Privacy Policy

Last Updated: March 13, 2026  |  Effective Date: March 13, 2026

1. About This Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Rate Your Judge ("we," "our," or "us") collects, uses, stores, and protects information about you when you visit or use our website located at rateyourjudge.org (the "Platform"). It also describes your rights regarding your personal information and how you can exercise them.

By creating an account, submitting a review, or simply browsing our Platform, you agree to the practices described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, please discontinue use of the Platform.

This policy should be read alongside our Terms of Use, which governs your use of the Platform generally.

2. Who We Are

Rate Your Judge is an independent, community-driven platform dedicated to bringing transparency to the judicial system. Our mission is to empower individuals who have appeared before a judge — whether as litigants, attorneys, or observers — to share their honest experiences and help others navigate the legal process with greater confidence.

We operate exclusively within the United States. For privacy inquiries, you may reach us at contact@rateyourjudge.org.

3. Information We Collect

We collect information in three ways: information you provide directly, information collected automatically, and information from third parties.

3.1 Information You Provide Directly

• Account Registration: When you create an account, we collect your name, email address, and a password (stored in encrypted form). You may also optionally provide a display name or username.
• Judge Reviews and Ratings: When you submit a review or rating for a judge, we collect the star rating, written review text, the judge being reviewed, the date of submission, and your account identifier.
• Judge Submissions: If you add a judge to our platform who does not yet exist in our database, we collect the judge's name, jurisdiction, court name, and any other details you provide about them.
• Contact Form: If you contact us via email or a contact form, we collect your name, email address, and the content of your message.
• Profile Information: You may optionally add a profile photo, bio, or other information to your public profile. Note that profile information you choose to make public will be visible to other users.

3.2 Information Collected Automatically

• Log Data: Our servers automatically record information when you visit our site, including your IP address, browser type and version, operating system, referring URLs, pages visited, and timestamps.
• Device Information: We collect device identifiers, screen resolution, and general location information derived from your IP address (city/state level only — we do not collect precise GPS location).
• Usage Data: We track which judge profiles you view, which search terms you use, how long you spend on pages, and which links you click. This helps us understand how people use our Platform so we can improve it.
• Cookies and Similar Technologies: We use cookies and local storage to maintain your session, remember your preferences, and collect analytics data. See Section 7 for full details.

3.3 Information from Third Parties

If you log in through a third-party service (such as Google), we receive basic profile information such as your name and email address from that service, subject to their privacy policies. We do not receive payment information through any login integration.

4. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

Purpose	Data Used
Creating and managing your account	Name, email, password
Publishing your judge reviews and ratings	Review text, star rating, username
Enabling search and discovery of judge profiles	Usage data, search queries
Sending account-related emails (e.g., password reset)	Email address
Sending optional newsletter or update emails (with consent)	Email address
Detecting and preventing abuse, spam, or fraudulent reviews	IP address, account data, log data
Improving our Platform through analytics	Usage data, device info, log data
Responding to your support or contact requests	Name, email, message content
Complying with legal obligations	Any relevant data as required

We do not use your personal information to make automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you.

5. Legal Basis for Processing

To the extent applicable privacy laws (including the California Consumer Privacy Act and similar state laws) require us to identify a legal basis for processing your personal information, we rely on the following:

• Performance of a contract: Processing necessary to provide the services you have requested, such as creating your account and publishing your reviews.
• Legitimate interests: Processing for purposes such as fraud prevention, platform security, and improving our services, where those interests are not overridden by your rights.
• Consent: Processing based on your explicit agreement, such as subscribing to our email newsletter. You may withdraw consent at any time.
• Legal obligation: Processing necessary to comply with applicable law, regulation, or valid legal process.

6. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes. We share your information only in the following circumstances:

6.1 Publicly Visible Content

Reviews, ratings, and any other content you submit to the Platform are published publicly and associated with your display name or username. If you use your real name as your display name, that name will be publicly visible alongside your review. We encourage you to consider this before submitting content.

6.2 Service Providers

We work with trusted third-party service providers who help us operate the Platform. These providers have access to your information only as necessary to perform their services and are contractually obligated to protect it. Current categories of service providers include:

• Website hosting and infrastructure providers
• Email delivery services (for transactional and marketing emails)
• Analytics providers (e.g., Google Analytics)
• Security and fraud prevention services
• Customer support tools

6.3 Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information if we believe disclosure is required by law, regulation, subpoena, court order, or other legal process. We may also disclose information to protect the rights, property, or safety of Rate Your Judge, our users, or the public.

6.4 Business Transfers

If Rate Your Judge is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you via email or a prominent notice on our Platform prior to such a transfer.

6.5 With Your Consent

We may share your information with third parties when you have explicitly consented to such sharing.

7. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use the following types of cookies and tracking technologies:

Type	Purpose	Duration
Essential cookies	Required to keep you logged in and maintain your session. The Platform cannot function without these.	Session / up to 30 days
Preference cookies	Remember your settings and preferences (e.g., display preferences).	Up to 1 year
Analytics cookies	Help us understand how visitors use the Platform (e.g., Google Analytics). Data is aggregated and generally anonymized.	Up to 2 years
Security cookies	Help detect and prevent fraudulent activity and abuse.	Session

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to refuse cookies or delete existing cookies. Note that disabling essential cookies will prevent you from logging in or using certain features of the Platform. For more information about managing cookies, visit allaboutcookies.org.

We do not currently respond to "Do Not Track" signals from browsers, as there is no universal standard for what these signals mean.

8. Your Reviews and Public Content

Rate Your Judge is a public platform. When you submit a review or rating, that content is published publicly and indexed by search engines. Please keep the following in mind:

• Your reviews are associated with your chosen display name. If your display name is your real name, your identity may be connected to your review.
• Deleting your account does not automatically remove your previously published reviews. To request removal of specific reviews, contact us at contact@rateyourjudge.org.
• You are solely responsible for the accuracy and legality of any content you submit. See our Terms of Use for content standards.
• We reserve the right to remove or edit reviews that violate our Terms of Use, including reviews that are defamatory, harassing, or otherwise unlawful.

9. Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you with our services. Specifically:

• Account data is retained for the lifetime of your account. Upon account deletion, we delete or anonymize your account data within 90 days, except where we are required to retain it by law.
• Reviews and ratings may be retained even after account deletion unless you specifically request their removal.
• Log data is retained for up to 12 months for security and fraud-prevention purposes.
• Email correspondence is retained for up to 3 years to resolve disputes and improve our support.

10. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Right to access: You may request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Right to correction: You may ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information about you.
• Right to deletion: You may request that we delete your personal information, subject to certain exceptions (such as legal retention obligations).
• Right to opt out of marketing: You may unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time by clicking the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of any marketing email or by contacting us.
• Right to data portability: In some circumstances, you may request a copy of your data in a portable, machine-readable format.
• Right to object: You may object to certain types of processing, including processing based on our legitimate interests.
• California residents: Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), California residents have additional rights, including the right to know what personal information we collect and share, and the right to opt out of its sale (we do not sell personal information).

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at contact@rateyourjudge.org. We will respond to verified requests within 45 days. We may need to verify your identity before processing your request.

11. Children's Privacy

Rate Your Judge is intended for users who are 18 years of age or older. Our Platform is focused on legal proceedings and judicial experiences, which are not relevant to individuals under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 18.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe that your child has provided us with personal information without your consent, please contact us immediately at contact@rateyourjudge.org. We will take steps to delete such information promptly.

12. Security Practices

We take the security of your personal information seriously and implement reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect it, including:

• Encryption of data in transit using SSL/TLS
• Encrypted storage of passwords using industry-standard hashing algorithms
• Access controls limiting employee access to personal data on a need-to-know basis
• Regular monitoring for unauthorized access or data breaches
• Periodic security reviews of our systems and practices

Despite these measures, no online platform can guarantee absolute security. In the event of a data breach that affects your personal information, we will notify you as required by applicable law.

13. Third-Party Services

Our Platform may contain links to third-party websites, including court websites, legal resources, and external news articles. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these third-party sites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party site you visit.

We currently use the following third-party services that may process your data:

• Google Analytics: Website analytics. Google Privacy Policy. You can opt out using the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.
• WordPress: Content management system powering the Platform.
• Email service provider: Used to send transactional and marketing emails.

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or for other operational reasons. When we make material changes, we will:

• Update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page
• Post a notice on our homepage or another prominent location on the Platform
• Send registered users an email notification for significant changes

Your continued use of the Platform after the effective date of any updated policy constitutes your acceptance of the changes. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

15. Contact Us