IntroductionClients in Matters.Cloud serve as a central point of reference for managing various legal processes, from matters to invoices, receipts, and related contacts. Properly setting up and associating clients with these entities is crucial for effective case management and financial tracking.
This guide walks you through the steps to create a new client in Matters.Cloud, ensuring your client records are organized, consistent, and ready for use in your legal practice. Each client in Matters.Cloud is uniquely identified by a client code and linked to either an organization or a contact record, providing a streamlined approach to managing legal operations.
Let's get started with the basics of creating a client, followed by best practices to ensure a smooth integration with other Matters.Cloud features.
Create A ClientStep 1: Select Contacts Board
Select Contact from the left hand navigation bar to open the Contacts board.
Step 2: New Client
Create a new client by clicking on the New > Client button located in the top right hand corner of the Contacts board.
Step 2: Select Contact Type
Select whether your new Client is an Organization or a Person using the Contact type selection box.
Note: The system defaults to use a Party type of Organization, if your firm largely deals with private individuals this can be updated via Setup > Settings.
Step 3: Select Existing / Add New
At this stage you can choose whether to select an existing Organization or Person record to convert to a Client or if you would like to create a new record.
For example if you already have an Organization or Person in the system as a prospect you would use the Select existing option, if this is the first time you are using the system its likely you will want to use the Add new option.
Step 4: Enter Client Details
Enter in the following information to create a new Client record:
If the Client you are creating is an Organization you will see the following fields:
Field
| Notes
| Name
| The legal name of the organization you are dealing with
| Billing email
| The billing email will be used when sending invoices to this client via email.
| Payment days
| The number of days that this Client will have by default for each new invoice.
| Tax type
| Tax types are used to add different types of tax (eg VAT, GST or other Sales Taxes). If this Client is located in a jurisdiction where tax should be added to an invoice then you should select the appropriate Tax type.
| Domain name
| The website address for the Client.
Note: If you are using the integration with Clearbit, this will be used to lookup the logo directly from the website to be displayed on the client overview page.
| Tags | Tags can be assigned to apply categories to either contacts or organizations. For example 'Expert Witness' or 'High Risk'. | Business phone | The business phone number for the organization. | Email | The email address for the organization. | LinkedIn URL | The linked in URL for the organization. | Tax number
(also displays as VAT number when using UK English) | The tax (or VAT) number of the client record if required to be included on invoices issued to the client. | Language | The language to use when corresponding with this organization. | Owner
| The key internal contact for this Client record. This will also ensure the Client appears in the My clients page for this user.
| Permissions | Specify whether access to this organization should be for All users or Specific users. |
If the Client you are creating is a Person you will see the following fields:
Field | Notes | First name
| The first name of the contact.
| Middle name
| The middle name of the contact.
| Last name
| The last name of the contact.
| Organization
| Assign an organization to indicate an employment relationship between this contact and that organization.
| Job title
| The job title of the contact.
| Business phone
| The business phone number for the contact.
| Home phone
| The home phone number for the contact.
| Mobile phone
| The mobile phone number for the contact.
| Email | The email address for the contact. | Owner | The key internal contact for this Client record. This will also ensure the Client appears in the My clients page for this user. | Tags | Tags can be assigned to apply categories to either contacts or organizations. For example 'Expert Witness' or 'High Risk'. | Language
| The language to use when corresponding with this contact. | Owner
| The key internal contact for this Client record. This will also ensure the Client appears in the My clients page for this user.
| Billing email
| The billing email will be used when sending invoices to this client via email.
| Payment days
| The number of days that this Client will have by default for each new invoice.
| Tax type
| Tax types are used to add different types of tax (eg VAT, GST or other Sales Taxes). If this Client is located in a jurisdiction where tax should be added to an invoice then you should select the appropriate Tax type.
| Permissions | Specify whether access to this organization should be for All users or Specific users. |
Step 4: Submit and Open
Click the Submit and open button located in the bottom right hand corner of the form.
The Client overview page will then be displayed on screen.
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