Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes how Chernoff Legal Services, a California sole proprietorship operated by Frederick Chernoff, collects, uses, discloses, and protects personal information. It is designed to comply with the federal Canadian Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), Quebec Law 25 (An Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector), and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) for California residents.

We do not sell your personal information to anyone, for any purpose.

1. Data controller and contact

Chernoff Legal Services is the data controller for all personal information collected through this website and through the engagement of legal services. The table below lists the categories of personal information we handle.

Privacy Officer / Person-in-Charge (Quebec Law 25): John Chernoff, reachable at john@chernofflegalservices.com.

2. Information we collect

We collect only the information required to provide the service and to meet our regulatory obligations. Specifically:

• Contact information (name, email, phone, mailing address) that you submit to the contact form or the consult booking form.
• Post-engagement legal-file data (court records, RCMP C-216C, personal statement) that we collect and process in the course of preparing your I-192 filing.
• Technical and usage data (IP address, browser, referrer, consent choices) that our analytics tooling captures by default to measure site performance, unless you opt out.

3. Purposes

• Respond to your inquiry and prepare your file.
• Coordinate and file your I-192 (post-engagement) through U.S. Customs and Border Protection's e-SAFE portal.
• Comply with Canadian and U.S. regulatory obligations (tax records, retention, anti-money-laundering where applicable).
• With your explicit CASL opt-in, send you renewal reminders and updates about service changes and regulatory developments.

4. Legal basis

We rely on your consent for every use of your personal information beyond what is strictly necessary to provide the service you requested. For website analytics and advertising measurement, that consent is implied on an opt-out basis as permitted under PIPEDA — these are on by default and you may opt out at any time via the cookie banner; we do not personalise advertising without your express “Accept all.” Consent for marketing communications is express, double-opt-in under CASL. You can withdraw consent at any time by emailing john@chernofflegalservices.com.

5. Retention

• Marketing and intake data: retained for 24 months of inactivity, then automatically deleted.
• Legal-file data: retained for seven years post-matter close under California State Bar rules.
• Error telemetry — automated technical error reports. When something on the site fails (for example, a form does not submit), our error-monitoring service (Sentry) receives details about what went wrong so we can fix it. These reports describe the technical fault; they never include the personal information you typed into the form. Retained for 90 days rolling.
• Call metadata — information about phone calls placed to our number: the caller's phone number, the time and duration of the call, and which marketing page you came from. This is captured by our call-tracking service (CallRail) for routing and analytics. It is data about the call, not the call audio — we do not record the conversation through this service. Retained for 12 months rolling.

6. Subprocessors

A subprocessor is a third-party service that processes personal information on our behalf to help us deliver our services. We use the following subprocessors, each only for the purpose noted:

• Vercel — website hosting and delivery.
• Stripe — card payment processing (PCI DSS Level 1).
• Resend — transactional email (confirmations, replies).
• Sanity — content management for marketing pages.
• Clerk — authentication for the client portal.
• Calendly — consult scheduling.
• HubSpot — contact and intake records (CRM).
• Intercom — live chat support.
• DocuSign — electronic signing of the engagement agreement and Form G-28.
• Google (Sheets & Drive) — case management and case-file archiving (post-engagement). Hosted in the United States.
• Google Analytics / Google Tag Manager / Microsoft Clarity — website analytics and advertising measurement, on by default to measure site and campaign performance; you can opt out anytime via the cookie banner.
• Sentry — error monitoring (see “error telemetry” above).
• CallRail — call tracking (see “call metadata” above).

We notify users 30 days in advance of adding a new subprocessor that processes the personal information of Quebec residents.

7. Cross-border transfers

The I-192 is adjudicated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Admissibility Review Office. As a licensed U.S. attorney and your authorized representative under Form G-28, we prepare and submit the application through e-SAFE for you. Because of this, legal-file data is processed in the United States. Marketing and intake data is also processed by the U.S.-based subprocessors listed in Section 6 above. These cross-border transfers are disclosed explicitly, and consent is captured for non-essential categories.

8. Your rights

• Access, correction, and deletion of your personal information (PIPEDA § 9).
• Portability of the data you provided (Quebec Law 25 § 27).
• Withdrawal of consent at any time.
• To exercise any of these rights, email john@chernofflegalservices.com. We respond within 30 days (or 45 days where CCPA applies).

9. Security and breach notification

We maintain reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards. Every subprocessor handling personal information is SOC 2 Type II certified. Our 72-hour breach-notification runbook is documented in our internal incident-response procedures.

10. Automated decision-making

We do not use automated decision-making with legal or similarly significant effect on you, within the meaning of Quebec Law 25 §12.1. The attorney's merit opinion is authored by a licensed lawyer. Frederick Chernoff, Esq., is a U.S. attorney licensed by the State Bar of California (License No. 342412).

11. Contact

Privacy Officer · Chernoff Legal Services · PO Box 202, Okotoks Stn Main, AB T1S 1A5, Canada · john@chernofflegalservices.com