Creating Matters
Adding matters is one of the key actions you will be doing in Lawmatics. Matters can be created any of the following ways:
- From a custom form
- From the quick add button in Lawmatics
- From the matters page on the CRM
- From the Lawmatics dashboard
- From a booking link
We’ll be going in depth on each of these different methods to create a matter. Before moving forward, we also recommend that you first read our article on matters vs. contacts.
1. Creating a matter from a custom form
One of the main benefits of using custom forms to create matters is that you have complete customization over what fields you want to capture. You can build any of our standard fields and any of your custom fields into a custom form. This allows you to capture any and all information that is essential for your intake right in one place.
When you create a custom form you will need to select the form type of either contact or matter. This determines what will be created when the form is submitted, so in the case of intake forms, you’ll want the type to be matter.
We suggest creating a custom form to be used for Phone Intake. This form can act as a script for whoever is taking inbound calls at your firm and allows them to take down all necessary information and create the matter with one click. You can also make this form internal so that you have access to internal fields like marketing source, pipeline stage, etc.
You will also want to create a form to embed on your website. Embedding this form on your site will result in a new matter automatically being created in Lawmatics each time a new lead fills out the form.
Remember, you can also trigger any automations on a form being filled. This means that you can trigger different actions if a matter came from the ‘phone intake form’ rather than the ‘web form’.
Find more information about custom forms here.
2. Lawmatics quick add button
When you are in Lawmatics you will notice an orange plus sign in the very top right corner. Hovering over this icon will bring up a menu of quick actions, you’ll select Add Matter to create a matter.
This will bring up our standard create matter box. Here you will be able to assign a practice area, owner, case title, pipeline stage, etc and fill in the contact details for this matter. You can also select from existing contacts if this is a return client.
Note that all of the fields you see in the box are not required to create a matter from this method. Feel free to leave any of those fields blank that you do not wish to populate at this time.
Creating a matter this way will put the matter on your pipeline at whichever stage you have selected. You can then pull up the matter to share any forms, edit any additional fields, etc.
3. Matters page (under CRM tab)
When you hover over the CRM tab found in the top left of Lawmatics, you will see an option for Matters. Clicking on Matters will bring up all of your matters, filtered on the left side of the screen by status.
You will see a button to Add Matter at the bottom of this page. Selecting this option will bring up the same create matter box that you would see from option 2 above.
4. Lawmatics Dashboard
You can access the dashboard at any point by clicking on the Lawmatics logo in the very top left. Here you will find a number of quick actions and stats at a glance. One of the options found in the Quick Actions section at the very top is New Matter.
This will open the same create matter box that we have discussed in the last two methods of creating a matter.
5. Booking link
You can use our custom booking links to simultaneously schedule an appointment with a new lead and create them as a matter in Lawmatics. This feature lets the PNC choose their own appointment based on your availability. In order to use this feature, you will first need to have an external calendar synced (settings -> calendar settings).
To create a booking link, you’ll go to settings -> event settings. Here you can create custom event types for your firm like “Initial Consultation” or “Follow Up Meeting”, etc. Once you have created the event types and given each a default duration, you will see an icon on the right with an arrow. Use this icon to generate the booking link, determining whichever users and locations you would like to include for the meeting.
For more information on event types, click here; and for more information on booking links, click here.
You can then share this link via email or embed it on your website. When a PNC clicks the link, they will need to fill in their name and email before they can book an appointment. When they do so, their matter will be automatically created in Lawmatics along with the scheduled appointment for the time that they've chosen.
FAQ's
How do I create a lead versus a client?
Both of these will be considered a matter in Lawmatics, so you will create a new matter for either. The differentiating factor between a lead and a client will be the Status of that matter. When you first create a new matter, the status will default to PNC (potential new client). For any leads, you will want them to remain in this PNC status until they have hired and become a client. If you are adding in a new matter who is already a client, once you have created their matter, you will go to that matter's profile, and then click the Convert button in the top right to change their status to Hired.
Should I create a contact or a matter when I get a new lead?
New leads (PNCs) should always be created as a matter. Matters are used for any client or potential client, whereas contacts are used for referral partners, colleagues, friends & family, etc.
How does Lawmatics handle duplicates?
Lawmatics checks for duplicate contacts automatically based on their email address. So if you try to create a new matter with an email address that already exists on a contact in the system, you will simply end up with a new matter created for that existing contact. Since it is possible the same contact might have multiple matters with your firm, you can create multiple matters for the same contact, but the system will always prevent duplicate contacts based on email address.