Effective Date: November 29, 2024
Last Updated: November 6, 2026
The Prior Law Office, PLLC, doing business as Prior Law (“Prior Law,” “we,” “our,” or “us”), respects your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect information through prior.law, our appointment-booking experience, and our client portal (together, the “Online Services”). It does not replace the terms of an engagement agreement or describe every record we may maintain while providing legal services.
Depending on how you interact with us, you may provide:
Payment-card or bank-account details are generally submitted directly to our payment processor. Prior Law may receive transaction status, a processor reference, and other information needed to document and administer the payment.
Our Online Services and the companies that provide our analytics, advertising and website tools may collect technical and usage information such as Internet Protocol address, browser and device type, operating system, referring page, pages requested and their full addresses, dates and times, how you interact with our pages (such as clicks and scrolling), cookie or similar identifiers, and security or diagnostic logs. We do not describe this information as anonymous because an online identifier or a combination of technical information may be linkable to a person or device. Section 5 describes these tools and how to turn the optional ones off.
Subject to the privacy choices described in Section 5, we may collect one Google advertising click identifier (gclid, gbraid, or wbraid), the date and time it was captured, the applicable permission status, and limited booking or purchase-event information. Where this measurement is in use, it is on by default for most visitors unless they opt out. Purchase reporting from a website ad click always needs your separate permission in the client portal. Section 5 explains this measurement in detail.
We may use information to:
We may disclose information in the following circumstances:
We use providers for functions such as website and application hosting, appointment scheduling, portal operation, email and communications, document storage, payment processing, information technology, security, and analytics. They may process information only as needed to provide the applicable service and subject to their agreements and legal obligations.
Google, Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Microsoft (Clarity) and Elfsight (our reviews widget) receive information directly from your browser when you use our website, as described in Section 5. Subject to your privacy choices, this can include letting Meta and Google know that a consultation was booked. These companies handle what they receive under their own terms and privacy policies, and Google, Meta and Microsoft may use it for their own purposes, including advertising.
Subject to the privacy choices described in Section 5 (and, for purchases, only with your separate portal permission), we may provide Google Ads the limited measurement information described there. We do not send Google your name, email address, telephone number, street address, legal-needs or matter details, documents, communications, or payment amount through this measurement feed. Because the click identifier is tied to the ad and search that led to the click, Google may be able to tell which of our services you were looking for. Separately, for an eligible Google ad call, we may send Google Ads the caller’s phone number, call time and first paid Design Meeting time, with your portal permission or as described at https://app.prior.law/privacy/call-measurement.
We may disclose information when authorized by the person concerned, when reasonably necessary to provide requested or agreed services, or when permitted or required by applicable law, court order, or professional-conduct rules. We may also disclose information as reasonably necessary to protect the security and integrity of our systems or the rights and safety of Prior Law and others.
Prior Law does not sell personal information for money. We do allow Google, Meta and Microsoft to collect information through our website for analytics and advertising, as described in Section 5, and you can turn that off.
Viewing the Online Services or contacting Prior Law does not by itself create an attorney-client relationship. Some information received from a current or prospective client may be subject to legal or professional duties that provide protection beyond this Privacy Policy; the scope of those duties depends on the circumstances. This Policy does not expand or limit any attorney-client privilege, duty of confidentiality, engagement agreement, or applicable professional obligation.
We do not send what you type into our booking form, your intake answers, documents or communications to the analytics or advertising companies described in Section 5. Those companies can still learn which pages of our website you visited and, as Section 5 explains, that you booked a consultation, and they handle what they receive under their own privacy policies.
Please do not use a public website form to send highly sensitive or time-sensitive information unless Prior Law has asked you to do so. Use the secure client portal or another method provided by the firm when available.
We use necessary cookies and similar technologies to operate and secure the Online Services, maintain sessions, remember privacy choices, and provide features you request. Blocking necessary technologies may prevent a requested feature from working.
