Website Terms of Use

These Terms apply to the public Website only. They do not govern:

legal services Athena provides to a client;

an attorney-client relationship or prospective-client relationship;

a client portal, data room, software product, or other service governed by separate terms; or

a third-party website or service that Athena does not control.

Legal services are governed by a written engagement agreement, applicable law, and professional obligations. If these Terms conflict with an executed Athena engagement agreement concerning legal services, the engagement agreement controls for those services.

Athena's Privacy Policy explains how Athena handles personal information collected through the Website and related interactions. Athena's Legal Notices contain additional professional and regulatory disclosures. Both are incorporated into these Terms by reference.

The Website provides general information about Athena and selected legal, business, and technology topics. Website content is not legal, tax, accounting, investment, cybersecurity, or other professional advice and is not a substitute for advice from qualified professionals familiar with your facts.

Law and market practice change. Website content may be incomplete, may not reflect a recent development, and may not apply in your jurisdiction or circumstances. The publication date, if any, is not a representation that content remains current. You should not act or refrain from acting in reliance on Website content without obtaining appropriate advice.

Athena has no obligation to update a publication after its original publication date or to notify visitors when information becomes outdated.

Accessing the Website, reading or downloading content, submitting a public form, sending an email, receiving a response, or communicating with an Athena lawyer does not by itself create an attorney-client relationship.

Athena accepts a legal engagement only after:

Athena has received sufficient information to evaluate the proposed engagement;

Athena has completed its conflicts and intake procedures;

Athena and the prospective client have agreed to the scope and terms of representation; and

Athena and the client have signed a written engagement agreement.

Unless those steps have occurred, you should not assume that Athena represents you, will represent you, or will take action to protect your interests or meet a deadline.

Do not send confidential, privileged, time-sensitive, or detailed matter information through the public Website or in an unsolicited email. Before Athena accepts an engagement, information you send may not be treated as confidential or privileged to the fullest extent permitted by law and may not prevent Athena from representing another person whose interests are adverse to yours.

Nothing in these Terms limits a duty that applicable law or a rule of professional conduct imposes on Athena concerning a prospective or current client. Existing clients should use the communication and file-transfer methods specified for their engagement when sending sensitive information.

Electronic communications and public forms may be insecure, delayed, misdirected, or intercepted. Do not use them for an urgent deadline, service of process, notice required by contract or law, or an instruction on which you expect Athena to act unless Athena has expressly authorized that method.

The Website may constitute attorney advertising under the law and professional rules of some jurisdictions. The Website is intended to provide information about Athena and is not directed to a particular person as a solicitation for legal employment unless expressly stated.

Choosing a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely on advertisements, rankings, testimonials, Website content, or a description of a prior matter.

Prior results, representative matters, transactions, testimonials, client references, awards, rankings, and descriptions of experience do not guarantee or predict a similar result. An outcome depends on the facts, law, counterparties, decision-makers, market conditions, client objectives, and other circumstances.

A representative matter may be abbreviated, anonymized, aggregated, or described using a familiar name rather than a complete legal name. It may relate to work performed before a lawyer joined Athena. A matter description does not necessarily identify a current client, and a reference to an organization does not imply that the organization endorses Athena.

Awards, rankings, or other third-party recognition are based on the third party's own criteria and time period. They are not an Athena guarantee of quality, result, or continued recognition.

Athena is a California professional law corporation. Athena lawyers are authorized to practice only in the jurisdictions in which they are admitted or otherwise permitted to practice. A lawyer's biography or direct communication identifies that lawyer's admissions. The Website's availability in a jurisdiction does not mean that Athena or every Athena lawyer is authorized to practice there.

Unless expressly stated, no Athena lawyer is certified as a specialist by a state bar or other authority. Practice-area descriptions identify experience and services. They do not claim a legally recognized specialization or certification.

Lawyer biographies, titles, admissions, and availability may change. A person described on the Website may have joined or left Athena, changed role, or become unavailable after the page was published. Contact Athena to confirm current status before relying on a biography.

