Contacts vs. Matters

Table of Contents

1. Contact vs. Matter
2. Creating a Contact or Matter 
3. Contact vs. Matter Assets
4. Searching for a Contact or Matter
5. Swapping the Contact on an already existing Matter

Contact vs. Matter

In Lawmatics you’ll see many references to both contacts and matters. You may be wondering, what is the difference between these two and when should I use each one? Here is your answer.

Contacts in Lawmatics are referring to a person, whereas Matters are referring to a case. Every Matter will have one primary Contact, but not every Contact will necessarily have a Matter. Contacts who would not have a corresponding matter could be referral sources, other attorneys, friends & family, etc. These people are still important to have in the CRM, but they are not necessarily clients or prospective clients, and therefore, would not have a matter.

In Lawmatics you may occasionally see an option for "Clients". You will not use this option for creating any of your contacts, leads, clients, etc. Rather, you will always create either a contact or a matter for these.

Creating a Contact or Matter

We find that the easiest way to create a new matter is through a custom form, since it creates the matter, the primary contact to the matter, and can create any relationship types related to the matter all at once when the form is submitted.

However, using the orange plus sign in the upper right hand corner is another option. Selecting the green plus button to create a new contact will bring up fields for you to enter the person’s first name, last name, email, phone, etc. The green plus button to create a new company will allow you to create a company matter, rather than a matter for an individual contact. Lastly, clicking on the Associated Contact/Company dropdown will show a  list of all your existing contacts & companies in Lawmatics for you to select from.

If the same contact approaches your firm with separate matters, you will only need to create the contact once, and then you can link that contact to more than one matter.

Contact vs. Matter Assets

You will also notice as you are creating objects such as forms, documents, and emails in Lawmatics, you will have the option to select a type (Contact or Matter). If the form, doc, etc. is case related, for example an intake form, retainer agreement, consultation confirmation email, etc, then the type should be Matter.

If you are creating marketing content that could be used for any contact, not just matters, then the type should be Contact.

Remember, if you see Client as option, you should not use this. You will always want to select either Contact or Matter.

Searching for a Contact or Matter

When you are using the search bar (magnifying glass in the top right) to locate a contact or a matter, you will see an icon next to each search result. The icon with three people represents the matter, and the icon with a card represents the contact. In the image below, you’ll see the first result is the matter, showing the linked contact’s name in bold, and the title of the case after the dash. The second result is the contact.

If you’re looking for anything related to the case, like the activity timeline, notes, tasks, appointments, etc, then you will select the Matter from these search results.

When you hover over the CRM tab in the top left of Lawmatics, you’ll see options for both Matters and Contacts. When you select Matters, you have the option to completely customize who is shown on this page and save this view as a filtered view. You can think of it as a custom report right on your matter table!

When you hover on the CRM tab and select Contact, you will have preset filtered views for the contacts as well, these include has open matters (PNCs), has hired matetrs, has lost matters, and no matters. 

You will also notice a column titled Type. You can create custom Contact Types to label your non-matter contacts appropriately, for example you might have types for Referral Source, Colleague, etc. These contact types can be created by going to settings -> contact settings.

Once you’ve created your custom contact types, you can assign them to contacts by opening up the contact, and clicking the edit pencil under their name, which will show the drop down allowing you to choose your custom contact type. 

Remember that each matter can only have one contact assigned as the primary contact on that matter. You can have additional contacts attached to that matter as relationship types..

Swapping the Contact on an already existing Matter

If your firm often works with matters that have more than one contact, such as a married couple, you may prefer one contact or the other to be listed as the primary name on the matter in your CRM. The other will be listed as a "Spouse" relationship type. You can now easily switch the main contact on a matter from within the platform. 

Simply click the three dots under the matter name, and choose "Swap contact or Company", as shown below.

Once you select a different contact or, the name on the matter (Mickey Mouse in the example above) will change to the newly selected contact.

FAQs

What is the difference between contacts and companies?

Contacts represent an individual person. Companies represent a business entity. As a bare minimum, contacts require at least a First Name to be created in Lawmatics, whereas companies will require a Company Name. Once you have created a company, individual companies can be linked as company contacts. Learn more about companies here.

Can I view contacts on my pipeline?

No, the pipeline only shows matters. If anyone is going through your intake pipeline or any other various case management pipelines you might have created, they should be a matter rather than a contact.

How can I tell if I am looking at a contact or a matter?

When you are viewing a matter profile, you will see a case title across the top, along with fields for case description, practice area, and source info. You will also see which stage of the pipeline this matter is currently in. For contacts, you will not see any of that information. You will see a row of information at the very top of the page letting you know how many matters and PNCs exist for this contact. If you see "0" for both, then this contact does not have any matters.