From enquiry to matter

Once the conflict check has cleared, the enquiry's own tabs carry it to a matter: Consultations, Proposals and Engagement, then Convert to a matter in the enquiry's menu.

Consultations

Book a consultation asks who the lawyer is, whether it is in person, by phone or by video, the day and the times, the place or the link to join, and the fee: free, paid, owed or waived. The fee is recorded here; it is taken through billing. The consultation goes into the lawyer's diary with the enquiry's owner beside them. A clash with either diary is reported once it is saved, never refused. With no lawyer on the enquiry yet, the consultation's lawyer becomes the enquiry's lawyer.

The diary entry belongs to the enquiry: move or cancel it from the consultation, not from the diary.

• Move it books the new time and says why; the old consultation reads as moved and its diary entry is cancelled.
• Cancel it asks why and cancels the diary entry.
• Record what happened is offered once the start has passed. Either the prospect came, with the issues, the advice given, the papers reviewed and what the lawyer recommends (take the work on, decline it, or review it further), or they did not come. A consultation held counts as the firm's first response when nothing came before it.

Fee proposals

Draft a proposal sets out the fee on one basis: hourly rates, a fixed fee, a retainer, a scale fee, or custom terms in words. Capped and contingency fees are offered only where billing offers them as arrangements. Give the estimate of the whole work (it becomes the matter's budget), the payment terms in days and the day the proposal is valid until.

• A draft is changed in place with Edit.
• Send it records where it went, the prospect's email or postal address. A sent proposal is never changed.
• Revise it starts a new draft with the old terms; sending the revision marks the old one revised.
• Record the answer takes the prospect's acceptance or rejection. A proposal past its validity cannot be accepted; revise it with a new date.
• Withdraw it takes a draft or a sent proposal off the table.

Accepting a proposal puts the prospect on the parties register, because the engagement letter, the signature and KYC are kept against a party, and opens the party's KYC record. The owner and the lawyer are told.

Engagement

The Engagement tab holds what the firm needs before the work begins.

• Engagement letter: Generate it once a proposal is accepted, from a published engagement letter template. The letter can use the enquiry's, the prospect's and the accepted proposal's details. Send for signature sends it to the prospect to sign electronically; the signed copy is filed on the enquiry and marks the letter signed.
• Checklist: what the pipeline asks for, such as proof of identity or a board resolution. Answer each item as received (a paper item names the document filed under Papers) or waived with a reason. Waiving a required item is for a partner.
• Papers: Upload files papers on the enquiry. They move to the matter on conversion.

Convert to a matter

Convert to a matter shows what will be made and what still stops it: the conflict check must be cleared, a proposal accepted and the prospect on the register. Confirm the matter's name, kind, office and partners; where the accepted proposal set custom terms, choose how the matter is billed; and give each person named on the enquiry their role on the matter (the other side defaults to defendant).

Convert does it in one step: the matter at conflict pending with the prospect as its client, the team, the office, the billing arrangement and budget from the proposal, the conflict check, the engagement letter and every paper filed on the enquiry. The enquiry closes as converted and names its matter, and the matter's overview names the enquiry it came from. The matter opens at once when every required checklist item is received or waived and you may open matters; otherwise it waits at conflict pending and says why.

Declining

Closing an enquiry as declined by the firm, conflict, disqualified or referred elsewhere offers a letter of non-engagement from a template of that category. It is filed on the enquiry and never says why the firm declined. Where the firm requires one, closing those outcomes without it is refused. Make a letter of non-engagement on a closed enquiry makes one afterwards.