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Concept

Matter management

Every case, with its time, documents and bills.

HOW IT WORKSNew legal workarrives, and amatter is openedwith a numberThe firm checks forconflicts and assignsa teamTime, documents,deadlines andexpenses are filedunder the matterThe matter's time andexpenses are turnedinto billsWhen the work ends,the matter is closedand archivedEvery question about a piece of legal work, its cost, papers and dates, is answered from one record.HOW IT WORKSNew legalwork arrives,and a matteris openedwith a numberThe firmchecks forconflictsand assignsa teamTime,documents,deadlines andexpenses arefiled underthe matterThe matter'stime andexpensesare turnedinto billsWhen thework ends,the matteris closedand archivedEvery question about a piece of legal work, its cost, papers and dates, is answered from one record.HOW IT WORKSNew legal work arrives, and a matter isopened with a number↓The firm checks for conflicts and assignsa team↓Time, documents, deadlines and expensesare filed under the matter↓The matter's time and expenses are turnedinto bills↓When the work ends, the matter is closedand archivedEvery question about a piece of legal work, its cost,papers and dates, is answered from one record.
Each piece of legal work is opened as a matter, and its time, documents, deadlines and bills are all filed under that one record until it closes.
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Matter management is the practice of organising all legal work by matter. A matter is one piece of legal work, such as a lawsuit, a property deal, a merger or an internal investigation. Every hour worked, every document, every deadline and every bill is filed under one matter number. Law firms and companies' own legal departments both work this way, and the software that does it is called matter management software.

Here is how it works in general. When new work arrives, someone opens a matter. It gets a number, a client, a type, a team of lawyers and often a budget. A law firm first runs a conflict check: a search of its records to make sure that it is not already acting for the other side. From then on, everything is recorded against the matter. Lawyers record their time on it. Documents, emails and drafts are stored under it, and only the matter's team can open them. Court dates and filing deadlines are entered, with reminders. Every month, the firm turns the time and expenses recorded on the matter into a bill. When the work ends, the matter is closed, and its documents are kept for as long as the rules require.

Organising work by matter answers the questions that lawyers and their clients ask every day. How much has this lawsuit cost so far? Which outside law firm is handling it? When is the next hearing? Who may see these papers?

Take, for example, a company's legal department facing a dispute with a supplier. In its enterprise legal management (ELM) system, the dispute is one matter, with the outside firm's bills, the budget and the next hearing date in one place.

Consider a law firm working on a merger. Its law practice management software records each lawyer's time on that matter, often in six-minute units, and turns it into the month's bill.

For instance, a legal document management system stores every draft of a merger agreement under its matter, and blocks lawyers who are not on that matter from opening it.

How is matter management different from contract management? Contract management, part of legal operations, tracks one contract through drafting, signing and renewal. A matter is a piece of work, which may involve many contracts, or none at all, as in a lawsuit. Matter management is also closely tied to billable hours, because the time recorded against each matter is what a law firm charges for. A work order applies the same idea to maintenance: one job, one record, from start to close.

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