Privacy Policy

Last Updated: June 3, 2024

Introduction

Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff, LLP and its affiliates (collectively, “Benesch,” or “we,” “us,” “our”) respect your concerns about personal data protection and value our relationship with you. This Website Privacy Policy (the “Policy”) applies solely to personal data collected through Benesch web sites, web pages, portals, interactive features, sweepstakes, applications, telephone support lines, e-mail, widgets, blogs and their respective contents in addition to our Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or other social networking sites, and their respective contents (collectively, the “Website”), whether accessed via computer, mobile device or other device (collectively, “Device”).

This Policy describes the types of personal data we collect through the Website and how that personal data may be used and/or with whom it may be shared. This Policy also describes how you can reach us to update your contact information, access and control the use of the personal data we collect in connection with our marketing communications and activities, or get answers to questions you may have about our privacy practices at the Website. Please read this Policy carefully, because by using the Website you are acknowledging that you understand and agree to the terms of this Policy. In addition, please review our Terms of Use, which governs your use of the Website and any content you submit to the Website.

Definitions

Except as otherwise defined in this Policy, capitalized terms have the meanings set forth herein.

“Identifiable natural person” means a person who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identification number or to one or more factors specific to his or her physical, physiological, mental, economic, cultural or social identity.

“Personal data” or “personal data” means any information about an identified or identifiable natural person.

Compliance with Local Laws

This Policy is meant to guide Benesch with respect to personal data collected from or about you at this Website. While this Policy applies to personal data generally, the local laws, rules and regulations of jurisdictions that are applicable to Benesch (“Local Laws”) may require standards which are stricter than this Policy and, in such event, Benesch will comply with applicable Local Laws. Specific privacy policies may be adopted to address the specific privacy requirements of particular jurisdictions.

Collection and Use of Personal Data

The privacy and security of the personal data that Benesch collects from you is a priority for Benesch. Generally you can visit the Website without providing personal data, unless otherwise mentioned in the Website itself. However there may be circumstances when you may be asked or choose to provide personal data that could reasonably be used to contact you or to identify you personally such as your name, company name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, and any additional information that you share in our Contact form through the Website. By submitting personal data to Benesch at this Website, you hereby consent to Benesch’s collection, use and disclosure of such personal data.

Benesch collects and uses personal data for the following purposes:

Benesch may collect and use personal data that you submit at our Website to communicate with you, better understand your needs, and to provide you with better service. For example, when you visit our websites, or send e-mails to Benesch, you are communicating with us electronically and may be submitting personal data to Benesch. We may use this personal data to communicate with you either electronically, by e-mail, or using other means.
By way of example, Benesch may collect and use personal data that you submit at our Website when you (1) register with Benesch for an event, (2) register your contact information, including e-mail address, with us, (3) opt-in to receive newsletters, (4) enter sweepstakes or contests sponsored by us, (5) send e-mail messages or feedback, submit forms or transmit other information by e-mail, (6) submit your credit card or other payment information, (7) register to use the client portal, or (8) complete a survey. If you elect to engage in such activities, we may ask that you provide us personal data, such as your first and last name, date of birth, age, mailing address (including zip code), e-mail address, telephone and facsimile numbers, credit card type and number, credit card security code, and other personal data. If you do not provide certain personal data with respect to a particular activity, you will not be able to engage in that activity.
We may also use your personal data that you submit to provide you with a more efficient and customized experience, improve our marketing and promotional efforts, statistically analyze Website use, improve our event and service offerings, and enhance our Website’s content, layout, and services. We may contact you regarding administrative notices and/or send you occasional e-mails or regular mail regarding our services and upcoming events that may be of interest to you. If you do not wish to receive this information, please click on the “Unsubscribe” link shown on all our e-mails and electronic newsletters to you or contact us at the address or telephone number listed herein and we will remove your name from our mailing lists.
To help Benesch improve your experience on our Website Benesch may also track your use of our Website. We may collect certain non-personally identifiable information about you based upon how you search and interact with our Website, including which pages you view while visiting our Website. For system administration and statistical analysis purposes, this information is compiled and analyzed on both a personal and an aggregated basis. This information may include a website’s Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”) that you just came from, which URL you next go to, general geographic location, device type, what browser you are using, Internet service provider, date/time of visit information, operating system, and your Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, which tells us the country and state you are searching our Website from. A URL is the global address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web.
We also collect, or enlist a third party service provider to collect, store, process and manage certain non-personally identifiable information to diagnose problems with our servers and software, administer our Website, connect you to the credit card payment platform and gather and analyze demographic and other statistical information. Our third party service providers may also provide us with summary, but not individual, reports that will tell us how our Website is being used. We may also share such aggregate statistical and demographic information with select third parties, such as our partners; however, these reports do not contain any personal data.
Any information you give us through this Website may be transmitted to servers outside the country where the information is entered, and may be used, stored, and processed outside the country where it was entered. As you browse our Website, our servers may collect information about your visit. For example, to help us better serve you and improve our Website, we may monitor statistics such as how many people visit our Website, which pages people visit on our Website, and which browsers people use to visit our Website.

