Automation engine

Stop doing manually
what software should handle.

The automations list in MatterFirst settings, showing the firm's rules with their triggers and run history

Welcome emails, task assignments, status updates, deadline reminders. The automation engine handles the operational overhead so your team can focus on the work that actually needs a lawyer.

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Encrypted in transit Documents and AI in Australia No lock-in contracts Guided setup available Your data exportable on request

Last reviewed

What is legal workflow automation?

Rules that do the routine work around a matter without anybody remembering to: when a matter reaches a stage, send the client update, create the tasks, set the reminder. In MatterFirst these are built visually by a practice manager and changeable without a consultant or a support ticket; workflows keep their versions and every automation run is logged.

The automation rules list, showing triggers, conditions and actions for a firm
Automation rules as a practice manager sees them. Trigger, conditions, actions, and no code anywhere on the screen.

Trigger · Condition · Action

If this happens, do that, without writing code

Every automation follows the same pattern: a trigger fires, conditions evaluate, and actions execute. Build complex multi-step sequences with a visual editor, no developers required.

  • Event triggers: task complete, status change, date reached, document uploaded
  • Conditional logic: branch on a field on the matter, a custom field value, or whether a matter role exists
  • Actions: send email, create task, update field, notify team, and for admins an advanced webhook to another system
  • Multi-step chains, executed in order, with delay and conditional steps

Capability 1 of 4

Trigger, condition, action, built without code.

Recipe library

Start with proven recipes, customise to fit

Pre-built automation recipes for common scenarios: welcome emails on new matters, reminders on stale matters, document alerts before settlement, and invoicing when a matter completes.

  • Built-in recipes for the common cases: welcome email, review reminder, settlement countdown, stale-matter close, upload alert, invoice on completion
  • One-click install, with more arriving through practice-area template packs
  • Clone and customise any recipe to match your process
  • Build your own from the same trigger, condition and action parts

Capability 2 of 4

Proven recipes, ready to install and customise.

Governance

Every automation logged. Every action auditable.

See exactly what ran, when, and why. Pause an automation, and read its full execution history when you need to debug it. Role-based permissions control who can create and modify automations.

  • Complete execution log with trigger, conditions and actions
  • Pause/resume controls for individual automations
  • A failed action is recorded against the run rather than silently dropped, and a step can be set to continue or to stop the chain
  • Role-based access: admin-only creation, team-wide visibility

Capability 3 of 4

Every run logged, every action auditable.

What actually ran

See what fired, and how often

Every automation keeps a run log: which trigger fired, which conditions held, which actions ran and what each one returned. That is what you check when a client gets an email nobody expected.

  • Per-automation execution count and frequency
  • Every run recorded with its trigger, conditions and action outcomes
  • Failed actions surfaced rather than swallowed
  • Filter the log by automation, matter or outcome

Capability 4 of 4

Every run recorded, rule by rule.

MatterFirst is an AI-native legal practice management platform for Australian law firms, built for small and boutique practices by NorthCape Technology.

This suits repeatable, stage-based work and firms whose current process lives in somebody's head or a checklist in a Word document. It suits practice managers specifically, because they are the ones who will maintain it. It is worth less to a firm whose matters are all bespoke, where the setup cost is unlikely to be repaid.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Do we need a consultant to set this up?
No, and that is the point of the visual builder. A practice manager builds and changes automations directly; workflow changes are versioned, and every automation run is logged so you can see what it did. Configurability that requires a specialist becomes a permanent cost, which is the trade-off worth weighing against a platform like Actionstep.
What can trigger an automation?
A matter reaching a stage, a date arriving or approaching, a document being uploaded or extracted, a form being submitted, or a field changing. Conditions then narrow it, so a rule can apply to conveyancing matters in Victoria over a certain value without applying to everything.
What happens if an automation misfires?
Every run is logged against the matter with what triggered it and what it did, and automations can be disabled without deleting them so you keep the history. An email can be set to wait as a draft for someone to review instead of sending, and anything the AI assistant proposes waits for a person's approval.
Where is my data stored?
The application runs on Fly.io in Sydney. Database and backups are hosted on Fly.io Managed high-availability PostgreSQL clusters in Sydney. Documents are stored in Amazon Web Services S3 in Sydney. Document extraction and matter questions run on Amazon Web Services Bedrock in Australia, and reading a scanned document runs in Microsoft Azure's Australia East region. These locations describe the application, document storage, database, backups and document AI services. The trust evidence page at /trust records the scope and dated evidence for each published control.
How much does MatterFirst cost?
Pricing is per workspace rather than per seat, starting at $199 per month for Solo. Each plan includes a set number of users, a monthly AI balance in Australian dollars, the client portal and automations. Extra users are billed only past the included seats. Full plan inclusions are on the pricing page.
Can I get my data out if I leave?
Yes. Your matters, contacts, documents and time records are exportable on request, and there is no lock-in contract. We would rather you were able to leave and chose not to.
Is there a free trial?
Yes, a 14 day guided trial on Solo, Practice or Firm. It is guided rather than self-serve because a practice management system tells you very little until it has your real matters in it, and we would rather help you load them than leave you looking at an empty workspace.
Who builds MatterFirst?
NorthCape Technology, a Melbourne-based software company. MatterFirst is built in Australia for Australian legal practice, with trust accounting and Xero as first-class capabilities. Available through coordinated setup: PEXA, InfoTrack. Coordinated manual setup is arranged with MatterFirst and the provider.
Is MatterFirst suitable for a firm of my size?
It is designed for solo practitioners up to firms of roughly twenty seats. Below that, Solo carries the full platform for one user. Above it, the platform works but you should expect to talk to us about migration and rollout rather than signing up online.

Reviewed by Nick Hallam

Co-founder and Operations Director, NorthCape Technology

Aerospace engineer with a background in mission-critical software and complex systems integration, and the one who talks to firms about how they actually run. Keeps MatterFirst grounded in how firms operate, and reviews the practice-area and workflow pages on this site.

Last reviewed

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