Every business manages personal information. Businesses may directly or indirectly collect personal information from prospective or existing customers. Businesses may also disclose personal information to third parties including service providers, affiliates, and business partners. Legal risks arise when businesses collect, use, and disclose personal information. Sims & Sims Law routinely assists organizations address and mitigate these potential risks by providing consulting services and assistance with the creation of privacy notices, agreements, and statements.
Consulting
- “Privacy by design” advice for new products and services
- Data Privacy Impact Assessments
- Transfer Impact Assessments
- Cookie notices
- Data Retention
- Risk mitigation
- Collection and Use of electronic data
- Digital Advertising
- Assisting clients on all aspects of privacy compliance related to relevant laws, including:
State Privacy Laws
- California- CCPA/CPRA
- Colorado-Colorado Privacy Act (CPA)
- Connecticut-Connecticut Data Privacy Act (CDPA)
- Indiana-Indiana Consumer Data Protection Act (ICDPA)
- Iowa-Iowa Consumer Data Protection Act (ICDPA)
- Montana-Montana Consumer Data protection Act (MCDPA)
- Oregon-Oregon Consumer Privacy Act (OCPA)
- Tennessee- Tennessee Information Protection Act (TIPA)
- Texas – Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (TDSA)
- Utah- Utah Consumer Privacy Act (UCPA)
- Virginia- Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA)
Medical Privacy Laws
- HIPAA
- Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH)
- Confidentiality of Substance Use Disorder Patient Records Rule
- Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA)
- Cures Act
Financial privacy Laws
- Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
- Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA)
- Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)
- Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
Education Records and Technology Law
- Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
Telecommunications and Marketing Laws
- Regulations Governing Telemarketing
- Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM)
- The Telecommunications Act
- The Cable Communications Privacy Act
- The Video Privacy Protection Act
Workplace Privacy Laws
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
- Civil Rights Act VII
International Privacy Laws
- GDPR
- EU AI Act
Technology Transactions: Privacy Agreements & Notice
- Privacy Policies and Notices
- Data Processing Agreements
- Business Associate Agreements
- Draft, review, negotiate contracts or specific provisions in contracts to address data security, data collection, and data sharing issues
Security
Federally imposed information security provisions are found in laws impacting the healthcare and financial sectors. In addition, the Federal Trade Commission brings actions against companies misrepresenting their information security practices or failing to provide “reasonable procedures” to protect personal information. In addition, several states have passed laws requiring companies to implement information security measures to protect citizens’ sensitive information. Our firm assists clients by assessing the applicability of these laws to their organization, and provides guidance that allows them to achieve compliance with information security standards.
We also help clients with privacy incident management including:
- Prevention & Analysis, –
- Creating and developing: an incident response plan, and practicing the plan through table top exercises; a Business Continuity Plan; and a Disaster Recovery Plan.
- Conducting cyber risk assessments
- Triage and Investigation
- Working with information security and forensics to investigate a security incident
- Regulatory Research
- Researching regulations pertaining to data breaches and assessing applicability to your organization
- 3rd Party Contractual Obligations
- Surveying contracts for contractual notice obligations to third parties
- Breach Decision
- Assisting organizations in making the determination of whether a breach has occurred.
- Remediation
- Implementing effective follow-up methods to mitigate the risk of harm for individuals affected by the breach,, such as additional training, internal self-assessments, and third party audits where needed. These assessments should analyze the breach itself as well as the response plan and should identify deficiencies.
- Notification
- Drafting notices, as applicable to affected individuals, regulatory agencies, law enforcement, state attorneys general, and media.