Create Matters

In Clio Manage, you create a matter for every case your firm agrees to take on. Creating the matter means completing the matter form, the set of sections that capture everything the matter holds, from the client and matter details through to billing preferences and document folders. The same form reopens through Edit matter, and what you enter there populates the matter dashboard.

The form sections below follow the order in which they appear under the sections on the left when creating a matter. Sections tied to an add-on or a plan appear only for firms that have them.

Create matters

A matter always attaches to a contact. Link the matter to an existing contact or create a new contact before saving the matter. Clio Manage offers three places to start a new matter.

Create placeholder matters

A placeholder matter is a temporary matter for tracking time spent on potential clients before your firm decides to represent them. Firms that prefer to wait for a signed engagement letter before opening a real matter can record that time against the placeholder, then move it once the letter arrives.

1. Create a company contact with your firm's name. Learn more about creating contacts.
2. Create a new matter for that contact, using any of the three paths above.
   • Under Matter description, enter Placeholder.
3. Add time entries to the placeholder matter. Learn more about time entries.
   • Under Description, enter the potential client's full name.
   • Under Matter, select the placeholder matter you created.
   • Complete the remaining time entry details as necessary.
4. Once your firm decides to represent a potential client, create a matter for that client and move the time entries in bulk to the new matter.

Set up the matter

These four sections hold the core records of your case, such as who the client is, what kind of case it is, and who your firm is accountable for the legal matter. The fields here feed to the matters dashboard, matter stages, and reporting, so completing them accurately at the beginning of a case sets matters up for the lifecycle of your matters. You can use a matter template or an uploaded document to fill much of the matter form for you. 

Template information

Select an existing matter template to speed up matter creation. When an administrator sets a default template, its preset information automatically applies to the matter form. To use a different one, select it under Use an existing template. Any field the template fills stays editable. Learn more about matter templates.

Set up from documents

Upload or select existing documents to populate matter fields in the sections that follow. You can extract the information from engagement letters, retainer agreements, intake forms, email communications, and similar source documents to fill relevant matter fields. Only empty matter fields populate this way. Fields already filled by a matter template or by a third-party integration stay as they are. Extracted fields are highlighted in blue, so review the matter details afterward to confirm accuracy and completeness.

Use Upload new documents or Select documents in Clio to attach matter-related documents, up to five files per matter.

• Supported formats: PDF, DOC, DOCX, TXT, RTF, PNG, JPG.
• Maximum file size: 15 MB per file.

Client

You can add up to eleven clients to a matter. If you add more than one client, you will need to specify the default client. The default client becomes the primary contact and bill recipient. For multiple bill recipients, you can use split billing to preset the portion. You can also add non-client payers to a matter.

Matter details

This section captures case-specific information. See below for a summary of unfamiliar fields.

Responsible lawyer

The individual responsible for the matter.

Originating lawyer

The individual who brought the matter to the firm.

Responsible staff

An individual responsible for matter-related tasks beyond the responsible attorney. Automated workflows can use this field to assign task lists and tasks to that individual.

Client reference number

A tracking value of your firm's choosing, such as an internal reference number.

Location

The trial location, or the location of the incident.

Practice area

The type of case. Clio Manage arrives pre-populated with practice areas, and your firm can add its own. Learn more about Create and Manage Practice Areas. 

Set matter access and notifications

Setting permissions and blocking users are administrator controls, and blocking overrides group access. You can use matter permissions to maintain client privacy or block users' access if a conflict of interest arises. Matter notifications work the other way: you choose which firm users receive notifications, and each user controls which notification types they receive.  

Matter permissions

Select which firm users and groups have access to this matter. Selecting specific users or groups limits access to those users or groups. Learn more about setting matter permissions.

KYC checks

Know Your Client (KYC) information records the details of a risk assessment for a client's matter. What you log for the matter appears on the matter dashboard and on the dashboard of the primary contact associated with the matter.

You can add KYC information when creating a matter or when editing a matter. You can also add KYC information to a contact without tying it to a specific matter, in which case it stays off the matter dashboards for that contact. To keep KYC out of Clio Manage, leave the fields blank or disable the KYC field set.

Matter notifications

Firm users added to this section receive notifications when the matter is updated or deleted, when the matter budget is updated or crosses its threshold, and when the matter's trust balance falls below a specified threshold. Each user chooses which types to receive.

1. Open the matter and scroll to the Matter notifications section.
2. Under Firm user, search for a firm user.
3. To remove a firm user, click the X beside their name.
4. Click Save matter.

To change which notification types you receive:

1. Go to Settings > Notifications.
2. Scroll down to Matters.
3. Toggle the relevant notification types on or off.

Block users

Administrators can block specific users from a matter, either one at a time or in bulk. Blocking users will restrict access where a conflict of interest exists. Unblocking is available at any time. Learn more about blocking users in bulk.

1. Create a new matter, or edit an existing matter.
2. Scroll to the Block users section.
3. Under Choose users to block, select the users to exclude from the matter.
4. Click Save matter.

Add related contacts and custom fields

These two sections attach the people and the firm-specific data that sit alongside the client on a case. Both appear on the matter dashboard once saved, and both are available to any user who can edit the matter.

Related contacts

Related contacts are contacts separate from the main contact on the matter, such as parents or guardians, siblings, spouses, children, and caretakers. Once added, they appear on the matter dashboard.

