Family law

Family law matters run for years.
Your system should keep up.

A family law file is not a conveyance. It runs for months or years, the correspondence matters as much as the documents, and the deadlines come from a court rather than a settlement date. MatterFirst is built to hold that shape without you fighting it.

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

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What should Australian family law firms look for in practice management software?

Long-running matter records that hold correspondence and file notes alongside documents, court date and limitation period tracking that raises tasks in advance, compliant trust accounting, and a client portal that answers status questions without a phone call. MatterFirst covers all four, with documents stored in Sydney and document AI processed in Australia.

What a family law matter needs, and what carries it
Need In MatterFirst Why it matters here
A matter that runs for years One matter record holding parties, documents, correspondence and file notes Continuity matters more than speed when a file outlives the person who opened it
Court dates and limitation periods Key dates raise tasks ahead of time The deadline is external and missing it is not recoverable
Client anxiety between steps Client portal showing matter progress Status calls are the largest avoidable load on reception in this practice area
Trust accounting Trust accounts, transactions and reconciliation in the same system as the work Regulated records, and the obligation runs seven years past the matter
Conflict checking on intake Contact and matter search before the file is opened, on names recorded in Latin script Family law conflicts are common and expensive to discover late
Sensitive documents Privileged marking keeps documents out of the client portal Portal visibility should be a deliberate act, not a default

Every row describes something the product does today. Book a demo with one of your own matter types and make us show you.

Why MatterFirst

What you get when you switch.

Built for files that outlive the person who opened them

  • One thread per matter. Documents, correspondence, file notes, tasks and key dates all sit on the matter rather than in six places.
  • Audit trail as standard. Changes record who made them and when, which is what a complaint or a file review asks for.
  • Privileged document handling. Mark a document privileged and it stays out of the client portal regardless of who shares the matter.

Everything on the matter, with a record of who changed what.

Fewer status calls, fewer missed dates

  • Client portal on every plan. Clients see progress, upload documents and sign, without ringing to ask where things are up to.
  • Key dates that raise tasks. Court dates and limitation periods generate work ahead of time rather than relying on a diary.
  • Trust accounting in the same system. Trust transactions, reconciliation and reporting sit alongside the matter rather than in separate software.

The portal answers the question reception keeps answering.

What this actually does

MatterFirst tracks key dates on a matter and raises tasks before they fall due, with the automation run log recording what fired and why.

A property of the software rather than a customer outcome. You can test it in a 14 day guided trial with your own matters.

14 days

guided trial shaped around how your firm works

1 connected workspace

Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Xero and Stripe, connected by you

34 dated claims

about security and data on the trust page, each with its evidence, including what is not done yet

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

This suits Australian family law practices up to about twenty seats that want long-running matters, trust accounting and client communication in one system. It is a weaker fit if you need a decades-deep automated forms library, which is where LEAP and Smokeball are genuinely stronger, or if your firm is large enough to need a dedicated implementation team.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Does MatterFirst handle family law trust accounting?
Yes. Trust accounts, transactions and reconciliation are in the product, in the same system as the matters they relate to. Trust ledger history imports at transaction level, with a reconciliation report you can hand an external examiner.
Can clients see their matter without ringing us?
Yes. The client portal is included on every plan and shows matter progress, lets clients upload documents and sign, and can be scoped per matter type so you control what is visible.
How does it handle sensitive or privileged documents?
Documents can be marked privileged, which keeps them out of the client portal. Portal visibility is opt-in per document rather than the default.
Is it suitable for a small family law practice?
Yes. Solo carries the full platform for one user from $199 per month, and pricing is per workspace rather than per seat, so cost does not scale straight off headcount.
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.

See it with one of your own matters.

Bring a real family law file. We will run it through the product rather than show you slides, and tell you where it does not fit.

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