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TERMS & CONDITIONS

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TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE

ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS

Best of the Bar™, Best of the Bar, LLC, BestoftheBar.com ("Company") provides websites for use by consumers, businesses, and lawyers including this website at WWW.BESTOFTHEBAR.COM (referred to hereafter as "the Website") subject to the following Terms of Use. By using the Website in any way, you are agreeing to comply with the Terms of Use. Should you object to any term or condition of the Terms of Use or any guideline of the Website, your only recourse is to immediately discontinue use of the Website.

 

CHANGES TO THE TERMS OF USE

 

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, or alter the Terms of Use at any time. Such changes shall become effective immediately upon the posting thereof. The most current version of the Terms of Use will be linked from the footer of the Website. You must review the Terms of Use on a regular basis to keep yourself apprised of any changes.

 

CONDUCT

 

You agree not to post any text, files, images, video, audio, or other materials ("Content") or use the Website in any way that:

 

infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, or other proprietary rights of any party;

violates any state, federal, or other law;

threatens, harasses, or is libelous;

is harmful to minors;

contains self-benefiting advertising or marketing in public areas of the Website that have not been paid for and are not designated for the addition of promotional content;

produces Software viruses or code harmful to other computers;

disrupts the normal dialogue of users of the Website;

employs misleading or false information;

uses forged headers or other items to manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of Content.

You agree not to decompile or reverse engineer or otherwise attempt to discover any source code contained in the Website.

 

Unless you receive explicit permission, you agree not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell, or exploit for any commercial purposes, any aspect of the Website. Any lawyer or law firm that is listed as a Member and pays annual dues ("Customer") has the right and permission to manage their profile to their commercial benefit so long as the codes of conduct above are not violated.

 

PRIVACY

 

Please review our PRIVACY POLICY for details on the Company's collection, disclosure, and use of personally identifiable information and privacy matters. Use of the Website is based on your agreement to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.


CONTENT

 

You understand that all Content posted on, transmitted through, or linked from the Website, are the sole responsibility of the person from whom such Content originated. You understand that Company does not control, and is not responsible for Content made available through the Website, and that by using the Website, you may be exposed to Content that is offensive, indecent, inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise objectionable.

 

If you believe that the Content on the Website violates your copyright(s), you may file a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notification by submitting your claim via email to ADMINISTRATOR@BESTOFTHEBAR.COM or via mail to 300 Delaware Avenue, Suite 210, Wilmington, Delaware 19801 with supporting documentation to establish your rights. In order for us to process your claim, you must fully comply with the laws established by the DMCA, which, in summary, include (a) notification to the correct party; (b) delivery of your notification via fax, email, or registered mail; (c) clear identification of the date and your jurisdiction, including your contact information; (d) clear identification of yourself and your website; (e) clear identification of the copyright violator; (f) clearly outline the copyright violations using searches, screenshots, and so forth; (g) demand removal of the offending material; and (h) attest, under penalty of perjury, that you are the owner of the copyright and include your copyright registration information, if registered.

 

By submitting and/or adding Content to the Website, you grant, and you represent and warrant, that you have the right to grant to Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully paid, worldwide license to use, copy, perform, display, and distribute said Content.

 

By submitting and/or adding a profile to WWW.BESTOFTHEBAR.COM you certify that the information that your provide is accurate and truthful and that you and your firm are in good standing with your local licensing authority/applicable state bar and that you that you are licensed to practice as an attorney in your state. To the extent, while you have an active Member profile on WWW.BESTOFTHEBAR.COM, there is a change in your status with any bar association or your firm becomes the subject of any disciplinary action by any bar association it is your responsibility to notify Company in writing within ten (10) days of such change.

 

Company does not endorse nor certify content that is posted on the Website. All information anywhere on the Website including, but not limited to, information provided by Company, Company partners, WWW.BESTOFTHEBAR.COM members, and general Website users, whether provided by a lawyer or non-lawyer, is not posted confidentially and shall not create attorney/client privilege and is intended as general information to start legal research and shall not be used in place of a one-on-one dialogue with an attorney licensed in your area and familiar with your particular legal issue.

