Privacy Notice

The Minnesota State Bar Association services, including (without limitation) our websites and other interactive properties through which the services are delivered, including, but not limited to www.mnbar.org, the MSBA Communities page at https://my.mnbar.org/home, the Hennepin County Bar Association (“HCBA”) website, and the Ramsey County Bar Association (“RCBA”) website (collectively, the “Service”) are owned, operated, and distributed by the Minnesota State Bar Association (referred to in this Privacy Notice as “MSBA” or “we” and through similar words such as “us,” “our,” etc.). This Privacy Notice outlines the personal information that the MSBA may collect, how the MSBA uses and safeguards that information, and with whom we may share it.

While Minnesota CLE (“MCLE”) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the MSBA, it is not limited by this Privacy Notice. Members should contact MCLE to inquire about MCLE data privacy practices.

THIS SERVICE IS OFFERED FROM THE UNITED STATES (“US”), AND IT IS NOT INTENDED FOR USE OUTSIDE OF THE US. For individuals located outside of the US, please note that the MSBA is a US based organization. If you use the Service, all information, including personal information, will be transferred to the MSBA in the US and used as described in this Notice.

The MSBA encourages those registered with MSBA (“Members”), as well as visitors, business associates, and other interested parties to read this Privacy Notice. This Privacy Notice applies to all users of the Service, including users that are viewing free, publicly available content and users that have engaged in paid services or memberships through the MSBA. By using our Service or submitting personal information to the MSBA by any other means, you acknowledge that you understand and agree to be bound by this Privacy Notice, and agree that the MSBA may collect, process, transfer, use, and disclose your personal information as described in this Notice. Further, by accessing any part of the Service, you are agreeing to THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF OUR TERMS OF USE (the “Terms of Use”) AND THE COMMUNITY RULES OF THE CODE OF CONDUCT (the “Code of Conduct”). IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH ANY PART OF THIS PRIVACY NOTICE, OUR TERMS OF SERVICE, OR OUR CODE OF CONDUCT, PLEASE DO NOT USE ANY OF THE SERVICES.

Personal information (also commonly known as personally identifiable information (PII) or personal data) is information that can be used to identify you, or any other individual to whom the information may relate.

The personal information that we collect directly from those Members registering for the Service, includes the following categories:

• Name and contact information (e.g. address; phone number; email, fax);
• Billing Information (e.g. credit card, bank account, billing contact information);
• Order Information (e.g. event registration, practice tools);
• Company/employer information;
• Lawyer Registration Number; 
• Legal institution information; 
• Geographic or location information (e.g. practicing jurisdiction, home office, region);
• Information contained in posts you may on the public forums, publications you submit for community viewing, and other interactive features of the Service;
• Information in the “Cookies, Device Data, and How it is Used” Section below, the degree to which such information is defined as personal information under the laws of a particular jurisdiction; and
• Other information that may be exchanged in the course of engaging with the Service.  You will be aware of any subsequently collected information because it will come directly from you.

Personal information (also commonly known as personally identifiable information (PII) or personal data) is information that can be used to identify you, or any other individual to whom the information may relate.

The personal information that we collect directly from those Members registering for the Service, includes the following categories:

The MSBA is a member-driven organization. You may be invited to post content on the Service, such as legal publications or other resources for community use, promotion of committee events, or other submissions through the MSBA Communities page (“User Generated Content”). If you post User Generated Content, all the information that you post will be available to authorized personnel of the MSBA, other MSBA Members, and/or members of the public, depending on the nature and location of the post. User Generated Content may be made available to the public at our discretion, however access to certain User Generated Content will be limited to Members of the MSBA. You expressly acknowledge and agree that we may access in real-time, record, and store archives of any User Generated Content on our servers to make use of them in connection with the Service. If you submit a review, recommendation, endorsement, or other User Generated Content through the Service, or through other websites including Facebook, Instagram, Google, Yelp, and other similar channels, we may share that review, recommendation, endorsement, or content publicly on the Service.

When providing personal information to the MSBA as described in this Notice, that personal information is collected directly from you through the registration process or through your engagement with the Service, and you will know the precise personal information being collected by us. The MSBA does not collect personal information from any other sources, except where it may automatically be collected as described in the section titled “Cookies, Device Data, and How it is Used,” if the information in that section is considered personal information.

