Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

By creating an account, accessing, or using ForensicShield ("the Service"), operated by ForensicShield LLC ("ForensicShield," "we," "us," or "our"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"), our Privacy Policy, and any applicable Business Associate Agreement ("BAA"). If you do not agree to these Terms, you may not use the Service.

If you are using the Service on behalf of an organization, you represent and warrant that you have the authority to bind that organization to these Terms.

ForensicShield is an AI-powered report preparation tool for forensic professionals and expert witnesses. The Service analyzes forensic evaluation reports for potential courtroom vulnerabilities and provides preparation assistance including vulnerability identification, cross-examination preparation, rebuttal suggestions, and case law citations.

3. Eligibility

The Service is intended for licensed professionals including forensic psychologists, psychiatrists, neuropsychologists, social workers, attorneys, and expert witness consultants. You must be at least 18 years of age to use the Service. By using the Service, you represent that you meet these eligibility requirements and that you are authorized to handle the protected health information (PHI) you upload.

4. Account Registration and Security

You must provide accurate and complete information when creating an account. Each person must maintain their own individual account — shared accounts are prohibited. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your credentials and for all activities that occur under your account. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is required for all accounts.

You must notify us immediately at support@forensicshield.net of any unauthorized use of your account or any other breach of security. ForensicShield enforces a 15-minute idle session timeout as required by our security policies.

A signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA) is required before any protected health information (PHI) can be uploaded or processed through the Service. The Service enforces this requirement — you will not be able to upload reports until your organization has accepted the BAA. Details of our BAA are available on our BAA page.

6. Acceptable Use

You agree to use the Service only for its intended purpose. You must not:

• Share your account credentials with any other person
• Upload PHI for which you do not have proper authorization
• Attempt to reverse-engineer, decompile, or extract the analysis methodology, AI prompts, vulnerability taxonomy, scoring algorithms, or any other proprietary components of the Service
• Use automated tools to scrape, crawl, or extract data from the Service
• Attempt to circumvent any security measures, access controls, or rate limits
• Use the Service to develop a competing product or service
• Misrepresent ForensicShield's AI-generated output as your own independent analysis or as an authoritative source in legal proceedings
• Upload malicious files, malware, or content designed to exploit the AI system
• Share, publish, or redistribute API keys issued to your account, or use API access to exceed documented rate limits or build unauthorized integrations

7. Intellectual Property

ForensicShield's Property: The Service, including its analysis methods, prompt engineering, vulnerability taxonomies, scoring calibration, AI pipeline architecture, and user interface, constitutes proprietary trade secrets and intellectual property of ForensicShield LLC. All rights are reserved.

Your Property: You retain full ownership of all reports, case data, and other content you upload to the Service. ForensicShield claims no ownership over your data. We access your content solely to provide the Service as described herein.

AI-Generated Output: Analysis results, vulnerability assessments, cross-examination questions, rebuttal suggestions, and other output generated by the Service are provided for your professional use. You may incorporate these outputs into your professional work product at your discretion and under your professional responsibility.

All AI-generated suggestions, vulnerability assessments, and recommendations are provided for the expert's consideration only. You acknowledge and agree that:

• The forensic professional or expert witness is solely responsible for all clinical judgments and report content
• AI output should be treated as suggestions to consider, not directives to follow
• ForensicShield does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or applicability of any AI-generated analysis
• Case law citations provided by the Service should be independently verified before use in legal proceedings
• AI-generated output should not be cited as an independent authority in court or in reports
• The Service does not replace professional judgment, clinical training, or legal counsel

ForensicShield publishes publicly accessible informational content, including the "AI in the Courtroom" resource page, blog articles, and monthly briefings. This content is compiled from public sources — including court opinions, state and federal legislation, regulatory publications, and professional organization statements — with the assistance of artificial intelligence and subsequent editorial review by our team.

Not Legal Advice: All informational content is provided for general educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created by accessing or relying on this content. You should not act or refrain from acting based on this content without consulting a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction.

No Guarantee of Accuracy: While we make reasonable efforts to ensure accuracy, we do not warrant that informational content is complete, current, or error-free. Court rulings, legislative status, and regulatory guidance change frequently. Information is updated periodically but may not reflect the most recent developments at the time you access it. Always verify current law and court rules applicable to your specific situation with legal counsel.

