Privacy Policy

1. Scope and Overview

This Privacy Policy describes how Valley Legal ("we," "us," or "the firm") collects, uses, and handles information through the website located at https://valley-legal.com (the "Site").

This policy is intended as a broad, U.S.-oriented privacy notice. We are a Virginia law firm. This policy does not represent legal compliance in all states or jurisdictions. If you have questions about the applicability of specific privacy laws to our practices, please contact us or consult independent counsel.

By using the Site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand this policy.

2. Information You Provide to Us

We collect information you voluntarily provide, including when you:

• Submit a contact or inquiry form (name, email address, phone number, general description of your matter)
• Send us an email
• Call our office

Sensitive and confidential legal information: Our contact form instructs users not to submit highly confidential or sensitive information through the initial online inquiry. We ask that you limit initial inquiries to general information until an attorney-client relationship has been established. Nonetheless, any information you submit through our Site will be treated with appropriate confidentiality consistent with our professional obligations as a law firm.

3. Information Collected Automatically

When you visit the Site, certain information is automatically collected by web servers and, if enabled, analytics tools. This may include:

• IP address (which may indicate general geographic location)
• Browser type and version
• Operating system
• Pages visited and navigation paths
• Time and date of visits
• Referring URLs (the page you came from)
• Device type

Analytics: This Site uses Google Analytics 4 (provided by Google LLC) to understand how visitors use the Site and to help us improve our content and services. Google Analytics collects information such as pages visited, time spent on the Site, general geographic region (derived from IP address), browser type, and device type. Google Analytics 4 does not log or store IP addresses; Google uses the IP address of the incoming request to derive a general geographic region and then discards it. Analytics data is collected only after a user consents through the cookie consent banner on their first visit. If you decline analytics cookies, Google Analytics will not be loaded and no analytics data will be collected about your visit.

Page addresses and site-search terms: After you consent to analytics, the address of each page you view on the Site — including any information contained in the query string portion of that address — is transmitted to Google Analytics. Our site-search feature places your search terms in the query string. We remove those search terms from the page address before it is sent to Google Analytics, so search terms entered into the Site's search box are not transmitted. Other information that may appear in a page address, such as parameters added by a link you followed to reach the Site, is transmitted as part of the page address.

Google Analytics data is processed by Google LLC. For information about how Google handles this data, see Google's Privacy Policy at policies.google.com/privacy . You may also opt out of Google Analytics across all websites using the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on .

4. Cookies and Similar Technologies

The Site uses cookies (small text files stored on your device) and similar technologies, including browser local storage. We classify these into two categories:

Strictly Necessary. These are required for the Site to function or to protect it, and cannot be disabled through the consent banner. They are not used for marketing purposes. They include:

• Your cookie consent preference. Your choice to accept or decline analytics is not stored in a cookie. It is stored in your browser's local storage on your own device, where it remains until you change it or clear your browser's site data. It is not transmitted to us or to any third party.
• cf_clearance — set by Cloudflare, our content delivery and security provider, to record that your browser has passed a security or bot-management challenge. Duration: up to one year.

Optional: Google Analytics. With your consent, this Site uses Google Analytics 4 cookies — _ga and cookies beginning with _ga_. These are first-party cookies set on the valley-legal.com domain by the Google Analytics script running in your browser. They contain a randomly generated identifier used to distinguish one browser from another across visits. They are set only after you accept analytics through the consent banner. If you decline, no Google Analytics cookies are set and no analytics data is collected about your visit.

Other third-party services. The following services are used to operate the Site. Because your browser connects to them directly, they receive your IP address and basic browser information as a technical consequence of delivering their part of the page:

• Google Fonts (Google LLC) — delivers the typefaces used on the Site. Your browser requests these files on every page you view, and Google receives your IP address and browser information with each request.
• Cloudflare, Inc. — provides content delivery, network security, and bot-management challenges for the Site, and provides the Cloudflare Turnstile challenge used on our inquiry forms to distinguish human visitors from automated submissions.
• ValleyMatter — the intake platform through which web inquiries are received. Information you enter into an inquiry form, including the description of your matter, is transmitted to and processed by ValleyMatter on our behalf.

You can also manage or delete cookies, and clear local storage, through your browser settings. Disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of the Site.

We do not currently use advertising, retargeting, or marketing cookies on this Site. If this changes, this policy will be updated accordingly.

5. How We Use Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Respond to your inquiry and communicate with you about your legal matter
• Evaluate potential representation and conduct conflict checks
• Improve and maintain the Site
• Understand how the Site is used (if analytics consent is given)
• Comply with our legal and professional obligations as a law firm

We do not sell your personal information. We do not use your information for automated decision-making that has legal or similarly significant effects.

6. Sharing of Information

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes.

SMS and mobile information: No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. All other categories of personal information exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.

We may share your information in limited circumstances:

• Service providers: We use vendors who assist with website hosting, form processing, email services, and analytics. These currently include ValleyMatter (intake platform, which receives the contents of inquiries submitted through the Site), Cloudflare, Inc. (content delivery, network security, and the Turnstile challenge on our inquiry forms), and Google LLC (analytics and font delivery). We engage these vendors to provide services on our behalf and seek terms that limit their use of information to providing those services. Each vendor also handles information under its own terms and privacy policy, which govern what it does with the data it receives.
• Legal obligations: We may disclose information when required by law, court order, or applicable professional rules.
• Professional rules: As a law firm, we are subject to the Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct, which impose obligations regarding the confidentiality of client and prospective-client information.

7. Retention

We retain information you provide for as long as reasonably necessary to respond to your inquiry, evaluate potential representation, and comply with our professional obligations. If an attorney-client relationship is established, information is retained consistent with our recordkeeping obligations and applicable professional rules. We may retain anonymized or aggregated data for longer periods.

8. Security

We maintain reasonable administrative, technical, and physical measures to protect information submitted through this Site. No method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security and disclaim liability for breaches that are outside our reasonable control.

Because online contact forms are not as secure as encrypted attorney-client communications, we ask that you limit initial contact form inquiries to general, non-sensitive information.

9. Your Rights and Choices

Depending on your state of residence, you may have rights regarding your personal information, which may include the right to access, correct, or request deletion of your data.

Note: This policy does not represent compliance with the laws of all states. If you are a resident of California or another state with specific consumer privacy laws, those laws may afford you additional rights. We encourage you to contact us with any privacy requests, and we will respond in good faith.

Cookie preferences: You may change your consent preferences at any time by clicking the "Cookie Preferences" link in the footer, or by clearing your browser's cookies and site data.

Withdrawing analytics consent: If you have consented to analytics and later withdraw that consent, the Site signals denial of analytics consent to Google, deletes the _ga and _ga_ cookies from your browser, and reloads the page so that no further analytics requests are made from that point forward. Analytics data already collected before you withdrew consent is not retroactively deleted by this action; to request deletion of previously collected data, contact us using the information in Section 14.

To make a privacy request, contact us at the information in Section 14.

10. Children's Privacy

This Site is not directed to children under the age of 13 and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that we have received information from a child under 13 without verifiable parental consent, we will delete it promptly. If you believe we have inadvertently collected such information, please contact us.

11. Third-Party Links

This Site may contain links to external websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of third-party sites and encourage you to review their privacy policies. A link to a third-party site does not constitute our endorsement of that site.

12. AI Tools

Web inquiries submitted through this Site are received through ValleyMatter, an intake platform that collects and routes the information you enter on an inquiry form. We do not use AI-powered chat, automated lead qualification, or AI decision-making on this Site. Inquiries are reviewed by a person. If AI tools are deployed in the future that collect or process visitor data, this policy will be updated to describe those practices before they are implemented.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the effective date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Continued use of the Site after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

14. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to make a privacy request, please contact us: