This guide provides step-by-step instructions for creating and managing matter templates in Legatics. Utilizing matter templates helps maintain consistent deal structures and formats, supporting quicker setup and minimizing errors across various legal transactions
Prerequisites: You need to be a template administrator
Click on the image below to see how to manage matter templates. If you need more information, read on further!
Getting to matter templates
Note: This feature sits inside Legatics. It isn't managed from the administration system.
Log into Legatics
From the top navigation bar, press matter templates
Understanding the template page
This page helps you manage all of your templates. It contains the following information.
Category | The category your template belongs to. This isn't a column, but a section that nests all templates in that category. |
Name | The name of the template |
Description | Description of the template to help users understand it's purpose |
Tags | The tags you've used to identify the template |
Last updated | When the template was last edited and who by |
Published | If the template is visible to users or not |
Template used | How many times the template has been used |
Info: The page is sorted A > Z by category. Inside those categories, templates are sorted A > Z. You can't change this sorting.
Working with categories
Categories help you group related templates together. How you use categories is up to you. We commonly see practice areas used as categories (eg Banking & Finance). But you could also group templates in other ways (eg by jurisdiction).
Tip: We recommend setting up your categories before you create templates
Limitation: You can't created nested categories. But you can use tags to help users see related templates (eg a tag for jurisdiction).
Creating a category
Click the Create Category button in the secondary navigation bar
Enter the category name
Click Create
Your new category will appear on the template page
Renaming categories
Click the pen icon next to the name of the category in the template page
Update the name in the pop up that appears
Click Save to update the category name
Note: The template page sorting will be updated to reflect the updated name
Deleting categories
Click the delete icon at the right of the categories grey bar
Enter the text DELETE CATEGORY AND TEMPLATES
Click Delete category to delete the category
Warning: Deleting a category will delete all templates nested inside them. Move a template to another category if you don't want to delete it.
Creating templates
Templates are a great way to get your lawyers started faster. There are a couple of ways to create templates, which are set out below.
Tip: When you create a template, they aren't visible to users until they're published
Existing matter template
If you want to reuse an existing matter template, this is the way to go. To start from that template:
Click the create matter template button in the secondary navigation bar
Select existing matter template in the pop up that appears
Select the template you want to start from
Decide what lists from the template you want to include
Decide what content you want to include from the template
Press continue
Insert the details about the template
Once done, press create to get started
Existing matters
This helps you turn matters into templates for everyone to use. To start from an existing matter:
Click the create matter template button in the secondary navigation bar
Select existing matter in the pop up that appears
Select the matter you want to start from (you can search here)
Heads-up: You can only select matters:
Hosted by your organisation
When you're the matter admin in the matter
Once you select a matter, you've got the ability to:
Select lists: Decide what lists you want to include in the template. By default, all lists in the matter are included. To remove them, press the x button next to the list name
Content to include: Decide what content to include from the template. The options available are:
Roles
Organisations
Permissions
List content
File content
Limitations:
Users can't be copied. That means anything set at the user level won't be copied, including:
Permissions
Status assignments
Responsibility
Only the latest version of files are included
After you press continue, fill in the information about the template and press Create to get it underway.
Blank template
Sometimes you need a blank canvas to sketch out your dreams. To get started:
Click the create matter template button in the secondary navigation bar
Select new matter template in the pop up that appears
Fill in the information in the pop up and press Create when done
Editing templates
Drafting
Once you've created your template, you'll be taken directly to it. If you need to edit an existing template, simply press on the name of the template from the template page.
Good to know: Editing a template works exactly the same as working in a matter. So it's worth checking out our articles on lists and matter management to understand how to tailor the template to your needs.
Heads-up: Any changes to make to a template are automatically saved. There's no way to draft a template and make changes later.
Limitations
Matter templates share the same functionality as normal matters, except for:
Users: You can't add users to templates. That means you can't use features that rely on users, including:
Permissions at the user level
Status assignments
Responsibility assignments
Signing: You can't template signing. That means you can't use any of our signing features in templates.
Audit: There's no audit trail showing changes made to the template.
Masquerade: You can't view the matter as another participant.
Settings: You can't set default matter settings. This is done when the user creates the matter from a template.
Publishing templates
When you're happy with your template, you need to publish it. You can do this by pressing the toggle next to the template in the matter templates page. When a template is published, users will see it when creating a matter from a template
Note: You can also unpublish a template. Simply toggle the template off.
Updating template details
The templates page shows lots of details about each template. To update these details, find the template you want to update and press on the cog icon at the far right of the table. This will open a pop-up to let you update the template's details.
Deleting templates
Find the template you want to delete
Press the bin icon at the far right of the table
Enter the text DELETE TEMPLATE FOREVER
Click Delete template to delete the template
Getting help with templates
If your template is causing you issues, we need the template ID to help resolve them. To get the template ID:
Find the template in the matter templates page
Press the gear icon at the far right of the table
The template ID is at the bottom of the pop-up
Press the icon to copy the ID to your clipboard
Send us the ID with details about the issue