 

Content on the site of a legal nature may or may not be accurate for a particular state or jurisdiction and may largely depend on specific circumstances surrounding individual cases, which may or may not be consistent with your circumstances. The legal information on this Website is not legal advice and is not guaranteed to be correct for your jurisdiction or circumstances, complete, or up-to-date. Laws change rapidly and Company cannot guarantee that all the information on the Website is current.

 

Laws are different from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Laws are subject to interpretation by different courts and the precedent of previous case law which may or may not be applicable to your situation. The application of law to any set of facts is a highly specialized skill, practiced by lawyers.

 

Recommended use of the Website is to find one or more lawyers that (who) can meet your legal representation requirements, to interview such lawyer(s) to determine the best fit, and then to check with your state bar association or other licensing authority to confirm the status of that lawyer's license to practice before retaining such lawyer. Company does not endorse or certify lawyers who are listed as Award Winners or advertise on the Website.

 

This Website and some of the Content on this Website contain links to other resources on the Internet. Such links are provided as aids to assist you in identifying and locating other Internet resources that may be of interest to you, and are not intended to state or imply that Company sponsors, endorses, are affiliated or associated with, or are legally authorized to use any trade name, registered trademark, logo, legal or official seal, or copyrighted symbol that may be reflected in said links.

 

Information at our Website may be outdated due to the date and the method of the collection or may be incorrect. If you find information on the Website that you believe to be in error, please CONTACT US with the specifics and we will investigate the matter and where we are allowed by our data source we will update the information. If information belongs to you and we can not update it then you have the right at any time to request that it be removed from the Website. Company also reserves the right in its sole discretion to remove from the Website any information that the Company deems to be false, misleading, or inappropriate, or for any other reason.

 

Information provided by Company is proprietary to Company and is protected under U.S. copyright law and international treaty provisions. This information is licensed for your personal or professional use and may not be resold or provided to others. You may not distribute, sell, rent, sublicense, or lease such information, in whole or in part to any third party; and you will not make such information available in whole or in part to any other user in any networked or time-sharing environment, or transfer the information in whole or in part to any computer other than the PC used to access this information.

 

DATA RETRIEVAL

 

Company allows the crawlers of Google, Yahoo, Bing, and Ask and others to retrieve the Website pages automatically. The use of other automated tools, that can impact the performance of the site, to download data from the Website is expressly prohibited.

 

CONSENT TO RECEIVE E-MAILS

 

By using the Website, you consent to receive emails from Company. Any emails sent that are not Company service related emails will allow you to opt out of the receipt of such emails; provided however, you may not opt out of receiving account and service related emails that relate to the provision and management of your Membership and/or profile. To be removed from WWW.BESTOFTHEBAR.COM you must submit a request in writing via the CONTACT US area.

 

LIMITATIONS AND TERMINATION

 

Company may create limitations of your use of the Website including, but not limited to, the number of times you may access the Website and the amount of information that you may post to the Website. Limitations can include full termination of your access to the Website and you agree that Company has the right at any time, in its sole discretion, with or without notice, to modify or discontinue the Website (or any part thereof), to delete or deactivate your account and immediately remove and discard any Content within the Website. Company's right to terminate shall also apply to the termination of services that are paid for by Customer and sole compensation for termination of such paid services, if the termination is initiated by the Company, shall be a pro-rated refund based on the remaining time left on such service(s); provided however, no refund shall be due if termination was the result of a violation by you of the Terms of Service. You shall have the right to terminate any paid service prior to any renewal date in which case your service will not renew at the renewal date and no renewal costs will be charged; however, you will not receive a pro-rated refund for the time remaining until the end of the current period unless you terminate pursuant to a Company satisfaction guarantee and you terminate within the guarantee period and according to the guarantee requirements in which case the guarantee provisions will apply. Further, you agree that Company shall not be liable to you or any third-party for any termination of your access to the Website whether a free or paid service and for the disruption or loss of business that may or may not result from the Company terminating the Website or your service(s) on the Website.

