Liam Killingback
29 July 2026
A conveyancing matter runs through seven stages: instruction, contract review, searches, exchange, pre-settlement adjustments, settlement and post-settlement. PEXA covers the last part only, the digital workspace where instruments are signed, funds move and dealings lodge. MatterFirst, a legal practice management platform for Australian law firms, runs the other six and connects to PEXA.
That distinction matters more than it sounds. Firms often describe themselves as "doing conveyancing in PEXA", which is a bit like saying you run a litigation practice in the court's e-filing portal. The exchange is where the transaction completes. Almost all of the work, and almost all of the risk, sits before it.
This is a walk through the whole workflow, what has to be true at each stage, and the specific points where an electronic lodgement network takes over from your practice management system.
The seven stages, and what each one has to produce
| Stage | The work | What must exist before you move on |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Instruction | Open the matter, identify the parties, confirm which side you act for, scope the fee | Signed costs disclosure, conflict check, correct matter type for the state |
| 2. Contract review | Read the contract of sale and the vendor's disclosure material, advise on special conditions | A written advice, and a diarised cooling off date where one applies |
| 3. Searches and enquiries | Title, plan, rates, water, land tax, planning, owners corporation where relevant | Search results on file and read, not merely ordered |
| 4. Exchange or unconditional | Exchange contracts, or satisfy conditions such as finance and building | Deposit accounted for correctly, key dates in the calendar |
| 5. Pre-settlement | Settlement statement and adjustments, stamp duty, transfer documents, verification of identity, client authorisation | Adjustment figures agreed with the other side, right to deal established |
| 6. Settlement | Digital signing, funds transfer, lodgement of the dealing | Confirmation of registration, not just confirmation of settlement |
| 7. Post-settlement | Notify authorities and agents, release the file, final invoice, trust reconciliation | Trust ledger balanced, records retained for the statutory period |
The two stages firms most often under-resource are three and five. Searches get ordered and then sit unread. Adjustments get calculated late, which is how a settlement gets rebooked at cost to the client.
Where PEXA actually fits
PEXA is an electronic lodgement network. On its own product page it describes "shared online workspaces" and "digital signing technology enabling you to lodge land registry instruments and settle funds online", and says the platform is used by "over 10,000 lawyers, conveyancers and financial institutions" across VIC, NSW, QLD, ACT, SA, NT, WA and TAS.
So PEXA is stage six, plus the signing and funds mechanics that sit at the end of stage five. It is not a matter management system, it does not hold your file, and it does not tell you whether a search came back with something you needed to advise on.
Electronic lodgement is not optional in the larger states. In NSW, the Registrar General states that from 11 October 2021 "all land dealings, caveats and priority notices to be lodged with NSW LRS can only be done electronically by a subscriber (e.g. a lawyer, licensed conveyancer, or bank) to an Electronic Lodgment Network", and that existing certificates of title were cancelled and are no longer issued (NSW Registrar General). Victoria reached the same point earlier: Land Use Victoria required subscribers to lodge all instruments available in an electronic lodgement network, including residual documents, through that network from 1 August 2019.
The rules governing how you participate in that network are national and worth reading rather than absorbing by osmosis. The Australian Registrars' National Electronic Conveyancing Council publishes the Model Participation Rules and Model Operating Requirements, which is where obligations such as verification of identity, the client authorisation and retention of supporting evidence are set out. Those obligations are yours as a subscriber. No software discharges them for you, and a platform that implies otherwise is telling you something you should not believe.
The practical consequence for system design: your practice management system needs to carry the evidence that the participation rules require you to keep, and it needs to hand clean data to the workspace so nobody retypes a title reference at 4pm on settlement day.
How MatterFirst handles this
MatterFirst is a legal practice management platform for Australian law firms, built by North Cape Technology, a Melbourne software company. For a property practice, the relevant pieces are these.
Custom matter types let you run a NSW purchase, a Victorian sale and a QLD purchase as genuinely different workflows rather than one generic file with optional fields. Board and list views give a settlement pipeline you can read at a glance, and key dates sync to the calendar, which is the mechanism that stops a cooling off period or a finance date from being tracked in someone's head. Role-based contacts hold the agent, the incoming mortgagee, the other side's practitioner and the client in defined roles on the matter, so correspondence goes to the right party.
Lead pipelines capture enquiries from multiple channels, qualify them through a visual pipeline and convert a won enquiry into a matter with its workflow already triggered. Automations run the routine parts through trigger, condition and action rules.
Document AI extracts key terms from an uploaded contract, flags risks and connects the result to the matter workflow, which is the difference between an extraction demo and something that changes what happens next on the file. The AI assistant is matter-aware: it drafts communications and suggests next steps, always under human oversight.
The client portal is branded and lets the buyer or seller track progress, upload documents, approve invoices and message the firm, which absorbs a large share of the "has anything happened yet" calls that property work generates. Finance and reporting covers time tracking, invoicing, payment collection and real-time financial dashboards. Referral partners are handled as first-class relationships, inbound and outbound, with campaign tracking and accrual billing automation, which matters when agents and brokers drive your file flow.
Trust accounting is built for Australian jurisdictions, with a compliance review workflow covering NSW, VIC, QLD and WA. Data and AI processing run in the AWS region the firm chooses, Sydney by default for Australian firms, which is set out on the security page.
