Legal Aid: Contacts

Once legal aid is set up in your account, you can create a contact for your legal aid client or edit an existing contact to allow for legal aid billing. When creating a legal aid contact, the date of birth field, first initial and start of the contact surname form the system-generated unique client number (UCN) required by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) for certificated civil or civil-controlled legal aid contacts.

Create contacts for Legal Aid

1. Click New Person on the top right of your Clio account.
2. Click Person.
3. Enter the client's First and Last Name.
4. Click Add advanced Client Details for Legal Aid.
5. Enter the required Legal Aid details (including date of birth).
6. Record any further client details.
7. Click Save and create new matter if you are creating the matter from this page.

Edit contacts for Legal Aid

If you need to edit an existing matter to allow for legal aid, you will first need to edit the contact. Clio Manage does not have a bulk edit feature for contacts, and you can legal aid contacts individually.

1. Go to Contacts and click Edit. You can also search for the contact in the search bar and click Edit contact in the contact’s dashboard.
2. Click Add advanced client details for Legal Aid.
3. Enter the required Legal Aid details (including date of birth).
4. Click Save and create new matter if you are creating the matter from this page. If the client already has a matter, click Save contact.

Edit and understand Legal Aid UCN/ UFN

The unique client number (UCN) and unique file number (UFN) identify Legal Aid matters with the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). These fields are system-generated based on the following data and the format required by the LAA:

• UFN: (Case Start Date)/(Case ID)
• UCN: (Date of Birth)/(First Initial)/(Start of Surname)

If you edit an existing contact for legal aid, update the UCN/UFN after changing a contact's date of birth: 

1. Locate and access the Legal Aid matter. 
2. Click Edit Matter at the top right corner.
3. Click Save Matter.