Privacy Policy Notice and General Conditions of Representation

​

The Law office of John Francis PLLC privacy policy describes our policies and procedures on the collection, use and disclosure of your information as well as general conditions of representation. This policy incorporates by reference any additional privacy policy statements included in individual contracts made between the Firm and you when you use our services and tells you how the law protects you.  We will not sell or provide your information to any other party and will only use your personal data in accordance with the ethical guidelines promulgated by the American Bar Association, the Virginia Bar, and the Washington Bar as related to the use of personal information. 

​

The types of personal information collected includes but not specifically limited to:

​

• Email Address

• First Name and Last Name

• Phone Number

• Street Address, state Province zip code and City

• Use of personal information collected includes but is not limited to (1) Conflict Checks to other or prior clients, (2) Performance requirement of our representation as defined in the contract, (3) court actions as allowed under the ethical rules, (4) We would use this information if needed to contact you.

• We do not sell or market your information to any third party.

• We may use the personal information to provide updates of communicate firm events and offers.

 

Retention of your personal data.

​

We will retain your personal Data for as long as necessary for the purposes listed in this policy.  We will retain and use your personal data to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations contractually and/or orders of a court of competent jurisdiction.  For example, we may be required to retain your data to comply with applicable law, resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies. We will dispose of your records 3 years after the end of our representation as described in the contract.  We will strive to return any residual deposits however there will be a $25 per month service fee for any deposit not claimed by the client within 30 of the completion of representation.

​

Security of Personal Data

​

The security of your personal data is important to us, but remember that no transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

We request that clients only communicate via the client portal and do not include any confidential information outside of the methods provided in our contact. Specifically the client portal established during the formation of the contract is the only authorized method to send or receive confidential documents.  Contacting us by the web page does not create an attorney-client relationship outside of a initial consultation. 

​

Representation of Clients

​

Representation, or the establishment of the attorney client relationship, is ONLY created with a signed contract by an authorized authorized representative of the Law firm and does not begin until either a deposit is received in the trust account or other payment methods are agreed to as specified in the contract.  Contacting us by web page or sending us an email prior to signing a contract will provide for privilege of this information, but does not create an attorney client relationship for purposes of representation until a contract is signed.