Last Updated and Effective: February 23, 2023.

This Privacy Policy details how Rutan & Tucker, LLP (“Rutan & Tucker” or the “Firm”) collects, uses, transfers, shares, and protects your personal information. Nothing in this Privacy Policy should be construed to create an attorney-client relationship with visitors to our website or, conversely, to detract from any of the protections resulting from such relationships.

About Rutan & Tucker and this Privacy Policy

Rutan & Tucker is a full-service limited liability partnership based in and organized under the laws of the State of California. We provide legal services to our clients in many areas of law and collect personal information in connection with those services.

This Privacy Policy applies to the personal information we collect on our own behalf—not the personal information we process on behalf of or at the direction of our clients. This Privacy Policy describes our practices with respect to the personal information we obtain from or gather about:

  • Online users of Rutan & Tucker’s digital properties and services (such as website visitors and subscribers to our Firm newsletters or mailing lists);
  • Visitors to our offices;
  • Individuals who interact without our attorneys or other representatives of the Firm, attend Firm-sponsored events, apply for a job with us, or otherwise connect with us.

The information we collect in this context may be acquired from third parties or collected on the Firm’s behalf by them.  

There are references in this Privacy Policy to additional privacy notices, all of which supplement this Privacy Policy and may be applicable to you based on the nature of your relationship with Rutan & Tucker.

What is Personal Information?

When we refer to “personal information” in this privacy policy, we mean any information (whether in written or electronic form) that identifies, relates to, or is reasonably capable of being associated with or linked to a particular individual. However, we do not include information that publicly available from government records or that is made known to the public without restriction.

Children’s Privacy

The Rutan & Tucker website (www.rutan.com) is not intended for children. Website visitors under the age of 16 should refrain from using our website. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children online or sell the personal information of individuals under the age of 16. If we learn that we have collected personal information online from a child under age 16, we will delete that information as quickly as possible.

In the context of the provision of our legal services, we may collect and process the personal information of minors. We take measures to protect this personal information consistent with our ethical obligations and legal requirements.

Collect of Personal Information

The personal information we collect depends on the nature and context of an individual’s interaction with our Firm, our services, and our representatives.  It may also depend on various other factors such as the method of interaction (online vs. offline), the individual’s location, the relationship an individual has with our Firm, and applicable law.  We collect personal information about:

Users of Our Website and Other Electronic Communication Tools

When you interact with us online—on our website, via email and messaging apps, social media pages, or in web meetings– we obtain certain information by automated means, such as through cookies and web server logs. In addition, you may disclose personal information through those communication tools. If you do so, we collect that personal information. The type of information Rutan & Tucker collects through electronic communication tools include the following:

  • Business & Personal Identifiers. These include first and last name, email address, contact numbers (telephone, mobile, fax), business contact information (company name, email address, business address, etc.).
  • Device and Browser Identifiers. These include IP addresses, telephone numbers, social media account handles, and other online identifiers assigned to your device or browser. We collect these to remember your browser, account, messaging app, or device.
  • Communications Information. We collect information about contained in electronic communications sent to the Firm. We also collect information about when you send, receive, open, read or otherwise engage in electronic communications with the Firm.
  • Internet/Electronic Activity Information. We use automated technologies to collect information about how you interact with our electronic communications technologies, such as the website pages you visit, the searches you make, and other actions taken on our websites. Our website does not respond to “Do Not Track” signals.
  • Inferred Geolocation. Using identifiers like IP address, we may infer your general geographic location.
  • Other Personal Information You Provide. If you provide us personal information other than that described above, we will collect it and use it for the purposes for which you provide it or other consistent purposes. We ask that you not submit sensitive or highly personal information to us unsolicited through the web or email.
Submitting Personal Information to Rutan & Tucker

By submitting your personal information on our website, you agree to the collection and use of your personal information on the basis described in this Privacy Policy If you do not agree, please do not provide any personal information on our website.