 

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES

 

THE COMPANY WEBSITE AND ANY INCLUDED SERVICES ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE WARRANTIES THAT IT IS FREE OF DEFECTS, ERRORS, VIRUSES, MERCHANTABLE AND THAT IT IS FIT FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGING. YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. Some jurisdictions do not allow the disclaimer of implied warranties. In such jurisdictions, some of the foregoing disclaimers may not apply to you insofar as they relate to implied warranties.

 

LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY

 

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL COMPANY BE LIABLE FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, RESULTING FROM ANY ASPECT OF YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO DAMAGES THAT ARISE FROM YOUR INABILITY TO USE THE WEBSITE OR THE SERVICE, OR THE INTERRUPTION, MODIFICATION, OR TERMINATION OF THE WEBSITE OR ANY SERVICE OR PART THEREOF.

 

INDEMNITY

 

You agree to indemnify and hold Company, its officers, directors, subsidiaries, affiliates, successors, assigns, agents, service providers, suppliers, and employees, harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorney fees and court costs, made by any third party due to or arising out of Content you add to the Website, your use of the Website, your violation of the Terms of Use, your breach of any of the representations and warranties herein, or your violation of any rights of another.

 

JURISDICTION

 

The Terms of Use shall be governed by the laws of the State of Washington without regard to its conflict of law provisions. You and Company agree to submit to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located within the State of Washington.

 

PARTIAL INVALIDITY

 

Any provision of this Terms of Use which is found to be invalid or unenforceable by any court in any jurisdiction shall not affect the validity or enforceability of the provision in other jurisdictions and shall not affect the validity or enforceability of the remaining provisions. The waiver or failure of Company to exercise in any respect any right provided for in this Terms of Use shall not be deemed a waiver of any further right under this Agreement.

 

VIOLATION OF TERMS

 

You agree that monetary damages may not be a sufficient remedy for any breach of this Agreement and that Company shall be entitled, without waiving any other rights or remedies, to seek injunctive or equitable relief as may be deemed proper by a court of competent jurisdiction.

 

GENERAL

 

The Terms of Use constitute the entire agreement between you and Company and govern your use of the Website, superseding any prior agreements between you and Company.

 

The Website, including, without limitation, Membership Database, are Copyright ©2019 by the Best of the Bar, LLC. All rights reserved. Neither the Website nor any part thereof may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means without the express written consent of the Best of the Bar, LLC.


 

COPYRIGHTS AND TRADEMARKS

 

The purpose of these Regulations is to set a code of fair practice for all forms of advertising pertaining to Best of the Bar™ Membership and for other uses of the Company’s intellectual property including the Best of the Bar™ logo and name and the Best of the Bar™ Medal .

 

The Company does not wish to restrict the benefits lawyers and law firms may derive legitimately from publicity associated with membership in Best of the Bar™, but desires to equalize these benefits and ensure that:

 

the rights of past and future Best of the Bar™ Members are fully protected,

no false claims of Company consideration are made in any advertising medium,

the public is not misled by any statement or implication that any achievement has been won or that an attorney has been nominated for Best of the Bar™ Membership when that is not so, and

the necessary legal protection is provided for the trademark and copyright owner, i.e., the Company.

 

The Company, as the copyright owner of the Company’s Best of the Bar™ Medal and symbol, and owner of its trademarks and service marks, including “Best of the Bar™” is required to protect its properties against unauthorized uses and infringements.

 

Please adhere to the spirit as well as the letter of these rules.

 

The Best of the Bar™ medal is the copyrighted property trademark and service mark of the Company. The Company has the sole and exclusive right to reproduce, manufacture, copy, sell, display images of and publish said medal in any size or medium, whether in three or two dimensions, and to distribute or exploit the medal or reproductions of same by gift, sale, license or otherwise. No reproduction, replica, drawing, photograph, derivative work or other copy of the Best of the Bar™ medal may be made or used by any manufacturer, advertiser, organization or individual except in accordance with these regulations or under express written license from the Company.

