Security and data handling
MatterCase may be provided through a client-sponsored or law-firm-sponsored subscription. The authorization email identifies the customer, the scope of counsel’s approval, and any terms applicable to the recipient. This page describes MatterCase’s security and data-handling practices and does not determine who purchases the service or accepts commercial terms.
MatterCase is currently an invitation-only private beta limited to approved participants.
On this page, a Matter is the individual legal matter authorized for MatterCase; authorizing counsel is the lawyer who authorizes MatterCase’s case-support role; the customer is the client or firm holding the subscription; and authorized participants are the customer, counsel, client, and any other approved users for the Matter.
1. What can MatterCase do?
MatterCase can organize information and source documents for a Matter and prepare summaries, chronologies, questions, and drafts for authorized participants. It cannot provide independent legal advice, file documents, contact courts or other outside parties, move funds, or act under the name or authority of authorizing counsel.
2. Who can access Matter information?
Access is limited to authorized participants, MatterCase personnel when operationally necessary, and the identified email, hosting, web-proxy, and AI providers needed to run the service. MatterCase limits each provider to its function and requires personnel and providers that handle Matter information to be subject to confidentiality obligations.
3. How is Matter information used?
MatterCase uses Matter information only to provide, secure, and support the service or to comply with law. Matter information is not sold, used for advertising or demonstrations, or used by MatterCase or its AI provider to train or improve AI models.
4. How is Matter information protected and handled?
- MatterCase’s connections to web, email, and AI providers use TLS encryption in transit. Active MatterCase data is stored on a DigitalOcean Block Storage Volume encrypted at rest.
- Each Matter has a separate workspace and private system state. Sender, recipient, Matter, and approval policy are checked before information enters a workspace, is sent to AI, or is delivered by email.
- Application tasks receive only the data mounts and provider credentials needed for their specific role. Public-site and monitoring tasks do not receive Matter content.
- Original email is preserved as the immutable authoritative record. Parsed text, indexes, AI inputs, summaries, drafts, and generated files are stored separately as derived material.
5. Which providers process Matter information?
| Provider | Function and information | Relevant retention |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare | DNS, web proxying, and client-facing TLS; web requests, form contents, IP addresses, and request metadata pass through its edge. | MatterCase does not retain Cloudflare request logs. Cloudflare’s operational data follows its published privacy policy. |
| Fastmail | Inbound and outbound email transport. MatterCase preserves each application-Inbox message as an immutable local record, verifies that copy and any extracted attachments, and then permanently removes the active mailbox copy. Messages addressed to support are separately copied to a private operator mailbox for human handling. | Application-Inbox copies remain only until verified local ingestion and targeted removal. Fastmail states that deleted personal data remain in backups for 7 days, while message-level removal from compacted backup and search-index data has no guaranteed timeline. |
| DigitalOcean | Hosts the MatterCase server; active Matter workspaces, email evidence, attachments, derived material, and private audit state reside on its infrastructure. | Active data remains until MatterCase deletes it. Active MatterCase data is stored on an encrypted Block Storage Volume. DigitalOcean Droplet backups do not include attached Volumes, and MatterCase does not yet operate an independent backup of the Volume. |
| OpenAI | AI case support; selected email text, images, Matter workspace files, prompts, and derived output are processed through the API, File Search, and a temporary hosted container. | Responses are submitted with storage disabled; OpenAI states that background response state is retained for roughly 10 minutes and default abuse-monitoring data for up to 30 days. Matter vector stores persist until MatterCase deletes them and provider deletion completes within 30 days. MatterCase explicitly deletes hosted containers after processing; their configured fallback expiry is 20 minutes after last activity. |
Provider retention may be extended where a provider is legally required to preserve information. MatterCase does not opt in to provider use of API content for model training.
6. How can use be stopped or data removed?
Authorizing counsel may suspend or withdraw authorization at any time by emailing the support address in the authorization email from the authorized address. Once verified and applied, suspension stops new Matter information from entering the active workspace and stops new AI processing and ordinary outbound work for the Matter. Withdrawal does the same and also starts deletion: MatterCase will delete Matter content from its active systems within 30 days and confirm completion in writing, unless law or a preservation obligation requires longer retention.
The customer or authorizing counsel may use that same support path to request an export or deletion without withdrawing. MatterCase will complete export or deletion from its active systems within 30 days after verifying the request, subject to the same legal and preservation exception. Current Matter content is not included in DigitalOcean Droplet backups. Other provider-held copies expire as described above; Fastmail application-Inbox copies are already permanently removed after verified local ingestion, subject to Fastmail’s stated backup retention and its lack of a guaranteed message-level removal timeline for compacted backups and indexes.
MatterCase will promptly notify the customer, authorizing counsel, and client of any confirmed unauthorized access materially affecting the Matter.