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Add a New Engagement to a Matter

Kathryn McIlwraith
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Who:

Matter Manager + Job Originator + Contract Administrator + Scheduler

Why:

The diversity or size of the Matter may require the engagement of more than one Provider.

Procedure

When a Matter is created within LPG, a single Provider is initially engaged. Typically, an Engagement Order and one or more Deliverable Orders are allocated to this Provider during the Matter creation process. See topic Create a New Matter for details.   

The following procedure describes how to engage additional Provider(s) after the Matter has been created. For steps to add Deliverable Orders to an Engagement see topic Add Deliverable Orders to an Engagement.

  1. Find and open the Matter for which you wish to engage an additional Provider.
  • N1 - The Matter screen appears with the Engagement tab selected for the current Provider.


  1. Scroll to the bottom of the Matter screen and click the New Order

The New Order screen appears.

  • N2 - The top section of the screen is used to add Deliverable Orders to an existing Engagement. See topic Add Deliverable Orders to an Engagement for details.

  1. To engage a new Provider, select one of the options to determine how the new Engagement Order will be created.
  • Select a Work Type Order Template: Select from a list of standard templates to define the new Engagement Order. The list of templates is the same as the Engagement templates available within the Matter Creation Wizard. This option is highly recommended.
  • Use the Project Order: The Project Order is a template attached to this Matter that can be used to define Engagements that are added to the Matter.
  • Do not use a template: Select this option if you wish to manually create the Engagement Order without any defaults populated.

 

Using a Work Type Order Template

Select the Work Type Order Template option and do the following:

a) Click the Select a Work Type Order Template option.

The Find icon is displayed.

b) Click the Find icon .

The Select Work Type Template window opens and a list of templates is displayed. Only templates that have been categorised as Engagement Order templates will be displayed.  These have been set up by a person with the LPG Sys Admin role.

c) Click Select for the template you wish to use.

The Select Work Type Template window closes and the Categorise Order screen appears. The new Engagement Order has been created and detail is now able to be refined.

  • N3 - The Engagement Order is identified by the Order No.
  • N4 - Engagement Orders will have an Order Work Type  of  Engagement. NOTE: Do not change the Order Work Type as this may impact some downstream workflows.
  • The new Engagement Order inherits much of the data from the Matter. For example the Engagement start and end dates default to match the Matter start and end dates (N5)

4. Optionally edit the details of the Engagement Order as required.

  • N6 - For example, you may need to include instructions to the Provider. 

See user guide Create a New Matter for more details on the fields that can be edited.

  1. One mandatory step on the Categorise Order screen is to select the Panel Type and Area of Law, if they were no populated from the Template. Do this as follows:

a) Click the Find icon next to Panel Type.

The Select Panel Type window opens.

b) Select the relevant Panel Type for this engagement from the drop down list.
c) Click the Search

The list displays Areas of Law that are associated with the selected Panel Type.

d) Click [Select] next to the Area of Law that is relevant for this engagement.

  • N7 - The Select Panel Type window closes and the selected Panel Type and Area of Law are inserted into the corresponding fields in the Categorise Order screen (N8).

  1. Once all the details on the Categorise Order screen are correct, click the Save and Continue

 The Allocate Order screen appears.

  • N9 - Based on the selected Panel Type and Area of Law, a list of potential Providers is presented for selection. Information about each Provider is displayed such as Compliance status, Star Rating, summary of results and budget.

  1. Click the “radio” button next to the Provider that you wish to Engage.
  2. If a provider was presented as the Recommended Provider, there is an assumption that the engagement will be issued to them. If an Alternative Provider is selected instead you will need to provide a reason for this selection by either a) selecting a reason from the drop down list or b) typing a reason in the text box.

NOTE: Depending on the LPG configuration Recommended Providers may not be offered.
  1. Click the Save and Continue

If the selected Provider is non-compliant in any area stipulated in your company’s Contract with them (N10), a Compliance Warning screen appears.

  1. If a Compliance Warning screen appears and you wish to proceed with allocating the new Engagement to this Provider, click the Yes

The Itemise Order screen appears with the Items tab selected.

  • N11 - At this point there is no Budget allocation for the Engagement.