On integrations, stated precisely: Xero, Stripe, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are self-serve. PEXA and InfoTrack are set up with our team rather than self-serve. Anything else goes through a documented REST API with webhooks. Pricing is per workspace rather than per user, from $149 per month with users included, and the current plans and seat rates are on the pricing page.
Comparing what the products publish
The columns below are drawn from each vendor's own public material, checked this session. Where a vendor does not publish something on the pages reviewed, the cell says so. Absence from a page is not the same as absence from a product, and a sales call may well confirm more than a website does.
| Product | Publishes a PEXA workspace path | Publishes settlement adjustments for every state and territory | Publishes trust accounting for named Australian states | Publishes the hosting region for customer data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MatterFirst | Yes, set up with our team rather than self-serve | Not published as a feature | Yes: compliance review workflow covering NSW, VIC, QLD and WA | Yes: the AWS region the firm chooses, Sydney by default |
| LEAP | Yes: "matter information in LEAP can be used to create your PEXA workspace in just a few clicks" | Yes: settlement adjustments "available for every state and territory" | Legal accounting described as part of the all-in-one platform; state list not published on the page reviewed | Not published on the pages reviewed |
| Smokeball | Support documentation describes settlement financials and PEXA settlement data; PEXA is not named on the practice area page reviewed | Adjustment entry documented, with a separate Settlement Statement tab named for SA | "three way trust reconciliation"; states not named | Not published on the pages reviewed |
| Clio | Not verified: the Australian pages returned HTTP 403 to us this session | Not verified this session | Not verified this session | Not verified this session |
| Actionstep | InfoTrack listed among integration partners; PEXA not named on the Australian homepage | Not published on the page reviewed | "cloud-based trust / client accounting"; states not named | Not published on the page reviewed |
If you are running a comparison properly, do not accept any of these rows, including ours, as the end of the enquiry. Put the same question to each vendor in writing and keep the answer. Our evaluation checklist is the list of questions we think you should be asking anyone, and it is deliberately not written so that we win every row.
Who this fits, and who it does not
MatterFirst suits Australian firms of roughly two to twenty fee earners that need onshore hosting, state-based trust accounting, and matter workflows they can shape themselves. Property practices in that range tend to have real volume and no dedicated systems administrator, which is the gap the automations and custom matter types are aimed at.
It is a weaker fit in three cases. First, a very high volume conveyancing operation whose competitive advantage is a settlement adjustment engine tuned per state: LEAP publishes adjustments for every state and territory and Smokeball documents adjustment entry including a South Australian variant, and we do not publish an equivalent named feature. Second, a firm that needs MYOB or QuickBooks in the accounting seat, because those are not available; Xero is the self-serve accounting integration. Third, a firm that wants PEXA switched on by itself inside a trial without talking to anyone, since PEXA and InfoTrack are set up with our team.
Those are the honest boundaries. A vendor with no answer to "who are you not for" has usually not thought about it, or is hoping you will not ask.
Designing the file so settlement day is boring
Three habits do most of the work, whatever software you use.
Diarise from the contract, not from memory. Cooling off, finance, building and pest, and settlement all come off the executed contract, and they should be in a calendar the whole firm can see within an hour of exchange.
Read searches on the day they land. The value of a search is the advice it triggers. A results file nobody opened until the week of settlement is a liability rather than an asset.
Agree adjustments early and in writing. Rates, land tax, owners corporation levies and water all need to be agreed with the other side well before you are looking at a workspace. Adjustment disputes are a common reason a settlement moves, and they are usually discovered late rather than caused late.
If you are choosing a system rather than fixing a workflow, our Australian practice management comparison sets out the criteria, and if you are moving off an existing platform, what transfers from LEAP covers the data question specifically.
FAQ
Does MatterFirst integrate with PEXA? Yes, and it is set up with our team rather than self-serve. InfoTrack is the same. Xero, Stripe, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are self-serve, and anything else can go through the documented REST API with webhooks.
Can I still lodge a paper transfer in NSW or Victoria? Broadly no. The NSW Registrar General requires land dealings, caveats and priority notices to be lodged electronically by a subscriber to an electronic lodgement network, and Land Use Victoria has required electronic lodgement of instruments available in a network since 1 August 2019. Narrow exceptions exist in both states, so check the registry's current material rather than rely on a general statement.
Does MatterFirst handle Victorian trust accounting? Trust accounting is built for Australian jurisdictions, with a compliance review workflow covering NSW, VIC, QLD and WA. If you practise in SA, TAS, ACT or NT, ask us directly about your state before you commit.
Where is my data stored if I use MatterFirst? In the AWS region your firm chooses, which is Sydney by default for Australian firms. AI processing runs in the same region. The security page sets out the detail.
How much does MatterFirst cost for a small conveyancing practice? Pricing is per workspace, not per user, from $149 per month with users included. Solo is $149 with one user, Practice is $499 with four users and Firm is $999 with eight users, with extra seats charged on top, and custom pricing for Enterprise. Every paid plan includes the client portal, automations and a monthly pool of Document AI credits. Check the pricing page for the current figures.
Does MatterFirst calculate settlement adjustments? Not as a published feature. Firms that want a state by state adjustment engine at the centre of their conveyancing process should weigh that carefully and look at what LEAP and Smokeball publish on it.
Can AI read a contract of sale for me? Document AI extracts key terms from an uploaded contract, flags risks and connects the result to the matter workflow. It is an input to your advice, not a replacement for reading the contract, and the participation rules and your professional obligations still sit with you.
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