Our booking calendar (Bookly) uses the ipinfo.io service to look up the country associated with your IP address so it can preset the telephone country code. Our Google reviews widget is provided by Elfsight: when a page with the widget’s code loads, Elfsight receives your IP address, browser information and the page address, may set a cookie on its own domain for about 15 seconds so it does not count a view twice, and may load reviewer photos from Google. Our hosting provider’s security system may set a cookie if it asks your browser to pass a security check. These features run whatever you choose in our privacy controls, including before you make a choice.
We use these tools on our website:
Third-party vendors, including Google, show Prior Law ads on websites across the internet. We and third-party vendors, including Google, use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookie) and third-party cookies (such as Google advertising cookies), or other identifiers, together to report how our ads and other ad services relate to visits to our website, and to show ads based on your past visits to our website. Google, Meta and Microsoft may collect information about your online activities over time and across different websites when you use our website. Learn how Google uses information from sites that use its services at https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/.
For most visitors, the Google, Meta and Microsoft tools above are on by default. They stay off if you opt out (see Your choices and withdrawal below) or your browser sends a Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal. Where our privacy banner asks you to choose first, they wait until you select Accept. WP Statistics runs on our own server and is not affected by these choices or signals. We decide which banner to show from your browser’s time zone and, where available, your location. That detection is not perfect, so we cannot promise that a visitor in any particular place will be asked first.
These tools receive the addresses of the pages you view. A page address can show the legal topic you were reading about, such as estate planning, Medicaid planning or guardianship, and a visit to a law firm website can reveal an interest in legal services. This includes the confirmation page shown after a booking, so Google Analytics can count completed bookings whether or not a visitor came from an ad. We turn off Google’s advertising settings on that page; Google may still receive a limited signal, without advertising cookies, that includes the page address. We do not give these tools what you type into our booking, contact and guide request forms, your intake answers, documents or client communications, and we have turned off Google’s automatic collection of contact details from website forms. If you use the search box on our website, your search words become part of the page address, so please do not enter personal details there. We will describe any materially different use, such as a customer-matching program, in this policy and the privacy banner before we start it.
We may use Google’s ad-click information to learn whether a Prior Law ad led to a consultation booking. Where this measurement is in use, it is on by default for most visitors. It stays off while an opt-out or a switched-off Advertising and measurement setting lasts (see Your choices and withdrawal below), or if your browser sends a Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal. Where our privacy banner asks you to choose first, it starts only after you select Accept, which creates a first-party signed permission record for up to 180 days. If the page address contains a valid Google advertising click identifier, we may store one such identifier in an encrypted first-party cookie for up to 90 days. A short-lived, encrypted record may be used for up to six hours to associate that identifier with the correct Bookly appointment. Booking details may be processed within Prior Law’s systems to make that association, but those contact or appointment details are not included in the measurement information sent to Google.
After an attributed consultation is booked, Prior Law may report a generic Schedule event to Google Ads. The report contains the Google click identifier, the generic event name and time, a non-client-facing opaque order reference, the event source, and two permission settings: ad measurement permitted, ad personalization not. For a visitor who made no choice, ‘permitted’ reflects our default. We cannot confirm how Google applies them. Other Google advertising on this site, such as remarketing, is on by default unless you opt out. Google uses the click identifier to match the event to the relevant ad click. Because Google can connect the click identifier to its own record of the ad click, this report can tell Google that the person who clicked a Prior Law ad later booked a consultation with a law firm.
When you book a consultation, we may record in our own systems which public pages of our website you viewed during that visit, with the times, and keep that record with your booking so we can see which pages help people find us. It does not include anything you type into a form. We do not share this record with advertising or analytics companies, although the service providers that host our systems store it for us. Where this record is in use, it is on by default for most visitors. It stops if you turn off Statistics, select Opt out of all, or your browser sends a Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal. Where our privacy banner asks you to choose first, it starts only after you allow Statistics; if you selected OK in our privacy banner earlier in that browser, that counts as allowing it. We keep this record for up to 400 days, apart from routine backups.
