Assign and follow up the work
Every item with an owner, a status and a running record of updates, internal ones kept from the client.
Screenshots are taken from the app on every release. Updated 13 October 2026.
On a live deal the checklist items move between people every day: one associate drafts the disclosure letter, a partner reviews it, the board minutes wait on the other side. The board only helps if each item says who has it, where it stands and what was last said about it.
Two questions run through this guide. Who owns this item now? And may the client read what the team is saying about it?
Give each item an owner
Click the people cell on the task and pick the lawyer responsible. Names are listed under In this matter first, then Elsewhere in your organisation.
If you pick someone who is not on the matter, Juristic stops to ask, because they would not be able to see the task they are given. Click Add to matter to bring them in, or Assign anyway if someone else will add them later.
A person assigned without access shows as a yellow avatar on the board. Click it to add them to the matter when the time comes.
Keep the status current
Change the task's status as the item moves: from drafting, to review, to waiting on the other side, to done. The rest of the team reads the board by status, so a stale status is worse than none. Find what is outstanding before closing shows how to filter on it.
Record what happens on the item
Open the task: click the speech bubble beside its name, or right-click the task and choose Open.
On Updates, write what happened: comments received, the draft sent, the point still open. Type @ to mention a colleague; they are notified that they were mentioned.
Use Internal updates for what the client must not read: the team's view of the other side's position, a fee point, a note on the client's own instructions. Clients, and anyone else limited to a permission set on the board, cannot open Internal updates.
Open Activity log to see who changed what on the task and when: a new owner, a status change, a moved date.
Change several items at once
Select the tasks in the table. A bar appears with Duplicate, Delete, Move to and the convert options.
To give them all the same owner, status or date, change that cell on one of the selected tasks; the value is set on all of them. This works for most columns, including people, status, dates, text and dropdowns.
Tasks and subtasks cannot be moved, duplicated or converted in the same selection. Select one level at a time.
Working at the same time as colleagues
When a colleague is editing a cell, it has a coloured outline with their initial, and hovering it shows who is editing. Let them finish before you change that cell.
Tips from practice
- One owner per item. Two names on a task means each assumes the other has it. Put the person who will move it next in the people cell, and mention the reviewer in an update.
- Write the update where the item is. A line on the task, rather than in an email, means the next person on the item sees the history in one place.
- Check before writing on Updates. If the client is on the matter, assume they can read Updates. Anything for the team only goes on Internal updates.
- Add people to the matter, not only to the task. A yellow avatar is a reminder that someone has work they cannot see.
See also: see everything you owe across your deals and give each workstream its own view.