Add clients and matters

How clients and matters fit together

A client is the person or organisation you act for. A matter is one piece of work for that client: a suit, a transaction, an advisory brief. A matter holds its hearings, tasks, documents and bills, and every matter belongs to a client. Add the client first, then open matters for them.

Add a client

1. Open Clients from the sidebar and click Add client.
2. Choose Individual (a person) or Organisation (a company, NGO or government body).
3. Enter the Full name or Organisation name. This is the only field you must fill in.
4. Add anything else you have now: email, phone, address, state and where the client Came from. For an organisation you can add the RC number, the Industry and a Main contact person.
5. Click Add client to save and open the client's page, or Add and open a matter to go straight to a new matter for them.

If the name looks like a client you already have, Chronica shows the existing client. Click Open existing to use that one, or It's a different person (or It's a different company) to carry on.

For every field and option, see Add a client.

Bring in clients from a spreadsheet

If your clients are already in a spreadsheet, open Clients and click Import CSV. See Import clients for how to prepare the file.

Open a matter

1. Click New matter on Today, or press N then M anywhere.
2. Work through the steps on the left: Matter details, People, Billing and Access.
3. Check everything on Review.
4. Click Create matter, or Create and add another if you have more to enter.

On Matter details you give the matter a title, description, status, court, practice area and open date. On People you choose the client, the originating lawyer and at least one responsible lawyer.

Your progress is kept on this device until you create the matter, so you can leave and come back. The full walkthrough is in Open a matter.

What happens next

• The client appears in your Clients list.
• The matter joins your Matters list, ready for notes, tasks and billing.
• The Finish setting up your firm bar on Today ticks off Clients added and First matter.

Questions

Do I need an email address for the client?

No. But Chronica can only email a client, for example with a hearing update, if their record has an email address. You can add it later.

Who can see a new matter?

You choose that on the Access step of the new matter form. Once the matter is open, see Find your way around a matter.