GDPR Statement
Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan and Aronoff LLP
GDPR Privacy Statement
LAST UPDATE: May 15, 2018
This Privacy Statement describes information that Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan and Aronoff LLP and its affiliates (“Benesch”, “we”, “our”, and “us”) collect, use, share and store, including personal information. Benesch cares about the integrity and security of consumer personal information. However, Benesch cannot guarantee that unauthorized third parties will never be able to defeat our security measures or use personal information for improper purposes. You acknowledge that you provide your personal information at your own risk.
This Privacy Statement focuses on the types of personal information we collect through your operation of various Benesch products and services (collectively, “Benesch services”).
We provide additional details about how we collect and use information collected from our public websites in our Website Privacy Policy.
1. CONSENT
Consent to Data Collection and Processing
You hereby agree with and consent to the collection and processing of your personal information as described in this Privacy Statement.
Consent to International Data Transfers
Your personal information may be collected, processed and stored by Benesch or its services providers in the United States and other countries where our servers reside. Please be aware that the privacy protections and legal requirements, including the rights of authorities to access your personal information, in some of these countries may not be equivalent to those in your country. You hereby agree with and consent to the transfer of your personal data to the United States and other countries where Benesch operates.
Withdrawal of Consent
You have the right, at any time, to withdraw your consent to Benesch’s collection and processing of your information, or to the transfer of your personal data to the United States and other countries where Benesch operates. You may withdraw your consent by emailing Benesch at MarketingGroup@beneschlaw.com.
2. GENERAL PRINCIPLES FOR THE PROCESSING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
Personal information will be collected, stored, processed and transmitted in accordance with Benesch’s established policies and applicable federal, state, local and foreign laws, rules and regulations.
The principles of Benesch with respect to the processing of personal information are as follows: (1) personal information will be processed fairly and lawfully, (2) personal information will be collected for specified, explicit, and legitimate purposes and not further processed for incompatible purposes, (3) personal information collected by Benesch will be adequate, relevant, and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are collected and processed, (4) personal information collected by Benesch will be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date to the best of our ability, (5) personal information collected by Benesch will be retained as identifiable data for no longer than necessary to serve the purposes for which the personal information was collected, and (6) personal data will be processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorized or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organizational measures.
If Benesch engages in the processing of personal information for purposes other than those specified in this Policy, Benesch will provide notice of these changes, the purposes for which the personal information will be used, and the recipients of personal information.
3. INFORMATION COLLECTED
In order to register an account with Benesch, you will need to provide your name, address, telephone number, and email address.
If you decide to become a client of Benesch, Benesch will ask for your name, mailing address, telephone number, email address and certain financial information to be used for to verify your financial status, verify credit-worthiness, for invoicing, and for processing payment for our services. If you choose to pay for your services by credit card, Benesch will ask you for credit card information including your name, credit card number, billing address, credit card security code, credit card expiration date, and other relevant information necessary to process payment. Benesch may use a third party for payment processing on its behalf.
Remember that when you visit our websites, we collect personal information as described in our separate Website Privacy Policy. Like most Internet sites, we routinely record log entries (including information such as your IP address) and technical information (such as your browser type and version) when your browser or mobile device contacts our servers.
4. HOW WE MAY USE INFORMATION WE COLLECT
Benesch may share personally identifiable information about you with third parties only with your permission or as set forth herein. Uses of information that you choose to share with a third party are governed by that third party’s privacy policy while in that third party’s possession. For example, if you select a third party for the service of Benesch services and share your personal information with that party, we cannot control the collection, storage or sharing of information collected by that party. Always check the privacy policies for any company that collects your personal information.
We may also receive information from our partners, and from other sources and combine that with the information in your Benesch account. Personally identifiable information about you that Benesch receives from third parties will be processed and stored by Benesch and will be treated in accordance with this Privacy Statement. This information may be processed in the same or different ways as any other data that is part of your Benesch account.
The following are examples of situations where we may share your personally identifiable information:
- With your consent.
- For external processing, storage, and management. We may also utilize third party vendors to assist with monitoring our servers for technical problems and data security and privacy compliance. These third party vendors (as well as Benesch employees) may access certain information about you or your account in line with this work, but are not permitted to use this data for purposes unrelated to Benesch services and services.
- Upon the sale or transfer of the company and/or all or part of its assets, your personal information may be among the items sold or transferred. We will request a purchaser to treat our data under the Privacy Statement in place at the time of its collection.
- We may provide information to a third party if we believe in good faith that we are required to do so for legal reasons. For example, we may disclose information in response to legal process and we may disclose information in response to lawful requests by public authorities in the United States and other countries for the purposes of law enforcement and national security.
