In this article:
How to Complete Scope
Use LawVu's scope management feature to set expectations for the work to be completed, the likely costs, and the required timeframes.
The basic concept for scope workflow is very simple:
The originating party (most often the “matter owner”) sets the requirements for the scope (i.e., the information that the other party – most often the “matter manager” – must provide).
The other party will receive a notification and can respond to the scope requirements by completing values in the scope form.
The originating party reviews the response and either accepts the scope or requests changes.
To initiate the scoping process, select the “Scope Management” tab within the matter. This will either be visible immediately or will need activating via the matter ellipsis button.
LawVu currently requires you to select a matter manager when you create the scope. Select yourself as the matter manager until you have completed the scope and can select outside counsel to be the matter manager.
1 - From the matter, click on the ellipsis and choose "Enable scope management" then click Proceed.
2 - The "Assign matter manager" pop-up will appear. Click on +Assign and add any relevant notes if needed. If you have assigned a matter manager, you will see their name or organization in the popup.
Note: It is best to keep the matter manager as either yourself or someone in your organization until you have completed the scope, so you can skip this step until it is completed.
When working with outside counsel, we recommend assigning the matter manager with clear instructions on expectations for both scope and budget.
3 - You will now see “Scope management” as a new tab in the matter.
4 - Open the “Scope management” tab and click on “Edit”
5 - Edit the scope in the popup and click on “Save.”
Note: Your scope form should be pre-configured with the fields your organization wants to collect when issuing instructions and agreeing on a scope for this type of matter. To know how to configure matter scoping for Outside Counsel, you can check this article or speak to your LawVu Administrator to set this up.
How to add Outside Counsel to a Matter
Once you are happy with your matter details, files, and scope management, the matter can now be assigned to your outside counsel. Do this by allocating them to the “Matter Manager” role by selecting “Intake Queue.” From intake, your outside counsel will assign a specific Matter Manager.
Note: To assign or add the legal service provider to a matter, ensure that your account has the "Assign matters to service providers" permission enabled.
1 - From within the matter, click on “Matter Manager.”
2 -You can now assign the matter to your Outside Counsel’s intake queue, which will prompt them to respond to your scope requirements. Choose the organization name from the drop-down and click on “Select” next to “Intake queue.”
Be aware that the matter will remain in your own organization's intake box until someone from the external law firm accepts the assignment. This is to ensure you do not lose oversight of the matter until someone else assumes responsibility for it.
Inviting a firm into a matter gives them full visibility of the specific matter, so be sure to first make any conversations or folders private if needed.
It is also worth noting that if the matter you are working on originally came from one of your business users, it is best practice to remove your internal client as “Matter Owner” and make them a matter member instead. The “Matter Owner” should be yourself, the lead in-house lawyer working on this with the firm, or at the very least the person managing communications on this matter with your outside counsel, as it is the “Matter Owner” who will receive notifications about, and take control of, the scoping process.
Negotiate with Outside Counsel
Now that you have added outside counsel to a matter with scope, you are negotiating with outside counsel about the scope.
When a matter reaches the intake queue, outside counsel will receive an automatically generated email alert and an in-app notification. The intake manager will then proceed to assign a matter manager who will be responsible for handling the matter.
When you assign a specific user from the legal service provider as the matter manager, they will receive a notification to accept the matter and review the scope of work.
Further, the matter you assigned them will be listed in their “All Matters” or “My Matters” grids, denoted with the “Scoping” state.
The assigned matter manager can access the matter and review its details, including relevant files and content. They will have the option to accept or decline the matter. Additionally, they can invite additional lawyers from their firm as needed. Both of you will have visibility of these invited members through the "Members" tab.
After Matter Manager acceptance, any scoping fields left blank or pending adjustment will need to be completed by the legal service provider user. This maintains the Matter in a “Scoping” state until both sides have agreed on the scope. The legal service provider user can either approve or edit the scope.
Any changes made by the assigned matter manager are returned to the original sender in your system for scope approval. The Matter Owner will be alerted by email or their in-app notifications.
In the “Scope Management” tab, you can see the value the outside counsel has input, along with a notification banner at the top of the screen identifying that the scope of work approval is required.
If required, you can continue to edit the scope, continue the negotiation cycle, adjust the data, and send it back for approval by the outside counsel as needed.
Once the scope of work is agreed upon by both parties, the matter state will be changed to “Active,” and you are now working on this matter together with outside counsel, saving emails, sharing files, discussing details via conversations, and working on documents as required.
Working with multiple legal service providers on the same matter
When working with multiple legal service providers (with Collaboration access) on the same matter, each legal service provider won't have visibility into the invoices posted by other legal service providers. However, they can still view the overall spending and the budget allocated for the matter. They can view all uploaded documents unless in a private folder, see other legal service provider members, and review logged actions in the matter activity tab.
Note: When two users from different legal service providers are added as "members", they have the ability to modify each other's access levels on that particular matter, such as changing it to "limited." If you prefer to prevent them from changing access levels, it is recommended to create individual child matters for each legal service provider.
Contracts within a matter
LawVu clients have the option to enable the ability for legal service providers to create a contract within a matter.
When a legal service provider user creates a contract within a matter, the Contract Administrator will receive in-app and email notifications (depending on the user's notification settings).
Note that the legal service provider user who created the contract will automatically be assigned as the contract owner and will have the ability to make changes to the contract details, move the contract lifecycle stage, and upload a new version of the contract.
The created contract will also inherit the members of the original matter it is linked to and the legal service provider user can add members to the contract. New added members to the contract will not reflect the linked matter, but new members added from the matter level will automatically be added to the contract within the matter.
For an in-depth overview of the legal service provider Contracts capabilities, click here.