Subject to these Terms, Athena grants you a limited, revocable, nonexclusive, nontransferable license to access the Website and to view, download, or print a reasonable number of pages for your own lawful, internal, noncommercial, and informational use.

You must keep copyright, trademark, attribution, and other proprietary notices intact. This limited license does not transfer ownership and does not permit you to:

modify or create derivative works from Website content;

reproduce or distribute Website content for commercial use;

republish substantial portions of the Website;

use content in a manner that implies Athena's endorsement, sponsorship, or representation; or

use Athena's names, logos, or other brand elements except as applicable law permits.

Athena may revoke this permission at any time. Rights not expressly granted are reserved.

You may not use the Website to:

violate law, professional obligations, a court order, or another person's rights;

transmit malware, destructive code, or material designed to impair a system;

gain or attempt to gain unauthorized access to an account, server, network, data, or restricted area;

bypass or interfere with an access control, security control, rate limit, robot exclusion instruction, or technical measure;

disrupt, overload, degrade, or test the vulnerability of the Website without written authorization;

harvest contact information, send spam, or facilitate unsolicited bulk communications;

impersonate another person, misrepresent an affiliation, or submit materially false information;

scrape, crawl, index, extract, or copy Website content at a volume or frequency that burdens the Website or exceeds ordinary search-engine indexing;

use Website content or data to build, train, fine-tune, evaluate, or improve a machine-learning or artificial-intelligence model without Athena's prior written permission;

remove or obscure a copyright, trademark, attribution, or legal notice; or

assist another person in doing any of the above.

Ordinary indexing by a general-purpose public search engine is permitted if it follows Athena's published technical instructions and does not circumvent controls or reproduce substantial Website content in a substitute service.

If you submit an inquiry, you authorize Athena to use the information as reasonably necessary to respond, route the inquiry, perform conflicts and intake procedures, operate and secure the Website, comply with law and professional obligations, and protect legal rights. This authorization is not a broad license to publish your message and does not create an engagement.

If you voluntarily provide a suggestion about Website design or functionality that is not confidential matter information, Athena may use the suggestion without restriction or compensation. Do not label an unsolicited suggestion confidential and do not include third-party material you are not authorized to provide.

The Website and its selection, arrangement, design, software, text, graphics, photographs, video, audio, publications, and other materials are owned by Athena or used with permission and are protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual-property laws.

"Athena" and associated names, logos, slogans, and design elements may be trademarks or service marks of Athena. You may make a truthful nominative reference to Athena as permitted by law. You may not use an Athena logo, design mark, or confusingly similar mark without prior written permission, register a domain or account name containing an Athena mark, or use a mark in a way likely to cause confusion about source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement.

You may link to a publicly available Website page in a lawful manner that does not damage Athena's reputation or imply a relationship or endorsement that does not exist. You may not frame the Website, display it within another service in a way that obscures its source, or link from unlawful, deceptive, or infringing content.

Athena may request removal of a link or reference. Upon a reasonable written request, you agree to remove it promptly unless applicable law gives you a right to retain it.

Athena respects the intellectual-property rights of others. If you believe material on the Website infringes a copyright, send Athena a written notice containing:

identification of the copyrighted work;

identification and location of the challenged Website material, including the relevant URL;

your name, address, telephone number, and email address;

a statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorized by the owner, its agent, or law;

a statement that the information in the notice is accurate and that you are authorized to act for the owner; and

your physical or electronic signature.

Send the notice to contact@athena.lawyer and to Athena's postal address in Section 27. Athena may remove or restrict access to challenged material while it evaluates a notice. This section does not represent that Athena has registered a designated agent under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

The Website may link to, quote, embed, or reference content or services operated by another person. Athena provides these references for information and convenience. Athena does not control and is not responsible for a third party's content, availability, security, accuracy, products, services, or privacy practices.

A link or reference does not by itself mean that Athena endorses, sponsors, represents, or is affiliated with the third party. Your use of a third-party service is governed by the third party's terms and policies and is at your own risk.