Subject to the terms of this Privacy Notice, the MSBA uses the above-described categories of personal information in several ways related to your membership. Unless otherwise stated specifically, the above information may be used for any of the following purposes:

• to administer the Service to you;
• to respond to your requests;
• to maintain an up-to-date directory of bar Members for purposes of facilitating the Service (you may “opt out” or limit contact information on the directory); 
• to distribute communications and promotions relevant to your use of the Service, such as member-driven events in districts, sections, and committees;
• as may be necessary to support the operation of the Service, such as for billing, account maintenance, and record-keeping purposes;
• to send to you MSBA solicitations that we feel may be of interest to you (you may “opt out” of receiving these marketing materials);
• to notify you about changes to this Privacy Notice;
• to carry out the MSBA’s obligations and enforce rights arising from any contracts between you and the MSBA;
• to investigate and deter fraudulent activity; and
• in other manners after subsequent notice is provided to you and/or your consent is obtained, if necessary.

In addition to the above, section and committee bar leaders may use member data for section/committee purposes, including, but not limited to, promoting their activities and sections. Bar leaders may elect to use the published criteria that the MSBA follows for its online searchable directory or they may elect to use other criteria. Bar leaders are not limited by this Privacy Notice, however, concerns members may have regarding information contained in section or committee websites, which are linked to the MSBA’s principal website, should be reported to the MSBA. If data changes are needed to eliminate concerns, the necessary changes will be made as allowed by technology, and other privacy concerns will be reported to section or committee chairs.

The MSBA may provide any of the described categories of personal information to MSBA employees, consultants, affiliates, or other businesses or persons for the purpose of processing such information on our behalf in order to provide the Service to you. In such circumstances, we require that these parties agree to protect the confidentiality of such information consistent with the terms of this Privacy Notice. Third parties receiving personal information may include:

• Third-party vendors or service providers providing crucial services and necessary to provide the Service;
• Business partners, contractors, channel partners, or other affiliated entities; and
• Government agencies or other parties in response to legal process or other requests, where permitted by law.

The MSBA periodically “rents” its mail list on a selective basis to qualified users as a non-dues source of revenue. Information in the mail list is limited to Members’ names and preferred mailing address. Members are able to “opt out” of this on the annual dues statement or by contacting the MSBA: 612-333-1183 or 800-822-MSBA. 

In addition, we may release personal information: (i) to the extent we have a good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with any applicable law; (ii) to enforce any provision of the Terms of Service , protect ourselves against any liability, defend ourselves against any claims, protect the rights, property and personal safety of any user, or protect the public welfare; (iii) when disclosure is required to maintain the security and integrity of the Service, or to protect any user’s security or the security of other persons, consistent with applicable laws (iv) to respond to a court order, subpoena, search warrant, or other legal process, to the extent permitted and as restricted by law; or (v) in the event that we go through a business transition, such as a merger, divestiture, acquisition, liquidation or sale of all or a portion of our assets.

The MSBA will retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Notice. We will retain and use personal information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes and enforce our legal agreements and policies. To determine the appropriate retention period for your personal information, we will consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your personal information, the purposes for which we use your personal information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

The MSBA will also retain usage data for internal analysis purposes. Usage data is generally retained for a shorter period of time, except when this data is used to strengthen the security or to improve the functionality of our websites, or we are legally obligated to retain this data for longer periods.

When you use our Service, we may record unique identifiers associated with your device (such as the device ID and IP address), your activity within the Service, and your network location. The MSBA uses aggregated information (such as anonymous user usage information, cookies, IP addresses, browser type, clickstream information, etc.) to improve the quality and design of the Service and to create new features, promotions, functionality, and services by storing, tracking, and analyzing user preferences and trends. Specifically, we may automatically collect the following information about your use of Service through cookies, web beacons, and other technologies:

• domain name
• browser type and operating system
• web pages you view
• links you click
• IP address
• the length of time you visit the Sites, Portals, and/or Services
• the referring URL or the webpage that led you to the Sites

We may also collect information regarding application-level events, such as crashes, and associate that temporarily with your account to provide customer service. In some circumstances, we may combine this information with personal information collected from you (and third-party service providers may do so on behalf of us). 

In addition, we may use "cookies," clear gifs, and log file information that help us determine the type of content and pages to which you link, the length of time you spend at any particular area of the Service, and the portion of the Service you choose to use. A cookie is a small text file that is sent by a website to your computer or mobile device where it is stored by your web browser. A cookie contains limited information, usually a unique identifier and the name of the site. Your browser has options to accept, reject or provide you with notice when a cookie is sent. Our cookies do not execute any code or virus; and they do not contain any personal information. Cookies allow the MSBA to serve you better and more efficiently, and to personalize your experience with the Service. We may use cookies for many purposes, including (without limitation) to save your password so you don’t have to re-enter it each time you visit the Service, and to deliver content (which may include third party advertisements) specific to your interests.

We may use third party service providers to help us analyze certain online activities. For example, these service providers may help us measure the performance of our online campaigns or analyze visitor activity on the Service. We may permit these service providers to use cookies and other technologies to perform these services for the MSBA. We do not share any personal information about our customers with these third-party service providers, and these service providers do not collect such information on our behalf. Our third-party service providers are required to comply fully with this Privacy Notice.

The MSBA uses third parties, such as network advertisers, to serve advertisements on third party websites or other media (for example, a third-party social networking service). This enables the MSBA and these third parties to target advertisements to you for products offered by us and products and services offered by third parties in which you might be interested. Third party ad network providers, advertisers, sponsors, and/or traffic measurement services may use cookies, JavaScript, Web beacons, flash cookies or Local Shared Objects and other tracking technologies to measure the effectiveness of their ads and to personalize advertising content to you. This Privacy Notice does not apply to them, and we cannot control their activities. You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party ad servers or ad networks for more information on their practices and for instructions on how to opt-out of certain practices. For example, you may go to the Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAA”) Consumer Choice Page for information about opting out of interest-based advertising and choices regarding having information used by DAA companies. You may also go to the Network Advertising Initiative (“NAI”) Consumer Opt-Out Page for information about opting out of interest-based advertising and choices regarding having information used by third party companies who are NAI members. 

Opting out from one or more companies listed on the DAA Consumer Choice Page or the NAI Consumer Opt-Out Page will remove you from those companies’ delivery of interest-based content or ads to you, but it does not mean you will no longer receive any advertising through the Service or on other third party websites. Even if you opt-out from one or more companies listed on the DAA Consumer Choice Page or the NAI Consumer Opt-Out Page, you may continue to receive advertisements, for example, based on the particular website that you are viewing (i.e., contextually based ads). Also, if your browsers are configured to reject cookies when you opt-out on the DAA or NAI websites, your opt-out action may not be effective. Additional information is available on the DAA’s website at www.aboutads.info or the NAI’s website at https://www.networkadvertising.org/.

If you are located outside the United States, in particular, if you are located in Canada, Brazil, the European Union (“EU”), the European Economic Area (“EEA”), New Zealand, the Republic of South Africa, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, or other countries with similar data privacy laws, please note that we and our servers are located in the United States. The MSBA is a US based organization. The MSBA does not market to or solicit customers from outside the US, therefore, users of the Service should not expect to avail themselves of the rights provided under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) or similar laws. If you use the Service, all information, including personal information, will be transferred to the MSBA in the US. By using the Service, you unambiguously consent to the transfer of your personal information and other information to the US and elsewhere for the purposes and uses described in this Notice. Further, you acknowledge that the MSBA is not subject to the GDPR or similar international privacy laws, and, therefore, you may be unable to claim the privacy rights provided in those laws.

If you are a California resident (or resident of a state with similar a similar privacy law, including, but not limited to Virginia and Colorado), California and other states’ laws may provide you with certain rights with regard to your personal information under the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) and similar state laws. Please note that the state of Minnesota does not currently have a comprehensive data protection/privacy law in effect.

Throughout this Privacy Notice you will find information required by CCPA and similar laws regarding the categories of personal information collected from you; the purposes for which we use personal information, and the categories of third parties your data may be shared with.  This information is current as of the date of the Notice and is applicable in the 12 months preceding the effective date of the Notice.

While the MSBA is not currently subject to the CCPA and similar state laws, the MSBA is committed to supporting individual’s rights with regard to their personal information as well as fulfilling the MSBA’s commitment to any non-Minnesota based partners or businesses.

Your local state law may provide you the ability to make inquiries regarding to your personal information. Specifically, the degree to which the information is not already provided in this Privacy Notice, you have the right to request disclosure about the collection and use of your personal information over the past 12 months, including:

• The categories of personal information collected about you.
• The categories of sources for the personal information collected about you.
• The business or commercial purpose for collecting your personal information.
• The categories of third parties with whom your personal information was shared.
• The specific pieces of personal information collected about you.
• If your personal information was disclosed for a business purpose, the personal information categories disclosed and the categories of third parties to which the information was disclosed.
• If your personal information was sold in the past 12 months, the personal information categories sold and the categories of third parties to which the information was sold.

You may also have the right to request that any of your personal information collected and retained be deleted, subject to certain exceptions. Finally, you have the right to not receive discriminatory treatment by the MSBA or any business for exercising any of the rights provided under CCPA or your local state law.

You may submit a request regarding your rights under CCPA or other state law by submitting a request by contacting us at one of the following: feedback@mnbar.org or 800-822-MSBA.

If we receive a request from you, we will first make a determination regarding the applicability of the law, and we will then take steps to verify your identity prior to responding. The steps to verify your identity may vary based on our relationship with you, but, at a minimum, it will take the form of confirming and matching the information submitted in the request with information already held by the MSBA and/or contacting you through previously used channels to confirm that you submitted the request (i.e. confirming identity through contact information that we have on file, not the contact information submitted to make the request). 

Your rights as stated here can also be exercised by an authorized agent on your behalf. The MSBA will follow the standards set by an applicable local regulator regarding designation of an authorized agent to exercise rights under CCPA or similar state law.

In addition to CCPA and similar state law, California Civil Code Section 1798.83 permits users of the Website who are California residents to request certain information regarding its disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please contact us as described here.

We may allow other companies, called third-party ad servers or ad networks, to serve advertisements within the Service. These third-party ad servers or ad networks use technology to send, directly to your device, the advertisements and links that appear on the Service. They automatically receive your device ID and IP address when this happens. They may also use other technologies (such as cookies, JavaScript, or Web Beacons) to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and to personalize the advertising content you see. You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party ad servers or ad networks for more information on their practices and for instructions on how to opt-out of certain practices. This Privacy Notice does not apply to them, and we cannot control their activities.

We employ industry-standard security measures designed to protect the security of all information submitted through the Service. However, the security of information transmitted through the internet or via a mobile device can never be guaranteed. We are not responsible for any interception or interruption of any communications through the internet or for changes to or losses of data. 

Users of the Service are responsible for maintaining the security of any password, user ID or other form of authentication involved in obtaining access to password protected or secure areas of the Service. In order to protect you and your information, we may suspend your use of any of the Service, without notice, pending an investigation, if any breach of security is suspected.

We employ industry-standard security measures designed to protect the security of all information submitted through the Service. However, the security of information transmitted through the internet or via a mobile device can never be guaranteed. We are not responsible for any interception or interruption of any communications through the internet or for changes to or losses of data. 

Users of the Service are responsible for maintaining the security of any password, user ID or other form of authentication involved in obtaining access to password protected or secure areas of the Service. In order to protect you and your information, we may suspend your use of any of the Service, without notice, pending an investigation, if any breach of security is suspected.

The Service may contain links to other websites maintained by third parties. Please be aware that we exercise no control over linked sites and the MSBA is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such sites. Each linked site maintains its own independent privacy and data collection policies and procedures, and you are encouraged to view the privacy policies of these other sites before providing any personal information.

You hereby acknowledge and agree that the MSBA is not responsible for the privacy practices, data collection policies and procedures, or the content of such third-party sites, and you hereby release the MSBA from any and all claims arising out of or related to the privacy practices, data collection policies and procedures, and/or the content of such third-party sites.

The Service is not intended for children under the age of 13, and the MSBA does not knowingly collect the personal information of children under the age of 13.

The MSBA reserves the right to modify this Privacy Notice from time to time in order to ensure that it accurately reflects the regulatory environment and our data collection principles. When material changes are made to this Privacy Notice, the MSBA will post the revised Notice on our website. Changes to this Privacy Notice are effective upon posting.

If you have any questions or comments about this Privacy Notice or the Service provided by the MSBA, please use one of the following means of contact: 

Minnesota State Bar Association
600 Nicollet Mall, Suite 380
Minneapolis, MN 55402

Phone: 612-333-1183 or 800-882-MSBA
Fax: 612-333-4927
Email: feedback@mnbar.org