Privacy Policy

Last Modified: June 29, 2023

Introduction

Ridder, Costa & Johnstone LLP (”Company” or “We”) respects your privacy, and we are committed to protecting it through our compliance with this policy.

This policy describes the types of information we may collect about you or that you may provide when we provide legal services to clients, manage our business and other relationships, when you communicate with us, and when you use our Online Services as defined in our Terms of Use (all collectively the “Services”). Use of the Online Services is subject to our Terms of Use, which incorporates this Privacy Policy.

This policy applies to information we collect through the Services. It does not apply to information collected by any third party, including through any application or content (including advertising) that may link to or be accessible from or on the Services.

Please read this policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our Services. By accessing or using the Services, you agree to this privacy policy. This policy may change from time to time (see Changes to Our Privacy Policy). Your continued use of the Services after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the policy periodically for updates.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may make changes to this Privacy Policy. The “Last modified” date at the top of this page indicates when this Privacy Policy was last revised. If we make material changes, we may notify you via a notice posted on our website or other method. We encourage you to read this Privacy Policy periodically to stay up-to-date about our privacy practices.

Children Under the Age of 13

Our Services are not intended for use by minors, and no one under age 13 may provide any information to the Services. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe that we may have collected or received personal information from a child under 13 without verification of parental consent, please contact us at the information below.

Information We Collect About You and How We Collect It

We collect several types of information from and about users of our Services, including information:

By which you may be personally identified, such as name, postal address, e-mail address, telephone number, payment information, or any other identifier by which you may be contacted online or offline (including social media account identifiers (”personal information”);
That is about you but individually does not identify you.
About your internet connection, the equipment you use to access our Services, and usage details.

We collect this information:

Directly from you when you provide it to us.
Automatically as you navigate through and use the Services. Information collected automatically may include usage details, IP addresses, and information collected through cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies.
From third parties, and public information resources.

Information You Provide to Us

The information we collect on or through our Services may include:

If you are a client of our firm, we collect your name, contact information (including address, phone number and email), payment information, communications between us, and any other information you provide to us or that we obtain from third parties while providing legal services (including from public records, witnesses and opposing parties, and the like). The type of information we collect varies depending on the matter and may include information about our clients’ employees, customers, vendors, family members, and other information relevant to the matter.
If you are a vendor or business partner of RCJ, we may receive contact and payment information from you and/or your employees in connection with that relationship.
We may collect personal information (such as name, address, title, company, phone number, and email address) if you choose to register or RSVP for an event hosted or sponsored by our firm.
If you choose to contact us for any reason, we will collect your contact information, your name, the content of communications between us, and information regarding any follow-up actions taken.
If you apply for a job with us, we will collect information including your name, contact information, resume, cover letter, educational background and transcripts, writing sample, and the like.

Information We Receive From Third Parties

We may receive personal information about you from other sources, including our service providers (such as payment processors and third parties that help us update, expand and analyze our records, identify new customers, or prevent or detect fraud), and third parties that help us investigate and develop the facts of our legal matters (including private investigators and e-discovery vendors). We may also receive information about you from social media platforms, for example when you interact with us on those platforms or access our social media content.

Information We Collect Through Automatic Data Collection Technologies

As you navigate through and interact with our Online Services, we and our service providers may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns, including:

Details of your visits to our Services, including traffic data, location data, logs, and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on the Services.
Information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type.

We may maintain or associate the data we collect automatically with personal information we collect in other ways or receive from third parties. This information helps us to improve our Services and to deliver a better and more personalized service, including by enabling us to:

Estimate our audience size and usage patterns.
Store information about your preferences, allowing us to customize our Services according to your individual interests.
Recognize you when you return to our Services.

The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include:

Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. Our Online Services may use cookies to recognize your web browser, tell us how and when you visit the Online Services, and remember your preferences. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our Online Services. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Online Services.
Web Beacons. Pages of the Online Services and our e-mails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit the Company, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain Online Services content and verifying system and server integrity).

Third-Party Use of Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies

Some content or applications on the Online Services are served and/or provided by third-parties, including content providers, hosting providers, and application providers. These third parties may use cookies alone or in conjunction with web beacons or other tracking technologies to collect information about you when you use our Online Services. The information they collect may be associated with your personal information or they may collect information, including personal information, about your online activities over time and across different websites and other online services. They may use this information to provide you with interest-based (behavioral) advertising or other targeted content.

We do not control these third parties’ tracking technologies or how they may be used. If you have any questions about an advertisement or other targeted content, you should contact the responsible provider directly.

This site is hosted on Cloudflare Pages, and uses Cloudflare web analytics. You can view Cloudflare’s privacy policy at: https://www.cloudflare.com/privacypolicy. We use log files and analytics to improve and administer our site, to analyze trends, and to gather information about our user base.

How We Respond to “Do Not Track” Browser Signals

At this time, our Services does not respond to “Do Not Track” browser signals.

How We Use Your Information

We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any personal information:

To provide legal services to our clients, including advising clients on legal matters; representing clients in adversarial matters (including potential or actual legal proceedings in court, in connection with settlement discussions and arbitration/mediation, and before regulatory authorities); collecting and managing information related to legal matters (including discovery and e-discovery); filing and prosecuting trademark applications; representing clients in transactional matters including contract drafting/negotiation and due diligence in the context of mergers and acquisitions; and processing payments and advancing payments on behalf of our clients.
For marketing purposes, including to send client alerts, newsletters and other communications to our clients and business contacts; and to register you for, and confirm your attendance at, events.
To manage our business relationships with customers, clients, vendors, business partners, cooperating law firms, and our contractors and third-party service providers, including processing invoices and sending communications related to our Services.
For recruitment purposes, including to evaluate job applications and invite you to job interviews.
To present our Online Services and their contents to you, and to improve the Online Services, including through use of analytics.
To communicate with you and respond to your inquiries.
To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including for billing, collection, and fraud prevention.
To fulfill our legal obligations, including to comply with applicable laws and regulations, court orders and legal process.
To detect, prevent and investigate security incidents and other potentially illegal or prohibited activities.
To notify you about changes to our Services or any products or services we offer or provide though it.
In any other way we may describe when you provide the information.
To fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it.
For any other purpose with your consent.

Disclosure of Your Information

We may disclose personal information that we collect or you provide as described in this privacy policy:

To third party contractors engaged by RCJ in the course of business, including accountants, insurance companies, banks, our network of external legal counsel and co-counsel, and other experts, advisors, investigators, and/or consultants.
As necessary to provide legal services to our clients, including to opposing counsel.
To courts, regulators, and government agencies, as required by law and/or in the context of legal proceedings.
To vendors and service providers with whom RCJ has a direct contractual relationship, including IT and communications service providers, marketing and research providers, and payment processors.
To event partners or sponsors.
To a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of Ridder, Costa & Johnstone LLP’s assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which personal information held by Ridder, Costa & Johnstone LLP about our Services users is among the assets transferred.
To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it, including to respond to your requests.
For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information.
With your consent.
If we believe doing so is required or appropriate to: (i) comply with any court order, law, or legal process (such as a subpoena), including to respond to any government or regulatory request; or (ii) protect your, our or others’ rights, property or safety.

Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information

We strive to provide you with choices regarding the personal information you provide to us. The following mechanisms are available:

Tracking Technologies. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this site may then be inaccessible or not function properly.
Marketing. We allow you to opt out of future marketing communications at any time by following the opt-out instructions contained in marketing communications.

Your California Privacy Rights

California’s “Shine the Light” law (Civil Code Section § 1798.83) permits users of our Services that are California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please send an email to [email protected] or write us at: Ridder, Costa & Johnstone, LLP; 440 N. Barranca Ave., Suite 7550; Covina, CA 91723.

Data Security

We have implemented measures designed to secure your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. However, because no information system can be completely secure, we cannot guarantee the security of your information.

The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our Services, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.

Contact Information

To ask questions or comment about this privacy policy and our privacy practices, contact us at:

Ridder, Costa & Johnstone, LLP
440 N. Barranca Ave., Suite 7550
Covina, CA 91723
[email protected]