1. Introduction

As professionals engaged in the provision of legal services to clients worldwide, the Law Office of Farhad Sethna (the firm), is committed to protecting the privacy of confidential and personal Information. It has always been and remains the policy of the firm to comply with the rules of professional conduct, which impose a duty to preserve and protect confidential client information, upon lawyers and their associated personnel.

This Privacy Statement and Cookie Policy (the “Statement”) is based on the privacy and data protection principles common to the countries in which we operate. We apply it to comply with law, to preserve client confidentiality and to represent our clients as effectively as possible within the bounds of the law. This Statement is intended to summarize the firm’s data protection practices generally, and to advise our clients, interested law students, job applicants, website visitors, and other third parties about the firm’s privacy policies that may be applicable to them.

This Statement is also specifically addressed to parties outside the firm who provide Personal Information to the firm or who visit or use the firm’s websites, our apps, our social media sites, our extranets, as well as email messages that we send to you that contain a link to this Statement (collectively, the “Internet Services”). This Statement also describes how the firm collects, processes and discloses Personal Information in connection with the provision of legal services and the Internet Services.

2. Collection and Use of Personal Information

The firm collects Personal Information in the course of providing legal services to clients and as provided by visitors to its website. We may also collect Personal Information about you when you interact with us on social media sites and from other third parties and may also automatically collect information that may contain Personal Information as described below in the cookie policy.

We may use that Personal Information where in our legitimate interest to do so for the following purposes:

• to contact you and respond to your requests and enquiries
• to personalize your visit and to assist you while you use our services
• to carry out our business
• to provide you with legal services, if you are or become a client of the firm, and otherwise deal with you, and administer the matters you instruct us on
• to enter into or carry out contracts of various kinds
• to comply with applicable laws, regulations, guidance or professional obligations that we may be subject to, including anti-money laundering requirements.

3. Confidentiality, Security, and Retention of Personal Information

Consistent with our professional obligations, it has always been the policy of the firm to exercise the utmost discretion regarding the information our clients entrust to us.

We maintain reasonable and appropriate, albeit not infallible, physical, electronic and procedural safeguards intended to maintain the confidentiality of Personal Information. We do not guarantee that our safeguards will always work.

We may retain information provided by you, including Personal Information, for as long as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, or to achieve the purposes for which the information was originally collected and for the purposes described in the Statement and in our applicable policies.

4. Disclosure and Transfer of Personal Information

We do not disclose any Personal Information to unrelated parties outside of the firm except in limited circumstances. Such circumstances include disclosures to government agencies which are involved in your immigration or business case. Consistent with our professional obligations, we may provide Personal Information to regulatory authorities and law enforcement officials in accordance with applicable law or when we otherwise believe in good faith that the provision of such information is required or permitted by law, such as in connection with the investigation or assertion of our legal defenses or for our compliance matters.

5. Cookie Policy

 A cookie is a text file sent by a web server and placed on your computer by your web browser. Cookies can be usefully divided into two different types, session and persistent. Session cookies differ from persistent cookies primarily in that session cookies are temporary and expire and are normally deleted when you close your browser. Persistent cookies, in contrast, remain stored on your computer after you close your browser until they are deleted either because they expire or you delete them. We use both session and persistent Cookies for the purposes set out below:

Necessary/Essential Cookies

Type: Session Cookies

Purpose: These cookies are essential to provide you with services available through the website and to enable you to use some of its features. They help to authenticate users and prevent fraudulent use of user accounts. Without these cookies, the services that you have asked for cannot be provided, and we only use these cookies to provide you with those services.

Functionality Cookies

Type: Persistent Cookies

Purpose: These cookies allow us to remember choices you make when you use the website, such as remembering your login details or language preference. The purpose of these cookies is to provide you with a more personal experience and to avoid you having to re-enter your preferences every time you use the website.

Your Choices Regarding Cookies

If you prefer to avoid the use of cookies on the website, first you must disable the use of cookies in your browser and then delete the cookies saved in your browser associated with this website. You may use this option for preventing the use of cookies at any time.

If you do not accept our cookies, you may experience some inconvenience in your use of the website and some features may not function properly.

6. Children

In order to respect the privacy of minors, the firm does not knowingly collect, maintain or process Personal Information submitted online via our Internet Services by anyone under the age of 18. To the extent the firm collects Personal Information on minors in the context of one of the purposes mentioned in the Statement, the firm will only do so with the appropriate consent, either express or implied, of a parent, guardian, or responsible party, or as otherwise permitted under applicable laws.

7. Your California Privacy Rights

Under California Civil Code Section 1798.100 (California Consumer Privacy Act), California residents may have certain data protection rights regarding their Personal Information. These rights which may be subject to limitations and/or restrictions include: (i) the right to disclosure, deletion, access, and non-discrimination; and (ii) the right to opt out of having your Personal Information shared or sold. The firm does not sell or share your Personal Information with third-party companies for their direct marketing purposes without your consent. To exercise your rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, please send us your request using the “Contact Us” section below.

The following are categories of Personal Information defined under the Act we may collect, receive, or maintain in the course of administering firm business or receive from a client in the course of providing legal services: Identifiers, Personal information described in the California Customer Records statute (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e)), Protected classification characteristics under California or federal law, Commercial information, Biometric information, Internet or other electronic network activity, Geolocation data, Sensory data, Professional or employment-related information, Non-public education information, and inferences drawn from other personal information.

8. Your European Union (EU) and United Kingdom (UK) Data Protection Rights

Under EU and UK data protection laws (UK GDPR/2018 Data Protection Act and EU GDPR), individuals may have certain data protection rights which may be subject to limitations and/or restrictions and which includes: (i) the right to request access to and, rectification or erasure of your Personal Information; and (ii) the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your Personal Information. You may also have a right to object to processing of your Personal Information where carried out for our legitimate interest or direct marketing. To exercise your rights under this Privacy Policy, please send us your request using the “Contact Us” section below.

Individuals may also have a right to lodge a complaint about the processing of their Personal Information with their local data protection authority.

The firm’s data protection officer, dealing with EU and UK matters, can be contacted at: Farhad Sethna, Attorney – farhad@sethnalaw.com.

9. Email and SMS (Text Message) Communications

We do not conduct email or text message campaigns. For more information, see our SMS Terms & Conditions.