AI-Assisted Curation: Some informational content is identified, summarized, or structured with the assistance of AI tools. All AI-assisted content is reviewed by our editorial team before publication. Despite this review process, AI-generated summaries may contain errors, omissions, or inaccuracies. You are responsible for independently verifying any information before relying on it in professional or legal contexts.

Sample Language: Any sample disclosure language, testimony frameworks, or suggested responses provided in our informational content are illustrative only. They are not tailored to any specific jurisdiction, case, or set of facts. Adapt any such language with the guidance of an attorney familiar with your jurisdiction's rules and the specifics of your case.

All PHI is encrypted at rest using AES-256-GCM with per-organization AWS KMS encryption keys and in transit using TLS 1.2/1.3. Data is scoped to your organization — no other organization can access your data. Every access to PHI is audit logged with 7-year retention.

AI processing occurs exclusively through AWS Bedrock in production, keeping all PHI within the AWS security boundary. The AI does not retain, memorize, or learn from your data between requests. Each analysis is a stateless operation.

Upon account termination and request, all application data (database records, uploaded files, and associated metadata) is deleted and audit log entries are anonymized. Any residual encrypted data in backups is unreadable without your organization's unique encryption key and is permanently purged when backups expire. For full details, see our Privacy Policy and Security page.

Free Trial: New accounts receive a 14-day free trial with a limit of 1 report. A payment method is collected for identity verification. Your card will not be automatically charged when the trial ends.

Paid Plans: After the trial period, continued use of write features (uploading reports, running analyses) requires an active paid subscription. Subscriptions are billed monthly via Stripe and auto-renew unless cancelled.

Cancellation: You may cancel your subscription at any time. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period. You will not be charged for subsequent periods.

Data Access After Expiry: If your subscription expires or is cancelled, you retain read-only access to all previously created reports and analyses. You will not be able to upload new reports or run new analyses until you resubscribe.

Refunds: Refund requests may be submitted to salesteam@forensicshield.net within 30 days of the charge. Refunds will be granted for the current billing period if you have not uploaded or analyzed any reports during that period. For billing periods during which reports were uploaded or analyzed, refunds are issued at ForensicShield's discretion. No refunds will be issued for periods more than 30 days prior to the request.

12. Disclaimer of Warranties

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND ACCURACY. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR FREE OF HARMFUL COMPONENTS, OR THAT ANY CONTENT, INCLUDING AI-GENERATED ANALYSIS, CASE LAW CITATIONS, OR VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENTS, WILL BE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, OR CURRENT.

You expressly acknowledge that use of the Service is at your sole risk and that the entire risk as to satisfactory quality, performance, accuracy, and effort rests with you. No advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained from ForensicShield or through the Service shall create any warranty not expressly made herein.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, FORENSICSHIELD AND ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, USE, OR GOODWILL, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE.

ForensicShield does not guarantee any particular outcome in legal proceedings, Daubert or Frye challenges, cross-examination, or any other courtroom proceeding. The Service is a preparation aid — the expert witness bears sole responsibility for their testimony and professional conduct.

IN NO EVENT SHALL FORENSICSHIELD'S TOTAL LIABILITY EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU PAID FOR THE SERVICE DURING THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM.

14. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless ForensicShield and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from: (a) your use of the Service; (b) your violation of these Terms; (c) your violation of any third-party rights, including HIPAA; or (d) any content you upload to the Service.

ForensicShield agrees to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless you and your organization from any third-party claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and reasonable expenses (including attorneys' fees) arising directly from ForensicShield's material breach of its data protection obligations under the applicable Business Associate Agreement or its gross negligence in handling PHI, provided that you promptly notify ForensicShield of any such claim and cooperate in the defense.

15. Termination

Either party may terminate the relationship at any time. ForensicShield may suspend or terminate your account immediately if you violate these Terms, fail to pay subscription fees, or if required by law.

Upon termination, your right to use the Service ceases. You may export your data through the in-app data export feature or by contacting support@forensicshield.net within 90 days of termination. After 90 days, or upon your request, all application data is deleted and audit log entries are anonymized. Data retention and deletion are subject to the terms of your BAA and applicable legal retention requirements.