For an eligible attributed booking, the portal separately asks for permission before a qualifying purchase. The portal disclosure states:
With your permission, Prior Law may report to Google Ads that a booking associated with one of our ads was later followed by the purchase of a Prior Law service. We do not send Google your name, email address, phone number, details about your legal needs or matter, documents, communications, or amount paid. Your choice will not affect portal access, appointments, representation, services, or fees. You can change your choice for future reporting in Privacy Settings.
If you select Okay before the qualifying payment, Prior Law may report a generic Purchase event. The report contains the same categories of limited measurement information described above. It does not contain a payment amount, conversion value, currency, service or chart label, or separate engagement event.
Google handles information it receives under its own Privacy Policy.
Prior Law uses the Meta Pixel on selected public marketing pages, such as our home, About, Services, Resources and Guides pages and our local estate planning pages, to show Prior Law ads on Facebook and Instagram to people who have visited our website and to measure our advertising. We also use it to measure completed bookings. For most visitors, this is on by default unless you opt out. Where our privacy banner asks you to choose first, it starts only after you select Accept or choose Allow in Facebook ad preferences, and closing that banner with X declines it. An earlier Google-only privacy choice does not enable Meta tracking.
Meta receives eligible page and referring URLs, event time, cookie identifiers, IP address and browser/device information. Meta may match this information with your Meta account and use it for advertising under its Privacy Policy. A visit to a law firm website or a completed booking can reveal an interest in legal services.
When Meta is on for you, this integration also sends Meta a generic Schedule event after a booking is successfully saved. Meta can match this event with your Meta account, so it can tell Meta that you booked a consultation with a law firm. The event does not send your name, email, phone number, form answers, appointment date or time, service, documents, communications or payment details. Meta is not loaded by this integration while you fill in the booking form; it loads after a successful booking only if Meta was on for you before you submitted and you have not turned it off. Intake, payment and client-portal pages remain excluded. Only a Meta click identifier (fbclid) and fixed Prior Law campaign labels are allowed in tracked page URLs. Other query strings and certain referring URLs are excluded.
To turn Meta off, follow the Opt out link in our privacy banner to our Opt-out preferences page and turn off Advertising and measurement, select Opt out of all under Privacy choices at the bottom of our other pages, or choose Keep off in Facebook ad preferences at the bottom of any page. A Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal also keeps it off. A choice made in Facebook ad preferences is saved for one year. The website retargeting audience uses a rolling 90-day period; this is separate from Meta’s own retention practices. Turning Meta off stops future events and removes the Meta cookies controlled by this site; it cannot recall information Meta already received. You can also manage ads on Facebook and Instagram in your Meta ad preferences (https://www.facebook.com/adpreferences/), and opt out of interest-based advertising from participating companies at https://optout.aboutads.info/ or, in Europe, https://www.youronlinechoices.eu/. Declining does not affect appointments, services or fees. Google consultation measurement and the separate portal purchase permission are described elsewhere in this section.
Analytics and advertising tools are optional. Turning them off does not affect your appointment, portal access, representation, services, or fees.
To turn everything off at once, select Privacy choices at the bottom of any page other than the Opt-out preferences page and choose Opt out of all. This turns off Google Analytics, Google advertising, the Meta Pixel, Microsoft Clarity, consultation-booking measurement and our own record of pages viewed before booking in that browser, and our website keeps them off. That choice lasts until you select Accept in a privacy banner that asks you to choose first, clear your browser data, or your browser removes it (see below). WP Statistics and the website features described above continue.