Firm Contacts

We collect personal information about non-client individuals who engage in business, commercial, and legal dealings with Rutan & Tucker. For example, we collect personal information from individuals who serve as vendors, contractors, or service providers to Rutan & Tucker as well as other law firms and their clients (collectively “Firm Contacts”). This information includes:

  • Business & Personal Identifiers as described above.
  • Identity Verification Information including name, address, country of origin/citizenship, professional affiliations, and government identification numbers.
  • Commercial Information such as transaction records and services provided to or by Rutan & Tucker.
  • Professional and Employment Information pertaining to employment, professional experience, work history, credentials, and similar information.
  • Social Information posted on personal and professional social media sites or that is included in news reports or articles (we consider this information to be publicly available).
  • Payment processing information including the form of payment, payment card number and details, bank account number, payment service provider, and other payment information. This applies if you are a vendor of ours and such information is personal to an individual.
  • Characteristics of Protected Classifications, for example, nationality, race, ethnicity, citizenship, age, political affiliations.
  • Personal Information contained in Audio-Visual Media or Photographs, for example collected in security cameras, online videos and meetings, or in photographs or video recordings.
  • From this information and our interactions with you we make infer other characteristics and information about your behavior, aptitudes, preferences, and behaviors.

We collect this information in a variety of ways, including when Firm Contacts: communicate with Rutan & Tucker; attend events we sponsor or participate in; request information about the Firm; submit it as part of a request from us; visit our offices; or when we gather it from publicly available sources (like social media pages, news sources, legal publications, etc.). In some cases, we may utilize third parties to collect personal information on our behalf and in accordance with our instructions.

Workforce Member Candidates

Rutan & Tucker collects personal information from individuals as part of its workforce member recruitment efforts. In addition to any of the information described above, we may collect:

  • Education Information. This includes education history, grades and transcripts, disciplinary records, and personal references from other individuals related to your educational background.
  • Examples of Work Product. If you submit writing samples or other work product, we will collect this information.
  • Professional and Employment Information.
  • Personal References and Assessments. This includes statements about your work history and qualifications from other individuals. These may contain inferences, drawn by others or the Firm, about your suitability for a employment at the Firm.
Our Firm Clients

Rutan & Tucker collects personal information from the individual clients with whom we have an attorney-client relationship (collectively “Clients”). The Client Privacy Notice we provide to our clients describes our personal information collection and use practices for Clients.

Individuals in Other Contexts

To the extent our personal information collection practices don’t fall into any of the areas identified above, Rutan & Tucker’s collection and use of personal information will be informed by our legal and ethical obligations as a law firm.  We strive to ensure that individual’s personal information is collected, processed, disclosed, and retained in accordance with fundamental fairness and our legal obligations.

Sources of Personal Information

We mostly collect personal information directly from individuals (including their interaction with our online services). However, we also may collect personal information from third-party sources including:

  • Firm Technologies. We collect personal information using firm-controlled technologies like our website, email, web conferencing tools, telephones, surveillance cameras, security devices, and similar technologies.
  • Our Clients
  • Legal and Business Contacts. These include other law firms, professional investigators, and legal support services providers.
  • Business Services Providers. These are those persons or entities with whom we have a relationship to provide business operations services and support to Rutan & Tucker. These providers include the following:
  • IT Operations Providers. These include cloud computing service providers, internet service providers, data backup, functionality and infrastructure providers, and similar service providers.
  • Operations Providers. These include service providers with whom we partner to provide day-to-day business operations, including payment processors, security vendors, identity-verification providers, data suppliers, business software service providers, hospitality service providers, banks, facilities management providers.
  • Professional Advisors. These include lawyers, accountants, consultants, security professionals, and other similar parties we utilize to comply with our legal and contractual obligations, prevent or respond to fraud or abuse, defend ourselves against attacks, or protect the rights, property, and safety of us, our customers, and the public.
  • Marketing and Advertising Providers. These include advertising and direct marketing providers and marketing consultants.
  • Personal References and Educational Institutions.
  • Governmental Entities. These include governmental agencies and courts.

