Introduction

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Congratulations on your selection of the Lawtrac application, the premiere matter management software product on the market today. With Lawtrac’s "Total Solution", you are well on your way to achieving your company’s goals by better managing matters, expenses, budgets, documents, records and e-Billing.

At Mitratech, our goal is to partner with you in this venture. We have designed Lawtrac to help you succeed, and we stand prepared to provide industry-leading support whenever you need us, beginning with this user guide.

For those already familiar with Lawtrac, you know that our user guide is designed to enable quick reference to the information you’re looking for. For those new to Lawtrac, we highly recommend reading this guide as you get to know the application. By trying the various tasks described, you’ll become more comfortable with Lawtrac and all it has to offer. At the very least, new users should read Chapters 1-4, which deal with navigating through the program environment.

Customizing Lawtrac

The Lawtrac application (sometimes referred to in this user guide as "the application" or simply "Lawtrac") is designed as a flexible tool. One aspect of that flexibility is that your company can customize many features of the application. For example, your company may:

Customize the homepage to highlight key information and resources specific to your needs
Turn off some of the modules or features
Rename some areas or fields
Set up layers of security
Make other high-level choices that determine how Lawtrac appears and functions on your site

Because of this customization, and especially because of the security settings, what you see when you log in may vary in some ways from what you see in the screenshots included in this user guide.

The instructions and illustrations in the user guide were prepared with all of the modules and most of the features turned on, and from the log-in of a site administrator with full view/edit access.

Terminology

As with any software, Lawtrac utilizes its own terminology to define various roles of users and aspects of the application. Some of the following terms are common, but may not be used in their most "common" sense. Other terms may be new to you. Understanding the following terminology may be extremely helpful as you read the user guide and use Lawtrac.

