The Matter Access Center in Lawcus provides matter managers with a centralized view of everyone associated with a matter and their current access status.
With the Matter Access Center, you can review participants, track invitations, grant matter access, and manage pending invitations—all from one place.
This helps ensure that clients, related contacts, and internal firm members have the appropriate access to participate in matter-related activities.
How to Access the Matter Access Center
Navigate to Matters in Lawcus.
Open the matter you want to manage.
Click Manage Access to open the Matter Access Center.
The Matter Access Center displays participants associated with the selected matter, along with their access and invitation details.
Understanding the Matter Access Center
The Matter Access Center is divided into two tabs:
Contacts & Assignees: Displays clients, related contacts, and contacts associated with tasks or events in the matter.
Matter Members: Displays internal firm members associated with the matter.
1. Contacts & Assignees
Under Contacts & Assignees, you can review participants and their access status.
At the top, three summary cards provide an overview:
No Access: Participants who do not have access to the matter. These are shown as Not invited.
Pending Acceptance: Participants who have been invited but have not yet accepted. These are shown as Invited but not accepted.
Has Access: Participants who already have access to the matter. These are shown as All good.
These summaries help you quickly identify participants who may require attention.
2. Participant Details
Below the summary cards, the participant table displays the following information:
Column | Description |
Name | Participant's name and email address. |
Type | Participant's relationship to the matter, such as Client, Co-Counsel, or another related contact type. |
Tasks | Number of tasks associated with the participant in the matter. |
Events | Number of events associated with the participant in the matter. |
Matter Access | Displays the participant's current matter access status, such as Shared or No Access. |
Invitation Status | Displays the invitation status, such as Accepted or Not Invited. |
Last Invite | Shows information about the most recent invitation, when available. |
Actions | Provides available actions such as Invite, Share, or Revoke. |
3. Matter Members
The Matter Members tab displays the internal firm members associated with the matter.
This provides visibility into the firm members who are part of the matter, separately from external contacts and assignees.
You can view the following details:
Name: Displays the member's name and email address.
Type: Displays the member's type, such as Teammate.
Tasks: Shows the number of tasks assigned to the member.
Events: Shows the number of events associated with the member.
Actions: Allows you to Remove a member from the matter.
If the matter is set to Public, the following message appears:
"This matter is Public — visible to all team members."
This indicates that all team members can view the matter.
Managing Matter Access
The Matter Access Center allows you to manage participant invitations directly from the Actions column.
1. Invite a Participant
If a participant's Matter Access shows No Access and their Invitation Status shows Not Invited, you can send an invitation.
Open the Matter Access Center.
Go to Contacts & Assignees.
Locate the participant you want to invite.
Click Invite under Actions.
Complete the invitation process.
Note: The Invite button will be disabled if the participant does not have an email address associated with their contact record.
2. Share Matter Access
If a participant has already accepted an invitation but does not have access to the matter, you can share the matter directly.
Locate the participant whose Matter Access shows No Access and Invitation Status shows Accepted.
Click Share under Actions.
The matter will be shared with the participant.
Once shared, their Matter Access status will display Shared.
3. Revoke Matter Access
If a participant already has access to the matter, you can revoke their access when it is no longer required.
Locate the participant whose Matter Access shows Shared.
Click Revoke under Actions.
Confirm the action if prompted.
This allows you to control who can access the matter.
4. Resend a Pending Invitation
If a participant has been invited but has not accepted, they will appear under Pending Acceptance.
You can resend the pending invitation using the available invitation action.
Adding Users to a Matter
The Add Users option in the Matter Access Center allows you to add contacts, client portal users, and internal firm members to a matter.
To add users:
Open the Matter Access Center.
Click the dropdown arrow next to Add Users in the top-right corner.
Select one of the available options:
Add contacts & client portal users
Add members
Add Contacts & Client Portal Users
Use this option to add contacts or client portal users to the matter.
Click Add Users and select Add contacts & client portal users.
The Add Contacts & Portal Users window will open.
Under Select contacts or client portal users, use the Type to search... field to find and select the required contacts.
Select Invite to matter if you want to send invitations to the selected users.
Click Add Users to complete the process.
Note: The Invite to matter checkbox is selected by default. You can uncheck it if you want to add contacts without sending invitations immediately.
Add Members
Use this option to add internal firm members to the matter.
Open the Matter Access Center.
Click the dropdown arrow next to Add Users.
Select Add members.
Select the internal firm members you want to add.
Complete the process to add them to the matter.
The added members will appear under the Matter Members tab.
Remove a Matter Member
To remove an internal firm member from the matter:
Open the Matter Members tab.
Locate the member you want to remove.
Click Remove under Actions.
Confirm the action if prompted.
Note: For a Public matter, removing a member from the list does not necessarily prevent them from viewing the matter, since public matters are visible to all team members.
Preparing Tasks and Events Before Granting Access
With the Matter Access Center, firms can prepare tasks and events without waiting for clients or contacts to accept portal invitations.
Your team can:
Create and assign tasks to clients and related contacts before they have matter access.
Associate contacts with matter-related events.
Prepare the complete task and event structure in advance.
Automate client-related tasks using workflows.
Invite participants when they are ready to access the matter.
Note: Assigning a task or associating a contact with an event does not automatically grant matter access. You can review their status under Contacts & Assignees and use Invite when needed.
Benefits of the Matter Access Center
Centralized Visibility: Review contacts, assignees, and matter members from one place.
Access Tracking: Quickly identify participants under No Access, Pending Acceptance, and Has Access.
Simplified Access Management: Invite participants, share matter access, and revoke access without navigating between multiple pages.
Flexible User Management: Add contacts, client portal users, and internal firm members directly from the Matter Access Center.
Better Matter Planning: Prepare tasks and events before participants accept their invitations.
Improved Workflow Automation: Automate client-related tasks without waiting for portal access.
Summary
The Matter Access Center simplifies matter access management by bringing participant information, task and event involvement, access statuses, and invitation management into one place.
Matter managers can quickly identify who has access, who is awaiting acceptance, and who still needs to be invited, making it easier to manage matter participation efficiently.