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 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 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 data in the AWS region the firm chooses.

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 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 seven-day guided trial with your own matters.

7 days

guided trial shaped around how your firm works

4 integrations

Xero, Stripe, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, plus PEXA set up with you

100%

of your data and AI processing stays in your chosen AWS region

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 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. Note that the importer for historical trust ledger data from another platform is still in development, so ask us where it is up to if you are migrating.
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 $149 per month, and pricing is per workspace rather than per seat, so cost does not scale straight off headcount.
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 and Document AI processing all stay in that region: documents are not moved to another region to be OCRed or analysed.
How much does MatterFirst cost?
Pricing is per workspace rather than per seat, starting at $149 per month for Solo. Each plan includes a set number of users, a monthly pool of Document AI credits, 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 seven-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.

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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