Creating your first matter

A matter is the container for one piece of work — its client, documents, deadlines, tasks, and money all live together. Here's how to open your first one and understand what happens the moment you do.

1. 1

   Open Matters and start a new one

   Click Matters in the sidebar to open your matter list (/app/matters), then click New matter at the top right. (+ New in the top bar has it too.) New matter opens in two steps: Client and work, then Details.

2. 2

   Say who the client is and what kind of work it is

   Under Who is the client?, start typing to find an existing contact, or add a new one and MatterFirst creates the contact with the matter. Under What kind of work?, pick the kind of work. This is the most important choice: it decides the stages the matter moves through and the tasks and dates it starts with, and the What we'll set up panel beside the form shows exactly that. Continue runs the conflict check against your firm's records before the next step.

3. 3

   Fill in the details and create the matter

   Give the matter a name, check the billing contact and who it is assigned to, and fill in the few details that kind of work asks for; priority and a description are there if you want them. Click Create matter. MatterFirst gives it a reference (for example CONV-2026-00142), which sits in the breadcrumb above the matter's name: it is the number you'll quote on the phone and on correspondence. The matter opens at its first stage.