One record per matter, from intake to closing.
The client, the identity check, documents, dates, research, approvals and tasks sit on the matter they belong to, and closing is checked against what that record holds.
In place. Matters are the core of every Misolla workspace. Two parts are in pilot, marked below.
Everything lands on the matter. Closing reads it.
Work arrives on the matter as it happens, in its own lane, and the timeline keeps the order. When someone marks the matter complete, Misolla reads the record, not the status, to see what is done.
How it works. Three steps, one record.
Open the matter
From an intake or by hand: the client, the kind of matter, the responsible lawyer and the team. The kind of matter decides which tabs the workspace opens with.
Work on the record
Documents, dates, research, approvals and tasks are filed to the matter as they happen. Status changes and attestations are added to its timeline and never edited.
Close it against the record
Marking a matter complete in the workspace checks the requirements for its kind of work. What the record can decide, Misolla checks; the rest, a named person attests with a note.
Done means something different for each kind of matter.
Requirements are set per kind of work. A requirement the system cannot decide, because the firm's checklist doesn't cover it, becomes one a person attests, and the matter says so.
The entity is linked and active, the certificate is on file and the registers are opened. The closing bundle and the final bill are attested.
The linked statutory deadline is marked completed. The filing reference, the registers as filed and the final bill are attested.
Every required item on the checklist is on file. The disposition and a sign-off by a named person with authority are attested; a status change is not a sign-off.
The decision, any conditions logged on the entity, and written notice to the client are attested.
The executed version is on file and key dates are diarised. Open issues closed, or accepted by the client in writing, are attested.
Matters outside those shapes, litigation included, get the core workspace and no closing requirements. Litigation also has its own case layer on the matter.
What's in place. And what's in pilot.
One record per matterIn place
The client, documents, tasks, approvals and research conversations each carry the matter they belong to, so the matter page, the firm's lists and the advisor read from the same place.
A workspace shaped by the kind of workIn place
Formation, annual compliance, review, applications and document work each open with the tabs that work needs. Any other matter gets overview, documents, tasks, timeline, team and notes.
Documents with their historyIn place
Each document keeps numbered versions and records whether a version was edited, uploaded, generated, restored or replaced. The matter's activity names the files linked to it, to the people who can open them.
Dates that say where they came fromIn place
A date entered on the matter names who entered it. A date read from a document, or of unrecorded origin, says so and stays unconfirmed. Only a lawyer at the firm can confirm a date, and changing it clears the confirmation.
A team on every matterIn place
Each matter lists its team by role: responsible, supervising, working, clerk and billing contact. A restricted matter is visible only to its team and the firm's administrators; anyone else is told it doesn't exist.
A closing checkIn place
When a person marks a matter complete in the workspace, its requirements are checked. Each one is either decided from the record or attested by a named person with a note; nothing is assumed. An attestation is withdrawn by adding an entry, not by editing one.
Approvals on the matterIn place
Actions that change a register, file with a registry or send material outside the firm wait as proposals on the matter until a person at the firm approves them. Who approved, and when, is recorded.
Identity checks from the matterIn pilot
The matter opens the identity check for its client, and the client's check status is kept on the client record. Verification runs through a dedicated identity provider, set up per firm.
Ontario annual-return datesIn pilot
Each Ontario business corporation on the firm's books carries an annual-return deadline, unconfirmed until a lawyer confirms it. The date is calculated only while the official text it rests on has been read word for word; otherwise it reads “Needs date” and says why.
What the firm controls.
Who sees a matter
Restrict a matter to its team. Firm administrators keep access; lists, search, the calendar and the advisor return nothing from it to anyone else.
Who closes early
Only a firm administrator can close a matter with requirements outstanding. The timeline records who did it and every requirement that was skipped.
Who confirms a date
A team member whose profile lists them as a lawyer. Until then, a calculated or extracted date reads as unconfirmed everywhere it appears.
What closing checks
The firm's own document checklist decides which items the system can check. An item the checklist leaves out becomes one a person attests.
What the client sees
A matter appears in the client's portal only when someone at the firm turns sharing on for it.
Questions
- Do we have to move our existing files into Misolla?
- No. A pilot starts with one workflow. Your existing systems stay where your records live, and what Misolla needs for that workflow is scoped with you during discovery.
- Can a matter be closed with something still outstanding?
- Only by a firm administrator. The close goes through, and the matter's timeline records who closed it and each requirement that was not met, so it never looks like a clean close.
- Where do the dates on a matter come from?
- Each one says. A date a person entered names them; a date read from a document is marked as read and unconfirmed; a date with no recorded source says that too. A lawyer at the firm confirms a date before it counts as confirmed.
- Who in the firm can see a sensitive matter?
- Mark it restricted and only the people on its team and the firm's administrators can open it. Everyone else gets the same answer as for a matter that was never created.
- Does it work for litigation and other matters?
- Yes. Every matter gets the core workspace: overview, documents, tasks, timeline, team and notes. Litigation also has its own case layer on the matter. Closing requirements apply only to the kinds of work they were written for, so none are applied to a lawsuit.
- Can our clients see their matter?
- Only if the firm shares it. Sharing is turned on per matter, and a client in the portal sees only what the firm shares with them.
Dates, requirements and checks on a matter are aids to the firm's own review. Nothing on this page or in the product is legal advice; a lawyer reviews before anyone relies on it. The example matter is synthetic.
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