Benesch also may use and disclose your personal data: (1) to the extent required to respond to a legal or ethical obligation, (2) to the extent necessary to meet national security, public interest or law enforcement obligations, and (3) to the extent expressly permitted by an applicable law, rule or regulation.

Of course, you may choose not to provide Benesch with personal data. However, this choice may prevent Benesch from providing you with the product, service, event, or other information you requested or that could be offered to you.

Benesch may use your personal data as set forth in this Policy (or any other Benesch policy, as applicable), and for any other purposes for which your consent is required under applicable law so long as Benesch obtains your consent.

Additionally, where Benesch is permitted to do so under applicable law, Benesch may share your personal data with its affiliates, employees, contractors, consultants and other parties who assist Benesch including, without limitation, parties that provide information technology and data processing services to Benesch with respect to the operation of its businesses.

Where Benesch is permitted to do so under applicable law, Benesch may transfer or provide your personal data to affiliates or third parties both in and outside of the nation where you reside.

Additionally, your personal data may be disclosed as required by applicable law, to comply with a court order, subpoena, warrant or other legal process, or where the personal data is publicly available (unless otherwise restricted by applicable law).

Cookies

Like many websites, Benesch uses “cookies” and similar tools on the Website to improve its performance and enhance your user experience.

What are Cookies?

A cookie is a small text file which is placed on your Device. Cookies help to analyze web traffic and allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences. Certain cookies may contain personal data – for example, if you click to “remember me” when logging in, a cookie may store your username. Most cookies won’t collect personal data that identifies you, and will instead collect more general information, such as how users arrive at and use our Website, or a user’s general location.

The Website may use both cookies that we implement, and cookies implemented by our suppliers and other third parties. “First-party” cookies allow your browser to talk to the actual website that you are visiting, whereas “third-party” cookies allow your browser to talk to third-party websites, such as the source of an ad that appears on the website you are visiting or a third-party analytics provider. Additionally, a cookie can either be a “session” cookie or a “persistent” cookie. Session cookies exist only for so long as you are visiting the applicable website. Session cookies are typically deleted or removed when you exit or quit your browser application. Persistent cookies exist for a set period of time, for example, six months or one year. Each time you visit a website that has implemented a persistent cookie, that cookie will remain active until its predetermined expiration date.

Our suppliers may use cookies and tracking technologies, such as pixel tags, to track Website visitors across the Internet to understand how you get to the Website and for the analytics purposes disclosed in this Policy. We do not have access or control over these cookies and this Policy does not cover the use of third-party cookies.

What do we use Cookies for?

Benesch may place cookies or similar files on your Device for security purposes, to tell us whether you have visited the Website before, for analytical purposes, and to facilitate site navigation. Cookies allow us to collect technical and navigational information, such as browser type, time spent on our Website and pages visited. Cookies may enhance your online experience by saving your preferences while you are visiting a particular Website. Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better Website by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your Device or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

What kinds of Cookies do we use?