 

All published representations of the Best of the Bar™ medal, including photographs, drawings and other likenesses, must include the legend Best of the Bar, LLC™ to provide notice that it is protected by copyright, trademark and service mark registration.

 

“Best of the Bar™” is a trademark and service mark of the Company and may not be used except in accordance with these regulations or under a special written license from the Company. Any use of the mark ““Best of the Bar™” must include notice of trademark and service mark registration and credit the Company as the owner of said mark, except as provided in section 20 below.

 

Permission to use the Company symbols (Best of the Bar™ medal, badge, plaques, marks and certificates) for any publication in other than fair use hard-news reporting must be obtained in writing from the Company, except that permission is hereby given to use Company symbols and marks of the Company in accordance with these Regulations.

 

Neither the Best of the Bar™ medal, badge, nor logo may be used in generic fashion as a logo or decorative motif for any purpose in any video or television production, or print or digital publication not produced by, or explicitly authorized by, the Company.

 

Neither the Best of the Bar™ medal, badge, nor logo may be used in the title or subtitle of any magazine, online or digital publication, commercial web site, stage production, video, television program or motion picture without written permission from the Company.

 

Best of the Bar™ winners have no rights whatsoever in the Company’s copyright or goodwill in the Best of the Bar™ medal, badge, logo or in its trademark and service marks. Members must comply with these rules and regulations. Members shall not sell or otherwise dispose of the Best of the Bar™ medal, nor permit it to be sold or disposed of by operation of law, without first offering to sell it to the Company for the sum of $1.00. This provision shall apply also to the heirs and assigns of Best of the Bar™ members who may acquire a medal by gift or bequest.

 

ADVERTISING

 

No personal appearance, picture or drawing of any Best of the Bar™ medal recipient may be used in advertising or promotional materials of any sort without the written consent of the Company, except as permitted by these Regulations.

 

No Company symbol or photograph, picture or drawing that includes a reproduction of a Company symbol or Company mark may be used in any advertising in newspapers, periodicals, billboards, posters or other medium, specifically including electronic media, without the written consent of the Company, except as permitted by these Regulations.

 

Law Firms and/or Lawyers that have received or been officially nominated for membership in Best of the Bar™ by the Company may so advertise that fact in print, and electronic media.

 

Law Firms and/or Lawyers that have received a Best of the Bar™ medal or badge from the Company may use a depiction of the Best of the Bar™ medal or badge provided:

 

it appears no more than once in each advertisement,

 

the size of the depiction does not exceed ten percent of the total advertising space,

 

the Company approves the quality of the representation of its symbol used,

 

the copyright, trademark and service mark notice, “Best of the Bar™” accompanies the depiction in legible form, and

 

the achievement for which the award was conferred is specified adjacent to the depiction (e.g. Top 100 Verdicts, Nationwide, 2017).

 

Law Firms and/or Lawyers that have received an Best of the Bar™ medal or badge from the Company may use the words “Best of the Bar™ Winner” or “Best of the Bar™ Recipient” incorporating the Company’s marks provided:

 

it appears any reference to the Company’s marks is directly followed by an indication of the achievement for which the award was conferred (e.g. Top 100 Verdicts, Nationwide, 2017), and

 

the Company’s marks appear in the form as approved in writing by the Company, with Company required notice of trademark and service mark ownership.

 

Law Firms and/or Lawyers that have received or been officially nominated for membership in Best of the Bar™  by the Company may use the words “Best of the Bar™ Nominee” provided that:

 

no reproduction of the Best of the Bar™ medal or badge is used,

 

the words “winner,” “member,” or equivalent term is not used to describe the receipt of a nomination, and

 

any reference to the Company’s marks is directly followed by an indication of the achievement for which the nomination was conferred (e.g. Top 100 Verdicts, Nationwide, 2017).

 

Law Firms and/or Lawyers that have not been nominated for membership in Best of the Bar™ may not advertise in a manner that may mislead the public or imply by design, layout or wording of copy that the law firm or lawyer has received such a recognition or nomination.

