Effective 01/01/2024 – v1.002

Online Privacy Policy

Our office recognizes the vital importance of privacy. We want you to make the most of this website and to feel confident while doing so. The following discloses the information collection, use, and disclosure practices for this domain. This policy does not address information obtained offline.

Or you can reach us by telephone at the number posted on this page.

What Personal Information Do We Collect?

When you visit the public area of this website, you remain anonymous. To the extent you use forms, chats, and e-mail links via the website, or call us via phone to communicate with us or anyone affiliated with us and provide us with personally identifiable information; however, you will not remain anonymous. Because it is impossible to predict every conceivable context in which such information might be provided to us via e-mail, we can provide you no assurance that personally identifiable information you choose to provide to us via e-mail will be maintained as private.

This website uses “cookies.” Cookies are small text files that are placed on a visitor’s computer hard drive that allow us and/or the host of this Web site to record how many times a user or computers within a user’s network of computers has visited the website, the number of times various pages of the website have been accessed and to track the user’s home page customization preferences. You may disable receipt of cookies using features of your web browser that disable or turn off cookies. We do not use cookies to retrieve information that is unrelated to your visit to or your interaction with this website.

We may collect your Internet Protocol (IP) address. An IP address is a number that is assigned to your computer when you use the Internet. The IP address data that we collect does not contain any personally identifiable information about you and is used to administer our site, to determine the numbers of different visitors to the site and to gather demographic data. However, when you submit information via this website, that information becomes identifiable and is kept on record as having come from your IP address. This information may be used to identify you on subsequent visits to this site, and to other sites associated with it, and to personalize your user experience.

The non-personally identifiable data that this website collects is accessible by certain firm personnel as well as certain third-party website designers and personnel involved with the third-party service that hosts the website. We use all non-personally identifiable data that we collect internally and together with our website designer and host in order to improve the website. The information is used, for example, to evaluate what portions of the website are more popular than others, to determine where visitors to the site came from, and to determine how many times and how often particular pages of the site were accessed. We may use the data to prepare reports regarding website activity as part of the process of maintaining and improving the site.

What Steps Do We Take to Protect Your Privacy?

To the extent permitted by law, we will not sell, share, or otherwise disclose any of the information collected online without your express permission.

What Are the Privacy Policies of Sites to Which This Website Links?

We provide links to third party websites that we do not control. Therefore, we urge you to review the privacy policies posted on these third party websites at the time you first visit such sites. We assume no obligation to review or ensure enforcement or compliance with the privacy policy of any website to which we links.

What About Children’s Privacy?

We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from any individuals under the age of 18.

Is Data Storage and Processing Conducted in the United States?

Regardless of where you are located, the site collects information and processes and stores that information in databases located in the United States.

Can We Revise This Privacy Policy?

Due to the rapidly evolving technologies on the Internet, we may occasionally update this privacy policy. All revisions will be posted on our website. We therefore urge you to review this Privacy Policy frequently.

What if I Have Questions?

Our Firm welcomes questions and comments this website and about this policy. You are welcome to call us with your comments and questions at (206) 759-8030.

Disclaimer & Contact Disclosures

The information provided on this website is not legal advice and should not be relied on. The content is for informational purposes only. We intend for you to use these resources as a starting point to discuss your matter further with an attorney of your choosing. Nothing in this website should be taken to create an attorney-client relationship.

The law is constantly changing. We cannot guarantee that all information contained in this website is up-to-date at all times, nor is it applicable in all jurisdictions. We recommend that you contact an experienced attorney in your area to guide you through your legal matter.

We may offer any person a no-obligation initial consultation. This in no way obligates us to represent you or to answer any specific questions. We reserve the right to deny a consultation to anybody for any lawful reason.

When you speak with our attorneys and staff during a consultation, everything you tell us about your case is confidential. However, we do not represent you (in court or otherwise) unless and until a representation agreement is signed by both you and us.

This disclaimer applies to all pages and content contained on this website or associated with this domain.

