Search for matters by contact name

Search for matters by contact name

Even the most competent attorney can forget a client name every once in a while. It’s a heck of a lot easier to remember a client’s name than it is to remember a client’s case number or matter number. You’re a lawyer, not a computer.

Searching for matters by contact name renders the matter number virtually useless. For lawyers, that’s a good thing.

Why does the matter number… no pun intended… matter? Lawyers are reactive in their matter/case numbering system. Whether the matter/case number be that of a court, insurance company or opposing counsel’s-mega-firm number, in most cases, lawyers are forced to reference an external matter number and unless you have a piece of paper in front of you with the number in black and white, to locate a file, you have to waste a few minutes to find out a (basically) worthless number. Waste that extra few minutes 5 times a day and you’re up to 15-20 minutes of wasted time every day. That’s an hour a week wasting time on a worthless number.

If you could look through every file in your office any way you could, would it be easier to find matter number 11-blah-blah-blah or would it be easier to find Mr. Johnson’s divorce file? How many times have you barked to a paralegal “Get me matter number 11-72889GV6!”? Isn’t it a lot easier to say “Get the Taylor matter.”?

To search for a matter in GoMatters using the client/contact name:

  • Switch to the Contacts app using the app switcher button
  • Search for the client by name and double click the contact record
  • Click the Matters tab in the Contacts attributes panel
  • Double click the contact matter to show the matter record