1. Create a new matter, or edit an existing matter.
   • You can also click Add next to Related contacts on the matter's Dashboard.
2. Scroll to the Related contacts section.
3. Click Add related contact.
4. Select the contact, or create a new one, and specify that contact's relationship to the matter.
5. Optional: Check the box for Bill recipient.
6. Click Save matter.

Custom fields

Custom fields are individualized fields of information relevant to a contact or a matter. Learn more about creating custom fields and field sets. Once created, the custom fields and field sets on a matter appear on the matter dashboard.

1. Open the matter and scroll to the Custom fields section.
2. Click the Add a Custom Field or Custom Field set box and select a custom field or field set.
3. Complete the custom field details.
4. Optional: Click the X to remove a custom field or field set.

Set billing, attach records, and link conflict checks  

When creating a matter, you can set billing rates, fund allocation, assign task lists, and link conflict checks. Billing preference drives every activity, expense, and invoice on the matter, so confirm it before any time is recorded against the case. The Reports section is an administrator control, since it overrides a firm-wide setting. Personal injury preferences appear for firms with the Personal Injury add-on.

Billing preference

Specify the billing method for the matter. By default, a matter is billed at the hourly rate in your user profile. This section is where you set a different rate or set the matter to contingency or flat-fee billing. Learn more about the billing rate and activities hierarchy.

1. Open the matter and scroll to the Billing preference section.
2. Select the invoice template.
3. Check or clear This matter is billable.
   • A non-billable matter defaults its activities to zero, and those activities stay off bills.
   • To show a non-billable activity on the bill without charging the client, check both Non-billable and Show this entry on the bill when adding the time or expense entry.
4. Under Billing method, select hourly, contingency, or flat fee. Learn more about contingency and flat fee matters.
5. Where applicable, choose the currency for the matter.
   • That currency applies to every activity, expense, invoice, and payment related to the matter.
   • Currencies added for your firm appear in this dropdown.
6. Optional: Choose a Rate table and Rate category. Learn more about managing user rates with rate tables.
7. Optional: Click Add a custom billing rate to override your personal rate for this matter.
8. Optional: Click Set a budget for this matter, then select which firm users receive a notification when the matter reaches a budget threshold.
9. Optional: Click Split the invoice for this matter, then click + Add payer. Under Payer, search for and select a contact, then under Invoice portion, set the percentage of the invoice total that bill recipients pay.
   • Optional: Click Send invoice copy to all bill recipients to include the payer when sending bills for this matter.
10. Optional: Under Minimum required, enter a minimum trust balance for this matter to trigger a warning on the matter's financial dashboard. To allow automatic calculation and trust request generation, toggle Enable evergreen trust funds. Learn more about setting up evergreen trust.
11. Optional: Under LEDES billing, select Enabled or Disabled to set whether UTBMS codes are required for time and expense entries on this matter. This section appears only where the matter's client has LEDES billing enabled.

Personal injury preferences

For firms with the Personal Injury add-on, this section sets preferences for personal injury cases, including whether legal fees deduct before or after expenses when determining a client's net compensation at settlement. Learn more about settlement.

1. Open the matter and scroll to the Personal injury preferences section.
2. Make any necessary changes.
3. Click Save matter.

Task lists

You can add your task lists when creating a matter. Learn more about tasks and task lists.

1. Open the matter and scroll to the Task lists section.
2. Under Task list, select the list.
3. Click Add task list to add another list.
4. Optional: Click Notify assignees when these tasks are created to notify the firm user responsible for the task list. Learn more about adding assignees to task lists.
5. Click Save matter.

Document folders

Create document folders during matter creation. Once created, the folders are available in the matter's Documents subtab, within the main Documents tab, and within the matter's folder in Clio Drive.

1. Open the matter and scroll to the Document folders section.
2. Under Folder name, name the folder, then select the document category under Category.
   • Document categories group and sort documents and templates in Clio Manage. Learn more about document categories.
3. Optional: Click Add a document folder to add another folder.
4. Click Save matter.

Reports

Administrators can use this section to override the firm-wide originating and responsible attorney allocation for the fee allocation report on a single matter.

The fee allocation report covers the time and expenses each user has billed and collected for each matter, which helps determine a firm's bonus payout. Administrators set firm-wide percentages for how much of the collected time each originating and responsible attorney earns, and can override that firm-wide setting for individual matters. Reports generated previously keep their original allocations.

1. Open the matter and scroll to the Reports section.
2. Firm-wide settings apply by default. To allocate percentages specific to this matter, clear the Use firm settings box. Each allocation carries its own checkbox.
3. Enter a percentage under Originating lawyer allocation, Responsible lawyer allocation, or both.
4. Click Save matter.

Conflict checks

Link a conflict check that has already been run to this matter, so the check and its result stay with the case record. Learn more about conflict checks in Clio Manage and Clio Grow.

1. Open the matter and scroll to the Conflict checks section.
2. Under Conflict checks, select a conflict check.
3. Optional: Click Link another conflict check to add another, or click the X to remove one.
4. Click Save matter.

Up next

• Change the matter later: Edit and Duplicate Matters. Reopen the matter form to update details, edit matters in bulk, or duplicate a matter as the basis for a new one.
• Track the case as it progresses: Change Matter Statuses. Move a matter between open, pending, and closed.