Membership Terms & Conditions

These General Terms and Conditions of Membership (“Terms and Conditions” or “Agreement”) is a legal agreement between you/your organization (“you” or “your”), and the Complex Litigation e-Discovery Forum (CLEF), a collective of Plaintiffs lawyers (the “CLEF”) which sets forth the terms and conditions of membership. You understand that the rights of membership, including the right to identify as a member of CLEF, begin only when you have been notified that your application for membership has been accepted, and are subject at all times to your compliance with this Agreement.

Membership Requirements

CLEF membership is open to Plaintiffs-side lawyers at law firms or organizations focused on plaintiffs-side class action, mass action, and individual plaintiff lawyers. Members must be committed to CLEF's mission to educate, empower, and advocate for Plaintiffs in e-discovery. Membership is contingent upon agreeing not to share any information learned within CLEF with the defense bar or posting it publicly in any way not authorized by CLEF.

Term of Your Membership

The term of this Agreement shall begin on the date CLEF sends you notification that your application for membership has been accepted by CLEF (or your registration in 2025 to CLEF’s new member portal) and shall end on the date of termination, expiration, or cancellation of your membership in CLEF, or upon any earlier termination of this Agreement by CLEF (“Term”).

Unless terminated as provided herein, this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect, renewing annually, at the beginning of each fiscal year of CLEF’s acceptance of Your application for membership.

Termination for Cause

CLEF shall have the right, in its complete and sole discretion, to terminate this Agreement or suspend your Membership upon breach of any provision of this Agreement.

Termination for Convenience

CLEF shall have the right, in its complete and sole discretion, to terminate the Agreement for convenience five days after providing written notice to you.

Dues & Other Fees

You shall bear Your own costs and expenses for participation in CLEF, such as travel, employee compensation, and incidental expenses.

Member Use of the CLEF Member Marks

CLEF is the exclusive owner of all right, title, and interest in and to the trademarks of CLEF, which include, but are not limited to the following:

(a) The word mark COMPLEX LITIGATION E-DISCOVERY FORUM MEMBER

(b) The word mark CLEF MEMBER

(c) The design mark depicted through this link availably only to CLEF members: Download Here

(collectively, the “CLEF Member Marks”)

The CLEF Member Marks and other marks of CLEF are protected by trademark and copyright laws and international trademark and copyright treaties, as well as other intellectual property laws and treaties and are the exclusive intellectual property of CLEF.

Limited License for Members

During the Term, and subject at all times to your compliance with the terms of this Agreement, CLEF grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-assignable, non-sublicensable, royalty-free, revocable, limited license to use the CLEF Member Marks to identify yourself as a CLEF Member (“Limited License”). Any use of the CLEF Member Marks inures to the benefit of CLEF and nothing in this Agreement, or in your use of the CLEF Member Marks, will give you any right, title, or interest whatsoever in or to the CLEF Member Marks, or in any confusingly similar marks, beyond the Limited License.

Linking Requirement

Use of the CLEF Member Marks online must be accompanied by a hyperlink to the home page of the CLEF Website. If more than one of the CLEF Member Marks appears on a web page operated by you, only the most prominent use of the CLEF Member Marks on the web page must be hyperlinked to the home page of the CLEF Website.

No Alteration of CLEF Marks

You agree to use only the digital graphics files for the CLEF Member Marks provided to you or made available to you by CLEF and to strictly follow the current style guide for use of the CLEF Marks published on the CLEF Website here. You shall not alter the CLEF Member Marks except as expressly permitted in the style guide for the CLEF Marks and you shall not use any marks that are confusingly similar to the CLEF Member Marks.

No Sponsorship, Endorsement, or Approval by CLEF

The CLEF Marks and CLEF Member Marks shall not be used to represent sponsorship, endorsement, or approval by CLEF of any CLEF Member or product or service, unless the CLEF Board of Directors expressly authorizes such use.

Disclaimer

THIS AGREEMENT, CLEF MEMBERSHIP, AND/OR ANY USE OF THE CLEF MEMBER MARKS DOES NOT AND SHALL NOT SIGNIFY ANY SPONSORSHIP, ENDORSEMENT, OR APPROVAL OF ANY MEMBER OR ANY PRODUCT OR SERVICE. CLEF MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS AND GRANTS NO WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN FACT OR BY OPERATION OF LAW, STATUTE, OR OTHERWISE, AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY OTHER WARRANTIES, WHETHER WRITTEN OR ORAL, OR EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF AUTHENTICITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, SAFETY, QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY, OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

CLEF has the absolute right to revoke the Limited License at any time for any or no reason.