Generally, the cookies that are used on the Website can be broken down in to the following categories:

Session Cookies - These cookies are used ‘in-session’ each time you visit and then expire when you leave a Website or shortly thereafter: they are not stored on your Device permanently, do not contain any personal data and help by minimizing the need to transfer personal data across the internet. These cookies can be deleted or you can refuse to allow their use, but this will hamper the performance and your experience in using the Websites. These cookies also take time stamps that record when you access a Website and when you leave a Website.
Persistent Cookies - This type of cookie is saved on your Device for a fixed period (sometimes for a few hours, sometimes for a year or longer) and is not deleted when the browser is closed. Persistent cookies are used where we need to remember who you are for more than one browsing session. For example, this type of cookie can be used to store your time zone, so that it is remembered for the next visit to a Website.
Performance or Analytical Cookies - Performance cookies are used to analyze how the Website is used and to monitor its performance, which allows us to improve your experience in using the Website. These cookies help us to tailor the content of the Website to reflect what the Website users find most interesting and to identify when technical issues with the Website arises. We may also use this data to compile reports to help us to analyze how a Website is used, what the most common issues are and how we can improve the Website.

Can the Cookies be blocked?

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. If you would prefer not to accept cookies, most browsers will allow you to: (i) change your browser settings to notify you when you receive a cookie, which lets you choose whether or not to accept it; (ii) to disable existing cookies; or (iii) to set your browser to automatically reject any cookies. However, please be aware that if you disable or reject cookies, some features and services on our Website may not work properly.

IP Addresses and Related Data.

The servers used to operate and provide the Website may collect data pertaining to you and the equipment, software, and communication methods you use to access the Internet and the Website, including Internet protocol (“IP”) addresses assigned to the computers and other devices from where you access the Internet, your Internet service provider (ISP), device ID numbers and unique identifiers, your media access control (MAC) address, your operating system, your computer screen resolution, your web browser type, the pages you access on the Website, the websites you access before and after visiting the Website, the length of time you spend on the Website, date and time stamps, clickstream data, your approximate geographic location, performance statistics, and usage data. Benesch may use this information to administer the Website and its servers, to generate statistical information, to monitor and analyze Website traffic and usage patterns, to monitor and help prevent fraud, to investigate complaints and violations of our policies, and to improve the Website.

We may combine this information with other information we collect about you (including personal information) and information obtained from third parties for security reasons and to protect our rights or the rights of others. The suppliers that we use to provide the Website may collect information about your visits to the Website and other websites. Some of this information may be collected using cookies and similar tracking technologies as explained below under as discussed above.

Opting-out

You may opt-out of having your personal data collected or used by Benesch by contacting Benesch. Please note that even if you opt-out, in order to fulfill certain obligations, we may need to continue sending you notices or other important information concerning any events or services you request. You may contact Benesch by sending us a letter at:

Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff, LLP

127 Public Square, Suite 4900

Cleveland, OH 44114

Attention: Privacy Officer

Or by e-mail to: privacy@beneschlaw.com

Or by telephone at: 216-363-4500

Social Media

The Website may allow you to connect to and share information with social media platforms and we may be required to implement cookies, plug-ins, and APIs provided by those social media platforms in order to facilitate those communications and features. We may share information that you provide us or that we may collect about your use of the Website with those platforms and that information will be subject to their privacy policies. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of any social media platform that you use in connection with the Website. In addition, by choosing to use any third-party social media platform or choosing to share content or communications with any social media platform, you allow us to share information with the designated social media platform. We cannot control any policies or terms of such third party platform. As a result, we cannot be responsible for any use or disclosure of your information or content by third-party platforms, which you use at your own risk.

General Principles for the Processing of Personal Data

Personal data 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 data are as follows: (1) personal data will be processed fairly and lawfully, (2) personal data will be collected for specified, explicit, and legitimate purposes and not further processed for incompatible purposes, (3) personal data collected by Benesch will be adequate, relevant, and not excessive in relation to the purposes for which it is collected, (4) personal data collected by Benesch will be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date to the best of our ability, and (5) personal data collected by Benesch will be retained as identifiable data for no longer than necessary to serve the purposes for which the personal data was collected.

If Benesch engages in the processing of personal data for purposes other than those specified in this Policy, Benesch will provide notice of these changes, the purposes for which the personal data will be used, and the recipients of personal data.

Transfers of Personal data

Benesch may transfer your personal data in connection with a merger, consolidation, or reorganization of the assets of Benesch or affiliates, or other transaction, or by way of assignment (whether by operation of law or otherwise) in connection with any such or similar transaction or in connection with the administration of a bankruptcy estate. However, your personal data will continue to be protected by any pre-existing privacy policy of Benesch, unless you agree otherwise. Your personal data may become the property of the successor and, subject to your agreement, will be subject to the successor’s privacy policies.