How We Use Your Personal Information

We may use your personal information for a variety of reasons. Depending on how you interact with Rutan & Tucker, these include using personal information for the following purposes:

  • Delivering Our Legal Services to our clients and facilitating payment for those services. Our legal service operations include all of the ancillary purposes associated with operating a law firm, such as maintaining or servicing accounts, billing and collecting payment, verifying information and identities, providing research, analyzing trends, usage, and activities, conducting investigations, and storing personal information;
  • Delivering other Firm Offerings such as newsletters, client updates, providing education materials, firm gatherings;
  • Communication with individuals, our clients, business partners, and third parties;
  • Policy Enforcement, including enforcing our internal and publicly facing terms and policies;
  • Marketing and Business Development for the firm and its attorneys, including online and in-person events;
  • Analyzing Website Interactions to optimize the functionality of our website and improve our online service offerings;
  • Maintaining Compliance with our contracts and legal obligations and responding to governmental requests;
  • Maintaining Security both online and offline. For example, we used personal information to detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, and to prosecute those responsible for that activity;
  • Ensuring Health and Safety of our workforce and others when required, based on public health and safety guidance and legal requirements;
  • Defending Against Claims & Litigation to defend against or respond to potential or actual claims and litigation;
  • Evaluating Candidates for Employment or other placement in our workforce; and
  • Other Purposes directly related to the purpose readily apparent to you or described to you at the time the personal information was collected or in subsequent notice.

Disclosure of Your Personal Information

We may disclose, transmit, or otherwise make available personal information with the following:

  • Our Clients when related to the provision of our legal services and consistent with our legal and ethical obligations;
  • Legal and Business Contacts;
  • Business Services Providers;
  • Legally Required Parties/Governmental Entities. This includes persons to whom we are required by law to provide information, such as pursuant to a subpoena or a court order;
  • Other Parties as Part of a Reorganization. Persons involved in the consideration, negotiation, completion of a business transaction, including the sale, merger, consolidation, acquisition, change in control, transfer of substantial assets, bankruptcy, or reorganization, and any subsequent integration; and
  • Authorized Disclosures: To any party when authorized by the individual to whom it pertains to share it.

We may also share aggregated or de-identified information, which cannot reasonably be used to identify you.

Data Retention

We retain personal information for various period depending on the nature of the personal information, the purposes for its collection and use, and based on our legal and ethical obligations. Generally, we retain personal information only for so long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which we collected it. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we 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 process your personal information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means; and the applicable legal requirements.

Data Security

We have implemented and maintain security procedures and practices to protect personal information to protect personal information from unauthorized access, destruction, use, modification, or disclosure that is consistent with our legal and ethical obligations. However, no security measure is perfect, so we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information.

International Data Transfers

Rutan & Tucker is located and operates in the United States only—we do not provide legal services in non-U.S. jurisdictions. By submitting personal information to us, including by visiting our website, you understand that your personal information will be processed in the United States. The laws that apply to the use and protection of personal information in the United States may be different from the laws and protections in your country. We may also transfer personal information to persons or entities located in countries other than the United States. We transfer personal information to foreign jurisdictions in accordance with the law.

Your Privacy Choices

You have certain options regarding how we collected and use your personal information for our internal marketing purposes.

  • Opt-Out of Firm Newsletters/Updates: You can opt-out of receiving Rutan & Tucker newsletters or other non-transactional emails at any time by contacting use at privacy@rutan.com or by following the unsubscribe instructions contained within the email communication.
  • Adjusting Cookie Preferences: Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually set your browser to remove or reject cookies. Please note that if you choose to remove or reject cookies, this could affect the availability and functionality of our websites. For more information, please view or Cookie Preference Tool.
  • Limiting the Information Collected Via Tracking Technologies. Rutan & Tucker uses Google Analytics on its website to track user interactions and activity. Information collected regarding your activity on our website (e.g., the pages you visit and the buttons you click) is associated with your browser and device (including the IP address associated with your device) used to access our website. Rutan & Tucker does not attempt to connect browser or device level information with your personally identifiable information (like your name, email address, etc.). Browsing information is shared with our website analytics provider, Google, who uses it to deliver its analytics services to us, maintain and improve them, develop new services, protect against fraud and abuse, and other legitimate purposes. We have taken steps to limit the amount and type of data we share with Google. You can learn more about how Google uses data from websites using Google Analytics here. In addition, Google allows you opt out of Google Analytics data collection by following these instructions.