At your sole cost and expense, you shall immediately discontinue all use of the CLEF Member Marks upon the termination, expiration, cancellation, or suspension of your Membership or revocation of the Limited License.

Use and/or Disclosure of Contact Information

CLEF collects business contact information, including, without limitation, e-mail addresses, telephone and facsimile numbers and physical addresses, pertaining to Members and Trade Show Attendees. Any such information provided by a Member or Trade Show Attendee may be disclosed by CLEF to other Members, Exhibitors, Official CLEF Trade Show Service Providers, and Partners. By providing your business contact information to CLEF, you have consented to such use and disclosure of the information you have provided. If you do not want CLEF to use or disclose your business contact information as described in this Agreement, do not provide it. Your failure to provide business contact information to CLEF may result in your inability to access CLEF services.

Injunctive Relief and Other Compensation

You acknowledge and agree that your breach of any obligations under this Agreement shall cause damages of an irreparable and continuing nature to CLEF, for which money damages will not provide adequate compensation. Therefore, in addition to any money damages to which CLEF is entitled (which includes CLEF’s right to recover its reasonable attorney’s fees), CLEF also is entitled to an injunction to prohibit your continuing breach of the applicable covenant or otherwise to compel your specific performance under this Agreement. CLEF shall have the right to obtain such injunctive compensation without having to prove any damages or post any bond. Additionally, in the event of any breach of this Agreement which relates to the use of CLEF’s Member Marks, you shall be liable to CLEF for liquidated damages in the amount of $1,000.00 for each day that the breach is continuing; and you further agree that these liquidated damages are not a penalty, but rather (i) constitute a reasonable approximation of CLEF’s actual damages which are not certain and which are difficult to measure with accuracy and (ii) are proportional to the probable loss to be sustained by CLEF in the event of a breach.

Limitation of Liability

You agree that you will not sue CLEF for injunctive relief or for any damages on any matter concerning the subject matter of this Agreement. In no event shall CLEF be liable to you or any other for any damages of any type occurring directly or indirectly as a consequence of your actions pursuant to this Agreement, whether such actions are authorized or unauthorized pursuant to the terms of this Agreement.

WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT SHALL CLEF OR ITS AFFILIATES BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOST PROFITS, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

Notices

All notices, which concern this Agreement, shall be given in writing and be effective, as follows

By electronic mail to _______________, in which case such notice shall be deemed given on the date of delivery; or

By mailing such notice by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, in which case such notice shall be deemed given five (5) days from the date of its mailing.

Notices shall be mailed to CLEF at Complex Litigation e-Discovery Forum, 100 Washington Ave. South, Suite 2200, Minneapolis, MN 55401, Attention Complex Litigation E-Discovery Forum, and to a member at the member’s address of record held by CLEF.

Any party to this Agreement may change its address for notice purposes, by providing written notice of the change of address to the other party.

Miscellaneous

If any provision of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, all other provisions shall remain valid, and this Agreement shall be enforced to the full extent allowable under applicable law and a substitute, valid, and enforceable provision most nearly reflecting the original intent shall be developed in place of the invalid provision. No modification to this Agreement is binding, unless in writing.

This Agreement shall be governed by and construed under, and the legal relations among the parties hereto shall be determined in accordance with, the laws of the State of Minnesota, excluding conflict-of-law principles that would cause the application of the laws of any other jurisdiction. In the event of any dispute that arises out of or is related to Your membership in CLEF and/or these Terms and Conditions, you agree to submit to personal jurisdiction in the State of Minnesota and that the State of Minnesota shall be the sole and exclusive forum for the resolution of any such dispute.

This Agreement is the entire Agreement between you and CLEF relating to the subject matter herein and supersedes all prior and contemporaneous oral or written communications, proposals, and representations with respect to its subject matter, except for the Bylaws which are themselves integrated into and made a part of this Agreement.

CLEF reserves the right to change this Agreement and/or its terms at any time and may eliminate the license granted herein with respect to You individually or all members collectively at any time. Any change to this Agreement and/or its terms shall be effective as of the date of posting to the website of CLEF or actual notice to You, whichever is earlier.