In Clio Manage, you can specify whether a matter is visible only to you, all firm users, and/or a group of firm users using matter permissions, and you can add billing rates specific to matters that you work on. Administrators also have the option to view which matters they are restricted from viewing, update matter permissions in bulk, and block specific users from accessing matters.
Set matter permissions
All firm users can set permissions when creating or editing a matter. Matters are visible to all firm users by default, but you can also choose specific groups and/or users that have access to the matter. If you select specific groups and/or users, only those groups and/or users will have access to the matter.
Note: You can add a maximum of 20 users and/or groups to a single matter. Once you have added 20, you will no longer be able to add any more users and/or groups.
- Go to Matters, find your matter, and then click Edit. You can also search for the matter in the search bar and click Edit matter.
- Scroll down to the Matter permissions section.
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Under Firm users with access, select either Everyone or Specific users or groups.
- Everyone: If you select this option, all firm users will have access to this matter.
- Specific users or groups: If you select this option, you can choose up to 20 firm users and/or groups of users to have access to this matter. Select your users and/or groups under Add users or groups. Once added, you can remove a user or group by clicking the minus symbol.
- Click Save matter.
View and update matter permissions in bulk
Firm administrators have the option to filter and view matters that they are restricted from accessing in the matters table and the option to update matter permissions in bulk. These actions allow you to audit and correct permissions across matters and ensure that matter details are only visible to users with appropriate permissions.
Note: Only administrators can perform these actions.
- Go to Matters > Matters.
- Click Filters.
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Under Admin view, select either Matters I have full access to or Matters I am restricted from.
- Matters I have full access: If you select this option, the matters table will only show matters that you have full access to.
- Matters I am restricted from: If you select this option, the matters table will only show matters that you are restricted from viewing.
- Click Apply filters.
- Go to Matters > Matters.
- Check the box next to each matter for which you want to change permissions.
- The new matter permissions that you choose will affect all of the selected matters.
- You can select up to 200 matters to edit in bulk.
- Click Edit and select Update matter permissions.
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Under Choose which firm users will have access going forward, select either Everyone or Specific users or groups.
- Everyone: If you select this option, all firm users will have access to this matter.
- Specific users or groups: If you select this option, you can choose up to 20 firm users and/or groups of users to have access to this matter. Select your users and/or groups under Add users or groups. Once added, you can remove a user or group by clicking the minus symbol.
- Optional: Under Choose who will receive matter notifications going forward, select the firm users who you want to receive notifications for various matter events. Learn more about user notifications here.
- Click Update permissions.
Block users from accessing matters
If your are an administrator on your firm's account, you can block specific users from viewing or accessing details of any matter they should not have permission to access. You can block users one matter at a time in the matter form or in bulk from the main Matters tab, allowing you to easily restrict users from accessing matters where there may be conflicts of interest. You can unblock users at any time. Learn more about blocking users on a single matter in the matter form here.
Note: Blocking users will override group permissions. This means that if a specific firm user is part of a group that has permission to access the matter, blocking that user will prevent them from accessing the matter regardless of any group they may be a part of.
Tip: Users who have access to a matter can view blocked users for that matter in the Timeline and Details sections of the matter's Dashboard and in the Firm Feed.
- Go to the main Matters tab.
- Check the box next to the matters that you want to block specific users from accessing.
- At the top of the table, click Edit and then select Block users.
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Under Select users, select the user(s) that you do not want accessing the matter.
- If you previously blocked a user on a matter and you want to continue to block them, you will need to select the user again in order to retain the block.
- Click Block users.
Manage matter groups
Groups are categories of firm users that can be assigned to certain matters. When creating or editing a matter, you can set matter permissions where only a certain group can view and access a matter. Once a group is created, you can add and remove members by editing it and you can archive groups that you no longer need. The Matter assignment column will show whether the group is assigned to a matter.
Note: Only administrators can create and modify groups.
- Go to Settings > Groups, Permissions, and Job Titles > Groups.
- Click New group.
- Enter the group name and description.
- Optional: Check the box for Exclude this group from custom billing rate if you do not want this group to appear as an option when setting a custom billing rate for a matter or contact.
- In the Group Members section, add firm users to the group. You can click the blue minus symbol next to a user's name to remove them from the group.
- Click Save group.
- Go to Settings > Groups, Permissions, and Job Titles > Groups.
- Find the group and click Edit.
- Optional: Change the group name, description, and whether the group is excluded from a custom matter or contact billing rate.
- In the Group Members section, add firm users to the group. You can click the blue minus symbol next to a user's name to remove them from the group.
- Click Save group. Any changes will appear in the groups table under Date modified and Modified by.
Note: Archiving a group will not remove the group from matters, calendar shares, or from custom client rates on contacts. You will need to edit the matter, calendar share, or contact to remove the group.
- Go to Settings > Groups, Permissions, and Job Titles > Groups
- Click the down arrow next to Edit and select Archive. You can also click Edit and then select Archive group.
- Click Archive group to confirm the action. You can view the archived group in the Archived subtab or All subtab of the groups table.
- Go to Settings > Groups, Permissions, and Job Titles > Groups
- Select the Archived subtab in the table.
- Click the down arrow next to Edit and select Unarchive. You can also click Edit and then select Unarchive Group.
Add matter rates
When creating new time entries in Clio Manage, the default rate applied to the time entries is the client or matter rate. If neither of these rates is specified, the time entry will default to the user rate or activity description rate. If you specify a matter rate, the time entries will default to this rate unless you enter a custom rate.
You can add more than one matter rate to a matter. For example, if you add a matter rate for yourself, your time entries will default to this matter rate for that matter. And if you also add a matter rate for another user or groups of users for the same matter, and one of those users creates a time entry for the matter, the time entry will default to the specified matter rate.
- Go to Matters and click Edit. You can also search for the matter in the search bar and click Edit matter.
- Go to the Billing preference section.
- Under Billing method, select Hourly.
- Under Custom billing rates, click Add a custom billing rate.
- Select user(s) and/or groups and the rate for those users and/or groups.
- Click Save matter.
