Matter Management

If you have the appropriate access rights, you can manage matters yourself: add matters, edit matters, and archive or delete matters that are no longer active.

Managing matters

Go to Matters → Matters to see all active and archived matters in your environment. You can also use the Matter search field at the top right of every page to jump straight to a specific matter.

Matters overview page, reached via Matters → Matters.

Use matter search to find a specific matter quickly, or use the filters under More filters, such as matter type, practice area, or status. See the article ↪ Matter search for the available filters.

Adding a matter

You can add a new matter from the matter overview page, from a client's detail page, or as the final step of creating a client.

• On the matter overview page, go to Matters → Matters and click New matter.

Matters overview page, showing the New matter button.

• On a client's detail page, click New matter.

Client detail page, showing the New matter button.

Adding a matter requires at least the Client Management permission. A new matter can also be added during the final step of client creation. See the article ↪ Client management to learn how.

Clicking New matter opens the matter form. Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required. We recommend filling in as much matter information as possible. The other fields are explained below.

• Client*: the client the matter belongs to. The client must already exist in Legalsense before you can add the matter.
• Matter name*: the name of the matter, for example "advice" or the name of the counterparty. Legalsense shows the client name followed by " / " and the matter name in selection screens, when writing time, and when searching for a matter.
• Number: leave this blank if you use the default Legalsense numbering; Legalsense generates a matter number automatically when you save the matter. If your firm uses a different numbering system, enter the matter number manually.
• Description: an optional description of the matter.
• Date*: the matter's starting date.
• Client reference: a reference to include in correspondence or on the invoice, if the client requires one.
• Chinese wall kind*: enables setting up a Chinese wall for this matter. See the article ↪ Chinese walls if you are unsure what this means.
• Access kind*: Determines which users have access to this matter. Defaults to everyone.
• Practice area and Matter type: depending on your configuration, select the practice area and/or matter type. Legalsense also uses this information for management and reporting purposes.
• Referrer: defaults to the client's external referrer, but you can change it at matter level. Manage referrers at Settings → Lists → Referrers.
• Originator: the internal referrer, the fee earner who referred the matter. This field is also available in Legalsense reports.
• Billing supervisor and Matter supervisor: the fee earner responsible for the billing process and the fee earner responsible for the matter. These can be the same person.
• Practice group: This field only applies if practice groups are enabled for this client.
• Billing reference: the billing reference shown on the invoice.
• Status*: Describes the status of the matter (high risk/ low risk)
• Is AML required?*: choose Unknown, Yes, or No. Unknown is the default. If you later change the AML requirement on the AML matter, Legalsense updates this status on the matter accordingly.
• Is billable: defaults to the client's Is billable setting, but you can adjust it at matter level. Selected means time written on this matter can be included on invoices; unchecked means the matter is non-billable, and only non-billable activities are available when writing time on it.
• Office expense rates: only fill this in when the office expense rate for this matter differs from the rate set on the client.
• Language: defaults to the language set on the client, but you can change it at matter level.
• Currency: defaults to the native currency, but this can also be changed at the matter level.
• Default invoice template: set a different default invoice template for this matter.
• Discount rate: only fill this in when the discount rate for this matter differs from the rate set on the client.
• Pricing scheme: determines which rates apply to this matter. Defaults to the pricing scheme set on the client, but you can change it at matter level. For more information, see the article ↪ Pricing schemes.
• WIP percentage: the percentage at which Legalsense values the work in progress (WIP) on this matter; defaults to 100%. Legalsense revalues WIP based on this percentage, and you can include the revalued WIP as a column in reports. Note: rounding differences can occur in reports that use the revalued WIP.

Click Save to save the matter.

Note: To create a non-billable or internal matter, such as one used for tracking holidays or sick leave, see the article ↪ Non-billable/internal matters.

Editing a matter

Selecting a matter

Before you can edit a matter, select the matter you want to change. Click the matter via Matters → Matters, or use the Matter search field at the top right of every page. For more information about the filters for matters, see the article ↪ Matter search.

