Create matters
If you created the client and did not click Save and create matter when setting up the client, follow these steps to create a matter:
- Go to Matters and click New matter.
- Enter the required Matter description and Permissions.
- From the Practice area dropdown, select the required Legal Aid type:
- Legal Aid - Certificated Civil
- Legal Aid - Civil Controlled
- Legal Aid - Criminal Controlled
- Scroll down to the Legal Aid section and enter the required Legal Aid information.
- Enter the required matter Billing preferences.
- If this matter is fixed fee, select this here by changing the Hourly dropdown menu to Fixed fee, and then select the correct Fixed fee category.
- Click Save matter.
Create community care certificated civil matters
Rates for community care certificated civil matter are available by following the setup below while creating or editing the matter.
- Select Legal Aid - Certificated Civil as Practice Area.
- On the Legal Aid fields section, select your desired LAA Contract.
- Select Other Legal Help under the Fee Scheme field.
- Select Other Legal Help under Category of Law field.
- Fill out the other fields as you need.
- Click Save matter.
Manage escape fees
Once added to a matter, the created time entry will appear on the list of Activities as a billable item, as well as the Matter Dashboard under Work In Progress. It will also be included in a future generated bill.
This option is typically used by firms when the matter has progressed through the threshold before a claim has been submitted to the LAA.
- Go to the Legal Aid matter.
- Select the Activities subtab.
- Click New time entry.
- Enter the Duration.
- Select the Activity category from the list of predetermined rates for this matter type.
- If the matter Billing preference is set to Fixed fee, the box for Non-billable is checked by default. Uncheck this box before saving the time entry.
- Click Save entry.
This option is typically used by firms when a claim has previously been submitted for a matter or a matter has progressed into a new phase. Eg. when criminal matters move from police station (investigations), to court (proceedings), etc.
Following these steps will result in two linked matters in Clio. While they will have different matter numbers, both will have the exact same UFN number. The UFN number must remain the same as the unique filing number required for communication with the LAA. It identifies these two matters as one of the same.
Note: Duplicating a matter will create a new matter from the configuration of the original matter. It will not duplicate documents, bills or other parts of the original matter.
Step 1: Duplicate the matter:
- Go to the Legal Aid matter.
- Click Duplicate in the upper right corner.
- On the new matter, click Edit matter.
- Edit any relevant information you need to.
- If you need to change the matter type to access different rates, you can do so in the Legal Aid section.
- In the Billing preferences section, select Hourly or Fixed fee.
Step 2: Add activities to the new matter:
- Go to the Activities subtab.
- Click New time entry.
- Enter the Duration.
- Select the Activity category from the list of predetermined rates for this matter type.
- If the matter Billing preference has been set to Hourly, the box for Non-billable will be unchecked by default. If the matter Billing preference is set to Fixed fee, the box for Non-billable is checked by default. Uncheck this box before saving the time entry.
- Click Save entry.
