Matters & Clients
How to open and manage matters, maintain client records, organize contacts, run conflict checks, and manage documents.
Creating a Matter
What it does
A matter is the central organizing unit in B.Legal. Every time entry, invoice, expense, document, and court deadline is associated with a matter. Creating a matter establishes the client relationship, practice area, rate, and key dates for the engagement.
How to use it
- Open the new matter form. Navigate to Matters in the sidebar and click the + button. On macOS you can also press Cmd + Shift + N.
- Enter the matter name. This is the primary identifier. Use a format that your firm recognizes, such as "Smith v. Jones" or "ABC Corp - Contract Review."
- Assign a client. Select an existing client or create a new one inline (see Managing Clients below).
- Select the practice area. The practice area drives the task templates that are applied automatically when the matter is created.
- Run the conflict check. The form includes a conflict check against your clients, contacts, parties, and matter records. You must either record a conflict-check disposition or explicitly toggle "Skip conflict check" -- the skip itself is recorded. See Conflict Checks below.
- Enter court information (if applicable). For litigation matters, add the court, index/case number, and judge in the matter's litigation fields.
- Set the statute of limitations date (if applicable). Enter the SOL date. B.Legal surfaces escalating warnings as the date approaches (see SOL Tracking below).
- Save. The matter opens to its detail view where you can add parties, documents, court dates, and more.
Tips
- Practice-area task templates pre-populate the matter's task list with the routine steps for that kind of case, so intake never skips the basics.
- Every conflict check -- including an explicit skip -- is stored with its result and disposition, so the firm can later prove the check happened.
Editing Matter Details
What it does
After creation, you can update the details of a matter: status, court information, SOL date, insurance details, fee arrangement, and the opposing-party information used by conflict checks.
How to use it
- Open the matter. Click any matter in the Matters list to open its detail workspace -- a tabbed view covering parties, tasks, documents, calendar, billing, invoices, and notes.
- Open the edit sheet. Use the Edit action to open the matter edit form, change the fields you need, and save.
- Manage parties. In the Parties tab, add the people and entities on the other side of the case -- opposing parties, co-defendants, witnesses, experts, and more, across ten roles. Parties feed directly into conflict checks.
- Update matter status. Matters can be filtered by status in the matter list, so closed matters stay out of your day-to-day view.
Tips
- Use the Notes tab on a matter to add internal notes that are never client-facing.
- The matter overview shows at-a-glance cards: SOL countdown, fees and retainer, quick stats, upcoming dates, and recent activity.
Statute of Limitations Tracking
What it does
B.Legal monitors the statute of limitations date on every matter that has one set. Urgency escalates through three tiers -- notice at 180 days, warning at 90 days, critical at 30 days -- with countdown badges on the matter list, local notifications, a persistent panel on the calendar, and a firm-wide SOL report.
How to use it
- Set the SOL date on the matter. When creating or editing a matter, enter the statute of limitations date in the SOL Date field.
- Watch the countdown. Every matter row shows an SOL countdown badge, color-escalating as the date approaches.
- Review the firm-wide report. The SOL report lists matters with upcoming SOL dates sorted by urgency, so the closest deadlines are always at the top.
- Toll or extend the SOL. If the statute is tolled, update the SOL date on the matter and note the basis in the matter's SOL notes.
Tips
- The SOL date is entered by you -- B.Legal tracks and escalates it, but determining the correct limitations period for the claim remains the attorney's judgment.
- Matters without an SOL date show no countdown. Make entering the SOL date part of your intake routine for every litigation matter.
Managing Clients
What it does
Client records store names (including DBA), contact information, and a link to all associated matters. The client list shows per-client financial rollups, and duplicate clients can be merged safely with a real merge engine.
How to use it
- Open Clients. Click "Clients" in the sidebar (or press Cmd + 4 on macOS). The alphabet-indexed list shows every client with their financial rollups.
- Create a new client. Click the + button. Enter the client's name, DBA if any, and contact information.
- View associated matters. The client detail shows the client's matters and financial picture.
- Merge duplicates. If the same client was entered twice, the merge engine combines them -- transferring matters and contacts and repairing references across invoices and payments.
Tips
- Add client email addresses and phone numbers -- the Gmail and iMessage capture pipelines use them to match communications to the right client.
- The web app offers additional client profile fields for remote data entry.
Contacts Directory
What it does
The contacts directory is a firm-wide rolodex of the people and organizations you interact with in your practice -- opposing counsel, expert witnesses, court staff, insurance adjusters, mediators, and other professionals -- organized across nine litigation-specific contact types.
How to use it
- Open Contacts. Click "Contacts" in the sidebar.
- Add a contact. Click the + button. Enter the contact's name, organization, phone, email, and type.
- Search and filter. Use search to find contacts by name or organization, and filter by contact type to see, for example, all expert witnesses in your directory.
Tips
- Contacts are included in conflict checks, alongside clients, matters, and per-matter parties.
- Case-specific people (opposing parties, witnesses) belong on the matter's Parties tab; the contacts directory is for the professionals you encounter across cases.
Conflict Checks
What it does
The conflict check searches your clients, matter adverse-party fields, contacts, and per-matter parties for potential conflicts of interest, using fuzzy matching to catch name variations. Every check is recorded -- the query, what was searched, the results, your disposition, who ran it, and when -- so the firm can demonstrate its screening diligence later.
How to use it
- Checks during matter creation. The new-matter form requires either a recorded conflict-check disposition or an explicit "Skip conflict check" toggle before the matter can be saved. A skip is itself recorded as a disposition.
- Run a standalone check. Open the Conflicts section from the sidebar and enter the name you want to screen.
- Review results. Matches are grouped by severity, showing the record matched (client, matter party, contact) and the nature of the relationship.
- Record the disposition. Mark the check cleared, flagged, or waived, and add a note explaining your reasoning -- for example, the basis for proceeding after informed consent.
Tips
- Fuzzy matching catches variations in name spelling, so "Jon Smith" can surface when you search "John Smith."
- Conflict-check records are retained and audit-logged. They serve as the firm's evidence of screening for ethics compliance.
- The check is only as good as your data: keep parties, contacts, and opposing-party fields current on every matter.
Document Management
What it does
B.Legal's document library lets you upload and organize documents per matter, with ten legal-specific categories, folder organization, bulk operations, and automatic backup to Google Drive on import.
How to use it
- Open the matter's Documents tab. Navigate to any matter and click the Documents tab.
- Upload a document. Import files into the matter's library. Imported documents are mirrored to Google Drive automatically when Drive backup is connected.
- Organize with categories and folders. Assign one of the ten legal categories (pleadings, correspondence, discovery, and more) and arrange documents into folders.
- Preview and manage. Preview documents with QuickLook on macOS, and use bulk operations to move or manage many documents at once.
- Browse firm-wide. The All Documents view shows documents across every matter in a folder grid.
Tips
- Google Drive backup is upload-on-import: it mirrors files you bring into B.Legal. Connect it in Settings, then Integrations.
- Document files live on the device where you imported them (plus the Drive mirror) -- import case files on the machine where you work with them.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts are a feature of the macOS app.
Need help with a specific workflow?
We can help you set up your intake routine, conflict-check practice, and document organization for your practice.