You can also use the Statistics switch and the Advertising and measurement switch on our Opt-out preferences page (https://prior.law/opt-out-preferences/, also reached through the Opt out link in our privacy banner), which take effect at once. The Preferences switch on that page does not control any of these tools. Turning off only one of the two is not a full opt-out. Statistics stops Google Analytics, our other Google website tags, Microsoft Clarity and our own record of pages viewed before booking, but the Meta Pixel stays on until you also turn off Advertising and measurement. Advertising and measurement stops Google advertising cookies, remarketing, booking measurement and the Meta Pixel, but Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity and our own record of pages viewed before booking stay on until you also turn off Statistics, and Google may still receive limited signals, without advertising cookies, that report your setting.
Selecting OK in the privacy banner acknowledges the notice and keeps your current settings, and closing it with X only closes it. Neither turns anything off. A Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal from your browser is treated as an opt-out of Google Analytics, Google advertising, the Meta Pixel, Microsoft Clarity, consultation-booking measurement and our own record of pages viewed before booking.
Your choices are stored in cookies and similar storage in your browser. They apply only to the browser and device you use, and you will need to choose again if you clear your browser data. A switch setting lasts up to one year; Opt out of all has no set end date. Some browsers, including Safari, can delete this kind of storage after about seven days, and sometimes sooner, which ends the choice early; a Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal avoids that, if your browser or an extension sends one. When a choice ends, the privacy banner appears again and, for most visitors, the optional tools in this section, including consultation-booking measurement where it is in use, are on by default until you opt out again. You can also opt out of Google’s ad personalization in Google’s Ads Settings (https://adssettings.google.com/), opt out of interest-based advertising from participating companies through the Network Advertising Initiative (https://thenai.org/how-to-opt-out/), and block Google Analytics with Google’s browser add-on (https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout).
Opting out, or turning off Advertising and measurement, prevents new capture of Google advertising click identifiers while that choice lasts and clears the related first-party advertising identifiers in that browser, but it does not delete an attribution already associated with a completed booking, and it cannot recall a booking report already sent. If an earlier ad click gave that browser a random privacy-control record, we keep it to carry out your choice. Once our reporting system receives the withdrawal, it suppresses future booking and purchase reports associated with the measurement record that browser had then. If you have already booked, contact us using the privacy contact below. Once we verify you, we will stop future Google reports from a website ad click for that booking. We cannot reach an unidentified browser or a booking not yet in our system.
You can change the separate purchase-reporting choice for future reporting through Privacy Settings in the client portal. A current withdrawal suppresses future Purchase feed output; it does not remove the Schedule record.
Neither the website choices nor the portal choice can recall a conversion event that Google has already imported.
We retain information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described here, including providing legal services, maintaining business and professional records, resolving disputes, securing our systems, and meeting legal obligations.
For the optional measurement described above, a signed website permission record, where one is created, lasts no more than 180 days (365 for an older version no longer issued), and a switch or Facebook ad choice up to one year, unless cleared sooner; the encrypted click-attribution record expires after 90 days; and a booking-correlation record expires after six hours or is deleted sooner after successful delivery. An undelivered booking’s encrypted copy, including any click identifier, may stay on our website server up to 400 days. Expired six-hour records are deleted at the next daily cleanup. The intake system makes an attribution ineligible after its 90-day period and is configured to delete expired attribution records during its next successful nightly cleanup. Permission decisions and limited transaction-event records may remain with the corresponding matter records as needed to document the choice and administer firm records. Backup copies may remain for a limited additional period under our backup schedule.
Our own website statistics are kept for up to 12 months. If an earlier ad click gave a browser a random privacy-control handle, it remains there for up to 90 days after creation, with its expiry extended when needed to cover a later eligible ad-click capture, so we can honor a withdrawal. We retain minimal internal suppression records to prevent an old booking or retry from restarting reporting. Those made for a browser hold no click identifier or contact detail, and we do not delete them automatically. Analytics and other third-party providers may retain information under their own agreements, legal obligations, settings, and published policies.
