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Managing firms

Adding a Firm

To add a law firm to your list of firms, you must first search your list of firms to be sure the firm has not already been added to Legal Tracker. During the process of setting up the firm, Legal Tracker performs multiple checks for potential duplicates. To avoid potentially adding a duplicate firm, you should check the lists of possible duplicates carefully before proceeding.
Tracker also provides tools to help you find highly-rated legal talent from within Tracker.

Add a Firm

Before you start the process to add a firm, decide whether the firm will be a live firm (recommended), or a memo firm.
  • Live Firms have active users and can send invoices electronically through Legal Tracker.
  • Memo Firms are not connected to Tracker, and company users enter invoices in Tracker on behalf of the firm. (The firm is essentially a record entry in the system against which you can post invoices.) You cannot create users for memo firms and memo firms cannot be converted into live firms.
You will also need to know name and email address of the user who should be assigned the system role of Lead System Administrator for the firm. The Lead System Administrator is typically a billing manager at the firm who is responsible for maintaining the firm’s profile and adding (or deactivating) users affiliated with the firm. The Lead System Administrator can post invoices to all matters that the firm has access to.
Step 1: Check if the Firm is Already Set Up
Before you can add a firm, you must first check your list of law firms to be sure the firm is not already set up. Tracker provides multiple options to help you with this step, and to prevent duplicate firms from being added.
A firm can appear in the Worldwide Director of firms even if it is not in the list of firms you have worked with. The Worldwide Directory of firms is a searchable database that you can use to find firms by practice area, office location or other information in the firm profile. You can use the Tracker Worldwide Directory to search for firms that are not in your database. For example, you can search specifically for active firms only, or by practice area or geographical location.
note
You should never find a duplicate firm in your list of firms. The only exception is if you had originally created a memo firm, and then added the same firm as a live firm from the Tracker Worldwide Directory of Firms.
  1. Select
    Firms
     >
    Add firm
     in the left navigation.
  2. In the
    Firms Search Criteria
     collapsible section next to
    Search within
    , check a checkbox to indicate whether you want to check your firms, the Tracker Worldwide Directory, or check both boxes to check both.
  3. In the search box, type the name of the firm to search for.
  4. If you want to specify additional criteria to help locate the firm you are searching for, use advanced search. By using advanced search, you can search existing firms by matter or other criteria in addition to the name.
  5. Select the
    Search
     button. The results of your search appear in the
    Firm Search Results
    collapsible section. Evaluate these carefully to ensure the firm is not already set up.
    • If the firm is already defined in Tracker as one of your company's firms, the status (Active, Inactive, or Restricted) appears in the
      Status
      column next to the firm name.
    • If the firm you want to add is in the Tracker Worldwide Directory but not active for your company, select
      Add
      in the
      Status
      column next to the firm name. A new page opens that lets you complete the firm profile.
  6. If the firm is not in the search results, on the toolbar, select
    Continue adding firm
    .
Step 2: Complete company-specific settings
In this step, you define requirements such as permitted currencies for invoices, format for invoices, and tax types. For these settings, you can use the company default setting. Other settings, such as whether matter budgets are required, can set so that they are never required, or are configurable.
  1. On the Enter company specific settings page, select a button to indicate if this is a memo firm or live firm.
  2. Fill in the remaining fields to complete the firm profile.
  3. On the toolbar, select
    Continue
    . Tracker performs an additional check for possible duplicates. If any potential matches are found, check them carefully against the firm you are adding to ensure that this is not a duplicate. Tracker will not allow you to add the firm if it finds a firm in your database or the Worldwide Directory with the exact name.
    note
    If this is a live firm, continue to steps 3 and 4 below. If you are adding a memo firm, you do not need to complete the remaining steps.
Step 3: Complete the Office Profile
In this step you set up a firm office. Information you define on this screen includes the office address, billing remittance address, and details allowed for invoices, such as the accepted currency.
  1. On the office profile page, complete the fields to define the office profile.
  2. On the toolbar, select
    Continue
    .
Step 4: Specify the Lead System Administrator
You should communicate with the firm in advance so they can provide you with the name and email address of the person at the firm to serve as the Lead System Administrator. Uninformed action in creating new firms is the primary source of duplicate firm profiles.
  1. Complete the
    EMail/User ID
    ,
    First Name
    , and
    Last Name
     fields to set up user whose system role will be lead system administrator.
  2. Optionally, you can add participant tags if they any been defined for this user.
  3. Select
    Continue
    . Tracker performs an additional check to ensure that no users with the same email domain are already defined. If any possible matches are found, check them carefully against the firm you are adding to ensure that this is not a duplicate.
  4. On the toolbar, select
    Save & close
    .
Tracker sends an email to the Lead Firm Administrator. The Lead System Administrator is typically a billing manager at the firm who is responsible for maintaining the firm’s profile and adding (or deactivating) users affiliated with the firm.

Next Steps

Notify the firm's Lead System Administrator
When you add a firm, Tracker sends an email to the Lead Firm Administrator. This email is based on a template that can be customized by a Tracker Coordinator or Company System Administrator.
If you plan to delegate the step of creating law firm user accounts to the law firm's system administrator, you should also notify them. The system administrator is typically a billing manager at the firm who is responsible for maintaining the firm’s profile and adding (or deactivating) users affiliated with the firm.
Below is suggested language that you can copy and paste into an email. (This suggested email assumes that you will delegate the step of creating law firm user accounts to the law firm's system administrator.) Some companies have actually incorporated the substance of this email notification into the company's engagement letter for new firms.
We recommend you also send the Tracker System Setup Checklist with your notification email.
Suggested Email to the Law Firm's System Administrator
TO: [Billing Partner]
FROM: [Company Admin/GC]
DATE: 5/31/YYYY
SUBJECT: Implementation of Tracker System
ATTACHMENT: Implementation Information Attachment
[Company] uses Tracker, a Web-based system to connect our Law Department with all our law firms. With Tracker, we organize our matters online, which enables our legal teams to more efficiently manage bills, status updates, budgets, results, and other key information. The system helps us reduce the time it otherwise would take to process paper and re-enter data. The information exchanged through this system also automatically populates our databases, from which we can produce up-to-date management reports regarding our legal spending and results.
One of the key reasons we implemented Tracker is its ease of use. There is no hardware or software that will need to be installed or maintained by [Company] or any of its law firms. All that is required is an Internet connection, a current browser, and a computer with a Microsoft Windows operating system to access the shared system. In addition, Tracker is free to law firms.
Detailed implementation information is provided in the attached document. As described in that document, you will need to create User IDs for all your users that need access to Tracker. If your firm is not already on Tracker, your firm will first need to designate a Firm System Administrator, who will be responsible for creating the other users in your firm. You will want to make sure that your billing clerks also have User IDs, because you will need to submit all your invoices through Tracker. If you have any questions about the implementation or about Tracker, please contact [name of Company System Administrator] at [email address].
Thank you for your assistance, and we look forward to working with you on Tracker.
Yours truly,
[Company Admin/GC]
Adding Users to Tracker
Typically the law firm's system administrator creates the firm users, and the firm users will then be able to sign in. Alternatively, you can create the firm users for the firm yourself.

This article applies to:

  • PRODUCT: Legal Tracker
  • Audiences: Company