Information handled by the platform

For owner-only community-claim case operations, internal notes, assignments, and tags are encrypted.

Optional filing-outcome contribution: this control is unchecked by default. If a customer chooses it, the platform stores only coarse aggregate categories and excludes names, dockets, dates, notes, filenames, document contents, contact information, and matter identifiers.

• Paid-service requests and fulfillment: contact details, jurisdiction, property or matter description, desired work product, known deadline, described records, written scopes, quotes, portal messages, internal work notes, uploaded records, delivery summaries, and delivered files are encrypted. Only bounded service type, workflow or request status, priority, follow-up timing, version number, storage metadata, timing, receipt check, and nonreversible contact check remain queryable. A request is reviewed before payment; it is not a filing or legal representation.
• Protected document and research processing: customer-provided facts and records may be processed through private research, OCR, document-preparation, and preflight systems only for the accepted service scope. Hosting providers may retain limited security and operational logs.
• Secure account identity: the hosting authentication service supplies a stable site-specific account identifier, email address, and optional display name. The identifier scopes encrypted customer-vault records to the correct account; it is not placed in public analytics or supplied to attorney advertisers.
• Customer vault: matter snapshots and uploaded files connected to customer work may be stored in encrypted form to provide secure access and version history.
• Owner alerts: the private operations dashboard stores limited event type, source record identifier, queue destination, timing, read status, and outbound-email delivery status for new service requests, applications, reviews, intakes, and tips. Alert emails contain only a generic event label and a secure queue link; they do not include underlying legal facts, identities, or uploaded files.
• Paid-service email alerts: quote, document-request, payment, delivery, status, and cancellation notices contain only a generic event label and a link to the verified service portal. Matter facts, filenames, legal strategy, and work product remain inside the portal. Delivery attempts, provider identifiers, timestamps, and bounded errors are recorded for reliability and retry control.
• Accountability tips: a tip may include allegations, factual accounts, source-of-knowledge details, identity and contact choices, retaliation concerns, witnesses, records, and supporting files. The tip, source details, original filenames, evidence, private research uploads, structured source logs, investigation actions, internal notes, and versioned letter drafts are encrypted. Limited category, identity-mode, status, priority, follow-up timing, receipt, and nonreversible contact checks are stored separately to operate the owner queue, identify possible related submissions, and honor withdrawals.
• Community-claim intakes and portal: signed questionnaires may include identity and contact details, legal, medical, financial, and property information, supporting files, consent choices, signature records, messages, and document responses. Sensitive contents are encrypted; limited workflow and receipt metadata remain queryable to operate the queue and honor withdrawals.
• Attorney marketplace: applications may include attorney and firm names, bar number, office information, phone number, optional website, enrollment email, practice selections, verification records, and billing status.
• Reviews: public review text and ratings are separated from private verification information.
• Billing: Stripe processes payment details. ClearLegalLA receives bounded Checkout Session, PaymentIntent, charge, customer, subscription, invoice, payment, and refund identifiers or status plus limited billing contact information; it does not store full card numbers. Paid-service payment metadata contains internal request, quote, and payment identifiers, not matter facts.
• Measurements: the platform keeps limited daily page, campaign-source, and feature-use counts without putting legal facts, filenames, document contents, or form entries into those measurements.

Portable matter backups

A user-created portable matter backup is a plaintext download that may contain sensitive case information and must be stored securely. It contains the current matter snapshot but does not include uploaded source-file binaries, which must be downloaded separately.

How information is used

Information is used to review scope and coverage; provide paid research, document preparation, form preparation, filing preflight, storage, directory, application, payment, security, moderation, support, and compliance functions; prevent duplicate charges and abuse; and investigate operational problems.

When information may be shared

Information may be processed by hosting, authentication, storage, and payment providers only as needed to operate the service. An accountability tip is available only to the ClearLegalLA owner through the private review workspace and may be shared with a lawyer, regulator, oversight body, law-enforcement agency, journalist, or other appropriate recipient only within the permission and identity restrictions recorded with the tip. For each community-claim intake, available email or text updates, attorney sharing, agency sharing, and reporter contact are separate choices that are unchecked by default. The recorded choice controls that use: an attorney packet cannot be generated without attorney-sharing permission, and participant email delivery is suppressed without email permission. Information may also be disclosed when legally required, to investigate fraud or security threats, or to protect users and the platform. Attorney advertisers do not receive a user’s legal matter, tip, or contact information merely because they purchased a listing.

Anonymous and confidential tips

Anonymous mode does not require a name, email, phone number, or account. ClearLegalLA does not intentionally store the submitter’s raw IP address in the tip record; a short-lived, nonreversible request bucket is used to limit abuse. Absolute anonymity or confidentiality cannot be guaranteed: document metadata, writing style, facts, witnesses, network logs held by service providers, a legal demand, or a later authorized disclosure may identify a source. Submitters should remove unnecessary metadata and obtain legal advice before disclosing information if employment, safety, privilege, trade-secret, statutory, contractual, classified, sealed, or other restrictions may apply.

Retention and user controls

Device-only data can be removed through the browser or the platform’s delete controls. A signed-in user can permanently remove an encrypted matter from the vault; that action removes its stored versions and uploaded file copies and cannot be undone. An accountability-tip submitter can withdraw through the tip receipt; a nonanonymous tip also requires the matching email or phone. A verified withdrawal removes the stored tip content, uploaded copies, and private research or letter work and stops future use in this system, but it cannot retrieve a disclosure already completed. A limited receipt, consent-version, category, timing, and withdrawal record remains to document and honor the request, respond to disputes, or meet legal obligations. A community-claim participant can use the receipt and matching contact information to view status, receive portal updates, respond to document requests, add files, and withdraw sharing permission. A verified community-claim withdrawal removes the stored intake content, uploaded copies, portal communications, and internal work tied to that intake; a limited receipt, status, consent-version, timing, audit, and withdrawal record remains.

For paid services, closed unpaid or declined requests are normally eligible for permanent disposal after 90 days, and paid or completed service records after 365 days. The portal displays the applicable retain-through date when one is assigned. Archive status closes new messages and uploads but does not delete the record; verified downloads may remain available until disposal. Retention may be extended for a legal demand, payment dispute, fraud or security review, accounting obligation, or another lawful need. When an eligible request is permanently erased, its encrypted facts, contact information, messages, work records, quotes, uploaded files, and deliverables are removed. A minimal non-identifying disposition record may retain the service type, final workflow status, policy version, file count, disposal reason, actor, date, and a nonreversible request fingerprint, but not identity, contact information, receipt, matter facts, filenames, messages, or work product.

Signed-in matter versions, applications, billing records, moderation records, and security logs may be retained while an account or legal/business obligation remains active. Published review records may remain associated with an attorney after advertising ends so renewal cannot erase review history. A request to access, correct, or delete account information may be sent to the contact below; some records may need to be retained for payment, dispute, fraud-prevention, or legal purposes. See paid-service cancellation and records for the customer-facing lifecycle summary.

Security and sensitive filings

ClearLegalLA uses access controls and encryption for the signed-in matter vault, community-claim records, and accountability-tip records, but no online system can guarantee absolute security. Users should redact unnecessary Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, minors’ identifying information, medical details, source-identifying metadata, and other protected data before uploading or filing. Court sealing and redaction rules remain the filer’s responsibility.

Children and changes

The platform is not directed to children under 13. This notice may be updated when features, vendors, or legal requirements change. The effective date above identifies the current version.

Contact

For privacy or account-access requests, use account help or account recovery. Do not submit confidential case facts, evidence, or privileged communications through an ordinary support request.