 

EDITORIAL USE

 

News and editorial uses of the Company’s symbols and marks in stories and articles appearing in newspapers, periodicals, digital publications, web sites and on television or in motion pictures, are subject to the following conditions:

 

all published representations of the Best of the Bar™ Medal or badge, including photographs, drawings and other likenesses, must include the legend “Best of the Bar™” to provide notice of copyright, trademark and service mark.

 

PRESTIGE AND NUMBER OF MEMBERSHIPS

 

Best of the Bar™ memberships will be offered to the attorneys who have achieved one of the Top 100 Verdicts or Top 100 Settlements annually in each of the fifty (50) states and nationwide, or approximately 10,000.  A census reported by the American Bar Association in March 2018 revealed that there were 1,338,678 licensed attorneys nationwide such that in any given year, members of Best of the Bar™ will comprise fewer than the Top 1% of all licensed attorneys.

 

Because many cases involve more than one attorney of record, a nomination to Best of the Bar™ may be extended to more than one attorney for a single qualifying verdict or settlement.

 

FEES & COSTS

 

Nominees:

There is a flat Membership Fee paid at the time a Nominee submits their Verification Acceptance. This fee includes:

 

Lifetime rights to use the Best of the Bar™ Logo in your marketing and on letterhead;

Personalized Best of the Bar™ Award Banners including a Member’s name, jurisdiction, and year of achievement;

The Best of the Bar™ Award Medal (Allow 6-8 Weeks For Production & Delivery);

First year of access to a personalized profile page, which may be linked to your firm’s homepage;

First year of access to the Best of the Bar Members’ Forum; and

A Professionally Prepared Custom Press Release to submit to local media outlets to announce your achievement.

 

All Membership Fees paid by check must be made payable to “Best of the Bar, LLC.” A $50.00 processing fee will be charged for any dishonored checks.

 

Membership Fee: $1,000.00.

 

Best of the Bar™ reserves the right, from time to time, to lower or raise the Membership Fee; to offer new Members a discounted rate, to offer bulk Memberships to firms with multiple qualified attorneys, a discounted Membership Fee, and or/to provide other upgrade incentives.  Price matching of discounted rates or upgrade incentives, if offered, shall not be retroactively applied to existing Members.

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The above Membership Fee DOES NOT include additional charges for upgrades including: (a). additional Best of the Bar™ Medals, (b). Additional Award Medal Displays or (c). any other upgrades or options that may be available, subject to certain restrictions, at an additional cost.

 

Applicants:

 

Prospective members seeking admission by application must pay an advanced Investigation & Certification Fee, which is not refundable.  Applicants who are subsequently extended a nomination for Membership will receive the same benefits as Nominated Members, under the same terms and conditions set forth above.  If Best of the Bar™ is unable to independently verify an applicant’s qualification for membership, the applicant’s Initiation Fee and any applicable upgrade charges will be refunded.

 

Investigation & Certification Fee:

$500.00  (Non-refundable)

 

Renewals:

 

Membership shall expire on December 31st of each calendar year, except for Members who are nominated in the year 2019.  Initial Memberships conferred in 2019, shall expire on December 31, 2020. Members who wish to renew their membership annually may do so by paying annual dues, which shall be initially set at $25.00 per month and billed annually at $300.00 per year, but which amount may be changed at the discretion of Best of the Bar™.  Renewing Members will have continued access to the Website to update their Member Profile Page and continued access to the Best of the Bar™ Members’ Forum. Access to the Website will be terminated for Members who choose not to renew within the time provided by Best of the Bar™.  Expired Members’ profiles will be locked in the form in which they existed on the membership expiration date.

 

Reactivations:

Members who do not renew their membership within the time provided by Best of the Bar™ may reactivate their membership at any time without a new nomination or application.  There will be a $200.00 charge to reactivate an expired membership plus the then-existing annual dues amount. Reactivated memberships will be valid until December 31 in the calendar year in which the Membership is reactivated.

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