Terms of service

These terms govern your firm's use of Plainmatter, provided by [Plainmatter legal entity name] (“we” or “us”). The person who accepts these terms confirms they have authority to bind the firm (“you”).

1. The service

Plainmatter is practice management software for law firms in the United States. It includes matters, contacts, time tracking, billing, trust accounting, documents, intake, calendars and reports. We may add, change or remove features. We will give firm owners at least [60] days' notice by email before we remove a feature you use or change how it handles your data.

2. Accounts and seats

• Each owner or attorney in your firm uses one paid lawyer seat. Staff members use free staff seats.
• You keep sign-in credentials confidential and tell us promptly if you suspect someone has used them without permission.
• You are responsible for who you invite to your firm and the role you give each person.

3. Your data

“Customer Data” means everything you or your users put into Plainmatter, including client information, matter records, documents, time entries, invoices and trust records.

• You own Customer Data. We claim no ownership of it.
• You give us permission to host, copy, process and display Customer Data only to provide, secure and support the service for you.
• We do not sell Customer Data, and we do not use it to train AI models.
• We do not use Customer Data for advertising.

4. Confidentiality

We know Customer Data includes information protected by attorney-client privilege and your duty of confidentiality. We treat all Customer Data as confidential.

• Only our personnel who need access to run or support the service can reach Customer Data, and they are bound by confidentiality obligations.
• We look at a firm's records for support only when an owner asks us to, or when we must to keep the service secure.
• If a court, government agency or other third party demands Customer Data, we will tell you before we respond unless the law forbids it, so you can object or assert privilege.
• If we learn of unauthorized access to Customer Data, we will notify firm owners within [72] hours of confirming it.

5. Your professional responsibilities

Plainmatter is software, not a law firm or an accountant, and it does not give legal, ethics or accounting advice. You remain responsible for meeting the rules of professional conduct and the trust accounting rules of each jurisdiction where you practice.

• Check deadlines from the deadline calculator against the applicable statutes, court rules and local rules.
• Review trust reconciliations and reports before you rely on them or file them.
• Review any output from AI features before you use it.

6. AI features

AI features are off for every firm until an owner turns them on. While they are off, we send no Customer Data to an AI provider. When an owner turns them on, we send only the data a feature needs to the AI provider listed in our privacy policy, under terms that forbid the provider from training on it.

7. Fees, trial and billing

• Plainmatter costs $59 per lawyer seat per month. Staff seats are free.
• New firms get a 30-day trial without a payment method. To keep using the service after the trial, add a payment method.
• We bill monthly in advance through our payment processor. Fees do not include taxes, which you pay where they apply.
• We will give firm owners at least [60] days' notice by email before any price change takes effect.

8. Cancellation and export

• You can cancel at any time from your firm's billing settings. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the paid month.
• You can export Customer Data at any time while your account is active.
• After cancellation or the end of a trial, you can still sign in and export Customer Data for 90 days. After that, we delete Customer Data from the live service within [30] days, and it leaves our backups within [35] days after that.
• We may suspend an account for unpaid fees or a breach of these terms, and we will still let you export Customer Data for 90 days.

9. Acceptable use

You will not use Plainmatter to break the law, to send spam, to probe or attack the service, or to store data you have no right to hold.

10. Security

We maintain administrative, technical and physical safeguards that fit the sensitivity of Customer Data. Our security page describes them and lists what we do not offer yet.

11. Subprocessors

We use the subprocessors listed in our privacy policy to run the service. We will give firm owners at least [30] days' notice before we add a subprocessor that stores Customer Data.

12. Warranties and liability

We provide the service with reasonable skill and care. Apart from that, we provide it as is, without other warranties to the extent the law allows. Neither party is liable for indirect or consequential damages. Each party's total liability under these terms is limited to [the fees you paid in the 12 months before the claim], except for breaches of confidentiality and amounts owed.

13. Changes to these terms

We will email firm owners at least [30] days before a material change to these terms takes effect.

14. Governing law

The laws of [State] govern these terms, and the courts in [County, State] hear any dispute.

15. Contact

Email hello@getplainmatter.com with questions about these terms.