We do not sell any of your personal data (including your name, mailing address, or e-mail address) to any companies or third parties. We do provide some of our services through contractual arrangements with affiliates, service providers, and other third parties that require us to share your personal data with them in order to deliver those services. For example, we must release your credit card information to the card-issuing bank to confirm payment for services and release your e-mail address to our service to deliver newsletters and client bulletins. We require our service providers to adopt and post privacy policies consistent with this Policy.

Additional Information For California Residents

The below section of this Policy only applies to California residents in accordance with California law, including, the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended (“CCPA”).

Collection and Use

In addition to, and consistent with, the uses and sharing described above, Benesch and its suppliers may collect and use your personal information as described below:

In addition to and consistent with the purposes identified above, Benesch and our suppliers may collection and use your personal information for the following purposes:

Lawful Processes, Security & Protection of Rights. We may use and share personal information as required or permitted in accordance with subpoenas, court orders, valid law enforcement requests, governmental agency requests, and other legal processes. We may use personal information if we believe doing so is necessary or appropriate to protect our rights or the rights of others.
Business Transactions. If Benesch undergoes a change in control, acquisition, merger, reorganization, or asset sale (in whole or in part), we may transfer, sell, share, or otherwise disclose personal information to the subsequent owner(s) or successor(s) of those transactions. We may also disclose personal information in connection with the evaluation of those transactions.
With Your Consent. With your consent, we may use and share your personal information and other personal information in ways not specifically described in this Policy.

Disclosures to Third Parties.

Pursuant to and consistent with the purposes for collecting your information as set forth in this Policy we disclose certain categories of personal data to third parties for a business (or other) purpose. The categories of personal information we disclose include:

Identifiers: including but not limited to name, telephone number, address, or email address;
Internet or other electronic network activity information: including but not limited to computer and connection information, IP address, and cookies and other tracking technologies described further above; and
Inferences: drawn from the above categories of personal information.

As described in this Policy above, applicable business purposes for such disclosures include, without limitation, product and service fulfillment, internal operations, prevention of fraud and other harm, and legal compliance.

The categories of third parties to which we may share the above categories of information, include, without limitation:

Third party service providers: including, but not limited to, data analytics and advertising providers, fraud prevention providers, cloud storage providers, IT service providers, and delivery partners; and
Law enforcement

Sources.

Consistent with the Policy above, we collect certain categories of personal data directly from you and, in some circumstances, third parties. The categories of sources that we collect personal data from in the prior 12 months includes the following:

Benesch’s third party service providers;
Social media companies;
Our Websites; and
Your communications with us.

No Sensitive Personal Information.

We do not knowingly collect any personal information that would be considered “sensitive” under applicable law.

Rights.

Applicable laws in your jurisdiction may grant you certain rights—subject to all applicable limitations, exemptions, or exceptions—regarding our collection and use of your personal information. These rights may include, to the extent applicable and to the extent granted under applicable law:

The right to request the disclosure of (1) what personal information has been collected; (2) the categories of sources from which the personal information was collected; (3) the business or commercial purpose for collection or selling personal information; (4) the categories of third parties with whom we share personal information; and (5) the specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you (e.g., data portability);
The right to request the deletion of your personal information that we have collected;
The right to request the correction of your personal information that we collected;
The right to not be discriminated against due to your exercise of your rights under applicable law. We do not discriminate against users for exercising the rights granted to them under applicable law.

We do not sell your personal information to third parties, nor do we share your information for purposes of cross-contextual behavioral advertising as may be defined under applicable law. Additionally, we do not use your personal information to profile you in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or significantly similar effects (as may be defined under applicable law).

The above rights are only exercisable by you where the applicable law grants you the right being exerted and where no exception or exemption under applicable law applies. You may also have a registered agent (if and only as permitted under applicable law) that you authorize to act on your behalf. If you have a registered agent act on your behalf, we have the right to authenticate such agent’s authority to act. To exercise the rights described herein (only to the extent applicable), you may submit a verifiable request to us by through the methods set forth under the “Exercise Your Rights” section below.

Exercise Your Rights

If this Policy expressly stated above that you have certain rights or applicable law grants you certain rights as it relates to this Policy and personal information, you may submit a verifiable request to us by

Telephone: 800-699-2322

Email: privacy@beneschlaw.com

Visiting this website and completing the form.

