Public & Professional Services · Full Build-Out

Boutique Law Firm

Catch a Conflict Before Intake, Not After

Turning away good referrals because nobody remembers whether you already represent the opposing party. This page walks through building the fix in SmartLite — record types, fields, relationships, automation, and daily use.

About & Business Case #

The everyday problem #

Managing Partner

"We turn away good referrals because nobody remembers whether we already represent the opposing party. And billable hours live in someone's notebook until the end of the month."

Without one shared system, conflict checks depend on someone's memory, and every matter's financial value is invisible until it's billed. That means missed revenue forecasting and — worse — a real risk of taking on a client you shouldn't.

What good looks like

Conflict checks happen before intake, not after a bad surprise. Every matter's value is visible as real, forecastable pipeline. Fee exceptions always get sign-off first.

What you're building #

Record type	Kind	What it holds
Lead	Standard (built-in)	An inquiry from a referring attorney, bar association, or the firm's website
Account / Contact	Standard (built-in)	The client company and the client's own contact person
Matter	Custom (you build it)	Practice Area, Opposing Party, Retainer Amount — linked to the Client Account
Opportunity	Standard (built-in)	The retainer + estimated fee value for the engagement, linked to the Matter
Case	Standard (built-in)	Each individual client request logged against the Matter

Business outcome #

Conflict checks happen before intake, not after a bad surprise
Every matter's revenue is forecastable pipeline, not a guess
A permanent, tamper-proof record of every matter status change, ready for a bar compliance review

Implementation #

Step-by-step build #

Do these six pieces in order. Total time: roughly 35–45 minutes the first time through.

1 Capture the referral #

Set up the intake formSetup → Object Manager → Lead → Sharing tab → Web-to-Lead section. Map your website's inquiry form fields (Name, Email, Referring Attorney, Opposing Party Name) to Lead fields.

Embed itCopy the generated HTML snippet onto your website's "Contact Us" or referral intake page.

2 Check for conflicts first — before converting #

Add the Opposing Party field to LeadSetup → Object Manager → Lead → Fields → New Field. Label: "Opposing Party Name", Type: TEXT.

Build a conflict-check List ViewOpen the Lead list page → New List View. Name it "Conflict Check" and add a filter on Opposing Party Name so you can search it against existing Client Accounts before converting.

Do this before Convert

Once a Lead converts, its data lives on inside the new Account/Contact and can't be un-converted. Always run the conflict check first.

3 Open the matter #

Convert the LeadClick Convert on the qualified Lead. This creates the Client Account and Contact — see the Lead-to-Cash Trail for the full walkthrough.

Create the Matter objectSetup → Object Manager → New Object. Label: "Matter", Plural Label: "Matters".

Add its fieldsOpen Matter → Fields tab → New Field, and add each row below.

Field label	Type	Notes
Client	LOOKUP	Related object: Account — connects the Matter to the client
Practice Area	PICKLIST (dropdown)	e.g. Litigation, Family Law, Corporate, Estate Planning
Opposing Party	TEXT	Used for the conflict check
Retainer Amount	NUMBER	Feeds the Opportunity value in step 4

4 Forecast the engagement #

Add a Matter lookup to OpportunitySetup → Object Manager → Opportunity → Fields → New Field. Label: "Matter", Type: LOOKUP, related object: Matter.

Create the OpportunityOpen the new Matter → create a related Opportunity, set its Amount to the retainer + estimated fee value, and link it via the Matter field you just added.

5 Gate fee exceptions #

Create the approval processSetup → Approval Processes → New Process. Object: Opportunity.

Set the entry conditione.g. discount_percent__c > 10 or a contingency-fee flag — trigger whenever a non-standard fee arrangement is proposed.

Add the approval stepStep 1: Managing Partner. Activate the process — no engagement letter goes out until it's approved.

6 Keep a compliance trail #

Log requests as CasesEach time a client calls or emails with a request, log it as a Case linked to the Matter (via a Matter lookup field on Case).

Review the Audit Log anytimeSetup → Audit Log, filtered by object = Matter, shows every status change permanently — nothing here needs extra setup, it's automatic.

How to Use #

Day-to-day: intake coordinator #

New referral arrivesA Lead appears automatically from the website form or gets entered manually from a phone referral.

Run the conflict checkOpen the "Conflict Check" List View and search the Opposing Party Name against existing Client Accounts before doing anything else.

Convert and open the MatterOnce clear, convert the Lead and create the Matter with its Practice Area, Opposing Party, and Retainer Amount.

Day-to-day: attorneys #

Log a client requestOpen the Matter and create a new Case for anything the client asks for — it stays permanently attached to that Matter's history.

Propose a fee exceptionIf a discount or contingency arrangement is needed, submit the Opportunity for approval — you'll see its status move to Pending, then Approved or Rejected.

Day-to-day: managing partner #

Review fee exceptionsCheck the Approval Inbox for any pending fee requests and approve or reject them.

Check the pipelineOpen Reports and run a live view of open Matters by Opportunity value — real forecastable revenue instead of a guess.

What to try next

Look at the Approval Processes and Audit & Debug Logs trails to go deeper on the pieces used here.