What we keep, who sees it, and when it’s deleted
You give names first, your draft stays in your browser tab, and everything we store has a deletion date.
The short version
- For the conflict check we keep your name, email, company, the other parties you name and the type of matter, encrypted. Deleted 45 days after the last step on your check.
- Your draft answers stay in this browser tab until you send them.
- When you send, the lawyer gets your brief in a private dashboard that needs a key. Deleted 14 days after you send.
- Who else handles it: Tellbrief’s other co-founder sees a status list without your name, company or brief. Vercel (hosting, storage and AI requests), OpenAI (the AI model) and Resend (email) handle it to run the site. We don’t sell your information or use it for ads.
- AI features send only the text they need, only when you use them, and we ask the AI provider not to keep it or train on it. AI never decides anything about your matter.
- We never receive audio. If you talk, your browser turns it into text first.
- No tracking. No ad trackers, analytics scripts or cookies.
- Tellbrief isn’t a law firm. Sharing information here doesn’t make anyone your lawyer, and you shouldn’t assume it’s privileged.
What we keep
Everything Tellbrief stores has a deletion date, and a job runs every day to delete what has reached it.
| What | Why | Who sees it | Deleted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conflict check: your name, email and company, the other parties you name, and the type of matter | To check for conflicts, and to bring you back to your brief | The reviewing lawyer. Tellbrief’s other co-founder sees a status list without names. | 45 days after the last step on your check |
| Your brief: your answers and the lawyer’s working copy | So the lawyer can prepare for a first call | The reviewing lawyer | 14 days after you send |
| Notes on which questions helped, without your answers | To improve the questions | The reviewing lawyer | 365 days after they’re last saved |
| Usage counts, filed under a scrambled code | To stop abuse | No one. The site checks them on its own. | 45 days after they were last used |
| Your draft answers | So you can move between sections | Only you. They never leave your browser tab until you send. | When you close the tab |
Copies kept by others follow their own policies: emails in your inbox and the lawyer’s, and the request logs our host keeps.
Who else handles it
These outside services handle what you send so the site can run. We don’t sell your information to anyone.
| Service | What it does | What it gets |
|---|---|---|
| Vercel | Hosts the site and stores the records above. Its AI Gateway passes AI requests on to OpenAI. | Everything you send passes through it. It sees your IP address and keeps request logs under its own policies. |
| OpenAI | Runs the AI model behind the AI features | Only the text a feature needs, for that request, and only when you use the feature. We ask it not to keep the text or train on it. |
| Resend | Sends email, when email is turned on | Your email address and what we email you, including your brief |
| Your browser’s speech service | Turns speech into text, only if you talk | Your audio, under the browser maker’s policies. Chrome uses Google’s service. Tellbrief never receives audio. |
Before the names are cleared
We store your email, name, company, the other parties you name and the broad type of matter. The reviewing lawyer uses them to check for conflicts, and you use them to come back to your brief. The lawyer sees them in a private dashboard that needs a key. Tellbrief’s other co-founder, who isn’t a lawyer, sees a read-only list of each check’s status, dates and broad type of matter, without your name, email, company or the other parties. Once you send your brief, that list also shows your type of business and what’s changing. It never shows your other answers or your brief. If email delivery is turned on, the lawyer also gets an alert email with no names or details in it. Your business details aren’t part of this step.
These records are encrypted before they’re stored and scheduled for deletion 45 days after the last step on your check: the check itself, the lawyer’s decision or sending your brief.
Your working draft
Your answers are saved in this browser tab only, so you can move between sections and refresh the page. Closing the tab clears them. Your private link brings you back to the brief, but not to answers you hadn’t sent, so send when you’re done. We don’t sync the draft to our database. If you use answer matching, story suggestions or extra follow-up questions, we send the text that feature needs, for that request.
If you talk instead of typing, your browser (or the speech service it uses) turns the audio into text. We receive only the text you choose to keep, never audio.
When you send your brief
You download your brief as a PDF. The lawyer gets the same record plus a private working copy, stored encrypted in private Vercel Blob storage and opened from the key-protected dashboard. That record is scheduled for deletion after 14 days. If your brief names a different company from the one the lawyer cleared, that name is added to your conflict-check record so the lawyer can check it too, and it’s deleted with that record.
If email delivery is turned on, we email your brief to you through Resend and send the lawyer an alert with no matter details. Your email provider keeps delivered messages under its own policies.
AI features
Plain-language answer matching, story suggestions (only when you tap “Suggest answers”), extra follow-up questions, and the lawyer’s private matter and call-notes tools may send the text they need through Vercel AI Gateway to OpenAI, the AI model provider. We turn off response storage and request zero data retention and no training on that text.
Nothing goes to the AI because you reached a step. Answer matching runs when you type an answer instead of tapping one, and the extra questions use AI only after you choose to answer more.
These tools never decide conflicts, give legal advice, decide what work is needed or change your answers on their own.
How we improve the questions
The reviewing lawyer can save simple notes about how the questions worked, such as which questions were useful and how the matter ended. These notes don’t include your answers or the lawyer’s free-text notes. They’re scheduled for deletion after 365 days.
How we protect it
- Encrypted before it’s stored. Conflict-check records and briefs are encrypted (AES-256) in private storage that isn’t reachable from the web.
- No passwords to steal. There are no accounts. Your private link is your key, so don’t forward it. Each link stops working 30 days after it’s issued.
- A locked dashboard. The lawyer’s dashboard needs a key, and after repeated wrong keys it stops accepting tries for up to 15 minutes.
- Encrypted connections. Every page and request uses HTTPS.
- Nothing loaded from elsewhere. Our pages run only Tellbrief’s own code, and your browser stops them from sending data anywhere but Tellbrief.
Limits that stop abuse
To stop abuse, we count how often each connection, email address and brief uses parts of the site, such as starting a check, sending names for a conflict check, entering a dashboard key or using AI features. Each count is stored under a code made from your IP address, email or brief with a secret key, so the address itself isn’t stored. Counts are deleted 45 days after they were last used.
Our host, Vercel, sees your IP address when you use the site and keeps request logs under its own policies.
No tracking
No ad trackers, analytics scripts or cookies. We don’t follow you across other sites, and no other company can follow you through ours, because our pages load nothing from anywhere else. Since nothing tracks you, the site works the same whether or not your browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control.
Your choices
- Names only, at first. Nothing about your business goes to the lawyer until the names clear and you send your brief.
- Skip the AI. Tap your answers instead of typing them, leave “Suggest answers” alone, and send without answering extra questions. Everything else works the same.
- Type instead of talking. Talking is optional. If you type, no audio is captured at all.
- Stop at any time. Close the tab before you send and your draft answers are gone.
- Keep your copy. Your PDF is yours to keep and share with any lawyer you choose.
- Ask us. Questions about your information, including deleting it: write to privacy@tellbrief.com. A person reads every message.
If you apply to join
Professionals apply by email. We read the application to decide whether to invite you, keep it only while that decision and any work together are ongoing, and never use it for marketing. It isn’t stored on this site.
What not to send
Don’t paste passwords, source code, customer lists, confidential formulas, messages with a lawyer or documents nobody has asked for. Tellbrief helps you prepare; it isn’t a document vault or a law firm.
Changes to this page
This page changes in the same update as the code it describes, and the date at the top changes with it. Automated tests check these promises against the code on every update.
Tellbrief runs this site. Tellbrief is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. Sharing information with Tellbrief doesn’t create a lawyer-client relationship. Legal advice comes from a licensed lawyer you hire.