Filing client email to the matter instead of the inbox
ndMail and the suggested filing panel in iManage both guess the workspace from the sender and the subject, and both only fire when the Outlook add-in is loaded. Mail sent from a phone bypasses it entirely, so the agreement with opposing counsel that moved a deadline sits in one mailbox and never reaches the matter. Filing on send, with attachments kept as separate documents and the header preserved, is the version that survives a later request for the file. The judgment call is which mailboxes are in scope.
The same client name is typed into the conflicts database, the practice management system, the document management system and the ledger, and a conflict is only found later if two people spelled it the same way.
A firm organises everything by matter, and the matter record is created by hand from an intake form. That single re-keying step seeds four systems, and because there is no shared identifier between them, every later reconciliation is a name match against human typing.
- Outlook
- NetDocuments
- iManage
When this is the wrong thing to build
Pick something else if the firm runs on shared mailboxes with no consistent matter numbering, because every filing decision then rests on a guess about which of several open matters a message belongs to, and a wrong guess buries the message somewhere nobody thinks to look.
The constraint that shapes it
The conduct rules decide what may be automated here, and they are adopted state by state rather than nationally, so specifics have to be checked against your own jurisdiction. More on how this sector works.
Something arrives from anywhere. It becomes one record with one owner. Read what this shape is, or start from one of these.
- Turning portal leads into one shape a person can work
- Turning an after hours maintenance call into one work order
- Booking a service call without a person typing it
- Sorting a return visit into callback or new work
- Turning a portal work order into a dispatched job
- Turning a tax notice into a dated response record
- Why do emails sent from my phone never file to the matter?
- How do I file an Outlook attachment as a separate document?
- Can iManage suggested filing be corrected after an email goes to the wrong workspace?
- What happens to matter email when a lawyer leaves the firm?
- Is there a way to file email to a matter on send?
Back to law firms, or see how this is priced and scoped.