Last updated on 08 December 2018

1.1 Automatic collection of personal information

In some instances, Excel Law and its service providers uses cookies, web beacons and other technologies to automatically collect certain types of information when you visit us online, as well as through emails that we may exchange. The collection of this information allows us to customize your online experience, improve the performance, usability and effectiveness of Excel Law online presence, and to measure the effectiveness of our marketing activities.

1.1.1 IP addresses

An IP address is a number assigned to your computer whenever you access the internet. It allows computers and servers to recognize and communicate with one another. IP addresses from which visitors appear to originate may be recorded for IT security and system diagnostic purposes. This information may also be used in aggregate form to conduct web site trend and performance analysis.

1.1.2 Cookies

Cookies may be placed on your computer or internet-enabled device whenever you visit us online. This allows the site to remember your computer or device and serves a number of purposes.

On our web site, a notification banner will appear requiring your consent to collect cookies. If you do not provide consent, your computer or internet-enabled device will not be tracked for marketing-related activities. A secondary type of cookie referred to as "user-input" cookies may still be required for necessary functionality. Such cookies will not be blocked through the use of this notification banner. Your selection will be saved in a cookie and is valid for a period of 90 days. If you wish to revoke your selection, you may do so by clearing your browser's cookies.

Although most browsers automatically accept cookies, you can choose whether or not to accept cookies via your browser's settings (often found in your browser's Tools or Preferences menu). You may also delete cookies from your device at any time. However, please be aware that if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to fully experience some of our web sites' features.

Further information about managing cookies can be found in your browser's help file or through sites such as info@excelaw.com.

Below is a list of the types of cookies used on our web sites:

Purpose	Description	Type & Expiry
Performance (i.e. User’s Browser)	Our web sites are built using common internet platforms. These have built-in cookies which help compatibility issues (e.g., to identify your browser type) and improve performance (e.g., quicker loading of content).	SessionDeleted upon closing the browser
Security (e.g. Asp .NET) Cookies	If you register for access to a restricted area, our cookies ensure that your device is logged for the duration of your visit. You will need your username and password to access the restricted areas.	SessionDeleted upon closing the browser
Site Preferences	Our cookies may also remember your site preferences (e.g. language) or seek to enhance your experience (e.g. by personalizing a greeting or content). This will apply to areas where you have registered specifically for access or create an account.	SessionDeleted upon closing the browser
Analytical	We use several third party analytics tools to help us understand how site visitors use our web site. This allows us to improve the quality and content on Excel Law for our visitors. The aggregated statistical data cover items such as total visits or page views, and referrers to our web sites. For further details on our use of Google Analytics, see below	PersistentDeleted automatically after 2 years if you no longer visit excelaw.com
Social sharing	We use third party social media widgets or buttons to provide you with additional functionality to share content from our web pages to social media websites and email. Use of these widgets or buttons may place a cookie on your device to make their service easier to use, ensure your interaction is displayed on our webpages (e.g. the social share count cache is updated) and log information about your activities across the Internet and on our web sites. We encourage you to review each provider's privacy information before using any such service. For further details on our use of social media widgets and applications, see below.	Persistent, but will be deleted automatically after two years if you no longer visit  excelaw.com Other third party tools and widgets may be used on our individual web pages to provide additional functionality. Use of these tools or widgets may place a cookie on your device to make their service easier to use, and ensure your interaction is displayed on our webpages properly.

Cookies by themselves do not tell us your email address or otherwise identify you personally. In our analytical reports, we may obtain other identifiers including IP addresses, but this is for the purpose of identifying the number of unique visitors to our web sites and geographic origin of visitor trends, and not to identify individual visitors.

  BY NAVIGATING ON OUR WEB SITES OR ENTERING YOUR LOGIN DETAILS TO ACCESS AREAS RESERVED FOR REGISTERED USERS, YOU AGREE THAT WE CAN PLACE THESE COOKIES ON YOUR COMPUTER OR INTERNET ENABLED DEVICE.

1.1.3 Google Analytics

Excel Law uses Google Analytics. More information about how Google Analytics is used by Excel Law can be found here: http://www.google.com/analytics/learn/privacy.html

To provide website visitors with more choice on how their data is collected by Google Analytics, Google have developed the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. The add-on communicates with the Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js) to indicate that information about the website visit should not be sent to Google Analytics. The Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on does not prevent information from being sent to the website itself or to other web analytics services.

1.1.4 Web beacons

A web beacon is a small image file on a web page that can be used to collect certain information from your computer, such as an IP address, the time the content was viewed, a browser type, and the existence of cookies previously set by the same server. Excel Law only uses web beacons in accordance with applicable laws.

Excel Law or its service providers may use web beacons to track the effectiveness of third party web sites that provide us with recruiting or marketing services or to gather aggregate visitor statistics and manage cookies.

You have the option to render some web beacons unusable by rejecting their associated cookies. The web beacon may still record an anonymous visit from your IP address but cookie information will not be recorded.

In some of our newsletters and other communications, we may monitor recipient actions such as email open rates through embedded links within the messages. We collect this information to gauge user interest and to enhance future user experiences.

1.1.5 Location-based tools

Excel Law may collect and use the geographical location of your computer or mobile device. This location data is collected for the purpose of providing you with information regarding services which we believe may be of interest to you based on your geographic location, and to improve our location-based products and services.

1.2 Social media widgets and applications

Excel Law web sites may include functionality to enable sharing via third party social media applications, such as the Facebook Like button and Twitter widget. These social media applications may collect and use information regarding your use of Excel Law web sites (see details on 'Social Sharing' cookies above). Any personal information that you provide via such social media applications may be collected and used by other members of that social media application and such interactions are governed by the privacy policies of the companies that provide the application. We do not have control over, or responsibility for, those companies or their use of your information.

In addition, Excel Law web site may host blogs, forums, crowd-sourcing and other applications or services (collectively "social media features"). The purpose of social media features is to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and content. Any personal information that you provide on any Excel Law social media feature may be shared with other users of that social media feature (unless otherwise stated at the point of collection), over whom we may have limited or no control