During any period of read-only access following subscription cancellation or expiry, the protections of your Business Associate Agreement remain in full force and effect for any PHI still stored on the platform.

In the event of a security incident involving unauthorized access to, or disclosure of, your protected health information, ForensicShield will:

• Notify affected users without unreasonable delay and no later than 60 days after discovery, as required by the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule (45 CFR 164.404)
• Provide written notice including a description of the breach, the types of information involved, steps taken to investigate and mitigate, and recommendations for affected individuals
• Cooperate with covered entities to fulfill their notification obligations under HIPAA
• Report breaches affecting 500 or more individuals to the Secretary of HHS and, where required, to prominent media outlets as mandated by federal law

ForensicShield maintains an incident response plan and conducts regular security assessments to minimize breach risk. If you believe your account has been compromised, contact security@forensicshield.net immediately.

17. API Access

ForensicShield may provide programmatic API access to authorized users. If you use API access, you agree to:

• Comply with all documented rate limits (currently: 100 requests/minute for general API, 5 requests/minute for file uploads, 10 requests/minute for authentication endpoints)
• Keep API keys confidential and never embed them in client-side code, public repositories, or shared environments
• Use API access only for purposes consistent with these Terms and the intended use of the Service
• Accept that rate limits, endpoints, and API behavior may change with reasonable notice

ForensicShield reserves the right to revoke API access for any account that violates these terms or exhibits abusive usage patterns.

18. Service Availability

ForensicShield strives to maintain high availability but does not guarantee any specific uptime percentage for Solo, Professional, or Practice tier subscriptions. Enterprise subscribers may negotiate a separate Service Level Agreement (SLA) with defined uptime commitments and remedies.

We will make reasonable efforts to provide advance notice of scheduled maintenance. Unscheduled downtime due to security incidents, infrastructure failures, or force majeure events is not subject to SLA remedies.

Informal Resolution: Before filing any formal proceeding, you agree to first contact us at support@forensicshield.net and attempt to resolve the dispute informally for at least 30 days.

Governing Law: These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Georgia, without regard to its conflict of law principles.

Jurisdiction: Any disputes arising under these Terms that cannot be resolved informally shall be resolved exclusively in the state or federal courts located in the State of Georgia. You consent to the personal jurisdiction of such courts.

Class Action Waiver: You agree that any dispute resolution proceedings will be conducted only on an individual basis and not in a class, consolidated, or representative action.

20. Force Majeure

ForensicShield shall not be liable for any failure or delay in performing its obligations under these Terms where such failure or delay results from circumstances beyond our reasonable control, including but not limited to: natural disasters, pandemic, government actions, war, terrorism, power or telecommunications failures, cyberattacks, and failures of third-party cloud infrastructure providers. We will make reasonable efforts to notify you of any such event and to resume performance as soon as practicable.

21. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.

22. Entire Agreement

These Terms of Service, together with the Privacy Policy and any executed Business Associate Agreement, constitute the entire agreement between you and ForensicShield regarding the Service and supersede all prior or contemporaneous communications, proposals, and agreements, whether oral or written.

23. Assignment

You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms without ForensicShield's prior written consent. ForensicShield may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of all or substantially all of its assets, provided the assignee agrees to be bound by these Terms and all applicable BAA obligations.

24. Waiver

The failure of ForensicShield to enforce any right or provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. Any waiver of any provision of these Terms will be effective only if in writing and signed by ForensicShield.

25. Survival

The following sections shall survive any termination or expiration of these Terms: Intellectual Property (Section 7), AI-Generated Content Disclaimers (Section 8), Informational Content (Section 9), Disclaimer of Warranties (Section 12), Limitation of Liability (Section 13), Indemnification (Section 14), Security Breach Notification (Section 16), Dispute Resolution (Section 19), Entire Agreement (Section 22), and this Survival clause.

26. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will provide at least 30 days' notice of material changes via email to the address associated with your account. The "Effective" date at the top of this page indicates when the current version took effect. Continued use of the Service after the effective date of updated Terms constitutes your acceptance of the changes.

27. Contact

For questions about these Terms, contact us at: