Legal Hold Manager

A litigation hold management tool for creating, issuing, tracking, and managing legal holds. Built for non-technical legal professionals — in-house counsel, legal ops teams, and paralegals.

---

Getting Started

Option 1: Run Locally (Easiest)

./start.sh        # macOS/Linux
start.bat         # Windows

This installs everything, seeds sample data, starts the app, and opens your browser.

Default login: admin@acmecorp.com / admin123

Option 2: Docker

docker compose up

Then open http://localhost:8501.

Option 3: Deploy Your Own

Or deploy manually using the included Dockerfile.railway and railway.json.

---

Features

• Hold Management — Create, update, release, and suspend litigation holds with full metadata (matter name, trigger event, scope, date ranges)
• Custodian Database — Manage custodians with contact info, department, title, and data source mapping
• Hold Notices — Generate and send hold notices to custodians via email (real SMTP or simulation mode)
• Acknowledgment Tracking — Custodians log in and acknowledge holds; track status per custodian (pending, notified, acknowledged, overdue)
• Automated Reminders — Schedule recurring reminders for non-responsive custodians
• Dashboard — View active holds, acknowledgment rates, and overdue custodians at a glance
• Audit Log — Immutable record of all system actions for defensibility
• Role-Based Access — Admin and custodian roles with appropriate permissions
• Email Modes — Toggle between real SMTP delivery and simulation mode for testing

---

For Developers

Project Structure

lhm_app/           # FastAPI backend
  models/           # SQLAlchemy ORM models
  schemas/          # Pydantic request/response schemas
  routers/          # API route handlers
  services/         # Business logic layer
lhm_frontend/      # Streamlit frontend
  pages/            # Multi-page app views
data/sample/        # Synthetic seed data
tests/              # pytest test suite

API Documentation

With the API running, visit http://localhost:8000/docs for interactive Swagger documentation.

Running Tests

pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest

Tech Stack

• Backend: Python 3.11+, FastAPI, SQLAlchemy 2.0, Pydantic v2
• Frontend: Streamlit
• Database: SQLite (production-ready for PostgreSQL)
• Auth: JWT with bcrypt password hashing
• Email: SMTP with simulation fallback
• Testing: pytest

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
DATABASE_URL	sqlite:///./data/legal_hold.db	Database connection string
SECRET_KEY	(dev default)	JWT signing key — change in production
EMAIL_MODE	simulation	smtp or simulation
SMTP_HOST		SMTP server hostname
SMTP_PORT	587	SMTP server port
SMTP_USER		SMTP username
SMTP_PASSWORD		SMTP password
SMTP_FROM	legalholds@example.com	Sender email address
API_BASE_URL	http://localhost:8000	Backend URL for frontend

---

License

MIT License — Copyright (c) 2026 Noam Raz and Pleasant Secret Labs