Watson Law PLC
Effective date: September 2026
1. What this policy covers
Watson Law PLC (“we” or “us”) uses Microsoft SharePoint and related Microsoft 365 account and access services to exchange documents and support legal matters. This policy explains how we handle personal information in those services. It applies to clients, prospective clients, authorized representatives, other invited guests, test users, and personnel using these services. It does not describe all public-website, marketing, SMS, or personnel-record practices.
Microsoft’s invitation screen may describe receiving your profile data, collecting and logging your activity, and using that information. The sections below explain the information involved, our purposes, and your choices.
2. Information we collect and its sources
- Account and access information. Your name, email address, user or account identifiers, identity-provider information, invitation and acceptance status, and access permissions. We receive this from you, authorized personnel or people arranging access, and Microsoft or the provider used to verify your identity.
- Documents and communications. Files, messages, support requests, and related information you or authorized people provide. Depending on the matter, documents may contain identification details, financial or health information, court or criminal records, and information about other people. Provide information relevant to your matter or requested by your attorney.
- Sign-in and technical information. The services may automatically generate sign-in times and results, IP addresses, approximate location inferred from an IP address, device or browser details, and security or authentication events. The information available depends on the service, account, and settings.
- Portal activity and file details. Records may identify file names, authors, timestamps, changes, and actions such as viewing, uploading, downloading, or sharing. What is recorded and available to us varies with the services, permissions, licensing, and logging settings.
3. How we use information
We use this information to verify identity; grant, review, and remove access; exchange and organize documents; handle legal matters and communicate with authorized people; provide support; troubleshoot and improve portal operation; detect and respond to misuse or security incidents; and meet applicable legal, professional, and recordkeeping obligations. Authorized personnel may review access and activity records for these purposes.
We do not sell or rent personal information collected through these services or use it for targeted advertising. Accepting a portal invitation does not enroll you in marketing messages or provide consent to marketing texts.
4. Who can receive information
- Authorized personnel. Attorneys, employees, and approved support personnel may access information needed for their responsibilities. We restrict access through permissions and confidentiality requirements.
- Service providers. Microsoft and its service providers process information to host the portal, authenticate users, store and transmit content, and support and secure the services. Other approved technology or professional support providers may receive information necessary to support these functions, subject to appropriate safeguards and our professional obligations.
- People involved in your matter. We may provide relevant information to you, your authorized representatives, counsel, courts, agencies, experts, or others when permitted or required for your matter under applicable law and our professional obligations. File authorship, names, or activity details may be visible to people authorized to access the same material.
- Legal and professional obligations. We may preserve or disclose information when permitted or required by applicable law and our professional obligations, including in response to lawful process. This policy does not provide blanket authorization to disclose confidential information.
Your access is limited to the resources for which you have permission. If you encounter another person’s information that you believe you should not see, stop accessing it and promptly contact us.
5. Microsoft, identity providers, and cookies
Microsoft’s handling of our business-service data is governed by the applicable service agreements and data-protection terms. Microsoft also handles certain service, diagnostic, and account information under its applicable privacy terms. Personal accounts or other identity providers used to sign in have their own privacy practices. Those provider terms do not replace our responsibilities described here.
Information may be processed in the United States and other countries where providers operate, subject to applicable service terms and safeguards. Processing and storage locations depend on the services and configuration; this policy does not promise storage exclusively in Michigan or the United States.
Microsoft uses cookies and similar technologies for authentication, maintaining sessions, security, and service operation. Some cookies remain after a browser session ends. Restricting cookies may prevent sign-in or affect portal features. We do not add advertising pixels to the portal.
Microsoft business-service privacy information
6. How we protect information
We use reasonable administrative and technical safeguards appropriate to the information, including access permissions and controls on authorized personnel and service providers. No online service or transmission method can be guaranteed completely secure. This does not reduce our legal or professional obligations. We will notify affected persons of security incidents as required by applicable law and professional obligations.
Keep your account secure, do not share passwords or verification codes, and sign out on shared devices. Contact us promptly about suspected unauthorized access, a misdirected document, or another privacy concern.
7. Portal access and information retention
Portal access is managed in renewable 180-day periods. We arrange continued access as needed during representation and provide a reasonable opportunity to retrieve documents after representation ends. Contact us if you need additional time or cannot sign in.
Access periods are separate from retention periods. Expiration or removal of portal access does not automatically erase all documents, account information, or activity records, or end your right to request file materials to which you are entitled. We may preserve documents in our legal files outside the portal.
We retain information as needed for its purpose, the representation, applicable legal and professional obligations, recordkeeping, and preservation of evidence. Client-file retention and disposal follow our File Retention & Portal Access Policy, available from us and linked in the portal. Account, security, and activity records may follow different periods based on their purpose and applicable service settings. There is no single 180-day deletion schedule for all information.
When information is eligible for disposal and no longer needed, we use appropriate secure deletion or disposal procedures. Where copies exist in version history, recovery systems, backups, or preservation storage, removal may follow the applicable retention cycles and legal holds rather than occur immediately.
8. Your choices and requests
Contact us to ask about our privacy practices, correct account information, request file materials, request removal of portal access, or ask about deletion or other privacy rights that apply to you. We may verify your identity and authority before acting. Requests are subject to applicable law, professional duties, preservation requirements, and other people’s rights. We will respond within any applicable legal deadline and explain relevant limitations when permitted.
Declining information necessary for sign-in may prevent portal access. You may contact us to discuss another appropriate way to exchange documents. Ending portal access or leaving our organization through your account settings does not automatically erase records we are permitted or required to retain. Questions about a personal Microsoft account or another identity provider’s own records should also be directed to that provider.
9. Confidentiality and your legal relationship
This policy and acceptance of a portal invitation do not waive attorney-client privilege, reduce our confidentiality duties, authorize disclosures otherwise prohibited by law, or limit your rights to file materials. Duties to prospective and former clients remain applicable. This policy does not itself create or change an attorney-client engagement or amend a fee agreement.
10. Changes and contact information
We will post changes to this policy with an updated effective date and provide additional notice or obtain consent when required by law or professional obligations. A policy update does not itself authorize a use or disclosure that requires separate authorization.
Privacy contact: Watson Law PLC, Attention Bethany D. Watson
Email: contact@watsonlawplc.com
Please describe your concern without including unnecessary sensitive information in the initial message. We will arrange an appropriate way to receive additional details.
WATSON LAW PLC 