Open a matter for new work
A matter in the right group, numbered, with its first structure, timeline or board filed in it.
Screenshots are taken from the app on every release. Updated 13 October 2026.
A new instruction has come in. Before you build the chronology, the group chart or the task list, give the work a home: a matter in the client's group. The team and the access follow the matter, so it is worth a minute at the start.
The question that decides the rest: whose work is this? The client's group, or your practice team's, is where the matter belongs.
Create the matter
On the home page, click New and choose Matter. If you are already in the client's group, click Create new above its Matters list instead, and the matter goes into that group.
Give the matter a Title. Starting it with the firm's matter number, such as "01-0001 Project Alpha", makes it recognisable at a glance and keeps lists sorted by title in number order.
Add a Description if colleagues need a line of context on the instruction.
Enter the Matter number your firm uses. It shows at the top of the matter and in the Matters list. If your firm has connected iManage, this field searches iManage instead: pick the matter's workspace to link the two.
Under Select Group, choose the client or your practice team. For a new client, type its name and pick Add with the name; the Create new Group form opens so you can set the group up first.
Decide who may delete work in the matter. New matters start on All users can delete resources. Click it to switch to Only managers can delete resources when the matter holds work that must not disappear by accident.
Click Save and open (from a group's page, the button is Save). You are the matter's first Manager. In a group with Unrestricted access, everyone in the group is on the matter as well; in a group with Restricted access, no one else is until you add them.
Add the first piece of work
The matter opens on its overview. Unless your firm has set its own layout, it has a box for each tool (Structure, Timeline, Project management for task boards, and Insight), the matter's documents, its Users and recent activity. Click Create new in the box for the tool you need, and the new work is filed in the matter.
Creating a structure or timeline from somewhere else? In its form, type a new name in the Matter field and pick Add with the name: Create a matter opens, and the new work is filed in the matter you create.
Started the work as a draft before the matter existed? File it into the right matter.
Where the work belongs
| The work | Where to put it |
|---|---|
| A new instruction from an existing client | A new matter in the client's group |
| The first instruction from a new client | A new group for the client, then the matter |
| A practice team's precedents and standard checklists | The team's group, as templates: see start from your firm's templates |
| A quick test or scratch work | Drafts, not the client's group |
Tips from practice
- One matter per instruction. People are given access matter by matter, and access covers everything in the matter. Work that only some of the team may see belongs in a matter of its own.
- Change the details later. Click Edit Matter on the matter's overview to correct the title, number, description or delete setting.
- No permission to create a group? If Juristic tells you that only admins can create groups in your organisation, ask your admins to set up the client's group, then create the matter in it.
Before this: find your way around Juristic. Next: bring your team into the matter.