Base Currency	The currency type to which your Lawtrac application is set. Also known as "Currency of Record".
Browser	A browser, also known as a Web browser, is a software application used to locate and display Web pages. The two most popular browsers are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Most can display graphics as well as text. In addition, most browsers can present multimedia information, including sound and video, though they require plug-ins for some formats. Lawtrac is optimized for use with Internet Explorer 9 or newer, and the latest versions of Chrome and Firefox.
Business Hierarchy	The Business Hierarchy is the second of two matter hierarchy systems used in Lawtrac. This hierarchy has two user-definable categories, with 10 levels under each. By default, these are called Product and Division. Your site administrator may re-caption these fields with terms more appropriate for your company.
Product (Business Hierarchy Type4)	This category is used to track the type of business you operate. This classification can be used to track information down 10 levels, which can be linked or unlinked. If your company is primarily service oriented, use this classification to track each of those services.
Division (Business Hierarchy Type5)	Not only is this classification used to indicate what business unit the Legal department is working for but it is also used to maintain interface codes for Accounts Payable systems. This classification can also track down 10 levels, which can be linked or unlinked.
Button	In Lawtrac, buttons are hyperlinked and clicking them opens up general application modules (via the left Main Menu Navigation Bar aka Left Navigation Bar) or matter-specific data sections (via the right Matter Navigation Bar).
Collaborati	Certain outside counsel have access to the separate e-Billing portal Collaborati. These individuals log directly into the Collaborati website to submit invoices, rate cards, and budgets. Those who use Collaborati may still have access to Lawtrac and can still use Lawtrac to submit invoices and other financial items.
Currency of Record	The currency type to which your Lawtrac application is set. Also known as "Base Currency".
Court/Venue (Type7)	Used to identify what third-party has jurisdiction or can render a final decision.
Database	A database is a program that enables you to enter, organize, and select data from tables. The Lawtrac database is organized by fields, records, and tables. A field is a single piece of information; a record is one complete set of fields; and a table is a collection of records. For example, a telephone book is analogous to a database. It contains a list of records, each of which consists of three fields: name, address, and telephone number. Lawtrac is a hyperlink database, so any object—whether it’s a piece of text, a picture, or a film clip—can be linked to any other object.
Drop-down Menus	Drop-down menus offer a select list of choices that "drop down" when you click the arrow on the right side of a text box; you are then able to make a selection from the list. All drop-down menus must be maintained by your site administrator; these fields do not accept free-form typing.
Entity	Entity is a term used when assigning an association to a matter record when not referring to a specific individual. An entity could be a building, company or group of individuals (such as a labor union, other organization or class action grouping).
Finance	Finance is a page in the matter record that has fields for defined financial data, reference fields for invoice totals, insurance amounts, payments between parties recorded to the matter—the core financial tracking data for any matter.
Hyperlink	Hyperlinks are words, phrases, numbers, etc., usually underlined, that one can click to be taken to certain data screens enabling smooth navigation through the internet or online database. In this user guide, most are in bold font, though they may not always appear that way in Lawtrac’s database.
Key Personnel	Key personnel are employees of a company who are not in the Legal department but who may be given direct access to the information in Lawtrac. They have special screens and can only access matters to which they have been associated.
Lead Administrator	The lead administrator for a matter may be assigned duties specific to matter types in order to enhance management of particular matter information. Because individual permissions can be set at the activity level, an individual assigned to this position may not be privy to financial or other information within a matter, but may help shoulder the responsibility of ensuring that the matter information is up-to-date and accurate. This is not a required field, but, if used, may be re-captioned.
Lead Paralegal	Often, the second position of responsibility within a matter is reserved for the "primary contact" who is not always a paralegal. This person may be responsible for the day-to-day activities of the matter at the corporate or company level. While the Lead position slot is responsible for reporting on or managing the matter, the outside law firms, vendors and/or other corporate key personnel can be directed to contact the individual in the secondary position when conducting day-to-day business. This is not a required field, but, if used, may be re-captioned.
Lead Attorney or Lead Person	Usually the attorney that has been assigned primary responsibility for a particular matter; this lead position is reserved for the individual responsible for managing the matter and reporting the status of the matter to the corporate/company hierarchy. This person must have the authority for invoice approval of at least one dollar (U.S. $1)and will generally be notified when significant updates are made to the matter. This position is based on the premise that the authority to conduct business within a matter can be delegated to others, but never the ultimate responsibility for the matter itself (this position is often referred to as "Primary" in the Lawtrac User Guide).
Legal Hierarchy	The primary organizational ranking of any matter. The primary hierarchy consists of three levels or tiers: Matter Type, Matter Category, and Matter Keywords. Site administrators may re-caption these fields to best fit your company’s needs.
Matter Type or Type (Legal Hierarchy Type1)	The highest of three levels used for classifying a record's Legal purpose. Make your Type1 description broad; the lower levels can be more specific. A matter type is required for every matter record.
Matter Category or Keyword (Legal Hierarchy Type2)	The second tier of the Legal Hierarchy further classifies the record's reason for being in the matter management system. This information is linked to Type1. If your site manages the Legal Hierarchy by Type2, this becomes the highest level of the hierarchy.
Matter Keywords or Issues (Legal Hierarchy Type3)	The third tier is used to specifically classify the record. More than one Type3 can be recorded against a record while the two higher tiers have only one defining description. Type3 information is typically linked to a Type1/Type2 combination.
Legal Team (AKA Predefined or In-house Legal Team)	Each matter should have a "Legal team" even if only one individual is assigned to the matter, and even if your company does not set up the predefined teams described below. The individual who creates the matter can be automatically assigned to the matter’s Legal team as a Team Member. The individual selected on the new matter template is also on the matter’s Legal team, appearing as the Lead Attorney (Lead Person).
Matter	In this user guide, records are called matters. On your site, records may be called contracts, projects, cases—whatever descriptor your site administrator has selected in order to conform to your company’s needs. If you’re using a term other than "matter," some of your screen titles and link names may differ from those in the illustrations and documentation in this user guide. Whatever term your company is using, it will be seen throughout the application on your site.
Metadata	Data about other data—metadata are informational fields which are used to classify and further define documents or files in Lawtrac. For example, document file names, document categories, and the date documents that were added are all metadata.
Navigation Bars	Two main menus by which a user navigates around Lawtrac, moving through tables and screens of data. The Top Navigation Bar is composed entirely of hyperlinks, while the Left Main Menu Navigation Bar are composed of hyperlinks and buttons.
Page Label	Located at the bottom right corner of the screen, the page label provides the ColdFusion file name for the code/template. You’ll need this in communications with Support about issues or errors.
Party	This term is not necessarily used in the true Legal sense of "Parties" being Plaintiff and Defendant. In Lawtrac, a "Party" is anyone directly involved with a matter record.
Picklist (UDC6 – UDC10)	While similar to a drop-down menu, clicking into a picklist field displays a list which includes previous text entries. You can select one of the existing entries or key in a new one. If you key in new text, it is added to future selection lists for this field. Note: Some picklist fields are activated by your site administrator. Only entries assigned to OPEN matter records appear on the picklist. To select an entry used for CLOSED matters, you must retype it on an OPEN matter record.
Predefined Legal Team	A group of individuals who can be assigned to a matter as a predefined "work-group." The purpose of predefined Legal teams in the Lawtrac application is to save time when initially setting up a matter; subsequent adjustments may be made to the matter record. Your company may group individuals into a Predefined Legal Team for particular kinds of matters such as an Acquisitions or Litigation Team.
Private Matter	Matters in Lawtrac may be classified "private" by team members in order to limit access to their data fields, documents, etc. The purpose of this designation is to protect particularly sensitive matters from unnecessary exposure. Marking a matter as private restricts access to the matter to only those directly assigned to the matter’s team and to the super user.
Site Administrator (aka Lawtrac Administrator or System Administrator)	This is an individual at your site (company) who has access to the Application Administration module, and who has broad rights within the application. Some companies have more than one site administrator.
Status or Matter Status (Type6)	Used to define the current "condition" of the record. Examples are Open, Closed, Pending, In Discovery, etc. In conjunction with this field, you will see an "as of" date field, to note the status as of a particular date.
Super User	A super user is someone who has total access to all controls and data for a particular site’s Lawtrac application and database, including administrative functions, permissions, etc.
Synopsis	A synopsis is a brief description of a document or its contents that can be used within the Document Bank. There is also a Synopsis link on the right-side matter menu located within Text Records. This provides another text area to make notes regarding a matter. These notes will not be seen by anyone other than members of your Legal department.
Table(s)	Forming the basis of Lawtrac’s database, tables list various data fields, the length of those fields, and their relationships to other tables.
Team Member	The person who adds a new matter record into Lawtrac is typically assigned to the team working on that matter. Because security settings can restrict everyone except the people assigned to a matter from viewing its records, there has to be at least one person assigned to each matter’s team. This practice prevents matter records from being lost within the Lawtrac application. Depending on the view/edit permissions granted to them, individual team members have full authority to interact with the matter information, as do the team leaders.
Type Outcome	Look-up table defined for use in describing different types or categories of resolutions for the matter.
UDC	User-defined Captions/Fields are fields where site administrators can enter captions and determine content specific to your company’s needs. For example, Court vs. Venue, Tribunal, Agency, etc.