Lesson 2 of 8 · 8 min

Creating your account

Sign in, set up your organisation, and invite your team.

Lesson 2 of 8

MatterFirst signs you in through your organisation's secure identity provider, then walks you through a short setup wizard. This lesson gets your firm's workspace created and your first colleagues invited.

Before you start

  • An invitation to your firm's MatterFirst workspace — registration is usually invitation-only
  • The email address you were invited on
  1. 1

    Sign in to MatterFirst

    MatterFirst uses secure single sign-on, so you log in the same way you sign in to your firm's other connected tools — there's no separate MatterFirst password to remember, and password resets happen through that same sign-in, not inside the app. Most firms keep sign-up invitation-only: an owner or admin invites you first (see the last step), and the link in your invitation email takes you straight through sign-in.

  2. 2

    Name your organisation and practice area

    The first time you sign in without an organisation, MatterFirst opens a two-step setup wizard at /onboarding. On step one, enter your Organisation Name (the name your team will see) and choose your Primary Practice Area — for example Conveyancing, Family Law, or Wills & Estates. Your practice area decides which template packs are installed, so your workspace starts with matter types and workflows that suit your work. Click Continue.

    Step one of setup: name your firm and pick your primary practice area.
  3. 3

    Set team size, timezone and data residency

    Step two collects a few defaults. Choose your Team Size, confirm your Timezone (Australia/Sydney is pre-selected for Australian firms), and set Data residency — the region where your firm's data is stored, with Sydney the default for Australian firms. You can also say whether your firm needs PEXA, which controls whether PEXA matter tools appear. Click Create Workspace to finish. Your practice packs install and your workspace opens.

    Step two: team size, timezone, data residency, and PEXA.
  4. 4

    Invite your team

    Once your workspace exists, go to Settings › People & Access (/app/settings/team) and click Invite Member. Enter the person's email and pick their access level. You can invite people as Admin, Manager, Staff, or Readonly — Owner is reserved for whoever set the firm up and isn't offered when inviting. Each invitee gets an email with a link to join. The full set of access levels is Owner, Admin, Manager, Staff, and Readonly, in descending order of access; the collapsible "What can each access level do?" panel on that page spells out exactly what each one grants.

Tips & pitfalls

  • You won't find a password reset inside MatterFirst — logins and password resets go through your firm's single sign-on. If you're locked out, use your usual company sign-in or ask whoever manages IT.
  • Pick your data residency deliberately: it sets the region where your firm's data is stored. Sydney is the default for Australian firms.
  • Roles are a fixed five-level hierarchy (Owner › Admin › Manager › Staff › Readonly). There's no per-role permission editor — you pick the level that fits, not the individual toggles.

Key takeaways

  • Sign-in is secure single sign-on, and joining is usually by invitation
  • Onboarding collects practice area, team size, timezone, and data residency (default Sydney)
  • Invite teammates from Settings › People & Access as Admin, Manager, Staff, or Readonly
Welcome to MatterFirst Creating your first matter

Put the lesson into practice.

Book a guided session and our team will help you configure MatterFirst for your own practice.

Book a session Back to the Academy