Add parties to a matter

What the Parties tab shows

Open the matter and click the Parties tab. It has three sections.

• Our side: the client, anyone acting for the client (a witness or expert, for example), and anyone who pays the matter's invoices, marked Pays invoices.
• Other side: adverse parties and opposing counsel.
• Court: the judge and court, taken from the next hearing, or the latest one that has a judge.

Everyone listed here is checked in future conflict searches, with their role on this matter. See Run a conflict check.

Add a party

1. On the Parties tab, click Add party. You can also click Add on the Parties card on Overview.
2. Under Who are they?, choose one:
   • Our side: a witness, expert or someone acting for the client
   • Adverse party: the person or company on the other side
   • Opposing counsel: the other side's law firm
3. Enter the Name: a full name or company name.
4. Add the role if you know it. The field changes with your choice: Role on this matter (e.g. Witness), Role in the case (e.g. Defendant) or Lead lawyer (e.g. T. Bakare SAN).
5. Add an Email and Phone if you have them. Both are optional.
6. Click Add party.

The party appears in its section straight away, and on the Parties card on the matter's Overview.

Edit or remove a party

1. Click Edit beside the party.
2. Change the name, role, email or phone and click Save.
3. To take them off the matter, click Remove from matter.

You can't change a party's side when editing. To move someone, remove them and add them again on the right side.

The client and the judge

The client is set when you open the matter, not on this tab. Click Open client to go to their profile. If no client shows, add one from the matter's Settings.

The judge comes from the matter's hearings. Add the judge when you add a hearing, and they show here. Click Edit in the Court section to go to the Court tab.

Questions

Who appears as paying invoices?

Anyone set as a payer in the matter's billing, other than the client. They're shown under Our side with Pays invoices. Change payers in the matter's billing settings.

Do parties get emails from Chronica?

Adverse parties and opposing counsel never do. Hearing reminders and outcome updates go to the client. If the client has no email address, Chronica sends them to a payer with an email address instead, and failing that to someone on Our side who has one. See Client hearing reminders.