Top-Law-Schools.com Privacy Policy
Effective date: [EFFECTIVE DATE] Last updated: [EFFECTIVE DATE]
This Privacy Policy explains how Top Law Schools LLC, a Florida limited liability company ("TLS," "we," "us," or "our"), collects, uses, discloses, and protects personal information when you visit www.top-law-schools.com, use our forums, wiki, school data, and tools, or contact us (together, the "Site").
This policy replaces the privacy section of our previous Terms of Service. It works with our Terms of Service and Copyright Policy.
Summary
- The forums are public. Posts, usernames, profiles, and wiki edits can be seen by anyone and indexed by search engines. Choose a username that does not reveal your identity if you want to stay anonymous.
- We collect your email address and IP address when you register or post. We also collect usage and device data through cookies and similar tools.
- We use advertising and analytics partners, including Google, Amazon, Quantcast, and Meta. Some of this may count as "selling" or "sharing" under certain state laws, and you can opt out.
- We do not sell or rent your email address. Moderators can see IP addresses and the identity of anonymous posters to prevent abuse.
- You can ask us to access, correct, or delete your personal information, subject to the limits explained below.
Information We Collect
Information you provide
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Account information | Username, email address, password, and answers to registration questions |
| Profile information | Optional details such as location, school, signature, avatar, and website |
| Public content | Forum posts, polls, wiki edits, comments, and attachments |
| Anonymous posts | Content you post through the anonymous posting feature. The content is public; your identity is hidden from other users but known to moderators and administrators |
| Admissions and stats submissions | Information you choose to submit to school results or stats tools, such as LSAT score, GPA, application cycle, and admission decisions, which may be displayed publicly in aggregated or listed form |
| Private messages | Messages you send to other members |
| Communications | Emails and contact-form messages you send us |
Please be careful about what you post. Do not post your full name, phone number, home address, or other information that could identify you or someone else unless you intend it to be public.
Information collected automatically
- Log data: IP address, browser type, operating system, referring page, pages visited, search terms, and date and time of visits. When you post or register, we record the IP address used.
- Device and usage data: device identifiers, approximate location derived from IP address, and interactions with pages, ads, and links.
- Cookies and similar technologies: see "Cookies, Analytics, and Advertising" below.
Information from other sources
- Anti-spam services. When you register, we check your IP address and email address against StopForumSpam and similar databases to detect known spammers.
- Security services, such as Cloudflare, which help us detect bots and attacks.
- Advertising and analytics partners, which may provide reports about how visitors use the Site.
How We Use Information
We use personal information to:
- Create and manage forum and wiki accounts and verify email addresses.
- Operate the forums, wiki, private messaging, school data, and tools, including displaying the content you choose to post.
- Send notifications you request, such as topic replies and private-message alerts, and respond to your messages.
- Prevent spam, fraud, sockpuppet accounts, harassment, and other abuse, and enforce our Terms of Service.
- Understand how the Site is used and improve content, features, and performance.
- Show advertising, including interest-based advertising, and measure how well ads perform.
- Send occasional TLS updates or offers only if you opt in. Every promotional email will include a way to unsubscribe.
- Comply with legal obligations and protect the rights, property, and safety of TLS, our users, and others.
How We Disclose Information
- Publicly. Your username, public profile, posts, and wiki edits are public. Other users may quote, reply to, or link to your posts. Search engines and archive services may index and copy public pages, and we cannot control those copies.
- Moderators and administrators. Volunteer moderators can see IP addresses, email addresses as needed, the identity of anonymous posters, links between forum and wiki accounts, and private messages that a sender or recipient reports. Moderators must agree to keep this information confidential and use it only to moderate the Site. We may share relevant portions of your emails about bans or forum issues in a private moderator forum to get moderators' input.
- Private messages. Private messages are intended only for their recipients. We do not review them routinely, but we may review messages that are reported or when we investigate spam, harassment, or other abuse.
- Service providers, such as hosting, email delivery, security, and anti-spam services, which may use information only to provide services to us.
- Advertising and analytics partners. Partners such as Google (Google Analytics, Google Ad Manager / DoubleClick, and AdSense), Amazon (Amazon Associates and Amazon Publisher Services), Quantcast, and Meta (Facebook Pixel) may collect device, cookie, and usage data when you visit the Site.
- Affiliated companies. TLS is affiliated with other legal-career companies, including BCG Attorney Search and LawCrossing. We do not give your email address or account information to affiliates for their marketing. When you click a link to an affiliate site, that site's own privacy policy applies.
- Legal and safety reasons. We may disclose information in response to a subpoena, warrant, court order, or other legal process, or when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of TLS, our users, or others.
- Business transfers. If TLS is involved in a merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of assets, personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction and will remain subject to this policy unless you are notified otherwise.
- With your consent or in aggregated or de-identified form that does not identify you.
