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Signature Features

Updated Oct 18, 2026

Matterly includes the everyday practice tools: matters, clients, billing, staff, reports and a website. This page covers five features in more detail and where to find each one in the admin.

If you are evaluating Matterly, read this page first. If you have already installed it, each section links to the guide that explains the screen in full.

At a glance

# Feature Where it lives
01 Smart Forms (LegalFrame): AI-drafted documents with e-signatures Firm Admin → Smart Forms
02 Multi-tenant platform with automated billing Super Admin → Firms, Plans, Subscriptions
03 AI Staff: background agents with an approval inbox Firm Admin → AI Staff
04 Firm website, client portal and booking by chat Firm Admin → Website
05 The matter workspace Firm Admin → Matters → open a matter

01 · Smart Forms: draft, sign and file documents

Most practice-management scripts give you a static contact form. Matterly gives you a document engine.

How it works (the public walkthrough is at /smart-forms)

  1. Create it, with or without AI. In Firm Admin → Smart Forms → New form, choose Draft with AI and describe what you need, for example "Retainer agreement for a commercial lease dispute, with a fee schedule and a signature block." The AI drafts the wording and the fields. Or choose Start blank and build it yourself.
  2. Arrange it in the builder. LegalFrame is a document-style editor: drag a field from the palette to where it belongs in the text, click any sentence to edit it, mark fields required. Nine field types: text, long text, number, date, dropdown, single choice, checkbox, file upload and e-signature.
  3. Share it securely. The Share panel (on the list and in the builder) has three tabs:
    • Secure link: copy the form's link (a random 32-character code), switch it on or off (published or draft), require an access PIN, set an expiry date.
    • Email: send the link from Matterly with your own message.
    • From a matter: in the matter's Forms tab, send one or more forms in a single email; each response is filed on that matter, and the tab tracks what is still outstanding.
  4. The client fills it in and signs. The questions sit beside a live copy of the document that fills in as they type.
  5. Both sides are notified. The client receives a receipt email with their copy of the completed document as a PDF. Firm staff get an in-app notification, and firm admins, partners and office managers get an email with the PDF (switch this off per form in Settings → Notify staff on each submission).
  6. Approve it, or ask for changes. Under Submissions, read the response as a document or as a list of answers. Accept it and link it to a matter, or use Request changes: tick the answers that need fixing and/or add a note. The client is emailed a link that reopens their form with the flagged answers highlighted and everything else kept. The Changes view then shows each round: your request and every answer that changed, before and after. Earlier versions are never overwritten, and the PDF can be downloaded at any time.

The full step-by-step guide is Smart Forms.

Also worth knowing

  • Forms can be written right-to-left for Arabic, Hebrew and Urdu practices.
  • Forms are scoped to the firm, so one firm can't see another's forms.
  • Date fields use a calendar picker and only accept real dates; Submit tells the client exactly which required answers are still missing.
  • Anyone can try a live form from the homepage (Try a live Smart Form) without logging in.

Tip: Build your three most-used intake documents as Smart Forms on day one. Most firms find this is the feature staff notice first.

02 · A multi-tenant platform that bills for itself

One installation serves any number of firms. Each firm has its own data, staff, website, practice areas and billing, and the separation is enforced at the database layer rather than by hiding menus.

For the platform owner (Super Admin)

Screen What it does
Firms Create, edit, suspend and impersonate firms
Plans Define tiers: price, practice-area and staff limits, AI credits, feature flags
Subscriptions See who is on what, and issue platform invoices
Coupons Percentage or fixed discounts, with expiry and usage limits
AI Credits Top up or inspect any firm's AI balance
Support Tickets Handle firm requests without leaving the platform

Automated renewals

Firms save a card through the gateway's own hosted page (Firm → Billing). A nightly command, billing:charge-subscriptions, charges every period that has fallen due and writes a paid invoice for it.

  • A period is charged at most once. A database key and a gateway idempotency key enforce this.
  • A failed charge backs off after 1, 3 and 5 days, then marks the subscription past_due.
  • Cards that need 3-D Secure are skipped rather than retried, because only the cardholder can complete that step.

Note: With no platform gateway keys configured, the whole billing system stays dormant and you invoice manually. Nothing runs behind your back. See Payments to switch it on.

03 · AI Staff: drafts prepared for you, sent only when you say so

Four agents work in the background. They do not act on their own; they prepare work and put it in a queue for a human.

Agent What it prepares Can it send?
Review response A reply to a new client review, in the firm's voice Yes, if you enable auto-send
Client comms An update email to a client on their matter Yes, if you enable auto-send
Case tasks A prioritised daily plan from open tasks and today's matters No (advisory only)
Revenue A plain-English read on caseload and billing No (advisory only)

The safety rails

  • Approval inbox. Every draft appears in Firm Admin → AI Staff as a pending action. Read it, edit it, approve it or discard it.
  • Advisory agents cannot auto-send. The option is not offered for them, so a case-task or revenue agent can never email anyone.
  • Daily credit budget. Set a ceiling per firm. When the budget is spent, the agent records a skipped action instead of quietly spending more.
  • Full audit trail. Every outcome (drafted, sent, skipped or discarded) is stored as a record, so the inbox doubles as the audit log.

04 · A firm website that opens the matter for you

AI-built site. In Firm Admin → Website, give a short brief and the AI drafts a whole page (hero, practice areas, testimonials, FAQ, contact) as editable blocks. You can then regenerate any single block, generate SEO title and description, or translate the page into another language, all from the same screen.

Booking by chat. The chat widget on the public site answers from the firm's own knowledge base (see AI Settings) and it can complete a booking inside the conversation: it collects the client's details, creates the matter, and returns either a payment link or a confirmation. The same agent answers on WhatsApp when that channel is configured.

Client portal. Once a matter exists, the client signs in at /firm/{slug}/portal to see their matters, documents and invoices, and to update their own profile, so the firm doesn't have to send status emails.

Per-firm identity. Custom domain or subdomain, theme colours and fonts, multiple languages, and its own sitemap.

05 · The matter workspace

The matters list opens on what needs attention: active matters, matters not yet started, outstanding fees and overdue tasks, each a one-click filter. Every row shows the matter's next deadline (red when overdue) and whether its fees are paid or still due, and search works as you type.

Open any matter and you get the whole case file on one screen: a header with the next status step (Mark active or Close matter), four summary cards (next date, balance, open tasks, client contact), and the tabs:

Tab Contents
Overview Client, practice area, dates, status, assigned staff
Work Case tasks, owners and deadlines
Billing Invoices, payments and the outstanding balance
Communications Messages exchanged with the client
Forms Smart Forms shared on this matter and what came back
Calendar Hearings and appointments for this matter
Activity Everything that has happened, newest first, paged as you scroll

Each tab is gated by permission. A receptionist opening a matter sees the tabs reception is allowed to see, and the tab counts reflect only what that person may read. Hidden tabs aren't just hidden with CSS. Their data is never sent to the browser.

Where to go next