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Dangana

Task guide

Close and archive a matter

Work the closure checklist, clear what blocks the close, close the matter, and archive it so its file is dated for retention.

Start the closure

  1. Open the matter, then Closure, and choose Start closure.
  2. The matter takes its own copy of the firm's closure checklist: bills settled, documents indexed, originals returned, deadlines and tasks closed, and the rest.
  3. Whoever does each line ticks it with a note.
A matter's closure checklist with what still blocks the close.
The closure checklist, with what still blocks the close.

What blocks the close

The checklist shows two lists that never mix.

Absolute blockers, which nothing passes:

  • money still held for the client on the matter;
  • an open sub matter;
  • a required line not done;
  • a hearing still listed in the future.

Blockers a partner may pass, with the override permission and a recorded reason:

  • unbilled work in progress;
  • bills not yet paid;
  • originals the firm still holds, since a will or a deed is often kept in safe custody past its matter.

Close, archive, reopen

  • Close dates the matter closed.
  • Archive takes it out of the working lists and dates its file for retention from its type's years. A type that keeps its files indefinitely, as for wills and titles, archives with no destruction date.
  • Reopen brings a closed matter back to open, with a reason on the record.

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