Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy for Wood Legal Group, LLP

Last updated: August 2026

Wood Legal Group, LLP respects your privacy. Under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, estate planning attorneys, like accountants, banks, and trust companies, are required to tell clients how they handle client information. Attorneys have always been required by their rules of professional conduct to keep client information confidential, so your right to privacy has always been protected here. This policy states our practices in writing, and applies to this website, our forms and portals, and our work for clients.

Information we collect

Planning for your family requires us to obtain private information about you. We collect:

• Identifiers. Name, postal address, email address, telephone number, and account identifiers if you use our client portal.
• Information about your family and your property. Marital status, children and other beneficiaries, real estate, financial accounts, business interests, and similar details you provide through forms, questionnaires, or in meetings.
• Financial information related to the legal services we provide, and payment information processed by our payment providers. We do not store full card numbers or bank account numbers on our systems.
• Information about your legal matter, including documents you send us.
• Recordings and transcripts of meetings. Meetings are ordinarily recorded and transcribed so nothing from your file is lost. California is a two-party consent state, and several other jurisdictions where we practise have similar requirements. You will be told at the start of any recorded meeting, and you may ask that recording stop at any time.
• Technical information collected automatically, including IP address, browser type, device type, pages visited, and referring page.
• Cookie and similar data. See the Cookies section below.

Sensitive personal information. Some of what you tell us, for example information about a disability relevant to a special needs trust, is sensitive under California law. We collect it only where it is necessary to perform the legal services you have asked for, we use it only for that purpose, and we do not use or disclose it to infer characteristics about you.

Where the information comes from

Directly from you, through forms, questionnaires, email, telephone, meetings, and our client portal. Automatically from your device when you use the website. From outside sources you authorise us to contact, such as a financial institution, an accountant, a county recorder, or a court record.

How we use your information

• To provide, operate, and maintain our legal services
• To communicate with you about your matter
• To process payments and billing
• To meet our professional, ethical, and legal obligations, including conflict checks and file retention
• To improve and secure our website and services, and to detect and prevent fraud
• To send educational emails and newsletters, only where you have asked to receive them, and you may unsubscribe from any of them at any time

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising. We have not done so in the preceding twelve months.

Artificial intelligence

We use artificial intelligence tools to assist with recording and summarising meetings, organising the information you give us, preparing first drafts from firm templates, research assistance, and routine administration. Artificial intelligence does not decide anything about your matter and does not give you legal advice. No document or advice leaves this firm without review by a licensed attorney who is responsible for it.

We select tools that operate under written confidentiality and data protection obligations and configure them so that your information is not used to train publicly available models. We do not enter confidential client information into free or consumer versions of publicly available artificial intelligence services. You may ask us not to use these tools on your matter. The full statement is in our Artificial Intelligence Use and Compliance Disclosure.

Who we share it with

Firm personnel. Employees and contractors who need the information to do the work you engaged us for, all bound by the same duty of confidentiality.

Service providers, named. We use outside providers for document storage and practice management (ActionStep), technology services (DynasticAI, Inc.), and cloud storage, backup, electronic signature, email, scheduling, and payment processing. Each is bound by written confidentiality and data protection obligations and receives only what is necessary for the service it provides. We remain responsible to you for the confidentiality of your information regardless of who holds it.

Outside professionals. On occasion we may need to provide your information to a third party assisting with your matter, such as an accountant, an appraiser, or an insurance professional. This is never done without first obtaining your permission.

Partner firms. Matters in the District of Columbia, Virginia, and New York are handled by licensed partner firms. Where your matter is referred to one, we share only what is necessary, and you will be told in writing who is responsible for your matter.

Required disclosures. We are required by law to disclose information where we have knowledge of child abuse or of an intent to commit a crime, and we may disclose information as required by law, court order, or legal process.

A change in the firm. If the firm merges, is acquired, or its practice is sold, client files may transfer. Any such transfer is subject to the confidentiality rules that govern lawyers, including the written notice to clients that California Rule of Professional Conduct 1.17 requires on the sale of a law practice. You would be notified and you would keep the right to take your file elsewhere.

How long we keep it

We retain client files for five years after a matter closes, after which they may be destroyed without further notice. Original signed estate planning documents are released to you at your signing ceremony and are yours to keep. Digital vault storage is included for one year after your plan is delivered and continues on the terms in our Document Storage and Digital Vault Disclosure. Website analytics and marketing records are kept no longer than needed for the purpose they were collected for.

Your California privacy rights

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act gives you the following rights:

• To know what personal information we have collected, the categories of sources, the purposes, and the categories of third parties we disclose it to
• To access a copy of the personal information we hold about you
• To delete personal information, subject to our professional and legal obligations to retain client files
• To correct inaccurate personal information
• To limit the use of sensitive personal information
• To opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information. We do not sell or share personal information, so there is nothing to opt out of, and you will not find a Do Not Sell link on this site for that reason
• Not to be discriminated against for exercising any of these rights

To exercise any of these rights, call (626) 898-9195 or write to info@woodlegalgroup.com with the word Privacy in the subject line. We will verify your identity before acting on a request, usually by confirming information we already hold. We aim to acknowledge within ten business days and respond within forty-five days. An authorised agent may make a request on your behalf with written permission from you.

Cookies and tracking

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies that are necessary for the site to function and to understand how it is used. We do not run advertising or social media tracking pixels on this website. You can control cookies through your browser settings. Turning off necessary cookies may prevent parts of the site, including the client portal, from working.

Security

We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with our professional standards and with applicable regulations. The client portal requires authentication. No security measure is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Email is not a secure medium. Please use our secure upload links and portal for sensitive documents. We will never send you new or changed wire instructions by email. If you receive wire instructions appearing to come from this firm, telephone us at a number you already have before sending anything.

Confidentiality and the attorney-client relationship

We take confidentiality seriously and maintain it to the fullest extent permitted by law. Submitting information through this website does not create an attorney-client relationship. That relationship is established only on a signed written engagement agreement with Wood Legal Group, LLP. Until then, information you send may not be protected by attorney-client privilege.

Children

This website is not directed to children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. Where we hold information about a minor as part of a client matter, for example a named beneficiary, it is provided by the adult client and handled as part of the client file.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. We will post the new version here and update the date above. Material changes affecting current clients will also be communicated directly.

Contact us

Questions about this policy or our privacy practices are welcome.