PRIVACY POLICY
We are committed to protecting your privacy, and this portion of the Terms describes our practices and procedures as they relate to information collected through the Site. We own the information collected, and by providing personal information online, you consent to allow us to use that information in accordance with these Terms.
Information we collect and how we use it
- Personal information
You are not required to provide any personal information to browse or access the public area of the Site. However, to access or use certain services at the Site, you are required to provide personal information. “Personal information” is information that is unique to you, and includes, but is not limited to, your email address, telephone number, name (and any formerly used names), date of birth, Social Security or national identification number, and information regarding your legal education, background, credentials, and related matters.
We use your personal information for the purposes described where it is collected. Generally, we use your personal information for identification purposes when providing or performing services you have requested. Additionally, we use personal information to protect you and us from fraudulent transactions, and to investigate inappropriate or unauthorized use of our services, accounts, or intellectual property or other assets. We may use aggregated personal information for research and statistical purposes related to bar admissions and bar examinations. We do not use personal information for marketing or promotional purposes.
- Cookies and tracking technologies
We use cookies to keep track of your login information while you are logged in to the Site. Information transferred through cookies does not contain any personally identifying information, nor is it shared with any other parties. We use persistent and non-persistent cookies to make it easier for you to navigate the Site. If you reject cookies, you may still use the Site but your ability to use some areas of the Site will be limited.
Our web server monitors traffic by automatically recording every visitor's host, domain name, pages visited, length of user sessions, browser type, and/or IP address. We may use Google Analytics to track interaction with specific features of our website. We do not (and do not allow any third party to) use this service to track, collect, or upload any data that personally identifies an individual, or other data which can be reasonably linked to such information by Google. For information on how Google Analytics collects and processes data, please review “How Google uses data when you use our partners' sites or apps” located at www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/.
- Credit card information
All credit card transactions are processed through a third-party provider. Your credit card information is used to bill you for services. We do not use credit card information for any other purpose and do not store or disclose credit card information.
Security
We have physical, technical, and administrative safeguards in place to protect your personal information. Despite our security measures, no data transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100 percent secure. As a result, we cannot and do not warrant the security of your personal information.
Messages that you send to us by email may not be secure and use of email is not recommended for sending confidential or sensitive information to us.
Disclosure of personal information to third parties
SBM and BLE may disclose your personal information to each other or to other third parties with whom either of us have a direct or indirect business or contractual relationship, in order to deliver and support the services or products we provide. For example, we may disclose your personal information, such as name, date of birth, Social Security number, and your account information to third parties that use and/or administer bar examinations for purposes of accurately reporting your exam scores and ensuring exam integrity and security.
We may disclose your personal information to bar admission agencies for purposes of character and fitness investigations, including, but not limited to, disclosure of the jurisdictions to which you have previously applied and the dates of any such applications. When conducting a character and fitness investigation, we may disclose your personal information to third parties we contact during the investigation, including but not limited to your name (and any formerly used names) and date of birth.
We reserve the right to use or disclose your personal information when we reasonably believe it is needed to (a) respond to information requests by law enforcement or other governmental authorities; (b) comply with any law, regulation, subpoena or other legal process, or court order; (c) investigate and help prevent security threats, fraud, malicious activity, or inappropriate, unauthorized, or illegal activity involving our examinations, services, or networks; or (d) enforce or protect our rights and property, including intellectual property. In these four circumstances, we may disclose your personal information to such third parties as we deem reasonably necessary without notice to you.
How to access or correct your personal information
Access to your personal information is available through your account. Log in to your account to edit your account profile or to change your password or email address. We keep a record of changes (including deletions) and may disclose or use the record for lawful purposes, including investigation of fraudulent, inappropriate, unauthorized, or illegal activity or for security purposes.
Certain services we provide may have specific processes for correcting or updating personal information, such as information submitted in a character and fitness application or associated with a test registration. Refer to the specific instructions for those services or contact us for instructions.
If you request to close your account, we will mark your account as “Closed” but will keep your account information in our database in order to deter fraud and to prevent transfer or sharing of accounts.
Data retention
Except as set forth in this section regarding your SBM Character and Fitness Application, we will retain your personal information for as long as we deem appropriate and necessary.
We follow these policies in determining when an SBM Character and Fitness Application may be deleted from our website server:
• An unused application may be deleted after 90 days.
• An application that is never submitted may be deleted after one year of disuse.
Contact Us
Questions regarding this Privacy Policy should be directed to:
For SBM:
Diane VanAken, Character and Fitness Mgr
State Bar of Michigan,
306 Townsend St., Lansing, MI 48933
DD: 517-346-6344
Email: dvanaken@michbar.org
For BLE:
Michigan Board of Law Examiners
Maribeth D. Preston, Executive Director
Michigan Hall of Justice
P.O. Box 30052
Lansing, MI 48909
Phone: 517-373-4453
Email: prestonm@courts.mi.gov