In this article:
What are the various matter states?
A matter can go through various states in its lifecycle.
Active: matters start in an 'Active' state. Upon creation, a matter automatically enters the Active state.
Scoping: when scope management is enabled for a matter, it transitions to the 'Scoping' state. During this phase, the matter manager and matter owner collaborate to negotiate and agree on various aspects of the matter.
Review: when collaborating with an outside counsel and changes to the scope were initiated either by the matter manager or matter owner, the matter enters the 'Review' state. At this state, decisions are made to either approve the scope changes or further edit them. The matter remains in this state until the scope is agreed upon.
On Hold: if the matter is awaiting input from someone else or temporarily not dealt with, it can be marked as 'On Hold'.
Complete: upon closure, a matter is marked as 'Complete' and is no longer included in live matter reports.
Edit the state of a matter from the matter
Click on the Ellipses menu available on the top right of the Matter details.
This will trigger a modal from which you can choose the new matter state:
If a Matter completion flow has been set for that matter type, then this will be triggered before changing the matter to Complete.
Note: Standard users or limited members can’t change the state of a matter.
Edit the state of matters from the grid
You can change the state of matters directly from the grid, which reduces the time needed to open each matter individually. This is especially useful when you have a bunch of matters you want to close.
If you have the requisite permissions, you will see the pencil icon in the top right of your grid screen. Click this to enter the 'Editable' mode. Once you do that, you will see some pencil icons appear next to the 'State' field, and you can start editing.
Watch this short animation to see this in action :
Show or hide completed matters in your grid
To show or hide closed matters, add the 'State' column to your Matter Grid View. To add the 'State' column, look for the column icon at the top right corner of your matter list.
A column selector will pop up, and you'll find the 'State' option near the top on the left - drag it over to the top of the list on the right - then click Apply.
The list will refresh, and you will see the state column on the left side. You can then click on the 'Filter' icon in that column to choose which state(s) you want to view.
Choose the relevant options and press 'Filter'
Watch this short animation to see how to filter on matters that are Complete:
The list will refresh, and you can either update the existing view by pressing 'Save' or create a new view by pressing 'Save as' to create a saved view.
You can use this method to apply filters to any column of the matters list.
To gain access to better data across all the matters in your organization, you can utilize LawVu's Standard Reporting tool.