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Open a matter

Create a matter in five steps, from its details and people to billing, access and a final review. Chronica keeps a draft on your device until you create it.

Updated 11 Oct 20263 min read

Where to start

  • On Matters, click New matter.
  • Click New in the top bar and choose Matter. From the keyboard, press N then M.
  • On a client's profile, click New matter. The client is filled in for you.

The form has five steps: Matter details, People, Billing, Access and Review. Click Next to move on. Each step checks its own fields before you can continue, and Back takes you to the step before.

Matter details

  1. Enter the Matter title, for example "Okafor v. Zenith Bank Plc".
  2. Choose the Practice area.
  3. Write a Description of at least 20 characters.
  4. Pick the Open date and the Status.
  5. Choose the Location, then the Court. The court list fills in once you pick a location.
  6. Add the Suit number (optional) now, or later once the matter is filed.
  7. Add the Next court date (optional) if you know it. It can't be before today.
Recording an old matter?

Set Status to Closed. A closed matter can't have a next court date, so that field is cleared.

People

  1. Search for the Client, or click Create new client if they aren't in Chronica yet.
  2. Choose the Originating lawyer: the lawyer who brought in the matter.
  3. Add at least one of the Responsible lawyers: the lawyers working on it.
  4. Add any Related contacts (optional), such as witnesses or experts, from Clients or Firm users, and give each a relationship.

Billing

  1. Leave This matter is billable on, or turn it off for a pro bono or internal matter. You can make it billable later from the matter's settings.
  2. Choose the Fee arrangement and enter the amount.
  3. Add a Court appearance fee (optional) if you charge per appearance.
  4. Under Payers, add at least one person from the matter's contacts. Tick Send invoice to all payers if more than one should get each invoice.
  5. Under Notifications, you can set a Budget alert or Balance alert: a threshold (an amount or a percentage) and who to notify.

For more on fees, see Fees on a matter.

Access

  1. Under Who can see this matter?, choose Only me, Specific people or Everyone.
  2. With Specific people, pick who has access. With Everyone, you can still add Blocked users (optional): everyone at the firm except these people.
  3. Under Documents, choose the Document category and type a Folder name with no spaces, such as "Court-Filings".

Review and create

  1. Check each section on Review. To change something, go back to that step, then click Back to review.
  2. Click Create matter. To start another one straight away, click Create and add another.

The new matter joins your Matters list, ready for hearings, notes, tasks and billing.

The next court date is not a hearing

The next court date you enter here doesn't put a hearing on the Court tab or remind the client. Open the matter and add the hearing to do that.

Questions

What happens if I leave halfway?

Chronica saves your progress as a draft and shows Draft saved. If you close the form, choose Save & exit to keep the draft or Discard draft to throw it away. The draft is kept in this browser only, so it won't be there on another device.

Why can't I go to the next step?

A required field on the current step is empty or invalid. The message under the field says what's missing.

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