Individuals in some states may also have privacy rights afforded to them at law. Rutan & Tucker will honor privacy rights requests in accordance with applicable law to which both the individual and Rutan & Tucker is subject.

Supplemental Notice to California Residents

Residents of the State of California have specific rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”) regarding how covered businesses, like Rutan & Tucker, collect and process their personal information.  This Section provides notice of our personal information collection and disclosures practices with respect to California residents in the 12 months preceding this Privacy Policy. For ease of reference, we have presented the relevant information in a chart explaining our collection and disclosure practices related to California residents.

Your California Privacy Rights

Pursuant to the CCPA, you have specific rights exercisable against covered businesses, like Rutan & Tucker, regarding your personal information. These rights are:

  • Right to Know. The right to know what personal information a covered business has collected about you, including: (1) the categories of personal information; (2) the categories of sources from which the personal information is collected; (3) the business or commercial purpose for collecting, selling, or sharing personal information; (4) the categories of third parties to who a covered business discloses personal information; and (5) the specific pieces of personal information that the business has collected about you.
  • Right to Delete. The right to delete personal information that a covered business has collected from you. This right is subject to certain exceptions. For example, we won’t delete personal information about you when applicable law requires that we maintain it, or we need it to complete a transaction with you.
  • Right to Correct. The right to correct inaccurate personal information that a covered business maintains about a consumer. This includes information submitted through our website.

If you are a California resident and would like to submit an above-listed request, please use our Privacy Portal, email us at privacy@rutan.com, or call us toll-free at (866) 491-0580. Information covered by a legal professional privilege or obligation cannot be disclosed.

You may submit a request personally or by using an authorized agent. These requests are subject to our verification measures, which vary depending on the type of request made, your relationship to the Firm, and the sensitivity of the information you request. We may ask you to provide a few pieces of information to confirm your identity in our records.

If you authorize an agent to submit a Right to Know, Right to Delete, or Right to Correct request on your behalf, we require the agent to provide proof that you gave the agent signed permission to submit the request and may verify the agent’s identity and authority to act on your behalf.   

  • The Right to Opt-Out of Sale or Sharing. The right to opt-out of the sale or sharing of your personal information. This right only applies if the business sells or shares your personal information.

Rutan & Tucker does not sell or share the personal information of California residents and has not in the preceding twelve months. As a result, we have no actual knowledge that we sell or share the personal information of California residents under the age of sixteen. While we do not sell or share personal information, we do acknowledge the Global Privacy Control as a valid opt-out preference signal for the browser on which it is deployed. 

  • The Right to Limit the Use of Sensitive Personal Information. The right to limit provides California residents with the right to request that a business limit how it uses or discloses sensitive personal information to only certain permissible purposes. This right only applies if the business uses your sensitive personal information for other than permissible purposes.

Rutan & Tucker does not use or disclose sensitive personal information for other than permissible purposes.

  • The Right Not To Receive Discriminatory Treatment. The right not to receive discriminatory treatment means that a covered business will not treat you in a discriminatory manner because you have exercised your privacy rights conferred by the CCPA.

Rutan & Tucker will not discriminate against any California resident for exercising their CCPA rights.

Changes to this Notice

If we decide to update our Privacy Policy, we will indicate this next to the Privacy Policy link on the front page of our website or notify you directly on the website. If there are material changes, we will prominently post and/or communicate such changes prior to implementing them. Any information collected under previous versions of our Privacy Policy will then become subject to the terms of our new Privacy Policy.

Contact Us

If you have questions or comments about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us at Privacy@rutan.com.

The operator of this website is: Rutan & Tucker, LLP, 18575 Jamboree Road, 9th Floor, Irvine, CA 92612.