Matter Management

Matters are the core of Lawzana Flow. Each matter represents a legal case, transaction, or engagement. This guide covers everything you need to know about managing matters.

Creating a Matter#

From Scratch#

1. Go to Matters in the sidebar
2. Click New Matter
3. Fill in the details:
   • Title (required) — the name of the case or matter
   • Description (optional) — a brief summary
   • Client Name (required)
   • Client Email (optional)
   • Client Phone (optional)
   • Practice Area — select from your configured areas
   • Assigned To — the responsible team member
4. The matter is created in the first stage of your pipeline

From a Lead#

1. Open a lead's detail page
2. Click Convert to Matter
3. Set a title — client details are carried over automatically

Views#

Lawzana Flow offers three ways to view your matters:

Kanban Board#

A visual pipeline where each column represents a stage. You can:

• Drag and drop matters between stages
• See the number of matters in each stage
• Quickly assess workload and progress

List View#

A traditional table showing all matters with columns for title, client, stage, practice area, assigned team member, and dates. Supports sorting and filtering.

Calendar View#

View matters by key dates and deadlines. Useful for tracking milestones and upcoming commitments.

Matter Stages#

Stages represent the workflow steps for a matter. When you first set up matters, choose a template:

Litigation Template#

Transactional Template#

Family Law Template#

Matter Detail Page#

Click any matter to open its detail page. It has six tabs:

Overview#

The summary view showing:

• Matter title, client, and stage
• Recent documents (latest uploads)
• Upcoming milestones
• Quick links to common actions
• Practice area and assigned team member

Documents#

Manage all files attached to this matter:

• Upload documents via drag-and-drop or file browser
• Organize files into folders with custom colors
• View AI analysis status for each document:
  • ✓ Text extracted
  • Summary available / pending
  • Facts extracted / pending
  • Chat ready
• Share documents with the client portal
• Supported formats: PDF, DOC, DOCX, TXT, PNG, JPG, JPEG
• Max size: 25 MB per file

Timeline#

A chronological activity stream including:

• Document uploads and changes
• Stage transitions
• Notes and comments
• Milestone updates
• Team member actions

Milestones#

Track key dates, tasks, and deadlines:

• Create milestones with title, due date, and priority
• Priority levels: Low, Medium, High, Critical
• Status tracking: Not started, In progress, Completed, Overdue
• Assign milestones to team members
• Milestones can be shared with clients via the portal

Participants#

Manage who has access to this matter:

• Add or remove team members
• View each participant's role
• Control access levels per matter

AI#

Access matter-level AI capabilities:

• Matter Chat — Ask questions about all documents in this matter at once
• The AI has context from every document uploaded to the matter
• Useful for cross-document analysis and case-wide questions

Tags and Practice Areas#

• Practice Areas — Categorize matters by legal specialty (e.g., Corporate, Family Law, Litigation). Configure in Settings.
• Tags — Add custom labels for additional organization. Tags are color-coded and searchable.

Filtering and Search#

On the matters list, you can:

• Search by title, client name, or description
• Filter by stage, practice area, or assigned team member
• Sort by date created, last updated, or alphabetically
• Use the command palette (⌘K / Ctrl+K) for instant search across all matters

Ethical Walls#

If your organization uses ethical walls, restricted matters display:

• A lock icon next to the matter title
• A restriction badge on the matter header
• Team members not authorized to view the matter see an access denied message

See Ethical Walls for details.