We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to the nature of the information, including encrypted transmission, access controls, and encryption at rest for designated sensitive fields and advertising click identifiers. No method of storage or transmission can be guaranteed to be completely secure.
You may turn off optional website tracking on our Opt-out preferences page or under Privacy choices at the bottom of our other pages, as described in Section 5, and use the client portal’s Privacy Settings for optional purchase reporting. You may also contact us to request access to, correction of, or deletion of personal information. We may need to verify your identity, and a request may be limited by applicable law, legal privilege, professional obligations, security needs, or record-retention requirements. Where applicable law grants additional rights, Prior Law will honor those rights.
Send privacy requests to admin@prior.law. If applicable law gives you a right to appeal a decision on a privacy request, reply to the decision email with the subject Privacy Appeal.
The public-facing Online Services are not directed to children. Clients may provide information about children when it is relevant to requested legal services; we handle that information as part of the applicable client or matter record. If you believe a child submitted personal information directly through the public-facing Online Services without appropriate authorization, contact us at admin@prior.law.
The Online Services may link to or integrate with services operated by others. Their privacy practices are governed by their own notices, except to the extent Prior Law remains responsible under applicable law or professional obligations.
We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in our practices, technology, or obligations. We will post the revised policy here and update the Last Updated date. If a change materially affects an optional use for which we rely on permission, we will request a new choice when appropriate rather than treating an earlier choice as permission for the materially different use.
The Prior Law Office, PLLC d/b/a Prior Law
416 Alpha St.
Waynesboro, VA 22980
Privacy: admin@prior.law
General inquiries: intake@prior.law
Telephone: (540) 440-1001
We use Microsoft Clarity heatmaps and masked session recordings on our public information pages and blog posts to understand how visitors use our site, and a separate stage-only funnel on our consultation booking page. Clarity follows the choices in our privacy banner. Where the banner turns optional cookies on by default, as it does for most visitors, Clarity runs unless you turn it off. Where the banner asks for a choice first, Clarity waits until you select Accept.
On our public pages, Microsoft receives visit and interaction data, page and referring URLs, cookie identifiers, IP address and browser/device information. We mask content and form entries. On the booking page, we do not replay the form or pass its personal, matter, appointment or answer values. An isolated document receives only fixed stage, error, activity and successful-save-response events. It uses denied analytics and advertising storage; Microsoft still receives the fixed child-document URL, IP/device information and vendor-generated metadata. A successful save response does not prove notification delivery or calendar synchronization.
Contact, payment, shop, account, client portal, intake, privacy, unsubscribe, administration and signed-in pages are excluded, as are pages with other forms, embedded frames or file uploads. A page address may carry standard campaign and ad-click parameters (such as utm_source or gclid), which Microsoft then receives; pages with any other query parameters are not recorded. A visit is recorded only if it arrives directly, from another of our public pages, or from another website that shares only its domain, as search engines, ads and social apps normally do; visits from our client portal, intake app, other prior.law addresses or our excluded pages are not. The booking branch permits only bounded marketing query keys and reviewed referrer origins; these parent URL/referrer values are not passed to the child or vendor. We send no custom visitor identifiers and do not use Clarity for Microsoft advertising.
To turn Clarity off, follow the Opt out link in our privacy banner to our Opt-out preferences page, or select Privacy choices at the bottom of our other pages, then turn Statistics off or select Opt out of all. A Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal from your browser also keeps it off. A decline made on our Opt-out preferences page or under Privacy choices is also remembered in your browser. Where our banner asks for a choice first, closing it with X also declines. Recording then stops and this site's Clarity cookies are cleared; data already received cannot be recalled. Booking measurement closes its message gate and destroys the isolated frame; it does not reload or clear the form itself. Existing native privacy behavior may reload the page and reset unsaved selections. An appointment already being submitted may finish; withdrawing tracking does not cancel an appointment. Declining does not affect appointments, services or fees. See the Microsoft Privacy Statement.
