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Lead Firm and Lead Outside Counsel for a Matter

The designation of the Lead Outside Counsel and Lead Firm for a matter are important for sorting and grouping matters, for assigning responsibilities, and for historical record keeping purposes.

Designating a Lead Outside Counsel/Lead Firm

Access the Matter Options page to specify whether a matter has a Lead Outside Counsel/Lead Firm.
  • If you are creating a new matter, select
    Matters > Matter List
    in the left navigation. Click
    Create matter
    on the toolbar to open the
    New Matter (options)
     page.
  • If the matter already exists, select
    Matters > Matter List
    in the left navigation. Locate and select the applicable matter and be sure
    Profile
     is active. On the toolbar, click
    Edit options
    .
The options in the
Firm Access
 section controls whether the matter will have a lead outside counsel and/or lead firm. This selections in this section also govern whether a firm or company user is responsible for completing the matter profile, budget, and status reports for a matter.
If you want both a lead outside counsel and lead firm, you must make sure the Firm Access setting is
External - One Firm or Firms With Coordinating Counsel
 and that
Firm(s) are Live (users connected to Tracker)
is selected. The selection of the Lead Outside Counsel and the associated Lead Firm and fields are soft-required fields.
If you have multiple firms but do not want a lead firm, you must make sure that the Firm Access setting is
External - Multiple Firms With No Coordinating Counsel
 and that
Firm(s) are Live
 (users connected to Tracker) has been selected. [To add law firm participants, matter administrators can do so under
Participants
.]
If the lead firm is not using Tracker, you must make sure that the
Firm Access
 setting is
External - One Firm or Firms With Coordinating Counsel
, and
Firm(s) are Offline (users not connected to Tracker)
is selected. In this situation, you can select a lead firm, but you cannot select the lead outside counsel. In other words, you do not designate an individual attorney at the firm. The selection of the Lead Firm is a hard-required field.
If you have not retained any firms, make sure that the
Firm Access
 setting is
Internal
, and that you have not selected either of the External options.
If multiple firms have access to one matter, should you designate a Lead Firm for the matter?
If your company has engaged more than one firm for a legal issue or project, you must first decide whether to create one matter or multiple matters for each firm. If you have decided to create only one matter for all firms, you also must decide whether there will be a Lead Firm for the matter (in which all other firms are called secondary firms), or whether there will not be a Lead Firm (and all firms working on the matter are called secondary firms).
In general, your decision should be governed by whether one of the firms is managing the other firms' work. If so, the general rule is that you should create the matter with a lead firm. On the other hand, if the company law department is acting as coordinating counsel for all firms, then the matter should not be setup with a lead firm.
If you decide not to select a lead firm, company users in the matter will be responsible for the matter profile, budget, and status reports.
Characteristics and requirements of the Lead Outside Counsel/Lead Firm
If a matter is created in which there is a lead firm and lead outside counsel, the lead firm and lead outside counsel will have several capabilities and requirements (especially if there are multiple firms in the same matter). Below is a summary of the implications of designating a lead firm with multiple firms in the matter:
  • Users of the lead firm will be required to complete the matter profile before the lead firm can submit any invoices to the matter. This restriction does not affect secondary firms in the matter—they can submit invoices regardless whether the lead firm has completed the matter profile.
  • Company users managing the matter can require the lead firm to provide a budget and/or status reports. Secondary firms can see the budget and status reports. Secondary firms cannot edit the budget, but they can submit status reports.
  • The lead firm can see the invoices of the secondary firms. (This is the paradigm of the lead firm managing all of the work of the secondary firms.)
If a matter is created without a lead firm, then company users will be required to complete the full matter profile, provide the budget for the matter, and status reports.
If Lead Outside Counsel field is Incomplete
If the Lead Firm and Lead Outside Counsel fields are not completed, then the word INCOMPLETE will show on the following pages: matter listing, matter Action Items, and the matter profile. When reports are generated, the applicable field also will show as INCOMPLETE.
Actions Restricted if Lead Outside Counsel is blank.
If the Lead Outside Counsel field is not completed, the following restrictions apply:
  • Company users cannot post invoices to the matter. The Post Invoices menu selection is visible; however, if a company user attempts to post an invoice, a pop-up window appears stating that an invoice cannot be posted because the Lead Outside Counsel field is incomplete.
  • Company matter administrators are not allowed to add any law firm participants. The Add Firm Participant menu selection is visible. However, if a company matter administrator attempts to add a law firm participants, a pop-up window appears stating that a law firm participant cannot be added because the Lead Outside Counsel field is incomplete.
Why is the Lead Outside Counsel field a soft-required field?
The Lead Outside Counsel field is a soft-required field (in other words, it does not have to be completed to create a matter), because many times a matter needs to be completed and the lead outside counsel has not yet been selected, or because the lead outside counsel has not yet been created in a matter. However, the system is designed to assure that no critical processes can occur (other firm users being added to a matter, or invoices being posted on behalf of a firm) if the lead outside counsel has not been selected.

This article applies to:

  • Product: Legal Tracker
  • Subject: Matter
  • Audiences: Company