Northern District Practice Program Privacy Policy

Effective: August 10, 2023

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) describes how the Northern District Practice Program (“NDPP,” “we,” “our,” “us”) collects, uses, and discloses certain personal information obtained through our website (“Site”), which is located at https://northerndistrictpracticeprogram.org. By visiting our Site and/or using the features made available to you on the Site (the “Services”), you are agreeing to the terms of this Policy.

This Policy applies only to information collected through the Site and therefore does not apply to data we collect in other contexts.

2. What information we collect and maintain about you

We collect personal and other information from you directly when you provide it to us through the website.  We may also automatically collect certain information about you and your computer, smartphone, or other device when you use, access, or interact with our Site.

Personal Information. You can visit the Site without submitting any information that we can use to identify you personally.  However, if you use certain features on the Site, such as the registration feature, you will be required to provide personal information.  Such information could include, for example, your name, email address, phone number, and/or physical address.  

  • Other identifying information. We collect your State Bar number, and in some cases similar identifying information for other professions, as well as Zoom and PayPal (or similar services) login data, for Continuing Legal Education (CLE) and payment purposes.
  • Employment information. We collect information regarding the law firm/company with which you’re employed, for CLE purposes.
  • Payment information. If you make a purchase from us, our service providers who process payments for us (e.g., PayPal), collect your billing information. This includes your credit card number, bank account number, or other financial account number.

Web log data.  When you use the Site, we automatically receive and record certain information from your computer (or other device) and your browser.  This may include such data as your IP address and domain name, the pages you visit on the Site, the date and time of your visit, the files that you download, the URLs from the websites you visit before and after navigating to the Site, your software and hardware attributes (including device IDs), your general geographic location (e.g., your city, state, or metropolitan region), and certain cookie information (see below).  To obtain such information, we may use web logs or applications that recognize your computer and gather information about its online activity.

Cookies.  We also use cookies on the Site.  Cookies are small files that are stored on your computer by your web browser.  A cookie allows the Site to recognize whether you have visited before and may store user preferences and other information.  For example, cookies can be used to collect or store information about your use of the Site during your current session and over time (including the pages you view and the files you download), your computer’s operating system and browser type, your Internet service provider, your domain name and IP address, your general geographic location, the website that you visited before the Site, and the link you used to leave the Site.  If you are concerned about having cookies on your computer, you may be able to set your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being set, allowing you to decide whether to accept it. Options you select are browser and device specific. You can also delete cookies from your computer. However, if you choose to block or delete cookies, certain features of the Site may not operate correctly.

3. How We Use and Process Your Information

We use the information that we collect for a variety of purposes. Our legal bases for processing your personal information are: 1) our legitimate interest in running and maintaining our organization; 2) performance and fulfillment of our contracts; 3) your consent; and 4) compliance with our legal obligations. In many instances, more than one of these legal bases apply to the processing of your personal information.

The purposes for which we use your information may include to: 

  • Provide you with our Services;
  • Respond to your questions or requests concerning the Services;
  • Fulfill the terms of any agreement you have with us;
  • Fulfill your requests for our Services or otherwise complete a transaction that you initiate;
  • Send you information about our Services and other topics that are likely to be of interest to you, including upcoming presentations, newsletters, updates, or other communications, including promotional emails;
  • Deliver confirmations, account information, notifications, and similar operational communications;
  • Improve your user experience and the quality of our products and Services;
  • Comply with legal and/or regulatory requirements;
  • Aggregate and deidentify information;
  • Serve advertisements;
  • Analyze how visitors use the Services and various Services features, including to count and recognize visitors to the Services;
  • Create new products and Services; and
  • Manage our organization.

We may use information as otherwise permitted by law.

NDPP may link information gathered through the Site with information that we collect in other contexts.  In that event, we will handle the combined information in a manner consistent with this Policy.

4. With Whom and Why We Share Your Information

We share your information with other parties for a variety of purposes, as described below.

Third-party service providers.  NDPP uses third-party service providers that perform services on our behalf, including but not limited to web-hosting companies, mailing vendors, webinar hosts (e.g., Zoom), credit card processors (e.g., PayPal), and analytics providers (e.g., Google Analytics).  These service providers may collect and/or use your information, including information that identifies you personally, to assist us in achieving the purposes discussed above.

We may share your information with other third parties when necessary to fulfill your requests for services; to complete a transaction that you initiate; to meet the terms of any agreement that you have with us or our partners; or to manage our organization. For instance, we may be required to share information related to our role as a CLE provider with the State Bar of California in case of an audit.

Analytics.  We partner with certain third parties to obtain the automatically collected information discussed above and to engage in analysis, auditing, research, and reporting.  These third parties may use web logs or web beacons, and they may set and access cookies on your computer or other device.  In particular, the Site uses Google Analytics to help collect and analyze certain information for the purposes discussed above.  You may learn how to opt out of the use of cookies by Google Analytics by visiting Google’s website. 

Although our Site currently does not respond to “do not track” browser headers, you can limit tracking through these third-party programs and by taking the other steps discussed above.

Legal purposes.  We also may use or share your information with third parties when we believe, in our sole discretion, that doing so is necessary:

  • To comply with applicable law or a court order, subpoena, or other legal process;
  • To investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, violations of our terms and conditions, or situations involving threats to our property or the property or physical safety of any person or third party;
  • To establish, protect, or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims; or
  • To facilitate the financing, securitization, insuring, sale, assignment, bankruptcy, or other disposal of all or part of our organization or assets.

Aggregated information.  From time to time, NDPP may also share aggregated information about Site users, such as by publishing a report on trends in the usage of the Site.  Such aggregated information will not identify you personally.

5. Your Choices

If you are a resident of the EU, UK, California, or another jurisdiction with an applicable privacy law, you may have certain rights available to you.

6. External Links

This Site may contain links to third-party websites.  If you use these links, you will leave the Site.  We have not reviewed these third-party sites and do not control and are not responsible for any of these sites, their content, or their privacy policy.  Thus, we do not endorse or make any representations about them, or any information, software, or other products or materials found there, or any results that may be obtained from using them.  If you decide to access any of the third-party sites listed on our website, you do so at your own risk.

7. Data Security

We employ physical, technical, and administrative procedures to safeguard the personal information we collect online.  However, no website is 100% secure, and we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to the Site or to us, and you transmit such information at your own risk.

8. Data Retention

We retain personal information about you necessary to fulfill the purpose for which that information was collected or as required or permitted by law.

9. International Users

The information that we collect through or in connection with the Site is transferred to and processed in the United States for the purposes described above.  NDPP also may subcontract the processing of your data to, or otherwise share your data with, affiliates or third parties in the United States or countries other than your country of residence.  The data-protection laws in these countries may be different from, and less stringent than, those in your country of residence.  By using the Site or by providing any personal or other information to us, you expressly consent to such transfer and processing.

10. Children

Content on this Site is directed at individuals over the age of 18 and is not directed at children under the age of 13.  We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13.

11. Changes to this Policy

NDPP may make changes to the Site in the future and as a consequence will need to revise this Policy to reflect those changes.  NDPP will post all such changes on the Site, so you should review this page periodically. 

12. How to Contact Us

Should you have any questions or concerns about this Policy, you can contact us at [email protected]. If you wish to unsubscribe from our announcements, please use the following  instructions found on the U.S. District Court’s website:  https://www.cand.uscourts.gov/join-our-mailing-lists/