Case Summary Page
The Case Summary page is an essential resource for managing and keeping track of case information and deadlines. Important information from various aspects of the case is collected and centralized in a single page, allowing you to get a basic view of the entire case at a glance. This page is also where the case's status, staffing, and upcoming events can be edited, making it vital for case management. By default, the information in the case summary is divided into eleven areas. These areas are the basic case data area, Staff, Last Notes, Pending Appointments, Tasks, Courts / Dockets, Pending Critical Deadlines, Plaintiffs, Defendants, Negotiations and Settlements, and an area for miscellaneous tabs.
The basic case data area
This area is for the fundamental information about the case, including status, key dates, location, and referral information.
The status table
This area includes a table without headings that contains all of a case's statuses. The table has four columns. The first contains the stage (for the primary status; this is in bold text) or the status type (for sub-statuses). The second contains the status description. The third contains the date on which the current status began, and the number of days since then (in parentheses). The fourth is an action column containing an Edit icon, History icon, and Add icon (for the primary status) or just an Edit icon and a Delete icon (for sub-statuses).
The add/edit form for the status table has the following fields:
Status Type: A dropdown containing all status types. (See Status Setup or the Case Status Types picklist for information on editing status types.)
Status Description: A dropdown. Only becomes active if Status Type is set, and the contents of the dropdown will be the status descriptions of the selected type. (See Status Setup or the Case Statuses picklist for information about editing status descriptions.)
Close Reason: A dropdown. Available only if Status Description is set to Closed Case, and is inactive if Status Description is not set at all. The contents of the dropdown are all case close reasons. (See the Case Close Reasons picklist to edit case close reasons.)
Expected # of Days: A numeric input field. When Status Description is set, defaults to the expected number of days for that status description, but can be edited if appropriate. (See Status Setup to edit the expected number of days for status descriptions.)
Date: A date-widget dropdown used to set the date the status began. Set to today by default but can be edited to dates in the future or past (selecting a past date, in particular, may be useful if you forgot to change the case status in SmartAdvocate on a day that actual case events should have prompted a status change).
Comments: A text input field. Used for any comments regarding the status change.
There is also a button above the input field for comments labeled Clear Comments; clicking it will delete anything currently entered in the comment field.
Clicking the history icon ( ) will open a panel with a table that contains all the statuses the case has been through in its history. The table's columns are Status Type, Status (i.e. status description), From Date (the date the status began), To Date (the date the status ended), Staff (the staff member who assigned the status to the case), and Comments (any comments that were added in the comments field when changing the status). If the status is changed to Closed Case, the Comments column for that row will include an auto-generated comment with the reason for the case closure.
Referral & case flags
Below the status table are up to two lines of text and/or icons. The first line contains the referral information for the case. The form of incoming referral is listed, followed by the contact providing that referral (clicking the name of the contact opens the contact card in a new tab). If applicable, the form of outgoing referral is then also listed, followed by the contact to which the case was referred (again, clicking the name opens the contact card). The second, if it is present, is a series of short phrases or icons (called "flags") indicating characteristics of the case that may affect how the case is or should be handled. Flags may include things like "Serious Injury" or "Bankruptcy." Clicking any of the flags will take you to the page or miscellaneous tab containing more details about that flag (for example, clicking Referred Out takes you to the Retainer/Referral page). These flags are automatically generated by the SmartAdvocate system based on the case information; they cannot be manually added to, edited, or deleted by users (although they can be edited by the firm's Admin under Admin > Picklist Maintenance > Case Summary Flags).
Key dates
To the right of the status table are two columns. The first column contains a list of significant case dates. From top to bottom, the dates are the date of the incident, the date the case was opened, the date the case was marked "wanted" by your firm, the date the retainer was signed, the date the case is expected to be resolved, and the date of the next critical deadline or SOL. Note: If there is an outstanding critical deadline or SOL due on a past date, then Next Deadline/SOL will contain the earliest date of all outstanding critical deadlines and SOLs, and the text of the date will be red.
The second column contains other significant information. From top to bottom, the column contains the state in which the case takes place, which of your offices is handling the case, the estimated value range of the case, the total liability coverage of the defendants, and the total value of all settlements obtained in the case, and a liability code/proportion (if applicable), which is set in the Incident page. Clicking the contents of Estimated Value will bring up a panel with a table that contains all the estimated case values the case has been through in its history.
Edit Case
In the lower right corner of the basic case data area is a button labeled Edit Case. Clicking it brings up the edit case panel. From here, you can change the case type, case subtype, the state in which the case takes place, which office is handling the case, whether the case involves a serious injury, whether the case is a master case in multi-district litigation, the date the case was marked "wanted," the date the case is expected to be resolved, the estimated value range of the case, the minimum amount your client is willing to accept in settlement, and any comments regarding the estimated value of the case. There is also a field for the date the case was opened. If permitted in the Case section of Administrator Parameters Setup (Internal), both the Case Name and the Case Number can be edited. Note: The estimated value range is selected from a dropdown. See the Case Values picklist to set the available case values.
Staff
This area contains a table without headings that lists the staff members assigned to the case. The table has three columns. The first column contains the case role of the staff member. The second contains the name of the staff member; clicking the name opens the staff member's contact card in a new tab. The third is an action column containing an edit icon and a delete icon.
You can add a staff member by clicking Add in the upper right of the Staff area. The add/edit form has fields for the staff member's name, case role, and any comments regarding the addition or change of the staff member. You can click Show History in the upper right of the Staff area to bring up a panel with a table that contains all the staff members that have been assigned to the case through its history.
Last Notes
This area contains a table without headings that lists the five most recent notes on the case. The table has two columns. The first consists of a line with the note's type, date, time, and creator, followed by the note itself. The second is an action column containing an edit icon and a delete icon. You can add a new note by clicking Add in the upper right of the Last Notes area.
Pending Appointments
This area contains a table without headings that lists all upcoming appointments regarding the case, together with any appointments from the past that have not been marked Completed. The table has three columns. The first contains the date of the appointment. The second contains the subject of the appointment, and an Information icon. Clicking the Information icon brings up a small note with a list of the attendees of the appointment. Note: The note says "Attending Staff," but it lists all attendees, even those that are not staff members. You can edit any appointment in this table by double-clicking anywhere in the row containing the appointment you want to edit. The third column contains the text from the Comments section of the appointment. There is no edit icon. There is no button in this area to create a new appointment, but you can use the Add Appointment icon in the Quick Add Toolbar.
Tasks
This area contains a table without headings that lists all incomplete tasks regarding the case. The table has five columns. The first contains the priority icon for the task. ( = Critical; = High; = Low; if the column is blank, the item has been assigned a priority of Normal, which is the default.) The second contains the due date of the task. The third contains the subject of the task, and an Information icon. Clicking the information icon brings up a small note with the description of the task. The fourth column contains the name of the staff member to whom the task is assigned. The fifth is an action column containing a mark-complete icon, an Edit icon, and if applicable, a perform-task icon. You can add a new task by clicking Add in the upper right of the Tasks area.
Courts/Dockets
This area contains a table without headings that lists all the courts that are hearing or have heard the case and the and dockets for each court. The table has three columns. The first contains the name of the court; clicking the name opens the court's contact card in a new tab. The second contains the docket the case is on, as well as the filing date for that docket. The third contains all the court personnel working on the docket; each court employee is listed with their role preceding their name, and clicking their name opens their contact card in a new tab. You cannot directly change or add to the contents of this table; you must go to the Court page to make any changes that would appear here.
Pending Critical Deadlines
This area contains a table without headings that lists all the outstanding critical deadlines and SOLs for the case. The table has four columns. The first contains the name of the party to whom the deadline or SOL applies. The second contains the type of critical deadline or SOL; clicking the text in this column will take you to the Critical Deadlines page. The third column contains the due date of the deadline. The fourth contains any comments regarding the deadline. You cannot directly edit the contents of this table; you can, however, add a Defendant SOL, Plaintiff SOL, or critical deadline by clicking on the appropriate link in the upper right portion of the panel.
Plaintiffs
This area contains a table that lists all the plaintiffs in the case. The table's columns are:
Plaintiff: The name of the plaintiff; the text of the name is also a link to the plaintiff's Contact Card. If the plaintiff has a nickname, it will be listed in italics after the actual name and included in the link. If languages are listed on the plaintiff's contact card, they will be listed to the right of or below the link in parentheses.
#: Indicates the Group into which this plaintiff has been placed. The Group is set when the contact is added as a Plaintiff and can be edited by editing the Plaintiff Summary (but NOT the Contact Card).
Primary: Contains "Plaintiff" if the plaintiff is the primary plaintiff, "Contact" if the plaintiff is the primary contact, or "Plaintiff/Contact" if the plaintiff is both. Blank otherwise.
Role: The role of the plaintiff in the incident.
Phone #: The primary phone number of the plaintiff.
Insurance Co.: The insurance company, claim number, and policy limits (No-Fault and UM/SUM) of the plaintiff's insurance. The insurance company's name is a contact-card link.
Adjuster: A contact-card link for the insurance adjuster for the plaintiff's insurance and, if available, the adjuster's phone number.
Coverage: The amount of the plaintiff's available insurance coverage.
Law Firm: Contact card links for the law firm and primary attorney representing your client in the same or a related matter, but in a different capacity.
You cannot directly change the contents of this table; you must go to the Plaintiff Summary or Plaintiff Insurance page to make any changes that would appear here.
Defendants
This area contains a table that lists all the defendants in the case. The table's columns are:
Defendant: The name of the defendant; the text of the name is also a link to the defendant's Contact Card. If the defendant has a nickname, it will be listed in italics after the actual name and included in the link.
#: Indicates the Group into which this defendant has been placed. The Group is set when the contact is added as a defendant and can be edited by editing the Defendant Summary (but NOT the Contact Card).
Role: The role of the defendant in the incident.
Insurance Co.: The insurance company, claim number, and policy limits of the defendant's insurance. The text of the insurance company's name is a contact-card link.
Adjuster: A contact-card link for the insurance adjuster for the defendant's insurance.
