Compliance

Conflicts checked, walls enforced,
obligations on the record.

A MatterFirst conflict check scoring a new party at 97% against a former client on a closed matter, with the matching evidence set out side by side

MatterFirst matches on names in Latin script to check every new party against everyone your firm has ever recorded, screens walled practitioners by default, and reads the obligations out of your matter documents into a register a person reviews. Every decision is logged with who made it and why.

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Encrypted at rest and in transit Australian data residency Hosted on AWS No lock-in contracts Guided setup available Your data exportable on request

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What is conflict checking software for law firms?

Software that checks each new party against an index of the parties the firm has recorded, closed matters included, and flags matches for a named person to clear on the record. Matching runs on names in Latin script. MatterFirst adds ethical walls that refuse by default, and an obligation register that reads deadlines out of matter documents for human review.

How it works

Two pipelines, one auditable record

1

New party

2

Name index check

3

Register and walls

4

Document arrives

5

Obligation detected

6

Due date and escalation

Re-checked as new parties arrive, not only at intake

Nothing reaches a calendar until a person confirms it

Walled access is refused by default, and attempts are logged

The conflicts lane runs when a party arrives; the obligations lane runs when a document does. Both end in a record a firm can show its working from.

Conflict checking

Search every party your firm has ever recorded

The engine keeps a name index of every party across matters, contacts and leads, open and closed, and checks each new party against it, matching on names in Latin script. Fuzzy on purpose: alternate spellings, reordered names, initials, phonetic near-misses and typos all score, and a related-party graph can flag a connection when no name matches at all.

  • A name index of every party the firm has recorded, closed matters included
  • Fuzzy matching for alternate spellings, initials, reordered names and typos
  • Exact identifier matches (ABN, ACN, email, phone) outrank any name score
  • Related-party graph: a shared director or trustee flags with no name match

Capability 1 of 5

Former clients on closed files are searched, not skipped.

The register

Checks that keep running after intake

Checks run when a lead is created or converted, when a matter opens or reopens, when a party is added, and again on a firm-set interval, because the other side's related parties change after a file opens. Every result is banded against your firm's own thresholds: auto-clear, flag or block.

  • Re-checks on party addition, matter reopen and a periodic firm-set interval
  • Automatic clearances logged with the score and threshold that produced them
  • Clearing requires a named person and a written reason; a block needs an explicit override
  • Waiving on informed consent requires the consent document attached

Capability 2 of 5

A check from March is not evidence about September.

Ethical walls

Screens that refuse by default

A wall names the practitioners screened from a matter, or the only practitioners permitted on it. Enforcement fails closed: access with no declared actor is refused rather than quietly answered. Every attempt to reach a walled matter is recorded, append-only, with the route the practitioner took.

  • Restrict named users, or permit only named users, on named matters
  • Restricted practitioners acknowledge the wall, and the record shows they saw it
  • Access attempts logged append-only, by surface: search, documents, API, AI tools
  • Conflict detection still searches whole-firm; walled matters are redacted from what a screened practitioner sees

Capability 3 of 5

Attempts stay on the record after the wall is lifted.

Obligation detection

Deadlines read out of your documents

A deterministic rule pass flags the sentences that look like obligations, and an AI pass reads only those and says what each one requires. Restatements across documents are merged, a date that disagrees is flagged rather than merged, and everything lands in a review queue: nothing reaches a calendar until a person confirms it.

  • Reads documents, emails, portal messages and file notes on the matter
  • Every detection quotes its source verbatim, or it is dropped
  • Duplicates across documents merged; dates that disagree are surfaced as variations
  • A review queue with a visible precision figure, so you know how far to trust it

Capability 4 of 5

Detection proposes. A person confirms.

Dates, escalation and reporting

Computed dates that show their working

Due dates are computed with Australian public holidays per jurisdiction, distinguishing calendar days, clear days and business days, and every date carries the basis it was computed on. As a deadline approaches, an escalation ladder warns the fee earner and then a supervisor, and every event lands in a tamper-evident log.

  • Calendar, clear and business day arithmetic with per-jurisdiction AU holidays
  • Refuses to compute rather than guess when holiday data is missing
  • Silent-approach flag: a deadline nearing on a matter nobody has touched
  • A hash-chained event log, and a firm risk report you can hand an insurer

Capability 5 of 5

An uncheckable deadline is not trusted, so a computed date shows its basis.

MatterFirst is a legal practice management platform for Australian law firms, built by NorthCape Technology, covering matters, documents, trust accounting, billing and a client portal, with data hosted in the AWS region the firm chooses.

This suits a firm large enough that nobody holds the full client history in their head, and a firm whose insurer or regulator asks how conflicts and deadlines are tracked. It is a register, not an adviser: the engine flags and records, computed dates state their assumptions, and a practitioner verifies them. A sole practitioner with a short, stable client list will get less from the conflicts side, though the obligation register works the same regardless of firm size.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Does conflict checking cover closed matters and former clients?
Yes, deliberately. Closed matters are where conflicts hide: a firm that acted for a vendor in 2019 and is asked to act against them now needs the old file to surface. Matching runs on names in Latin script, so record a Latin spelling alongside a name written in another script. Matching is fuzzy, so a name recorded under a second spelling, reordered or abbreviated is still found, and an exact ABN, ACN, email or phone match outranks the name score.
Can a conflict check clear itself?
Only below a threshold your firm sets, and automatic clearances are logged with the score and the threshold that produced them, because the audit question is whether you checked. A blocked result is never auto-cleared: releasing it takes a named person, a written reason and an explicit override. A check run before the name index is built stays pending rather than reading as clean.
What does an ethical wall actually stop?
A walled practitioner's access to the screened matter is refused by default across every surface: matter pages, search, documents, reporting, the API and AI tools. Each attempt is recorded in an append-only log with the route taken, repeated attempts notify the wall's owner, and restricted practitioners must acknowledge the wall so the record shows they were told, not just notified.
Do AI-detected obligations go straight into our calendar?
No, and that is permanent behaviour rather than a rollout stage. Every detection lands in a review queue, and only a person's confirmation creates a calendar entry. Each detection must quote its source document verbatim or it is discarded, and where the engine is not confident of a date it records the period as read and computes nothing, because a wrong deadline is worse than a blank.
Where is my data stored?
In the AWS region your firm chooses. Sydney (ap-southeast-2) is the default for Australian firms. Matter data, documents, extraction and matter questions all stay in that region. The one exception is the first step of Document AI, reading the document itself, which runs on Azure AI Document Intelligence in Azure's Australia East region. Both regions are in Australia.
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, which is why trust accounting and Xero are first-class rather than regional add-ons, and why PEXA and InfoTrack are on the roadmap rather than absent from it.
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 by background, and the one who talks to firms about how they actually run. Reviews the pages that describe how a practice works day to day.

Last reviewed

See a conflict check run on your own names.

Book a demo and bring a name your firm has acted for before. We will run the check live and walk through how a flag is cleared, walled or escalated, and what the record shows afterwards.

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