Contact Policy and Disclaimer:

You expressly consent to be contacted by us, our agents, representatives, affiliates, or anyone calling on our behalf for any and all purposes arising out of or relating to your claim, at any telephone number, or physical or electronic address you provide or at which you may be reached.

You agree we may contact you in any way, including SMS messages (including text messages), calls using prerecorded messages or artificial voice, and calls and messages delivered using auto telephone dialing system or an automatic texting system. Automated messages may be played when the telephone is answered, whether by you or someone else.

In the event that an agent or representative calls, they may also leave a message on your answering machine, voice mail, or send one via text. You consent to receive SMS messages (including text messages), calls and messages (including prerecorded and artificial voice and autodialed) from us, our agents, representatives, affiliates or anyone calling on our behalf at the specific number(s) you have provided to us, or numbers we can reasonably associate with your account (through skip trace, caller ID capture or other means), with information or questions about your claim.

You certify, warrant and represent that the telephone number that you have provided to us is your contact number. You represent that you are permitted to receive calls at the telephone number you have provided to us. You agree to promptly alert us whenever you stop using a particular telephone number.

Your cellular or mobile telephone provider will charge you according to the type of plan you carry. You also agree that we may contact you by email, using any email address you have provided to us or that you provide to us in the future. Standard message and data rates may apply to all SMS messages (including text messages).

Terms and Conditions of Representation

These following Terms of Service (Terms) will apply not only to the present matter you may engage us for, but also to any future matters in which the Firm (Steven A. Hemmat P.S.) expressly agrees to represent you and/or your affiliates (absent a separate agreement with the affiliates) during the term of our involvement.

These Terms contains our mutual understanding with respect to services the Firm will. If you have any questions concerning the provisions of these Terms, the Firm invites your inquiries.

You have the right, and the Firm encourages you, to consult independent counsel of your own choice with regarding these Terms before you agree to them. You may also consult independent counsel at any time during the course of our relationship if you wish to do so. If you engage our services, you are agreeing to each of its terms set forth below in more detail, including any disclosures and consents to the conflict-of-interest provisions contained in these Terms, which means that you have either consulted independent counsel about these Terms or you chose not to do so.

The Terms in this section will take effect when the Firm receives your executed Representation Agreement (signed separately) and receives your full trust deposit. Further, these Terms shall be incorporated by reference into your Representation Agreement.

The following provisions apply:

1. Terms and Conditions Incorporated. These Terms and Conditions are incorporated into your Representation Agreement (signed separately).

2. The Firm’s Duties and Your Duties. The Firm’s responsibilities will be to provide legal counsel and assistance and represent your interests within the bounds of the law and the ethical requirements of the legal profession. The Firm will endeavor to keep you informed of the progress of the matter or matters the Firm is handling for you and respond to your inquiries. On your part, you agree to provide the Firm with truthful and accurate information, to cooperate and keep the Firm informed of any developments that may affect its handling of your matter or matters, and to pay Firm invoices on a timely basis. In addition, you will be responsible for advising the Firm whether any document the Firm has prepared or received and sent to you for your approval or review reflects the principal terms of your proposed agreement, general strategy or other expectations, as the case may be.

3. Legal Fees and Billing Practices. The Firm’s professional fees reflect a number of factors including the number of attorney hours incurred, the relative experience of the attorneys performing the services, the difficulty of the matter, and the results obtained for the Firm’s client. The Firm’s professional fees are usually determined by the number of hours expended, multiplied by the professional’s hourly billing rate.

From time to time the Firm’s hourly billing rates or billing structure may change, as will other costs related to the services that the Firm will perform. In the event of a change in these rates, they will be reflected in your next bill. If you have any concerns about any change in billing rate, please promptly discuss them with us.

The Firm will charge for all activities undertaken in providing legal services to you, including but not limited to the following: conferences and meetings, including preparation and participation; preparation and review of correspondence and other documents; legal research, including computerized research; court and other appearances, including preparation; necessary travel related to court appearances, meetings with opposing counsel, witnesses and others in your matter; evidence preparation including electronic document management; and telephone calls, including calls with you and other attorneys or persons involved with your matter.