Cookies, Analytics, and Advertising
We and our partners use cookies, pixels, tags, and similar technologies to keep you signed in, remember your forum settings, prevent spam, measure traffic, and show and measure ads.
| Type | Purpose | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | Sign-in, session management, security, and bot protection | phpBB session cookies; Cloudflare |
| Preferences | Remember forum and display settings | phpBB cookies |
| Analytics | Measure traffic and engagement | Google Analytics, Quantcast Measure |
| Advertising | Show and measure ads, including interest-based ads | Google Ad Manager / DoubleClick, Google AdSense, Amazon, Quantcast |
| Social and conversion | Measure ad performance on social platforms | Meta (Facebook) Pixel |
[CONFIRM BEFORE PUBLISHING: A 2026-10-06 check of the TLS homepage and forum index found Google Analytics (legacy Universal Analytics tag UA-46974613-1), Google Ad Manager (GPT), Amazon ad code, Quantcast, and, on the forums, the Meta Pixel. Update this table if tags change, including the planned move to GA4 property G-4930DT2GKF.]
Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your previous visits to this Site and other websites. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to this and other sites. You can opt out of personalized advertising from Google at https://adssettings.google.com, and learn more at https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites. You can opt out of interest-based ads from many companies at https://optout.aboutads.info and https://optout.networkadvertising.org. You can opt out of Google Analytics at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
You can block or delete cookies through your browser settings. If you block all cookies, you may not be able to sign in to the forums. Use "Delete all board cookies" at the bottom of the forum to clear forum cookies.
Global Privacy Control and Do Not Track. We treat a Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal from your browser as a request to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information and targeted advertising for that browser. Because there is no common standard for "Do Not Track" signals, we do not respond to them separately from GPC.
Affiliate links. Some links, including Amazon links, are affiliate links. If you buy something after clicking one, we may earn a commission. The retailer may use cookies to track the referral.
Your Choices and Rights
- Account settings. Update your email address, profile, signature, notification settings, and privacy options in the forum User Control Panel.
- Email. Turn off forum notifications in your User Control Panel. Use the unsubscribe link in any promotional email.
- Opt out of sale, sharing, and targeted advertising. Use the "Your Privacy Choices" link in our footer, enable GPC, or contact us.
- State privacy rights. Depending on your state of residence and subject to legal exceptions, you may have the right to know and access the personal information we hold about you, receive a copy, correct it, delete it, opt out of sale, sharing, and targeted advertising, and not be discriminated against for exercising these rights.
Deleting your account and posts. You may ask us to close your account and delete your personal information. Because forum discussions depend on context and other users may have quoted your posts, we may keep your posts but remove your personal information from them, such as by renaming your account to a generic name like "Deleted User." We will remove specific posts on request where the law requires it or where the post contains your personal information or creates a safety risk. Content already copied by other users, search engines, or archives may remain outside our control. We may keep limited information, such as a record of bans and IP addresses tied to abuse, to prevent banned users from returning.
How to submit a request. Email [PRIVACY EMAIL, e.g., [email protected]] or use [CONTACT FORM URL]. Please send the request from the email address on your account and include your username. We will verify your request before acting on it. An authorized agent may submit a request with your signed permission. We will respond within 45 days, or within the time required by your state's law. If we deny your request, you may appeal by replying to our decision with "Appeal" in the subject line. If you disagree with the result of an appeal, you may contact your state attorney general.
California notice at collection
In the past 12 months, we collected these categories of personal information: identifiers (such as username, email address, IP address, and online identifiers); internet or network activity; approximate geolocation; education information you choose to post or submit (such as LSAT score, GPA, and admissions results); inferences about interests derived from browsing; and sensitive personal information limited to account login credentials. We collect them from you, your device, and the sources described above, for the purposes described in "How We Use Information." We disclose them for business purposes to service providers and moderators. We do not sell personal information for money, but online identifiers and internet activity disclosed to advertising and analytics partners may be considered "sold" or "shared." We do not use sensitive personal information for purposes that require a right to limit. Retention periods are described below.
California residents under 18 who are registered users may request removal of content they posted by contacting us. Removal does not ensure complete removal of content that others have copied or reposted.
How Long We Keep Information
- Account information: while your account is active. Inactive accounts with no posts may be deleted after [24] months without sign-in.
- Public posts and wiki edits: as long as the forum or wiki remains available, unless removed by you, us, or a moderator, or after an approved deletion request.
- Private messages: until deleted by both sender and recipient, or the account is deleted.
- Server logs and IP addresses: [12] months, except where needed longer to investigate or prevent abuse.
- Ban and anti-spam records: as long as needed to prevent repeat abuse.
- Cookie data: according to the cookie lifetimes set by us and our partners.
How We Protect Information
We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards, including HTTPS encryption, hashed passwords, access controls for moderators and administrators, and security monitoring. No system is perfectly secure. Use a unique password for TLS and tell us right away if you suspect unauthorized use of your account.
Children
The Site is intended for college students, prospective law students, law students, and lawyers. You must be at least 16 years old to register or post. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, and we do not knowingly sell or share personal information of consumers under 16. If you believe a child has provided personal information, contact us and we will delete it.
Links to Other Sites
The Site links to law schools, employers, affiliate sites, advertisers, and other websites. Their privacy policies, not this one, govern information collected on those sites.
Users Outside the United States
The Site is operated in the United States. If you use it from another country, your information will be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States, where data-protection laws may differ from those in your country.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy from time to time. We will post the updated policy with a new "Last updated" date and, for material changes, give notice through a forum announcement or by email before the change takes effect.
Contact Us
Top Law Schools LLC Attn: Privacy [MAILING ADDRESS — the current Terms list 20 S Altadena Dr, Suite 102, Pasadena, CA 91107] Email: [PRIVACY EMAIL]