Athena may add, remove, correct, modify, suspend, or discontinue Website content or features at any time without notice. Athena does not promise that the Website will be continuously available, compatible with every device, or free from delay, error, omission, or harmful code.

Website content may contain typographical, technical, or factual errors. Athena may correct an error without assuming an obligation to update similar content elsewhere or to notify persons who previously viewed it.

You are responsible for maintaining appropriate security controls, anti-malware protection, and backups when using the Website or downloading material.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Website and all Website content are provided "as is" and "as available." Athena disclaims all express, implied, statutory, and other warranties concerning the Website, including warranties of accuracy, completeness, timeliness, title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, noninfringement, security, availability, quiet enjoyment, and uninterrupted or error-free operation.

Athena does not warrant that Website content will produce a result or satisfy a particular legal, business, technical, or regulatory requirement.

Nothing in these Terms limits a warranty, duty, or obligation that cannot lawfully be excluded, including professional duties applicable to legal services provided under an engagement agreement.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Athena and its shareholders, lawyers, employees, contractors, and agents will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, punitive, or consequential damages arising from or related to the Website, including loss of data, profit, revenue, business opportunity, or goodwill, even if advised that such damage was possible.

This limitation applies to claims arising from Website access, content, availability, links, downloads, security, or reliance, regardless of the legal theory asserted. It does not apply where applicable law prohibits the limitation.

This section governs the public Website only. It does not govern liability for legal services, which is addressed by the applicable engagement agreement, professional obligations, and law. These Terms do not impose a dollar cap on liability.

Athena's Privacy Policy explains how Athena handles personal information associated with the Website. You are responsible for ensuring that information you submit is lawful, accurate, and appropriate for the public communication method you use.

If you gain access to information that you reasonably believe was not intended for you, do not review, copy, use, or disclose it. Notify Athena promptly and follow lawful instructions concerning deletion or return.

Athena may restrict, suspend, or terminate your access to all or part of the Website if Athena reasonably believes you violated these Terms, created a security or legal risk, interfered with Website operation, or used the Website in a manner inconsistent with its intended purpose.

The provisions concerning professional responsibility, intellectual property, prohibited conduct, disclaimers, liability, governing law, and any provision that by its nature should survive will remain effective after access ends.

Athena may revise these Terms from time to time. The revised Terms take effect when posted unless Athena states a later date. The effective date above identifies the latest revision.

Athena may provide reasonable notice of a revision by posting the revised Website Terms of Use and updating the effective date. If applicable law requires a different form of notice or affirmative consent for a particular change, Athena will provide it before that change applies.

If a change is material, Athena may provide additional notice when appropriate. Your continued use of the Website after revised Terms take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

These Terms and disputes arising solely from the Website or these Terms are governed by California law, without regard to conflict-of-law rules that would apply another jurisdiction's law.

Subject to nonwaivable law, a dispute arising solely from the Website or these Terms must be brought in the state or federal courts located in San Francisco County, California, and each party consents to their personal jurisdiction and venue.

This section does not govern a dispute concerning legal services if an engagement agreement or applicable law provides otherwise. These Terms do not require arbitration and do not contain a class-action waiver.

If a provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, it will be enforced to the maximum extent permitted and the remainder will remain in effect. If the invalid provision cannot be modified lawfully, it will be severed.

Athena's failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. A waiver must be in writing and applies only to the specific instance for which it is given.

You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms without Athena's prior written consent. Athena may assign these Terms in connection with a reorganization, combination, transfer of operations, or by operation of law.

These Terms, the Privacy Policy, and the Legal Notices form the entire agreement concerning your use of the public Website and supersede prior website-use terms. They do not supersede an engagement agreement, confidentiality agreement, or other separate agreement between you and Athena.

Headings are for convenience and do not affect interpretation. The words "including" and "include" mean "including without limitation."

Questions, permission requests, and notices concerning these Terms may be directed to:

Athena Circle, a Professional Law Corporation

345 California Street, Suite 600

San Francisco, California 94101

contact@athena.lawyer