The matter's detail page shows all information about the selected matter.

Matter detail page, showing the matter's information.

Editing matter data

Click Edit to open the same form used when adding a matter, where you can edit the applicable fields. See Adding a matter above for a description of these fields.

Extra

When viewing an existing matter, the Extra button offers the following additional actions:

• Copy
• Print infosheet
• New matter email
• To archive
• Delete

Copy copies the matter to a new matter.

Copy matter form, showing the new matter name and checkboxes for moving time entries and disbursements.

Enter the name of the new matter, then use the checkboxes next to individual time entries and disbursements to move them to the new matter. Select Archive matter to prevent further time entries from being written on the original matter.

Print infosheet opens a ready-to-print page with all relevant matter information. This is useful, for example, as a matter cover page.

Print financial overview opens a ready-to-print page with all relevant financial information. This includes the billed hours for each timekeeper and the total due amount for this matter.

New matter email sends an email to the address of the user who clicked it, containing an overview of the matter and a link to it in Legalsense.

The address the email was sent to appears in the confirmation message shown at the top of the page.

Confirmation message at the top of the matter page, showing the email address the new matter email was sent to.

To archive moves the matter from the list of active matters to the list of archived matters. Archiving is only possible once all time entries, disbursements, and invoices related to the matter have been fully processed.

For more on how archiving works across matters, clients, and contacts, see the article ↪ Archiving.

Delete deletes the matter. Deletion is only possible if no invoices exist, regardless of payment status.

Change supervisor

You can change the supervisor of multiple matters as a bulk action. It lets you update the matter supervisor and billing supervisor on multiple matters at once, instead of editing each matter individually.

Note: You need the Manage matter permission.

1. Select the matters you want to update, then click Change supervisor.
2. Choose a New matter supervisor, a New billing supervisor, or both. Each can be changed independently, or left as-is.
3. To remove a supervisor instead of replacing it, check Clear matter supervisor or Clear billing supervisor. A checked Clear box always wins, even if you've also selected a name in the dropdown.
4. Click Save.

Change supervisor dialog, showing the New matter supervisor and New billing supervisor dropdowns with their Clear checkboxes.

Note: RECOFA matters (matters under the RECOFA pricing scheme) always need a matter supervisor, so you can't clear it, and you can only assign someone with a registered sworn-in date. Billing supervisor changes on RECOFA matters aren't affected by this.

Archived matters and any matters blocked by the RECOFA rules above are skipped automatically. After you save, Legalsense shows how many matters were updated and lists any that were skipped and why.

Add contact (to a matter)

This lets you attach a contact, a person or organization, to a matter with a specific role (for example client, opposing counsel, or referrer; roles are configurable per firm). You can find it on the matter detail page, in the Contacts section, as an Add contact button.

Matter detail page.

Note: if the firm has the newer Contact Manager feature enabled, this classic flow is replaced by a different UI.

Contact section on the matter detail page, showing the add contact button.

You can either add an existing contact, or Create a new contact, then link it. Jump to Create new organization or Create new person. The new contact isn't linked automatically; use Add contact again to link it.

Fill in the following fields, fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required.

Contact*: the person or organization to add (autocomplete).

Kind (role)*: the contact's role on the matter (firm-configurable).

Contact person: organizations only. A specific point of contact within the organization; refreshes when the contact changes.

Address: defaults to the contact person's address, or the organization's default billing address, but can be changed.

Their reference: free-text reference number for this matter.

Editing and removing

Add contact dialog, showing the Contact, Kind, Their reference, and Address fields, along with the New contact and Save buttons.

Each linked contact appears as a card showing its role, name, contact person (if any), phone/email, and reference. You can edit any of these except the contact itself, or remove the link, subject to the same permissions and archived-matter restriction.

Note: The same contact can be added more than once, but only with a different role or a different person within the same organization; duplicate role/person combinations are blocked.

Note: Contacts can’t be marked "primary" or "main"; that concept doesn't exist here.