Recently, Congress enacted the Financial Services Modernization Act (also known as "Gramm-Leach-Bliley" Pub.L. 106-102), which brought significant changes to the way banks and financial services companies maintain and disseminate information they gather with respect to their customers. Part of the Act requires financial service providers, including those who provide advice concerning leasing of real or personal property, debt collection, tax planning and preparation, and financial advice, to describe to their clients how personal information about them is collected, maintained, and disclosed.

In the course of providing service to you, we have always been committed to protecting the privacy of the information you entrust to us. We are subject to Bar Rules which require that client information be kept strictly confidential. While we do not believe that Gramm-Leach-Bliley has altered our responsibility to maintain the confidentiality of your information, the Act requires us to provide this notice of our privacy policies and practices:

Information We Collect. In the normal course of providing you with legal representation, we collect your nonpublic personal information, such as your income and assets, from the following sources: (1) information we receive from you directly and (2) information from government agencies and other third party sources, including information about your transactions with them and others.

Information We Share. We do not disclose any nonpublic, personal information about our clients or former clients to anyone without your approval, except as permitted or required by law.

Confidentiality and Security of Your Information. We restrict access to nonpublic, personal information about you to those attorneys, employees and agents of the firm who need to know that information in order to provide services to you. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect your nonpublic, personal information from unauthorized disclosure.