Uses of information and data may include:
Contact Information
“Contact Information” means information that allows someone to identify or contact you (e.g., your name, phone number, home address, and email address). Unless otherwise stated in this Privacy Statement, we do not share your Contact Information with anyone without your permission. However, we may use your Contact Information to market Benesch services and third-party products and services to you via various methods. You can stop the delivery of future promotional emails from us by following the specific instructions in the advertising emails you may receive. These choices do not apply to the receipt of mandatory service communications that are considered important to the Benesch services or services you receive.
Service Information
“Service Information” means information necessary or useful to us in providing the Benesch services to you (e.g., Benesch services you use and how/when you use them). This information is used by us for operation of the Benesch services, to provide services or information to you, to maintain the quality of our services, and to provide general statistics regarding use of the Benesch services. We may also use Service Information for customer support, Benesch service restoration, research and development activities for new products and services, and other similar purposes. Finally, we may provide certain Service Information to selected third parties to improve the Benesch services or the services we provide, for marketing purposes, or otherwise where we have obtained your consent.
Anonymized Information
Sometimes we may “anonymize” your information by removing any identifier that can be associated with you. Anonymized information helps us develop reports and analyses about how our clients use the Benesch services and for other research such as behavioral inferences. We may publically share or sell anonymized information and reports and analyses based on anonymized information. We may disclose aggregated, anonymized information, and analyses and reports derived from such information to third parties including utilities, our service providers, suppliers, advertisers, merchants, consumer and market research companies and other organizations. We may share non-personally identifiable information (for example, aggregated or anonymized customer data) publicly and with our partners. We take steps designed to keep this non-personally identifiable information from being associated with you, and we require our partners to do the same.
5. YOUR RIGHTS OVER YOUR INFORMATION
By law, you can ask us what information we hold about you, and you can ask us to correct it if it is inaccurate. You can also ask for it to be erased and you can ask for us to give you a copy of the information. You can also ask us to stop using your information and limit how we use your information.
6. RETENTION AND DELETION OF INFORMATION
We generally store your information or data on our servers or on the servers of our third party vendors until the later of (i) the date you request that we delete or edit it, (ii) the date on which you are no longer a Benesch client, or (iii) as long as is required by applicable law.
If you cease to be a Benesch client, Benesch will, upon receipt of a written notice from you, delete your account information from our servers unless we are required to do so for legal reasons, we have a legitimate business purpose for doing so, or are otherwise permitted to do so under applicable law.. Because of the way we maintain certain services, however, after your information is deleted, backup copies may linger for some time before they are deleted, and we may retain certain data for a longer period of time if we are required to do so for legal reasons unless we are required to do so for legal reasons, we have a legitimate business purpose for doing so, or are otherwise permitted to do so under applicable law.
7. SECURITY
Benesch will take reasonable steps to protect the personal data in its possession from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction, and will take all useful precautions with regard to the nature of the data and the risks of the processing, to preserve the security of the data and, in particular, prevent its alteration and damage or access by non-authorized third parties. Benesch has put in place technical, physical, and organizational procedures and security measures designed to safeguard and secure the personal data from destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorized access or disclosure, or other forms of unauthorized or unlawful processing commensurate with the risks posed by the particular type of processing, the nature of the personal data and in accordance with applicable law, and taking into consideration the cost of implementing such measures.
Benesch cannot guarantee the security of personal data on our servers or transmitted via the Internet.
Benesch will comply with applicable local laws, rules and regulations with respect to data breach disclosure and notification.
8. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY STATEMENT
Please note that this Privacy Statement may change from time to time. We will provide notice of any changes on the website or by contacting you.
9. YOUR RIGHT TO COMPLAIN
If you have a complaint as to our use of your information, you may file a complaint with us, the GDPR supervisory authority, any other governmental agency, and/or a judicial body.
A complaint may be submitted directly to Benesch:
- In writing by filling out the Complaint Form;
- In writing by sending an email to MarketingGroup@beneschlaw.com
- In writing by sending a letter to 127 Public Square, Suite 4900 Cleveland, OH 44114; or
- Orally by directly contacting 216.363.4500;
10. CONTACT US
If you have any questions about this Policy, please contact Benesch’s Data Protection Officer or Benesch directly.
The current Benesch DPO is:
Michael D. Stovsky
Tel: 216.363.4500
Fax: 216.363.4588
Email: mstovsky@beneschlaw.com
Our firm contact information is as follows:
Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan and Aronoff LLP
127 Public Square, Suite 4900
Cleveland, Ohio 44114
To submit a complaint to Benesch's DPO, please use this form.