The legal personnel assigned to your matters may need to confer among themselves about the matters. When they do need to confer, each person may charge for the time expended. Similarly, if more than one of the Firm’s legal personnel attends a meeting, court hearing or other proceeding, each may charge for the time spent, although the Firm will always attempt to be judicious in the number of persons it sends. When Firm personnel travel for your matters, the Firm charges for travel time, portal to portal, both local and out of town.

4. Services the Firm Does Not Undertake, Unless Expressly Agreed in Writing.

a) Insurance Advice.
Although the Firm does not and cannot express any opinion on the subject, you may be a beneficiary under a policy or policies of insurance that could provide a defense or otherwise indemnify you from any liability to other parties or for damages which you may have suffered that are related to the matter or matters upon which you employ the Firm. The Firm recommends that you consult with your insurance professional as to whether such insurance coverage exists. Representation of you with respect to any insurance issue, including whether you have insurance that might provide coverage, is not within the scope of the Firm’s duties unless expressly provided for in this Agreement.

b) Post-Judgment Obligations.
If your matter involves obtaining a judgment and the Firm obtains a judgment for you, the Firm will only be responsible for those post judgment obligations you expressly request in writing that the Firm undertakes and which the Firm agrees in writing to undertake, for which you will be obligated to compensate the Firm under the terms of this Agreement. This includes recording abstracts, filing judgment liens and calendaring renewals of judgments.

c) Post-Closing Matters.
Unless you request in writing to the contrary, the Firm will have no obligation to monitor renewal, notice, annual maintenance or perfection expiration dates or similar deadlines which may arise from the matters for which you have retained the Firm.

d) Tax Advisory
Legal expenses and litigation is likely to have tax consequences. The Firm is not obligated and is not retained to offer tax advisory or legal insight, unless specifically stated in your Representation Agreement.

5. Duties upon Termination of Active Representation. Upon cessation of the Firm’s active involvement in a particular matter in which the Firm has been engaged, the Firm will have no further duty to inform you of future developments or changes in the law as may be relevant to such matter or matters in which the Firm’s representation has ceased.

6. Costs and Other Charges for Which the Firm Will Bill You. The Firm may incur various costs and expenses in the normal course of performing legal services. You shall advance all expenses. Costs and expenses for which the Firm charges include filing and recordation fees, court reporters’ fees, messenger and other delivery fees, parking, transportation, lodging, and other necessary travel expenses, non-routine photocopying and scanning (wherever performed), bulk postage, mediation or other professional fees, document database preparation, processing and management, electronic document storage, and other similar items. Costs and expenses could also include expert witness fees, title insurance fees, consultant and investigator fees, and similar out-of-pocket expenses incurred on your behalf.

7. No Retainer. The Firm does not require that you provide a retainer generally. However, the Firm reserves the right from time to time to request a variable security deposit, depending on the continuing nature of representation. If during the course of its representation of you, the Firm requests a retainer or security deposit as a condition of continuing to represent you, and you do not agree to promptly provide it, the Firm will have the right to withdraw from your representation.

8. Billing Statements. The Firm will send you weekly statements indicating fees and costs incurred, any amounts applied from any retainer, and any current balance owed. Upon request, the Firm can provide various levels of detail in your statements, including the legal personnel working on your matter or matters for that billing period with their current guideline hourly rate, and the amount of time and fees incurred by each individual working on your matter.

9. The Firm will generally send you statements on a weekly basis, although if there are minimal or no fees or costs for a particular month, the Firm may hold a statement and combine it with that for the following month. Each statement is due upon your receipt, but in any event no later than three days after the Firm transmits it to you. If you have any questions concerning any billing statement, please discuss them with the Firm at hello@hemmatlaw.com immediately so that the Firm has an opportunity to promptly resolve any misunderstandings or issues that you may have.

10. In the event of a billing dispute, you agree to pay all uncontested amounts within thirty calendar days of the invoice date. In the Firm’s discretion, a late charge of the lesser of (i) 12% per annum, compounded monthly, or (ii) the maximum permitted by law, shall accrue and be payable on all amounts not paid within 15 days from the date due. The Firm’s failure to reflect such accrual on any statement rendered by the Firm to you shall not be deemed a waiver thereof. The Firm also reserves the right to suspend further work at any time that there is an outstanding statement more than three calendar days past due.

If you do not pay an outstanding invoice in accordance with these Terms or your Representation Agreement, you expressly consent to the Firm’s withdrawal as attorney(s) of record in any legal action in which the Firm has appeared on your behalf. Further, you agree to bear any costs associated with our withdrawal, if applicable.

If you elect to pay a retainer or any outstanding invoices in cash, please note that the Firm will comply with any Internal Revenue Service requirements that require us to report receipt of cash in excess of certain amounts, which report includes your identification and tax information and the amount paid.

11. Estimate. It is often difficult to predict with any certainty the actual amount of legal fees, costs or time which will be incurred with respect to any particular task or matter. However, upon request, the Firm will provide you with estimates of legal fees and costs and/or time to complete a task or matter, but any such figure will be an estimate only and not a guarantee that the actual fees, costs or time will be in the amount of, or limited to, the estimate.

12. Disclaimer of Guarantee. Nothing in these Terms should be construed as a promise or guarantee about the outcome of any matter which the Firm is handling on your behalf. The Firm’s comments about the outcome of your matter, estimated times to conclude the handling of your matter, and the associated fees and costs, are expressions of opinion only.

13. Discharge, Withdrawal and Termination.

a) You may discharge the Firm at any time and the Firm has the right to withdraw from representing you at any time, subject to any required court approvals. Reasons for the Firm’s withdrawal include, but are not limited to, breach of these Terms, failure to pay the Firm’s invoices when due, any refusal to cooperate with the Firm or to follow its advice on a material matter or any fact or circumstance that would render the Firm’s continuing representation of you unlawful or unethical.

b) The Firm’s representation of you as a current client will be terminated immediately upon completion of its services in the last pending matter. Any representation requested by you and agreed to by the Firm following the conclusion of the Firm’s services in any previously pending matter will constitute a new engagement but will still be governed by your Representation Agreement and these Terms.

c) When the Firm’s services conclude, all unpaid amounts will immediately become due and payable. After the Firm’s services conclude, upon your written request, the Firm will deliver your files to you along with any funds or property of yours in the Firm’s possession after applying any unused retainer or security deposit to any balance on your account. The work product produced in the course of the Firm’s representation is and will remain Firm property.

d) Conflicts with You and Other Clients. The Firm’s undertaking to represent you will not act as a bar to prevent the Firm from representing any existing or future client with respect to a claim adverse to you, provided that the Firm is no longer representing you as a current client and, in the course of the Firm’s representation of you, the Firm has not obtained confidential information from you that is material to the representation of the other client. In addition, our representation of you in the matter or matters in which we are employed shall not preclude us from concurrently representing parties currently adverse to you, or concurrently representing other clients also adverse to those same parties, provided that our concurrent representations are with respect to matters unrelated to our representation of you and your confidentiality and privileges are preserved. Finally, our representation of you shall not preclude the Firm from representing parties adverse to your clients (if applicable), nor preclude you from representing parties adverse to the Firm’s clients (if applicable).

14. Lien. By agreeing to these Terms, you have granted the Firm a lien to secure payment of all fees and costs incurred in connection with the Firm’s representation under these Terms. This lien will attach to any recovery you might obtain, whether by arbitration award, judgment, settlement or otherwise, and to any other funds to which you may be entitled. The disadvantage of the lien to you is that, if you and the Firm have a dispute over the Firm’s fees and costs, that dispute could delay your receipt of the funds that are in dispute. You have the opportunity to seek independent legal advice before agreeing to this provision.

15. Dispute Resolution. We anticipate that any dispute or disagreement that may arise out of or relate to our legal services, including the fees charged, can be worked out to our mutual satisfaction in discussions between us or through mediation.

a) Arbitration of Disputes. If we cannot amicably and mutually resolve any disputes between us, we both agree that all disputes arising out of or relating in any way to your Representation Agreement or these Terms, our relationship, or the services performed or the attorneys’ fees and costs charged (including but not limited to claims based on alleged professional malpractice, negligence, errors or omissions, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, or any claim based upon tort or any statute), shall be submitted, as soon as practicable, to final and binding arbitration in the State of Washington before a retired judge or justice mutually agreed upon by us with Judicial Dispute Resolution (“JDR”), a private mediation and arbitration tribunal, pursuant to its Arbitration Rules and Procedures (“JDR Rules”). If no agreement on the arbitrator can be reached within fifteen days after initiation of the arbitration, then the arbitrator will be selected in accordance with the JDR Rules. Any decision of the arbitrator may be confirmed in a court of competent jurisdiction and the ensuing judgment may thereafter be enforced in the same manner as a judgment in a civil action.

b) Arbitration Confidentiality. The arbitration proceedings and award shall be kept strictly confidential between us, and except for our own representatives on a need to know basis, will not be disclosed to any other person or entity, unless disclosure is necessary for the preparation and conduct of the hearing on the merits, or in a judicially filed application for a preliminary injunction, or in any confirmation hearing of or motion to vacate the arbitrator’s award in a court of competent jurisdiction, or in proceedings to enforce a judgment based upon the confirmed award.

c) Jury Waiver/Appeal. By agreeing to arbitrate any disputes between us as set forth in the preceding paragraph, you acknowledge that you are giving up your right to have such disputes heard and determined by a non-retired judge or by a jury in a court of law. Moreover, appeals from arbitration awards are more limited than appeals from court judgments, and discovery is generally less broad than permitted in a court of law. Should you have any question about the significance of your agreement to arbitrate as set forth in these Terms, you should consult with an attorney who is independent of the Firm.

d) Arbitration Jurisdiction. The arbitration will be controlled by the provisions of the Federal Arbitration Act (9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq.) except that Washington substantive law shall be applied to resolve the underlying disputes to be arbitrated. We both agree that it is the arbitrator, and not any federal or state court, who has the exclusive authority to resolve any disputes relating to the interpretation, applicability, enforceability or formation of this binding agreement to arbitrate, including but not limited to determining which claims are subject to arbitration, or any claim that all or any part of this agreement to arbitrate is unenforceable, voidable or void.

e) Washington Law Applies. If either of us initiates any legal action or proceeding concerning or in any way relating to the terms and provisions of these Terms or the Firm’s representation of you in any matter, we both understand and agree that any such legal action, arbitration or proceeding shall be brought in Washington, and Washington’s substantive laws shall apply to these Terms and any applicable Representation Agreement.

16. File Maintenance. The Firm will maintain your files and documents in a particular matter while it is actively handling that matter for you and for five years thereafter. The Firm will have the right to destroy your files after five years or any longer time the Firm deems appropriate given the circumstances, without any obligation to notify you. The Firm routinely purges its files and records of matters that have been resolved. Of course, you may request your files or documents at any time prior to such destruction, and they will be promptly returned to you or to others as you direct.

17. Ongoing Obligation. You acknowledge that these Terms may change periodically without explicit notice to you. You agree to be bound by these Terms, even when revised, in this and future matters.

18. Entire Understanding/Additional Legal Representation Governed by these Terms. Except for any consents to a conflict of interest provided separately, these Terms and your Representation Agreement contains all of the terms of the agreement between us applicable to the Firm’s representation of you. Except for any consents to a conflict of interest and your Representation Agreement provided separately, no other agreement, statement or promise made shall be binding on any parties. All other matters which you refer to the Firm for representation shall be governed by these Terms.