AI for Law Firms

The AI assistant
that actually knows your firm.

Generic AI tools don't understand legal context. MatterFirst's AI reads your matters, your documents, and your workflows. Ask it anything, in plain English, and get answers sourced from your own data.

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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

Last reviewed

How does AI work in a legal practice management system?

Legal AI does two jobs: reading documents to pull structured data into a matter, and answering questions about files a firm already holds. MatterFirst does both in Australia: reading the document runs on Azure AI Document Intelligence in Azure's Australia East region, and analysis and matter questions run on AWS Bedrock in the AWS region the firm chooses, so client documents are not sent to a different jurisdiction to be processed.

What AI work costs, in Australian dollars
Work Price What you get Best for
Process a document 60c to open, plus 9c a page Text, tables, key terms, dates, parties, amounts, form fields and checkboxes Contracts, conveyancing forms, mortgage documents, court files
Bulk document review 15c per document, per question The same questions asked of hundreds of files, answered into a table Discovery, due diligence, a lease portfolio, a compliance sweep

Every paid plan includes a monthly AI balance shared across the workspace. Top-ups and automatic top-ups cover heavier months.

Why MatterFirst

What you get when you switch.

An assistant that does the reading

  • Context-aware answers. Ask about a specific matter, client, or deadline. The AI pulls from your data, not the internet.
  • Document intelligence. Upload a document. The AI extracts contacts, key dates, financial figures, and property details automatically.
  • AI-powered time capture. The AI detects what you've been working on and suggests time entries. Review, adjust, and save in seconds.

Answers, extractions and time entries, from your own data.

Reads your firm's own work, kept in Australia

  • Key term extraction. The AI reads contracts and pulls out the terms that matter, sunset clauses, special conditions, restrictive covenants.
  • Data stays in Australia. Analysis and matter questions run in your chosen AWS region, and the document-reading step runs in Azure's Australia East region. Both are in Australia, so your documents never leave the jurisdiction.
  • Included on every plan. AI assistance and a monthly AI balance are included in every paid workspace, with top-ups available for heavy document months.

AI inference never leaves your chosen AWS region.

What this actually does

Ask MatterFirst a question about a matter and it answers from your own files, not the open internet, with the OCR and the AI inference both running in Australia.

Document AI reads documents with Azure AI Document Intelligence in Azure's Australia East region, and analyses them with AWS Bedrock in your organisation's AWS region, which defaults to Sydney. You can confirm this on your own documents during a 14 day guided trial.

14 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 held in Australia: your chosen AWS region, and Azure Australia East for the document-reading step

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.

It suits firms that handle a steady volume of structured documents and want the data in the matter rather than retyped. It is a weaker fit for practices whose work is mostly advisory with few documents to extract from, where the AI assistant is useful but the document processing balance will go unused.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Does AI processing send my documents overseas?
No, for an Australian firm. Document AI reads your documents with Azure AI Document Intelligence in Azure's Australia East region, and analyses them with AWS Bedrock in your organisation's AWS region, which for Australian firms is Sydney. Both steps happen in Australia. If your firm has chosen a residency region outside Australia, talk to us before enabling Document AI: the reading step runs in Australia regardless.
How does Document AI billing work?
Document AI is priced in dollars: 60c to open a document plus 9c a page, at full quality, which is the only quality there is. Plans include a monthly AI balance, and you can top up or enable automatic top-ups if your firm processes more documents.
What does Document AI actually extract?
Text, tables, layout and signatures, plus form field extraction and checkbox detection. Every document gets all of it at the one price, whether it is a prose-heavy file such as a contract, letter or court document, or a structured one such as a conveyancing form, mortgage document or compliance checklist.
What does the Key Term Extractor do?
It lets you define your own extraction rules and map them to any custom field, contact role, or key date in your matter. Every firm has different documents and different data that matters. Define a term once (e.g. "Certificate of Title reference") and MatterFirst will extract it from every matching document automatically.
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.

Put an AI that knows your firm to work.

Ask anything about your matters and get answers from your own data, processed in your own region.

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