Privacy Policy

Gray Reed and its affiliates (the “Firm") provides this Privacy Policy, along with its Terms of Use, to share what information it collects when you visit the website: https://www.grayreed.com/ or through our other digital assets and communication channels, such as email or through other means (“Services”), why we collect that Information, and how it is used.

This Privacy Policy places no restriction on the use of Information the Firm automatically collects from your visit, or de-identified or aggregated information.

To the extent permitted by law, by using the services and providing us with Personal Information (defined below), you agree to the practices described in this Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

The Firm strives to be open about the procedures used to manage your Personal Information (defined below), as set out in this Privacy Policy. If you have questions about our privacy practices, please see section XI – Questions.  

 

INFORMATION COLLECTED

A. What You Provide
When you use our Services, such as visiting our Services, registering, or attending our events, applying for a job, receiving our newsletter, seeking legal services, or other means, we may collect personal information about you such as your first and last name, address, email address, phone number, communication preferences, services you may be interested in, occupation, title, and events you may be interested in attending or registering for (“Personal Information” as defined below). 

If we are providing legal services to you, we may also collect payment card information, information about you and your organization, your specific legal matter, and other related information so that we can provide legal services to you. Do not provide confidential or privileged information through the Firm Services. If you send information through the Firm Services or send us an email, please note that does not create an attorney-client relationship.

In this Privacy Policy, when we use the term “Personal Information”, and except where a different definition is noted, we mean information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked with a natural person, directly or indirectly, as defined under the applicable laws and regulations. Personal Information does not include information that is not covered by applicable privacy laws, including that which cannot be reasonably linked to you, (de-identified or aggregated data) or publicly available information.

B. What May Be Collected Automatically
Our Services also use technologies, including cookies, that may collect other Personal Information, such as:

  1. Your geographic location
  2. System and device information, such as IP address, web browser data, operating systems, or platform you use, mobile device data, and general location data
  3. Information about the web pages you visit on our Services
  4. This information, if collected, can help improve our Services, understand how people visiting the Services use it, help us provide and improve our Services, and respond to inquiries from you.

We may collect the above Information directly and through the use of third-parties. We collect this information by using certain technologies, such as cookies, and other technologies. Third-party service providers may also view, edit, or set their own cookies. The use of these technologies by such third-parties is subject to their own privacy policies and is not covered by this Privacy Policy.

Analytics are tools we use, such as Google Analytics, to help provide us with information about traffic to our website and use of our Services, which Google may share with other services and websites who use the collected data to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network. Learn more about Google’s Privacy Policy here:  https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-US. You can opt-out of having your activity on our Services made available to Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics opt-out add-on for your web browser by visiting: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout for your web browser.

C. Personal Information We May Receive from Third-Parties
We may collect additional Information about you from our affiliates, partners or vendors, third-party websites, social media platforms, such as, but not limited, to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn (“Social Media Platforms”), and/or sources providing publicly-available information (e.g., from the U.S. Postal Service) to help us provide the Services to you, confirm, enhance, or supplement our existing information about you (e.g., with your consent, background checks for credit and criminal history), help prevent fraud, maintain security, and for marketing, advertising and other business purposes.

D. Limiting Collection of Personal Information
The Firm will limit the collection of Personal Information to that which is reasonably required to provide our Services and to operate our business.

USE OF INFORMATION COLLECTED

A.  Use and Purpose of Processing Your Information
The Firm will use and process your information above for things that include, but are not limited to, the following:

  1. Provide legal services or explore a potential attorney-client relationship (although use of our website is for advertising purposes and does not create an attorney-client relationship)
  2. Process your newsletter/alerts registration, including, at the time, verifying that the e-mail address you provide is active and valid
  3. Send you our newsletter/alerts if you have registered to receive it
  4. Fulfill your requests for services and information or other inquires
  5. Cross-reference with other Information that the Firm has acquired about you or may acquire about you through other sources
  6. Review whether you are complying with our Terms of Use
  7. Assess your application for employment
  8. Comply with any applicable laws and regulations and respond to lawful requests
  9. For any other purposes disclosed to you at the time the Firm collects your Information

B. Sharing Your Information
We may share information as set forth in this Privacy Policy and in the following circumstances:
Sharing your information with third-party service providers or data processors that perform certain functions or services on our behalf (such as to host the Services, store or manage the data, perform analyses, process credit card payments, provide customer service, or send communications for us). These third-party service providers will process this data only for purposes specified by us and will be bound by contract to meet our obligations under applicable law.

Disclosure of your information without notice: (i) when required by law or to comply with a court order, subpoena, search warrant, or other legal process; (ii) to cooperate or undertake an internal or external investigation or audit; (iii) to comply with legal, regulatory or administrative requirements of governmental authorities (including, without limitation, requests from the governmental agency authorities to view your Information); (iv) to protect and defend the rights, property, or safety of us, our subsidiaries and affiliates and any of their officers, directors, employees, attorneys, agents, contractors and partners, and the website Service users; (v) to enforce or apply our Terms & Conditions; and (vi) to verify the identity of the user of our Services.

Sharing information to protect the safety and security of our users and customers, to prevent fraud, abuse, or unauthorized activities, to protect the rights of property of us, third-parties, you, or others, including enforcing the terms of our agreements.
Sharing information consistent with this privacy policy with your consent.

We may also disclose anonymized aggregated information about our users, that does not identify any individual, without any restriction.

C. Retention of Personal Information 
We will retain your Personal Information for as long as needed to provide you Services. We will also retain and use your Personal Information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, including any applicable rules on statute of limitations, any relevant litigation, or regulatory investigations, to enable us to defend or bring potential legal claims, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, and in accordance with our routine record keeping that considers the duration of your use of our Services. We are under no obligation to store such information indefinitely.

Data may persist in copies made for backup and business continuity purposes for an additional time.

If you have questions about how we store, retain, transfer, or dispose of your Personal Information, please see section XI – Questions.

MARKETING AND ADVERTISING

We may send you legal updates, alerts, news, and mailings relating to seminars or events that we think may be of interest to you. Most messages we send will be by email. For some messages, we may use Personal Information we collect about you to help us determine the most relevant marketing information to share with you. If you do opt-out of or do not grant consent to receiving marketing related messages from us, we may still send you non-marketing messages, such as communications relating to the provision of legal services. Your Information may also be shared with any affiliates of the Firm, who may also use this information for the same purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy.

THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES

While using our Services, you may be directed to other third-party websites through links on our website or in other means. These other websites may set their own cookies, collect data, or have their own privacy policies and practices.  The Firm is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such third-party websites and so encourage you to review their privacy policies as soon as you enter these sites. Links to any third-party website or content does not constitute or imply an endorsement or recommendation by the Firm of the linked website or content.

UNITED STATES JURISDICTION

Our Services are provided, and relevant data stored, in the United States. If you are located outside of the United States, please be aware that information the Firm collects is directed to only be transferred to and processed in the United States. By using our Services, or providing us with any information, you consent to this transfer, processing, and storage of your information in the United States, a jurisdiction in which the privacy laws may not be as comprehensive as those in the country where you reside and/or are a citizen. Please note that portions of our Services may be supported by a network of computers or cloud-based servers in other jurisdictions. The Firm does not represent that our Services are appropriate or available in any particular jurisdiction.

DATA PROTECTION

You should assume that no data transmitted over the Internet can be 100% secure. The Firm does not promise or guarantee, and you should not expect, that your information or private communications will always remain private. The Firm does not guarantee that your information will not be misused or disclosed to third-parties. The Firm will not have any liability for misuse or disclosure of your information. See our Terms of Use.
If you believe that your Personal Information has been stolen or accessed by an unauthorized person as you access our Services, immediately notify the Firm so that it can be investigated, and necessary measures be taken.

UPDATING YOUR INFORMATION

In order to provide users of our Services, including our clients, with a professional level of service, we seek to have the Personal Information that we collect to be accurate, complete, and current. From time to time, we may ask you to update their Personal Information. Individuals are encouraged to advise us of any changes to their Personal Information.

To correct or update your information provided to us, or to opt-out of our use of your information, please send an e-mail message to dataprivacy@grayreed.com explaining the update, correction, change, or opt-out.

CHILDREN’S INFORMATION

The Services are not intended for children and are intended only for users over the age of eighteen (18). If the Firm becomes aware that a user is under thirteen (13) (or a higher age threshold where applicable) and has provided us with Information, the Firm will take steps to comply with any applicable legal requirement to remove such information. Contact us if you believe that the Firm has mistakenly or unintentionally collected information from a child under the age of thirteen (13).

CONSENT

By using our Services, you consent to the collection and use of your information as set forth in this Privacy Policy. If you withdraw consent, you agree that despite withdrawal the Firm may continue to use your Information previously provided to us to the extent that the Firm is legally or contractually obligated to do so and to the extent necessary to enforce any contractual obligations you may have to us.  You also understand that in withdrawing consent, the Firm may no longer be able to provide you with services previously available with your consent.

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

The Firm reserves the right to change, modify or amend this Privacy Policy at any time to reflect changes in our practices and service offerings. If the Firm modifies our Privacy Policy, the Firm will update the “Effective Date” and such changes will be effective upon posting. It is your obligation to check our current Privacy Policy for any changes. Any revised Privacy Policy will only apply prospectively to information collected or modified after the Effective Date of the revised policy. It is your responsibility to periodically check and review our Privacy Policy for changes.

QUESTIONS

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or about how we handle your Personal Information, please review our Terms of Use. If you have any questions about our Services, please email our team at  dataprivacy@grayreed.com, or write us at Gray Reed, Attn: Privacy Policy, 1300 Post Oak Blvd., Suite 2000, Houston, Texas 77056.