👋 Welcome to Legatics!
We're on a mission to transform legal transactions. And we're super excited that you've joined us on this journey.
First, the bad news. We can't magically transfer your matters to Legatics. There's some manual work required. But don't fear, we've got awesome features (and this article) that'll make this process much easier!
In this article
🏗️ Step 1 - Getting ready
A - Preparing for the transfer
Separation comes from preparation
Cheesy, we know. But in this case, it's somewhat true. The better you can organise your matters for the transfer, the quicker the transfer will be. Set out below are some tips to help get you ready.
Structure your matter into folders
This will help contain your matter in one place. A recommended structure is set out below
📁{Matter name}
📁 000 - Set-up information
📄 Word/Excel export of list
📄 Participants
📁 001 - {Document name}
📄 001 - {Document name}
Repeat for each document
📁
Repeat for each document
Add versions to your matter folder
If you want to import every version of a document, then use folders to help structure your upload. Specifically, we recommend that you:
Group versions into folders | This helps you keep them organised |
Label the folder with the row number | This way, when you come to upload, you can easily work down your folder and upload sequentially into rows |
Delete versions once you upload them | This helps you track if the document is in Legatics. Obviously if you do this, make sure this is a copy (and that you've retained the original version somewhere safe) |
We recommend using the "000" format for row numbers and file versions (eg 001 - SPA). File explorer will sort files with these numbers correctly. They won't if you use another numbering system.
Structure your list into Word documents or Excel files
Most transaction management platforms let you export your lists into Word tables or Excel files. Take those exports and save them into your the 000 - Set-up information folder.
You'll be using these files to re-create your list in Legatics using our Word table importer or Excel importer.
Set out the roles, organisations and users in your matter
Legatics has a three-layer participant hierarchy. Currently, you can't upload participants from an Excel or other file. You need to manually create them.
Use this document to get this set out in advance!
B - Create an account
This is the easiest part! Simply follow the instructions here.
C - Create a "list template"
This step should be done by one person from your organisation only. They will need to be a template administrator.
Creating a list template is super simple. Simply follow these instructions.
We recommend naming your list 'Migration template' or something similar.
Within your list template you will need to:
Add/remove the columns needed to replicate your old platform's structure
Order, size and rename your columns to match the old platform's structure
As a minimum we recommend creating the following columns: Reference, Checklist Items, Responsibility, Comments and Files. Our lists have flexible columns. To successfully import your list data, it's helpful to arrange our lists to replicate the structure from your old platform.
Set the statuses for your status column (don't worry if your statuses differ across matters, having something basic to start from is easier than starting from scratch every time)
Don't forget to publish your list template once complete so that all users from your organisation can use it!
♻️ Step 2 - Transferring your matters
These next steps will need to be followed by everyone within the organisation who is responsible for transferring a matter into Legatics.
A - Create a live matter
Creating a matter is super simple. Simply follow these instructions. When creating the matter you should:
Name: Give it a proper name
Demo/live: Mark it as a live matter
Data: Fill in all the data in the matter creation pop-up accurately
B - Add roles and organisations
Unfortunately, you'll need to do this manually. We don't have a way to import this data from an Excel file
To set-up your:
Roles: Follow these instructions
Organisations: Follow these instructions
C - Create list from your "template" list
Simply create a list from your template using our "Template list" feature.
When you're creating your list:
It's a good time to set who can see the list (learn more here)
Make sure you bring across all the columns from the template
D - Import data into your list from Word table or Excel list
Now that your list is created, it's time to transfer data from your Word table or Excel file into the list.
To import from:
Word table: Follow these instructions
Excel: Follow these instructions
E - Upload versions
Legatics doesn't have a "bulk upload" feature for files (our files live in rows, so bulk uploading is tricky to do).
But, don't worry, uploading documents is super simple! We recommend "dragging and dropping" your versions into Legatics (instead of manually selecting them in your file explorer).
When doing this, remember that:
Versions: Legatics supports versioning. To version a document, simply drag the new version over top of the existing version (don't upload it as a new document!).
Sidebar: We've got a sidebar, which has a bigger "drag zone" for files. To open the sidebar, click on the box at the far left of your list.
F - Apply permissions
Our lists support permissions in a number of places. Generally, we recommend keeping this simple and restricting access at the list level.
If you do need more granular control, keep in mind that you can set permissions inside a list as follows:
Sections
Rows
Columns
Cells (only when the column is a file, status or comments column)
G - Turn on email notifications
Legatics supports email notifications. These emails summarise, across a user's matters, the actions assigned to them since their last email (the frequency is set by the user).
To ensure that these notifications include information about the matter, you need to enable this.
H - Add users
Simply follow the instructions here!
Once you add a user to your matter, they'll get access to it. This is why we recommend doing this step once the matter is fully set-up and ready to be worked on.
You may want to add other internal users before this, so they can comment on the matter set-up.
🚀 Step 3 - Roll-out Legatics!
Once your matters are set-up, it's time to roll-out Legatics. To help with this, we've got lots of resources to get you going.
We recommend utilising our:
Roll-out email to introduce users to Legatics
Overviews to help clients and users understand what Legatics is about
Test documents to help users test Legatics