith Anderson (for example, as a client, service provider, or job applicant), and any other information that you provide to us, including through feedback, messages, emails, answers to surveys or questionnaires that you may submit.

B. Automated Information Collection
In order to access and use particular features of the Site, you consent to our collection of certain information about your use of the Site through the use of tracking technologies or by other passive means, including the use of analytics applications such as Google Analytics or similar programs to help collect and analyze this information. You consent to our access and use of this type of “passively collected” information, including, but not limited to, the domain name of the website that allowed you to navigate to the Site, search engines used, the internet protocol (IP) address used, the length of time spent on the Site, the pages you looked at on the Site, other websites you visited before and after visiting the Site, the type of internet browser you have, the frequency of your visits to the Site, and other relevant statistics, including the following:

Log Information. When you access the Site, you consent to our servers automatically recording information that your browser sends whenever you visit a website. These server logs may include information such as your web request, IP address, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request, your computer operating system, mobile device and mobile operating system, name of your internet service provider or your mobile carrier, and one or more cookies (small text files containing a string of characters) that may uniquely identify your browser.
Location Information. You consent to our receipt of location data passed to us from location-enabled devices or that you have enabled, from your browser, or from third party services.
URLs. When you visit or access the Site, you consent to our receipt of the URL of the site from which you came and the site to which you are going when you leave the Site. Additionally, advertisers receive the URL of the page you were on when you click on an ad on the Site.
Cookies. When you visit or access the Site, you consent to our sending one or more cookies (small text files containing a string of characters) to your computer that uniquely identifies your browser, and you consent to our use of these cookies to improve the quality of the Site and to improve your user experience. We use temporary, session-specific cookies to improve the quality of the Site by storing user preferences and tracking user trends. Cookies do not reveal or contain any identifying or personal data, cannot read any information on your computer, and cannot interact with other cookies on your hard drive. Cookies stay on the user’s hard drive to identify site visits and whether the user is a returning visitor. Most web browsers accept cookies automatically, but can be configured not to do so or to notify the user when a cookie is being sent. If you wish to disable cookies, refer to your browser help menu to learn how to disable cookies. Please note that if you disable cookies after previously accepting our Cookie Policy or if you choose not to accept our Cookie Policy, you may not be able to use some customized features available through the Site and Site functionality may be degraded.
Web Beacons. Web beacons (also known as “pixel tags” or “clear GIFs”) are 1x1 single-pixel graphics that allow us to count the number of users who have visited or accessed the Site and to recognize users by accessing our cookies. You consent to us employing web beacons to facilitate Site administration and navigation, to track the actions of users of the Site, to compile aggregate statistics about Site usage and response rates, and to provide an enhanced online experience for visitors to the Site and including web beacons in HTML-formatted e-mail messages that we send to determine which e-mail messages were opened.

III. How We Use Personal Information

Smith Anderson complies with its obligations under GDPR by: keeping personal information up to date where needed based on the purposes for which the personal information is being processed; by not collecting or retaining excessive amounts of data; by ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal information from loss, alteration, misuse, unauthorized access and disclosure as it is transmitted, stored, or otherwise processed, and by using appropriate measures to securely destroy personal information when it is no longer needed by Smith Anderson.

You consent to our use of the personal information collected through the Site by us and our affiliates for purposes of:

Responding to your questions and feedback;
For such purposes as you may authorize at the time you submit the information;
Auditing, research, and analysis to maintain, protect, and improve this Site and our services;
Ensuring the technical functions of our network;
Improving and customizing the content and layout of the Site;
Tailoring advertisements to you;
Developing new products and services; or
Compiling personal information and other information collected through the Site on an aggregate basis.
Contacting you, whether by email, postal mail, or telephone with information about this Site or our services;

IV. Personal Information We Share

We do not sell, rent, trade, or otherwise share personal information collected through the Site, except as described below:

In Connection with our Offerings. The Site involves the sharing of certain personal information collected through the Site with (i) other users of the Site, and (ii) as you otherwise provide your consent.
Service Providers. We work with third parties that provide services on our behalf. Such services may include website hosting, marketing, and website usage analytics. We may share personal information and non-personal information with these third parties for the purpose of enabling them to provide these services. We do not bear any responsibility for any actions or policies of such third parties.
Consent. We may share personal information in accordance with any consent you provide.
Required by Law. We may disclose personal information or any information collected through this Site if we are required to do so by law or pursuant to legal process, in response to a request from government officials or law enforcement authorities, or as necessary or appropriate in connection with an investigation of illegal activity.
Certain Transactions. We may disclose or transfer personal information or any information collected through this Site to third parties who acquire all or a portion of our business, whether such acquisition is by way of merger, consolidation, or purchase of all or a portion of our assets, or in connection with any bankruptcy or reorganization proceeding brought by or against us.
Internet Based Advertising. We may participate in Interest-based and behavioral advertising. This means that you may see advertising on the Site tailored to how you engage, browse or shop, or you may see advertising for us on other websites, applications and social media based on your behavior across websites, applications and social media. We may target ads based on data we have collected, or data provided by third parties alone or in combination with the data we collect ourselves. If you choose to interact with specific third parties who advertise through the Site, the information you provide to them is subject to the conditions of their specific privacy policies.

In connection with the foregoing activities, third parties, often called “ad servers” or “ad networks,” may place and access cookies, web beacons, or other tracking technology on your device to collect information about your use of the Site and your use of third-party sites. The information about your use of the Site may be combined with information about your use of third-party websites to provide targeted advertisements and content that may be of interest to you (this is known as “behavioral advertising”). The information they collect from the Site may identify you personally, or they may associate it with personal information collected in other ways or received from other third parties. We do not control these third parties or their use of cookies, web beacons, or other tracking technology.

By using the Site you agree to usage tracking and targeted, behavioral advertising. If you do not wish to have cookies track your usage for these purposes please see the Section II.C of this Privacy Statement to refuse all or some browser cookies or do not use the Site.

Some advertisers may provide you with the choice to opt-out of having your information used for behavioral advertising. If you would like more information about behavioral advertising, or for information about how to opt-out of behavioral advertising, please visit the Network Advertising Initiative's (“NAI”) consumer Web site at http://www.networkadvertising.org/understanding-online-advertising, and in particular, NAI’s Ad Network “Opt-Out” page at http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/. Even if you opt-out of behavioral advertising, we may still collect and use information about your use of the Site to the extent otherwise permitted by this Privacy Statement (such as to analyze Site traffic and usage, conduct website analytics, administer the Site, etc.). In addition, if you opt-out of receiving behavioral advertising from a particular advertiser, the advertiser may still provide advertisements to you, but the ad will not be targeted to you based on your online activities.

V. Aggregate Information

We may compile personal information and other information collected through the Site on an aggregate basis. This information may include, without limitation, the number of users who have registered for the Site, demographic information about users of the Site, and individual purchase preferences. Such aggregate information does not identify you individually. We may use aggregate information and share aggregate information with third parties for any of the purposes specified in this Privacy Statement, and for any other lawful purpose.

VI. Your Choices

A. Information You Provide
You can always choose whether or not to provide information on the Site. However, if you choose not to disclose certain information, you may not be able to register as a user of the Site, which may limit your access to certain portions of the Site.

B. Communications From Us
If at any time you decide that you no longer wish to receive notices from us regarding the Site, you may indicate this preference by contacting us at smithanderson@smithlaw.com.

C. Do Not Track
As described in more detail in Section II.B of this Privacy Statement, you can configure your browser not to accept cookies or to notify you when a cookie is being sent. If at anytime you wish to disable cookies after previously accepting cookies, refer to your browser help menu to learn how to disable cookies. Please note that if you opt-out of receiving cookies, you may not be able to use some customized features available through the Site.

D. Updating Your Personal Information

We encourage registered users of the Site to keep their personal information current. You may request to change personal information you have provided about you by sending us an email at smithanderson@smithlaw.com.

E. Your Rights

If you are an EU resident, by law you may have the following rights with respect to your personal information:

If you are within the EU, you have the right to request a copy of your personal information which the Smith Anderson holds about you;
The right to request that the Smith Anderson correct any personal information if it is found to be inaccurate or out of date;
The right to request your personal information is erased where it is no longer necessary for Smith Anderson to retain such data. You also have the right if you are within the EU to ask us to delete or remove your personal information where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below).
The right to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time of personal information to which you provided consent for processing (“Consent Withdrawal”);
If you are within the EU, you have the right to request that Smith Anderson provide you with your personal information in a commonly used format and where possible, to transmit that data directly to another data controller (known as the right to data portability);
The right, where there is a dispute in relation to the accuracy or processing of your personal information, to request a restriction is placed on further processing;
The right to object to the processing of personal information (where applicable); and
The right to lodge a complaint with a data supervisory authority.

If you want to exercise any of the rights described above, please contact us using the contact details below.