 

NOTE: If item(s) had been specified on the template that was selected for the creation of this order, they will appear by default on the itemise screen.

 

 
  1. To add an item to the Engagement Order do the following:

a)  Click the Find icon on one of the blank lines.

The Find Item screen appears.

The Item list includes all items associated with the Contract governing this Engagement.

 

 

b) You can optionally filter the Items list by entering a partial Item Id and/or Description then clicking the Submit

The list is filtered to display only items matching the search criteria. If you do not filter the list, you need to scroll down the list until you find the item you wish to add to the Payment Claim.

c) To add the Item to the Engagement Order, click the Item Id.

The Find Item window closes and the Item is inserted into the Itemise Order screen.

d) Depending on the type of item, a drop down list may appear from which you can further categorise the item.

In the example shown above, the location that the fees will be incurred has been selected (“District Court”).

e) Enter the Unit Rate and/or Claimed Qty as required.

 

NOTE: The Item rate type (N12) determines which fields will be editable. For example, you cannot edit the Unit Rate of a “Fixed” rate item. “Capped” rate items can only be edited to a Unit Rate that is less than the cap. See the user guide Overview of Item Rates for more information.

 

f) If required, enter additional notes about the item being claimed.

 

 

Notes on adding items to the Engagement Order:

Typically the items included on the Order at itemisation stage will be for legal fees, disbursements or counsel fees.  If the scope of the engagement is clear, the actual items that the Provider will claim payment for can be selected. Alternatively (and more generally applied in practice), a single item representing a Fee Estimate will be initially added to the order.

IMPORTANT: N13 – Do not include Deliverable Items (such as Advice and Documentation) when itemising the Engagement Order. Each Deliverable Item needs to be incorporated into a separate Deliverable Order. This allows the status of each Deliverable Item to be tracked and approved by the Client when it is delivered. See user guide Add Deliverable Orders to an Engagement for details.  Typically, these items have a fixed rate of $0.

IMPORTANT: N14 - Credit Note items may be available for selection. Typically the Item Id is the same as the item with which it corresponds (“CBFJ” is the credit note item for item “BFJ”). Do not include Credit Note items when itemising an Order. They are only to be used by Providers to create a Credit Note if the Client has been overcharged.

  • N15 – Be aware of whether the item includes GST or is GST exempt (tick or cross in the GST column). Both options may be available. Choose which item is appropriate for the Client.
  • N16 - Take note of the Unit of Measure (UOM) that applies to the item. In some cases the same item (e.g. Lawyer’s Legal Fee) may be available on a daily rate and also on an hourly rate. 

 
  1. Repeat step 11 for each item that needs to be added to the Engagement.

 

  • N17 - If there are insufficient lines to add all the items to the Order, use the drop down list at the bottom of the Itemise Order screen to add blank item lines to the Order.

  • N18 - To remove an Item from the Order:

Select and delete the Item ID. Then click elsewhere on the screen or press the Tab key on your keyboard. The line will be reset to a blank line.

 

 

  1. To finish itemising the Order, click the Save and Continue

The Transmit Order screen appears. The Approved total for the Engagement (N19) is automatically set to the total value of items on the Order (N20).

  1. If a specific Engagement Budget needs to be allocated, go to the Budget tab and edit the budget.

See the user guide Request Budget Variation for procedures to set an Approved Limit (N21) or individual Budget Allocations (N22).

  1. To send the Engagement to the Provider for acceptance, click the Transmit

The Transmit Order success screen appears including contact details for the Provider’s primary contact.

  1. Click the Back to Worklist

The display returns to the Matter screen.

  • N1 - The Engagements tab header shows the number of Engagements associated with the Matter.
  • N2 – The new Engagement is added as a section within the Engagements tab.

The Initial Estimate for the whole Matter (N3) can easily be compared to the individual Budget Limit of each Engagement (N4).

  • N5 - Each click of the arrow on the header of the Engagement expands or collapses the panel containing the Engagement information.

NOTE: Each Provider can only see the Engagement allocated to them.

 

Tips & Troubleshooting

 

After a new engagement has been created for an existing Matter, remember to check the Matter documents to determine if they need to be made accessible to the new Legal Firm.  

 

 

 


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