Assign and follow up the work

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

1. 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 your firm uses teams, they come at the top of the list; see hand the work to a whole team.

   

2. 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.

   

3. 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

1. Open the task: click the speech bubble beside its name, or right-click the task and choose Open.

2. 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.

3. 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.

   

4. 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

1. Tick the tasks' checkboxes in Table view. To select a consecutive range, tick the first task, then hold Shift and click the last task's checkbox. A bar appears with Duplicate, Delete, Move to and the convert options.

   

2. 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.

3. For the selection bar's move, duplicate and convert options, select tasks or subtasks, one level at a time.

Move work into the right group

When a set of items moves from preparation to signing, move the tasks together so the checklist still reads in the order the team works through it. Drag when their position matters; use Move to when they belong at the end of another group.

1. In Table view, tick the tasks you want to move. Use Shift-click for a consecutive range, or tick individual tasks when they are scattered through the checklist.

   

2. Drag any selected task by the handle at the left of its row. All selected tasks move together, keeping their order. A label such as 3 tasks follows the pointer.

3. Position the pointer above or below a row in the destination group. The line marks where the block will land; release the mouse there. You can also move the block within its current group, including above the first task.

   

   The tasks appear together at the drop position and their checkboxes clear.

   

4. To move the selection to the end of another group instead, right-click a selected task, choose Move to, then choose the destination group. This moves every selected task. Move to on the selection bar also moves the selection.

   

   

Select the parent tasks when moving work that has subtasks: the subtasks go with their parent. If you also select a subtask whose parent is not selected, dragging or Move to on a selected task refuses the move with You cannot move tasks and subtasks at the same time. To make a subtask a separate checklist item, use Convert to task deliberately.

A drop on a sorted group, its column headings or empty space puts the block at the end of that group. A sorted view still displays the tasks in sort order, so clear the sort first if you need to choose their place in the checklist. Wait for rows to finish loading before dropping beside them. You need permission to move every selected task and to move tasks into the destination group; if the move is refused, check the selection and the group's access.

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: hand the work to a whole team, see everything you owe across your deals and give each workstream its own view.