For lawyers
What your firm needs to approve it
You don’t need any of this to try Tellbrief with three clients — a pilot touches nothing the firm owns. You need it when the firm wants to make it standard. This is the page to forward.
To keep a copy, print this page or save it as a PDF.
Who asks what
| Who | What they ask, and the answer |
|---|---|
| The ethics partner | “Our prospective clients get a document. Who wrote what’s in it?” The client’s copy holds their own answers in their own words, questions to ask their lawyer, and records to bring. It states no law and reaches no conclusion, and an automated test fails the build if that ever changes. The issue notes, which do explain, go only to the lawyer, labelled for the lawyer to check. |
| “Is paying for it paying for referrals?” No. Tellbrief doesn’t recommend your firm, doesn’t send you clients and takes no share of your fees. It’s a flat monthly licence for software you use with clients who already came to you. Rule 7.2(b), cited. | |
| “What about a prospective client’s confidences?” The client gives names first — theirs, the company’s and the other side’s. You clear them before any detail opens. Decline and the brief is deleted unread. Rule 1.18, cited. | |
| IT, or whoever acts as IT | Where the data sits, who else touches it, what happens in a breach: all on the security page, with the deletion dates, the encryption, the two outside services (Vercel and Resend, nobody else), and notice to your firm within 72 hours of us learning of unauthorised access. |
| “What does it connect to?” Nothing. There’s no integration with your case management, on purpose: client details go only where you paste them. Nothing is installed on any machine. | |
| The billing admin | A W-9, an invoice rather than a card, and one line item. Ask and we’ll send a W-9 and invoice the firm annually: $1,188 a year per lawyer, or $99 a month, or $40 a brief with no subscription. Nothing is billed until three briefs have reached you. |
| The managing partner | “What are we signing, and what’s our exposure?” See the two lists below. If your firm has its own vendor confidentiality agreement, send it and we’ll work through it with you rather than insist on ours. |
| The marketing partner | Only involved if you want the link on the firm’s website, which is optional. The setup guide has a one-line version and a block, and either can be added by whoever already edits the site. |
What each side is responsible for
Tellbrief
- Keeping each firm’s records apart from every other firm’s and from ours, encrypted, in storage that isn’t reachable from the web.
- Holding a brief closed until your firm clears the names, and deleting it unread if you decline.
- Deleting on the published schedule, including after you leave.
- Keeping legal conclusions out of the client’s copy.
- Telling your firm within 72 hours of learning that someone reached your records without permission.
- Not selling client information, not using it for advertising, and sending it to no one but the two services named on the security page.
Your firm
- Running the conflict check and deciding whether to take the matter. Tellbrief does neither.
- Judging what the brief raises. The issue notes are drafted for a lawyer to check, not relied on.
- Saving anything you want to keep to your own matter file, since your copy is deleted after 14 days.
- Your own professional duties, advice and client relationship, all unchanged.
- Keeping your dashboard key to the people at the firm who should have it.
What to ask us for
- A W-9, and an invoice instead of a card.
- The firm agreement. It’s with a lawyer for review; if your firm needs one signed before you start, say so and we’ll get it done first.
- Our certificate of insurance, and a replacement dashboard key whenever you want one.
- Your firm’s own vendor or confidentiality agreement reviewed and worked through.
- Answers to anything this page misses. We add them to questions lawyers ask so the next firm doesn’t have to ask.
What we don’t have, so nobody finds out later
- No SOC 2 report, and we’re not pursuing one. Tellbrief is a small codebase run by a small company. What we offer instead is the security page, written as a list of specific promises, and automated tests that fail the build if the code stops matching it.
- No connection to practice-management software. Names, a summary and the PDF copy into any of them in one click, and that’s deliberate.
- Not end-to-end encrypted. The site holds the key, because it has to show you the brief.
- No AI, which also means no AI. Fixed rules pick the questions and build the brief. Nothing a client types is sent to a model. If that ever changes, it will be on this page before it ships.
- Deletion runs daily, not to the minute, and it can’t recall an email or a PDF someone downloaded.
Start a free pilot
Free for 60 days, then $99 a month per lawyer. You can start with three clients without any of the above.
Start a free pilot Security page Back to Tellbrief for lawyers
General information for your firm’s review, not legal advice.