Evidence handling rules are different in different practice areas. What is right for a family law matter is not right for a criminal defense matter. LawSensai handles the split deliberately. The Document Vault stores documents for Family Law under signed-URL access scoped by RLS. The Criminal Defense Evidence Checklist organizes evidence without storing the files. Both tools serve the same goal of keeping you organized. They get there differently because the underlying legal posture is different.
This post explains why the split exists, how the Vault works, how the Evidence Checklist works, and how to use each tool.
What the Document Vault does
The Document Vault is the document store for Family Law matters. You upload financial records, parenting documents, asset documentation, communications, and the other evidence that family negotiations and family court rely on. The Vault stores the file and serves it back to you and to the parties you authorize.
Access is via signed URL. The URL is time-bounded and scoped to the requesting user. Underlying storage is locked down by row-level security so a user can only retrieve documents tied to a matter they are a party to. The Vault never serves a document without an authorized session.
What the Evidence Checklist does
The Criminal Defense Evidence Checklist is the structured list of evidence relevant to your criminal matter. It captures what evidence exists, where it lives, who has custody of it, and what the chain of custody is. It does not store the files.
The distinction is the point. In a criminal matter, the evidence you and your attorney rely on is often the original. Photographs of a scene. Surveillance video the defense subpoenas. Body camera footage from the prosecution's discovery. The original is what matters. Storing a copy on LawSensai would create a chain-of-custody problem and could contaminate the evidentiary value of the original.
The Evidence Checklist organizes the inventory. It does not handle the evidence itself.
Why the split exists
Family Law negotiations rely on documentation the parties exchange and use. A tax return. A bank statement. A school calendar. The original lives somewhere else and what the matter needs is a usable, organized copy.
Criminal Defense relies on evidence that is going to be authenticated, possibly through a chain-of-custody foundation, in court. The original is the evidence. The defense team typically wants the original or a properly authenticated copy held by counsel or by a custodian who can testify to it. A copy stored in a consumer software product, even one that signs URLs and runs RLS, does not fit that posture. Storing it could give the prosecution an authentication argument and create a contamination risk.
The Evidence Checklist exists so you and your defense team can be organized without creating that risk.
How the Document Vault works
Upload a file from the matter dashboard at lawsens.ai/family/vault. The Vault stores it. The metadata records the file name, the upload time, the uploader, and the tags you apply.
When you or another authorized party retrieves the file, the Vault issues a signed URL with a short expiry. The URL is bound to the requesting session. RLS at the storage layer enforces that the underlying object can only be served to a session whose user is a party to the matter or has been granted access by a party.
Sharing with an attorney works through scoped access. You grant the attorney access from the matter dashboard. The attorney's session can then retrieve the signed URL. Revoke access from the same place and the attorney's session loses retrieval rights.
The Vault never emails the file. It never produces a public link. Every retrieval is signed, scoped, and logged.
How the Criminal Defense Evidence Checklist works
Open the Evidence Checklist at lawsens.ai/criminal-defense/evidence. The Checklist starts with a standard list for the charge type in your matter. The list is curated to the evidence categories that typically matter for that charge.
For each evidence item, you record what exists, where it lives, who has custody of it, and any relevant notes. You do not upload the file. You record the pointer.
Examples of pointers the Checklist captures. The body camera video that the prosecution produced in discovery, identified by case number and badge number. The witness statement that your investigator collected and that is held by your investigator. The dashcam recording from your own vehicle, identified by storage location and the date you preserved it. The texts on your phone, identified by the device that holds them and the preservation status.
The Checklist also tracks what the prosecution has produced and what is still outstanding under discovery. You and your attorney can use the Checklist to drive discovery requests.
Spanish language support
Both the Vault and the Evidence Checklist run in Spanish. Vault metadata labels, signed-URL retrieval, Checklist categories, and the discovery tracker are localized.
Kovel and privilege note
Criminal Defense materials raise specific privilege considerations. LawSensai is not your attorney. Communications between you and LawSensai are not protected by the attorney-client privilege. If your defense attorney engages LawSensai or a third-party investigator to work on your defense, a Kovel arrangement or an analogous agreement may extend privilege to that work under your jurisdiction's rules. Discuss the privilege posture with your defense counsel before relying on it. The Evidence Checklist is structured to minimize sensitive content, but you should still treat it as if it could be discoverable absent a privilege arrangement put in place by your attorney.
Safety and audit
Vault retrievals are logged. Each signed-URL issuance is recorded with the requesting session and the time. Checklist edits are version-tracked. Every action is recorded in brain_decisions with the audit-log hash chain. Aggregate Vault and Checklist counts are published on the Trust Center at lawsens.ai/trust/family and lawsens.ai/trust/criminal-defense.
Common misreads we see new users make
Misread one: treating the Evidence Checklist as a place to upload your case file. It is not. It is a structured pointer list. Originals stay where they belong, typically with you, your investigator, or your attorney.
Misread two: assuming a signed URL from the Vault is permanent. It is not. The URL is short-lived. The retrieval mechanism is the matter dashboard, not the URL itself.
Misread three: sharing Vault documents with an attorney by emailing the signed URL. The URL is bound to the session that requested it. The attorney should be granted scoped access from the matter dashboard. That gives the attorney a clean, auditable retrieval path.
Practical next steps
Step one: for Family Law, open the Vault at lawsens.ai/family/vault and upload the documents your matter relies on. Tag each upload so the Settlement Composer and the mediation surface can reference the right document.
Step two: for Criminal Defense, open the Evidence Checklist at lawsens.ai/criminal-defense/evidence. Walk through the standard list for your charge type and record what exists and where it lives.
Step three: if you are represented, grant scoped Vault access to your attorney at lawsens.ai/family/vault/share, or share the Checklist export with your defense counsel.
How the Vault and the Checklist connect to the rest of LawSensai
The Vault is the document layer of Family Law. The Settlement Composer references Vault documents in the asset and debt schedules. The mediation surface lets parties cite Vault documents when stating positions. The Evidence Checklist is the discovery layer of Criminal Defense. The Court Date Tracker holds pretrial conference dates where discovery is addressed. Attorney Match routes the matter to defense counsel who can take possession of the originals. Every step is logged in brain_decisions and aggregate counts are published on the Trust Center.
This post is informational and is not legal advice. Treat the Vault as a structured store for Family Law documents. Treat the Evidence Checklist as a structured inventory for Criminal Defense. Your attorney handles authentication, chain of custody, and admissibility.
Read more
- lawsens.ai/product/document-vault
- lawsens.ai/product/evidence-checklist
- lawsens.ai/trust/family
- lawsens.ai/trust/criminal-defense
- lawsens.ai/help/signed-url-access
- National Institute of Standards and Technology evidence handling overview at nist.gov
Last verified: 2026-04-09.