Matter Board & Stages
Updated Oct 18, 2026
Overview
Every matter sits in a stage, such as Intake, Engaged, In progress or Resolved. Stages are your firm's own workflow: the columns of the matter board, the steps clients see in the portal, and the place to hang automations ("when a matter reaches Engaged, create these tasks and email this form").
A matter's status (Pending, Open, Active, Closed, Cancelled) still drives billing and reminders. Stages never change what a client is charged. Closing or cancelling a matter moves it to your closed or cancelled stage for you.
The board
On Matters, switch List to Board. Each open stage is a column; closed and cancelled matters from the last 30 days sit in a narrow rail at the end.
- Drag a card to another column to move it. On a phone or with a keyboard, use the card's Move to… menu.
- A toast confirms the move with Undo.
- Filters narrow the board by practice area, who has open tasks on the matter, or a custom field value.
- Each card shows the client, matter number, practice area, amount due, the next deadline and up to two pinned custom fields.
- Firms with a pipeline per practice area pick the pipeline at the top of the board.
When the destination stage has automations, a dialog lists what will run. Move only skips them for this move. Dropping a matter on the closed stage offers Close this matter too.
Settings → Stages
Firm Admin → Settings → Stages
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Name | The column name staff see |
| Show in the client portal / Name clients see | Whether the step appears in the portal progress bar, and under what name (for example "Getting started" for Intake) |
| Colour | One of six column colours. The name is always shown, so colour is never the only signal |
| Stage type | Open, Closed or Cancelled. Closing or cancelling a matter lands it in the matching stage |
| Order | The arrows reorder the columns |
Deleting a stage that still has matters asks where to move them first. Each moved matter gets a line in its activity history.
Pipeline for a practice area starts a separate set of stages for one practice area (for example Litigation with Pleadings, Discovery and Trial). It starts as a copy of the default stages, and its open matters move into the stage with the same name. Removing it moves them back.
Automations
Each stage can run actions when a matter enters it:
| Action | Details |
|---|---|
| Create tasks | Title, due in N days, type and assignee. Duplicates of an open task are not created |
| Email a Smart Form | Sends the chosen published forms to the client, the same as the matter's Forms tab |
| Message the client | A short text with placeholders such as {client_first_name} and {portal_link}, sent by SMS, WhatsApp or email (the first channel the client has agreed to and your plan allows) |
Run without asking lets task-only stages run straight away. Stages that message clients always show the dialog first. See Client Texts (SMS) for how messages are sent.
Client portal progress
Clients see their matter's progress at the top of the portal matter page: "Step 2 of 4 · Engaged". Only stages marked Show in the client portal count. If the current stage is hidden, the last visible one before it is shown. Closed matters show every step ticked with the closing date; cancelled matters show no progress bar.
Case task board
Case Tasks has a Board view too, with a column per status. It opens on Assigned to me; roles that see every task can switch to Everyone. Done shows the last 14 days.
Best Practices
- Keep the default pipeline short (four or five stages). Add a practice-area pipeline only where the work really differs.
- Write client names for stages in plain words. "Preparing your documents" means more to a client than "Discovery".
- Start automations with tasks, then add client messages once the stages feel right.