Document AI

Your documents contain the answers.
AI finds them.

Extracted key terms from an uploaded contract, each with its value and confidence

Upload contracts, title searches or any document. MatterFirst extracts key terms and flags risks for review, with document processing in Australia.

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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

How does AI document extraction work for a law firm?

You upload a document and the system reads it, pulling out the terms that matter: parties, dates, amounts, obligations. In MatterFirst those land as structured fields on the Australian matter they belong to. Reading the document runs on Azure AI Document Intelligence in Azure's Australia East region, and the analysis of what was read runs on AWS Bedrock in Australia. Both steps are in Australia.

Extracted key terms from a contract, each mapped to a field on the matter
Key term extraction. Each value is shown with the snippet it came from, and its confidence where the model returned one, so a fee earner checks rather than trusts.
Read our lead engineer's conveyancing AI case study

Document analysis

Upload a contract. Get plain-language answers.

Drop a PDF, DOCX or scanned image into MatterFirst and the AI reads it cover to cover, extracting parties, dates, obligations and financial terms into structured fields.

  • Automatic extraction of parties, dates and key clauses
  • Financial term identification: price, deposit, adjustments
  • Obligation and condition mapping per party
  • Support for PDF, DOCX, scanned images via OCR

Capability 1 of 4

The contract read cover to cover before you open it.

Key-term extraction

Every critical detail, surfaced, not buried

MatterFirst pulls out the terms that matter for your practice area: settlement dates, special conditions, easements, encumbrances and more. Each term is shown with the snippet it was read from.

  • Practice-area-specific term extraction templates
  • Each term shown with the text it was read from, and its confidence where the model returned one
  • Structured output ready for workflow fields and task creation
  • Configurable extraction rules per matter type

Capability 2 of 4

Each key term shown with the text it came from.

Risk flagging

Issues flagged before they become problems

Issue detection reads the document and flags what it judges a problem, along with items it thinks are missing, before your team starts work. It is a prompt for a human to look, not a rules engine.

  • A severity of info, warning or error assigned to each issue found
  • Missing-item detection, flagged for a human to confirm
  • Turned on per document category rather than running on everything
  • Risk summary visible on the matter. Never shown in the client portal

Capability 3 of 4

Outliers flagged before work begins.

Workflow connection

Extracted data flows into tasks and fields automatically

Key terms don't just sit in a report, they populate matter fields, trigger tasks, set deadlines and update workflow steps. The document drives the matter forward.

  • Auto-populate empty matter fields from extracted terms
  • A document upload can trigger an automation, scoped by matter type
  • Fill an existing key date on the matter from a contract deadline
  • Contacts matched or created from the parties in the document, with their matter role

Capability 4 of 4

Extracted data drives the matter forward.

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

This suits document-dense practice, particularly conveyancing, property and commercial work where the same contract shapes recur and the extraction pays for itself in the first week. It is worth less to a firm whose documents are mostly bespoke correspondence, and it is not a substitute for reading the contract: a fee earner still checks what was extracted.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Where does the AI processing happen?
In two places, and it is worth knowing both. Reading the document (OCR, layout, form fields) runs on Azure AI Document Intelligence in Azure's Australia East region. Analysing what was read runs on AWS Bedrock in Australia. Both are in Australia. This is worth asking every vendor separately from where files are stored, because the two answers are often different.
Are our documents used to train a model?
No. Extraction runs against your documents to answer your question. Client material is not fed back into model training.
How accurate is it, and what happens when it is wrong?
Each extracted value is shown with its source text and its confidence where the model returned one. Matter fields are editable, so a practitioner can check and correct the result before using it. Bring a real contract to a demo and assess extraction against your own document and required fields.
Is extraction metered?
It runs on a monthly AI balance in Australian dollars, included with every paid plan rather than as a separate AI tier. Pricing sets out the balance per plan.
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

Ready to let AI read your documents?

Book a demo and upload a real contract. We will extract key terms live so you can judge the accuracy on your own document rather than ours.

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