Privacy Policy

PLEASE READ OUR PRIVACY POLICY CAREFULLY BEFORE USING OUR WEBSITE OR RETAINING OUR SERVICES. This Privacy Policy describes how we manage and process personal information when we provide forensic document examination services to clients and manage our business and other relationships (the “Services”), as well as when you use our website at www.doclab.com (the “Website”) or otherwise communicate with us.

We are committed to ensuring the privacy, security, and integrity of the personal information that you share with us or that we otherwise collect as we provide our Website and these Services. As described more fully below, we use the personal information we collect on a very limited basis for the provision of our Services, and we refrain from either using web-tracking technologies or selling the personal information we collect.

1. Information We Collect

We may collect personal information directly from you, or we may collect personal information from third parties as we provide our Services.

To the extent applicable, we indicate when we need personal information and the consequences for failing to provide it. If you do not provide personal information when requested, we may not be able to provide the Services if either the personal information is required to provide the Services or we are legally required to collect it.

Below is a description of the different types of personal information we process or manage and the sources from which we collect that information:

(a) Prospective Clients: If you are a prospective client of our business, we will collect your name, telephone numbers, email addresses, attorney and/or law firm name, case name, venue, and case number.

(b) Clients: If you are a client of our business, we will collect your name, address, telephone numbers, email addresses, attorney and/or law firm name, case name, venue, case number, payment information, and any other information that you provide to us or that we obtain from third parties when providing Services to you. This may include medical records, if these records are submitted for examination, as well as a user name and password, in the event you request to obtain access or require access to our Client Portal at any point during our relationship.

(c) Service Providers: We may receive a name, address, telephone number, and email address from service providers and their employees in connection with the service provider relationship.

(d) Business Contacts: If you choose to contact us for any purpose, we may collect your name, contact details, the content of your message, and the date and time of your communication.

(e) Job Applicants: If you apply for a job with us, we will collect your name, email address, telephone number, resume, and any other information that you provide to us.

Except for the above-listed items, we do not collect personal information.

2. COOKIES AND OTHER TECHNOLOGIES

We may collect personal information in the management and use of our Website.

We may collect the IP address of your computer in order to enable us to better manage website traffic and to gather other analytics on the Website.

We may also use “cookies,” which are small data files placed and stored on your computer, to help you manage your use of our Website. Cookies are used as follows:

(a) To recognize you as a regular user;

(b) To remind us of who you are;

(c) To estimate our audience size by determining repeat usage of the Website to help target advertisements based on user interests and behavior;

(d) To track your progress;

(e) To measure traffic patterns for use as a research tool to understand how our users habits are similar or different from one another; and

(f) To conduct other research.

You can set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie, in order to give you the chance to determine whether or not to accept it. If you do not accept cookies, some pages of this Website may not display properly.

We do not use web-based tracking technologies in our business. If we decide to employ web-based tracking technologies in the future, we will notify you of the change and provide information about the technologies we are using, how we use those technologies, how the technologies may affect you, and what you can do to modify or control them.

3. HOW YOUR INFORMATION IS USED

We will use your personal information only for the purposes disclosed at the time of collection or as otherwise set out in this Privacy Policy, unless we have your consent for another use, or unless such other use is required by law. The purposes which we use personal information, include the following:

(a) To provide Services to our clients, including to advise attorneys and their clients on forensic document examination matters; evaluate and test documents; provide testimony for hearings, arbitrations, and depositions;

(b) To process payments for Services;

(d) To securely give you access to documents via our Client Portal;

(e) To manage our business relationships with prospective clients, clients, business partners, law firms, service providers and vendors, colleagues, and other business contacts;

(f) To communicate with you and respond to an inquiry you make to us;

(g) For hiring and recruitment purposes, and to evaluate an application for employment submitted to us;

(h) To generate analytics for the improvement of the Website;

(i) To facilitate the provision of services provided on our behalf;

(j) To administer, maintain, manage, and improve our business operations;

(k) To defend our legal rights or comply with our legal obligations;

(l) For all other necessary business purposes; and

(m) As otherwise required by law.

5. DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We may disclose personal information only as described below:

(a) As necessary to perform the Services on behalf of our clients;

(b) To our employees, contractors, and third-party service providers as needed to provide Services;

(d) To our credit card processor as necessary to process payments for our Services;

(e) To our third-party service provider of our Client Portal as necessary to allow access to documents uploaded to the Client Portal;

(f) If required by law, or if we believe that the disclosure is required or necessary to protect our rights and/or comply with a judicial processing or legal process served on us;

(g) As part of the transaction in the case of a merger, sale, or other asset transfer of our business, or if we are involved in any transaction in which we will not continue our business or will be transitioning our Services to another firm;

(h) To address legal concerns or liabilities, respond to suspected illegal activity or fraud, defend against legal claims, or respond to a potential threat to the physical safety of a third party; and

(i) We may share personal information with third parties upon receipt of your consent as required by law.

Except as expressly stated above, we do not disclose personal information. For the avoidance of doubt, we do not sell personal information to third parties, except to the extent expressly stated above.

6. SHARING PERSONAL INFORMATION WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT

Please be advised that we may be required to share personal information in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including but not limited to national security or law enforcement requirements. Notwithstanding the foregoing, except to the extent we receive such a lawful request by law enforcement, we will share personal information with law enforcement only when law enforcement has hired us to provide Services.

7. YOUR RIGHTS AND CHOICES

You should direct all questions about how we collect and use your personal information to our Privacy Officer at privacypolicy@fisherdoclab.com.

As described above, you can choose not to provide personal information, but then you may not be able to take advantage of certain of our Services.

You can add and update the personal information we have collected. Please direct all such addition or update requests to privacypolicy@fisherdoclab.com.

You have the right to request access to or the deletion of your personal information. Please see “How to Submit a Verifiable Request” for further instructions on how to make your request.

8. YOUR RIGHTS WITH RESPECT TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

You have the following rights with respect to your personal information:

(a) Right to request that we disclose personal information or categories of personal information that we collect, use, disclose, and sell; the purposes for which the categories of information collected by us are used; the sources of information from which we collect personal information; and the specific pieces of information we have collected on you;

(b) Right to request that we delete personal information we have collected from you;

(d) Right to non-discrimination.

We will not discriminate against you because you exercise your rights.

9. CATEGORIES Of PERSONAL INFORMATION, SOURCES, USE, DISCLOSURE

The categories of personal information we have collected in the past twelve (12) months are as follows:

(a) Identifiers, such as a name, address, email address, phone number;

(b) Commercial Information such as records of services purchased, obtained, or considered by you or our clients; and

The categories of sources of collection for personal information we have collected in the past twelve (12) months are:

(a) Directly from the person; and

(b) Indirectly from others, including our clients and other law firms.

The categories of use for which we have collected personal information in the past twelve (12) months are business or commercial use in connection with our Services.

The categories of third persons with whom we have shared the information in the past twelve (12) months are as follows:

(a) Third party law firms;

(b) Service providers; and

Other third parties for whom we have obtained your permission to disclose personal information.

10. PROCESS USED TO VERIFY A REQUEST

If you make an access or a deletion request, you will be required to submit three pieces of information including but not limited to your name, address, and home number. We will use this information to search our systems and determine if we have information about you. If we are able to locate information about you, we will fulfill your request. If we are not able to match all three pieces of information you submit, we may provide you with a report that includes the categories of information we collect, use, disclose and sell.

If you are an authorized agent, you will be required to submit your name, address, and phone number, as well as the name, address, and phone number of the person on whose behalf you are making a request. If we are able to locate the information about the person on whose behalf you are making the request, we will fulfill your request. As an authorized agent, you will also be required to complete a form certifying you have the right to make this request on behalf of the third party.

11. HOW TO SUBMIT A VERIFIABLE REQUEST

You can make or submit a request related to the exercise of your privacy rights by contacting our Privacy Officer at 925.273.7733 or by sending an email to privacypolicy@fisherdoclab.com. You also may make a request in writing to the mailing address provided in Section 21 below.

12. NEVADA RESIDENTS

Nevada law gives Nevada consumers the right to request that a company not sell their personal information for monetary consideration to certain other parties. The right applies even if their personal information is not currently being sold. If you are a Nevada consumer and wish to exercise this right, please submit your request to us by sending an email to privacypolicy@fisherdoclab.com. You also may make a request in writing to the mailing address provided in Section 21 below.

13. EUROPEAN UNION RESIDENTS

If you are a resident of the European Union, you have additional rights with respect to your personal information:

(a) Right to transfer any personal information we have collected by requesting a copy in a commonly used format that can then be imported by a third party;

(b) Right to correct any personal information that we have collected that is inaccurate or incorrect;

(d) Right to withdraw consent to our communications with you.

To make a request based on any of the above rights, please submit your request to this email address: privacypolicy@fisherdoclab.com. You also may make a request in writing to the mailing address provided in Section 21 below.

14. ALTERNATIVE FORMAT REQUESTS

If you have a physical disability you have the right to request this privacy policy in an alternative format. To make a request for an alternative format, please submit your request to our email address at privacypolicy@fisherdoclab.comor call us at 925.273.7733. We also accept requests made in writing to the mailing address provided in Section 21 below.

15. CHILDREN’S INFORMATION

Our Services are not directed to or intended for children under the age of eighteen (18), and we do not knowingly or intentionally collect personal information from children. If you learn that your child has provided us with personal information without your consent, you may contact us as provided in Section 21 below. If we learn that we have collected any personal information in violation of applicable law, we will promptly delete such information.

16. DATA TRANSFER, STORAGE, & PROCESSING

If you are accessing our Website or Services from the European Union, Asia, or any other region with laws or regulations governing personal data collection, use, and disclosure that differ from United States laws, please be advised that your personal information will be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States. We take steps to ensure that the service providers that we work with utilize industry best practices for maintaining data privacy and security.

If we are transferring personal information out of the European Union, please be advised that we will take such measures as are necessary to ensure that any transfer is in compliance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation 2016/679 also known as the “GDPR”), including but not limited to transferring the personal data to a recipient in the United States that has executed standard contractual clauses adopted or approved by the European Commission and has certified under the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework. We acknowledge and agree that we are liable for all onward data transfers.

17. LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES

Our Website may link to other websites maintained by third parties. Any such third-party websites will employ their own privacy practices and be subject to their own privacy policies. We are not responsible for the policies or privacy practices of third-party websites.

18. SECURITY

We have implemented commercially reasonable security measures and follow generally accepted industry standards to protect all personal information in our possession, which includes employing commercially reasonable administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to maintain the confidentiality and security of all personal information. However, despite all of our efforts, no security measures are completely secure. Although we make every effort to protect personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

19. DATA RETENTION

We delete or destroy personal information when it is no longer necessary for the purpose in which it was collected, unless we are required by law to keep it for longer. We destroy documents containing credit card information after it is no longer needed. We keep client records for the length of the client relationship and for a maximum of five (5) years after we cease to provide services, unless we are otherwise required to retain your personal information for longer, in which case we will retain your personal information for only as long as we are required by applicable law.

20. CHANGES AND UPDATES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We may amend this Privacy Policy at any time at our sole discretion and without prior notice. If we make any material amendments, we will advise you about those changes by notifying you in a prominent place on our Website. You should check back with us from time to time in order to confirm that there have been no significant changes.

Please note that the use of information that we gather is subject to the Privacy Policy then in effect at the time of use.

21. CONTACT US

If you have any questions or concerns over this Privacy Policy or if you need further information regarding the access to your personal information, or how your personal information is used, you may contact us at:

Attn.: Privacy Officer

Fisher Forensic Document Laboratory, Inc.

2010 Crow Canyon Place, Suite 100

San Ramon, CA 94583

privacypolicy@fisherdoclab.com

22. EFFECTIVE DATE

This Privacy Policy was last modified on April 26, 2023.

To print out a copy of this Privacy Policy, please click this link: [link]

Testimonials

“Patricia is a consummate professional, thoroughly schooled in her profession, and one of the most composed witnesses I have every watched testify.”

— Michael J. McLaughlin, Esq.
Landlord – Evictions and Unlawful Detainer Actions

“Patricia Fisher was selected by joint agreement of my opposing counsel, who represented a government entity, and me, to conduct a questioned document examination to determine if a disputed signature on a document was that of my client, or another person who had denied signing the document. She performed the examination in a prompt fashion, and her ultimate conclusions were clearly and thoroughly explained and well-supported in a detailed report provided to both parties. Ultimately, her report let to an evidentiary hearing before an arbitrator where Ms. Fisher testified about her work, the opinions she reached concerning the signature, and provided the basis for those opinions. The arbitrator who presided over the matter found that Ms. Fisher’s work, ultimate conclusions, and testimony were entitled to great weight and made findings consistent with her opinions. I would not hesitate to call upon Ms. Fisher in the future and an objective and thorough analysis of a disputed signature.”

— Michael L. Rains, Esq.
Criminal Defense

““Our firm retained M. Patricia Fisher as an expert in a marital dissolution proceeding. A well respected trial judge (now retired) in the San Francisco Bay area who presided for several years in the “Complex Civil Trial” Department, found that Ms. Fisher’s analysis was more thorough than the opposing expert, more credible, and more worthy of belief. …

— Greg C. Abel, Esq.
Family Law

“Patricia Fisher’s initial review and opinion of relevant documents concerning the authenticity of a signature on a will resulted in my accepting a case in 2020 that was recently resolved very favorably for my client. Ms. Fisher’s expertise, dedication, insight and continued communication throughout the litigation were invaluable. I can’t express how truly grateful I am that Patricia Fisher was willing and able to provide her expertise. I whole heartedly recommend her.”

— Holley H. Perez, Esq.
Probate

“It was because of you and your wonderful work. Everyone agreed that the writing was the grantors and the court entered and order affirming the changes on the trust. I will recommend you to anyone who needs hand writing analysis. I am so happy we found you.”

— Joan Grimes, Esq.
Probate

“My firm retained Ms. Fisher to establish that certain key documents were not signed by my client. Her testimony during our jury trial was without a doubt critical to our success. Her demonstratives and clarity at trial were hugely beneficial for the jury. Thank you for your professionalism, expertise, and effectiveness.”

— Kyle Monte de Oca, Esq.
Legal Malpractice

“Trustworthy and reliable; Patricia was my hired expert in a recent trial and was able to help us prove our claims to the court even though we had a short deadline and a high burden to meet. I would work with her again and recommend hiring her.”

— Suzanne A. Tong, Esq.
Family Law

“I have personally worked with Patricia on a very complicated case that was litigated in Contra Costa County. She was of great help to my client and the Court in analyzing documents and giving testimony. She had a PowerPoint presentation that explained how she arrived at her expert opinion and conclusions. We were very fortunate to have her participate in this case. I highly recommend Fisher Forensic Documentary Laboratory and would use these services again.”

— Debra H. Kirk, Esq.
Family Law

“I just wanted to drop you a line to thank you and to let you know what a brilliant job you did. Clearly, you were very thorough and diligent in your methods and as a result, your testimony was delivered in terms that were clear and concise. I was remarkably impressed. I couldn’t have asked for a better witness.”

— Suzanne
Client in a probate case

“Because of her strong background in litigated matters, her tremendous work ethic in research and preparation, and her creativity, our firm classifies Patricia Fisher with the highest rating of any of the professional experts we deal with in these matters. She recently allowed us to prevail in a case against the adverse opinions of two other experts. Her testimony was so clear and forceful along with her excellent graphics that it essentially made the day for our position that the will was a forgery.”

– Stanley Pedder, Esq.
Probate
Lafayette, CA

“I thank you for the work you did. I thought it was brilliant.”

– Barbara R. Simon
Licensed Professional Fiduciary
San Francisco, CA

“You recently served as my expert witness in a will forgery case. The case was complicated by the loss of several originals by a third party, and a decline in health by the testator during the period in question.

You were of enormous assistance to me, not only in analyzing the documents in question, but also helping focus discovery and in obtaining appropriate handwriting samples from the witnesses and beneficiaries involved. Although the opposing party consulted three other document examiners, the case settled three days after I presented just a summary of your report.

You have earned the deep gratitude of my client and myself, and I recommend you without reservation for any questioned documents case.”

– Rick Seim, Esq.
Milpitas, CA

“Ms. Fisher provided excellent analysis in a very difficult and complex matter requiring the evaluation of many important amendments to a trust document which disinherited two parties of about $2 million in assets. Her testimony was particularly impressive and helpful when compared to the opposing expert. I strongly recommend her.”

– Bradley A. Bening, Esq.
San Jose, CA

“You have set the standard for what I expect of an expert – someone passionate, meticulous, knowledgeable, and of the highest integrity. Thank you so much for all your help in our case.”

– Ben E. Dupré, Esq.
Santa Clara, CA

“Ms. Fisher is one of the most intelligent, pleasant, and convincing experts we’ve ever used.”

– Mark Hooshmand, Esq.
San Francisco, CA

“Patricia Fisher is a highly competent, thorough and credible questioned document examiner. She is so well respected that the District Attorney called her as his witness before she even testified on my client’s behalf – and her testimony resulted in an immediate dismissal for my client. I cannot say enough good things about Ms. Fisher’s work.”

– Henry H. Doering, III
San Francisco Deputy Public Defender (retired)

“…the court agreed with your conclusion that the questioned signature on the guaranty at issue was not genuine. It was quite evident that, solely due to your testimony, we prevailed on that issue.

I was extremely impressed by your professional integrity, meticulous investigation and examination of the documents in question, and your demeanor on the witness stand. We were also very appreciative of your prompt turnaround time, and willingness to meet our scheduling demands.”

– John MacConaghy, Esq.
Sonoma, CA

“Patricia Fisher is one of the best forensic handwriting (document, paper, ink, impressions) experts I have ever used. Her report and trial testimony were very credible.”

– Jerome Blaha, Esq.
Pleasanton, California
Special Recommendation

“Allow me to take this opportunity to thank you on behalf of my mother whom you have assisted in testifying during the trial in San Jose with such dedication, accuracy, and professionalism. Our expert in Japan agreed with your analysis.”

– Dr. Iri Sato-Baran
Japan