Only you or a registered agent (if and only as permitted under applicable law) that you authorize to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to your personal information. If you have a registered agent act on your behalf, we have the right to authenticate such agent’s authority to act. Without limiting the foregoing, the verifiable consumer request must:

Provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected personal information or an authorized representative.
Describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it.

We cannot respond to your request or provide you with personal information if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the personal information relates to you. Making a verifiable consumer request does not require you to create an account with us. We will only use personal information provided in a verifiable consumer request to verify the requestor’s identity or authority to make the request.

We will respond to your request within the applicable timeframe required under applicable law.

Linking to and Privacy Policies of Third Party Sites

This Policy applies to information collected from this Website by Benesch. Once you click on a link to another website (the “Linked Site”), you are no longer on this Website. This Policy does not apply to the content or privacy practices of any Linked Site. We encourage you to read the privacy statements of each and every website or Linked Site that collects personal data. You should contact advertisers, other websites or Linked Sites directly if you have any questions about their privacy policies or their use of the information they collect.

Miscellaneous Privacy Issues

Benesch is committed to protecting the privacy of children. Our policy is that we do not knowingly collect, use or disclose personal data about visitors that we know are under 13 years of age. This Website is not directed in any respect to children under the age of 13.

Use Registration and Password

Ultimately, you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your password and/or account information. To ensure effectiveness of your password, we recommend that you do not disclose your user identification or password to anyone. Please be careful and responsible whenever you are online.

Security

Benesch will take reasonable steps designed to protect the personal data in its possession from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction, and will take reasonable precautions with regard to the nature of the data and the risks of the processing, designed 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 appropriate 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 applicable guidelines, and taking into consideration the cost of implementing such measures.

We value your trust in providing us your information; however, no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure and reliable. We cannot guarantee the security of information, including personal information, we collect about you.

Accuracy

It is your responsibility to provide Benesch with accurate personal data. Except as otherwise set forth in this Policy, Benesch shall only use personal data in ways that are compatible with the purposes for which it was collected or subsequently authorized by you. To the extent necessary for these purposes, Benesch shall take reasonable steps to ensure that personal data is accurate, complete, current and relevant to its intended use.

Access

Upon request by you, Benesch will grant you reasonable access to your personal data. Except where your rights are limited by applicable law (e.g., where necessary to safeguard national security, defense, or public security, for the prevention and detection of crime, or to safeguard an important economic or financial interest of the nation in which you reside, the employee, or the rights and freedoms of others, for the purpose of scientific research or statistical purposes, provided that the data is not used for making decisions that relate to a particular individual), such access will include: (1) confirmation as to whether or not your personal data is being processed and, if so, information as to the purposes of the processing, the categories of personal data processed, and the recipients (or categories of recipients) of the personal data; (2) communication in intelligible form of the personal data undergoing processing and information as to its source; and (3) details of the logic involved in any automatic processing of the personal data. Benesch will permit you to correct, amend or delete inaccurate or incomplete personal data, except where the burden or expense of providing access would be disproportionate to the risks to the privacy of the individual in the case in question or where the rights of persons other than the individual would be violated.

Subject to the above, you may change any of the personal data you have provided to us on this by writing us at:

Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff, LLP, 127 Public Square, Suite 4900, Cleveland, OH 44114, Attention: Privacy Officer, or by e-mail at privacy@beneschlaw.com. Please include your name, address, and/or e-mail address when you contact us.

You may ask to have the information on your account deleted or removed. In addition, it may be impossible to completely delete your information without some residual information because of backups.

Compliance

Benesch will use a self-assessment approach to verify compliance with this Policy and periodically verify that the Policy is accurate, comprehensive for the information intended to be covered, prominently displayed, implemented and accessible.

If you believe that your personal data has been processed or disclosed in violation of this Policy, Benesch encourages you to raise any concerns using the contact information provided in this Policy. Benesch will investigate and attempt to resolve any complaints and disputes regarding use and disclosure of personal data.

Children

The Website is not directed at children under 16 years of age. Benesch does not knowingly collect or use information from children under 16 through the Website.

Changes to this Policy

We reserve the right to update this Policy at any time. All updates will be effective immediately upon posting of the updated Policy on the Website. Material changes will be clearly posted on the Website or otherwise communicated to you.