Consent and privacy for requests

Reading a guide on the site never puts anyone in touch with a firm. A request is created only when a person fills in a request form, chooses to be contacted and confirms their consent. Until then, the site does not pass any contact details to any professional.

The consent screen uses plain language. It tells the person which kind of professional may contact them, how they may be contacted and that they can withdraw consent. Each request your firm receives includes a record of what was agreed.

Consent is specific. A person may agree to a phone call but not text messages, or to email only. They may share a short description of their injury but no medical details. Your firm should stay within those limits and ask permission before expanding the conversation.

If a person asks you to stop contacting them, stop, and let the site know so its records stay accurate. Respecting a no is part of what makes injured workers comfortable asking for help in the first place.

Requests may contain information about injuries, symptoms or treatment. Treat it as sensitive from the moment it arrives. Limit access to the people at your firm who need it, store it in secure systems and avoid forwarding it through personal email or messaging apps.

Whether specific privacy laws apply depends on your firm and the information involved, and state privacy and confidentiality rules vary. Your professional duty of confidentiality applies in any case. Check your state’s rules and your bar’s guidance on protecting client and prospective-client information.

The site does not sell personal information to anyone. It does not build marketing lists from readers, does not share requests with firms outside the injured worker’s chosen territory and category, and does not send requests to more firms than the person agreed to.

Firms receive requests as part of their marketing subscription, but the information belongs to the person who sent it. Firms should not resell, rent or share it with third parties, and should use it only to respond to the request.

A clean consent trail protects your firm. It shows that the person asked to be contacted, how and when, which matters under telemarketing, texting and solicitation rules that apply to many communications. Several states also restrict in-person or real-time solicitation by lawyers.

Following the person’s stated preferences is also simply good practice. Injured workers who feel respected at first contact are more likely to stay engaged, whichever firm they ultimately choose.