Typically, you will not have to pay a fee to access your personal information (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, except in relation to Consent Withdrawal, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive, or, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal information (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

F. Transfer of Data Abroad
Smith Anderson will transfer personal information abroad only when there has been a documented adequacy determination, or where Smith Anderson has confirmed adequate privacy protections. If Smith Anderson transfers personal information to a third party acting as an agent of Smith Anderson, we will also require the third party to have adequate privacy protections in place.

Smith Anderson may transfer personal information to and on behalf of clients and third party’s with whom Smith Anderson has an existing service agreement or as part of our legal obligations, each of which shall be subject to Smith Anderson policies, and only to the extent necessary for purposes of legitimate interests pursued by the data controller (or by a third party).

G. Automated Decision Making
Under GDPR, data subjects shall have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, which produces legal effects concerning him or her, or similarly significantly affects him or her, as long as the decision (1) is not is necessary for entering into, or the performance of, a contract between the data subject and a data controller, or (2) is not authorized by Union or Member State law to which the controller is subject and which also lays down suitable measures to safeguard the data subject’s rights and freedoms and legitimate interests, or (3) is not based on the data subject’s explicit consent.

If the decision: (1) is necessary for entering into, or the performance of, a contract between the data subject and a data controller, or (2) it is based on the data subject’s explicit consent, Smith Anderson shall implement suitable measures to safeguard the data subject’s rights and freedoms and legitimate interests, at least the right to obtain human intervention on the part of the controller, to express his or her point of view and contest the decision.

If a data subject wishes to exercise the rights concerning automated individual decision-making, he or she may at any time directly contact us.

H. Further Processing
If we wish to use your personal information for a new purpose, not covered by this Privacy Statement, then we will provide you with a new notice explaining this new use prior to commencing the processing and setting out the relevant purposes and processing conditions. Where and whenever necessary, we will seek your prior consent to the new processing.

VII. Information Storage and Security

We employ reasonable security precautions to help protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of personal information provided on or through the Site. These security measures include [storing passwords in hashed form, anticross-site-request forgery measures, SSL encryption of Site and CMS communications, and a monitoring system to actively screen for unwanted behaviors such as password brute-forcing attempts (both software screens and daily manual checks). There is a two-fold approach to server monitoring that combines automated and manual processes for maximum coverage. At the outermost layer, strict firewalls regulate the type, source, and volume of traffic that reaches our Site developer’s servers from the outside. Intrusion-detection software constantly looks for anomalous patterns of activity, alerting our Site developer if something is wrong. Additionally, we manually check the server logs on a daily basis to look for anything the software may have missed.] However, no method of transmitting or storing data is completely secure. As a result, although we strive to protect personal information about you, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us through or in connection with the Site. If you have reason to believe that personal information is no longer secure, please notify us immediately by contacting us in accordance with the last section below.

VIII. A Special Note about Children

Children are not eligible to use the Site, and we ask that minors (children under the age of 18) not submit any personal information to us.

IX. External Links

The Site may contain links to various websites that we do not control. When you click on one of these links, you will no longer be transacting business through the Site. Third party websites maintain their own privacy policies, and we do not exercise any control over any of the third party websites that may be linked to the Site. If you visit a website that is linked to the Site, you should consult that website’s privacy policy before providing any personal information. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other websites, and we are not liable for their misuse of personal information about you.

X. Special Admonitions for International Use

The Site is hosted in the United States and is intended for use by residents of the United States of America only. All matters relating to the Site are governed exclusively by the laws of the State of North Carolina in the United States of America and not the jurisdiction in which you are located. If you are located outside of the United States of America and you contact us, please be advised that any information you provide to us will be transferred to the United States of America and that by submitting information, you explicitly authorize such transfer.

XI. Updates to this Privacy Statement

We may change or update the Site or any of our policies and procedures without prior notice. We will post a notice on this Site to advise you of any significant changes to this Privacy Statement and indicate via the “Last Updated” legend at the bottom of this Privacy Statement when it was most recently updated. Your continued use of the Site signifies your continued assent to the terms of this Privacy Statement, as updated or amended at that time.

XII. Questions Regarding this Privacy Statement

The Data Controller for the purposes of GDPR or other data protection laws applicable in Member states of the European Union and other provisions related to data protection is Smith Anderson. Any data subject may, at any time, contact us directly with any questions and suggestions concerning data protection, and if you have any questions or comments regarding this Privacy Statement, please send us an email at smithanderson@smithlaw.com.