Coverage: The amount of the defendant's available insurance coverage
Law Firm: Contact-card links for the law firm and the primary attorney representing the defendant.
You cannot directly change the contents of this table; you must go to the Defendant Summary, Defendant Attorneys, or Defendant Insurance page to make any changes that would appear here.
Negotiations and Settlements
This area contains a table that lists all the plaintiffs in the case and provides negotiation, settlement, and other monetary information for each. The table's columns are:
Plaintiff: The name of the plaintiff on whose behalf negotiations and settlements were made.
Case Value: The estimated value range of the case. Set in the basic case data area, above. Identical for all plaintiffs in the case.
Last Demand: The most recent demand made on the plaintiff's behalf in the case, and the date of the demand. Set in the Negotiation/Settlement page.
Last Offer: The most recent offer received on the plaintiff's behalf in the case, and the date of the offer. Set in the Negotiation/Settlement page.
Total Liens: The total of all negotiated/final liens on the plaintiff in the case. Set in the Lien Tracking page.
Settlement: The most recent settlement reached on the plaintiff's behalf in the case, and the date of the settlement. Set in the Negotiation/Settlement page.
Liability coverage: The total coverage provided by all insurance held by the plaintiff. Set in the Plaintiff Insurance page.
The miscellaneous tabs area
This area contains information about various aspects of the case not covered by the other areas of the Case Summary page. The area is divided into eight tabs, the contents of only one of which is visible at a time; click the heading of the tab you want to access to bring up that tab's information. Each tab's heading includes a small indicator circle next to the title of the tab. If the indicator circle is white, there is no information in that tab (i.e., the tab is not relevant to the case or the relevant information has not yet been added). If the circle is green, there is some information in the tab. The eight tabs are Incident Facts, Injuries, Liens, Other Cases, Surrogate, Bankruptcy, Related Cases, and Other Plaintiffs.
Incident Facts
This tab displays the contents of the Facts field in Incident. Note: The heading for Incident Facts will always have a green indicator circle, even in the Facts field in Incident is blank.
Injuries
This tab contains a table listing all the summaries in the Injuries page. The table is essentially identical to the table in the Injuries page, except that there is no action column or way of editing the table directly, and the first column is labeled Plaintiff Name instead of Plaintiff and cannot be expanded to reveal injury details. In fact, the injury details are not visible at all in this tab, except insofar as they are included in the injuries summary or pleadings summary.
Liens
This tab contains a table with the total liens on each plaintiff in the case. The table is identical to the Totals table in the Lien Tracking page. Note: This table is present even if the heading for Liens has a white indicator circle, but all of the columns besides Plaintiffs will contain "$0.00" for each plaintiff and the total.
Other Cases
This tab contains a table listing all other cases in the SmartAdvocate system that share at least one plaintiff with this case. This is useful if you have multiple cases on a plaintiff's behalf stemming from distinct but related incidents; in each case, this tab will contain a link to the other case or cases. The table has columns for the case number, case name, current primary status, attorney, paralegal, and case manager. Clicking the case number will open the case summary page for that case in a new tab. This table is similar to the one in the Other Cases page, except that it ignores cases that have not been assigned case numbers and the columns are slightly different. Neither table can be directly edited; both are automatically generated based on the other cases in the SmartAdvocate system.
Surrogate
This tab contains a table listing all deceased plaintiffs in the case. The table has columns for the decedent's name, date of death, and location of death. The information in this tab is taken from the Decedent Information page and cannot be edited from this tab.
Bankruptcy
This tab contains a table listing all bankruptcies experienced by the parties in the case. The table has columns for the party type that experienced the bankruptcy (either "P" for plaintiff or "D" for defendant), the bankruptcy court, judge, docket number, trustee and trustee's attorney, and the date the attorney was retained by the trustee.
Related Cases
This tab is the only one of the miscellaneous tabs that does not draw its information from elsewhere in the case pages. It is used to mark other cases as somehow related to this one. Unlike Other Cases, which is automatically populated specifically with cases that share a plaintiff, marking a case related is a manual process, and therefore your firm can decide when and whether it is useful to mark two cases related. (Possible uses for the feature include linking cases with similar fact patterns, linking med mal cases that occurred in the same hospital, etc.) The tab contains a table listing all cases that have been marked as related to this one. The table has columns for the case number, case name, current primary status, attorney, paralegal, and case manager, and an action column with a delete icon for removing the relation. To mark a case related, click the Add Related Case button above the table, which will bring up a dropdown containing all the cases in the SmartAdvocate system. Select the case you wish to link to this one, then click Ok. The case you selected will appear in the current case's Related Case list, and the current case will also automatically appear in the selected case's Related Case list.
Other Plaintiffs
This tab contains a table listing all plaintiffs in the case that are not represented by your firm. The table is identical to the Other Plaintiffs table in the Plaintiff Summary page (although the positions of the action icons are switched). Adding, editing, or deleting "other" plaintiffs works the same in this tab as it does in the Plaintiff Summary page and any information added, edited, or deleted in this tab will have the same effect in the Other Plaintiffs table in the Plaintiff Summary page.
Social Security Disability |
The Social Security Disability page of a case provides information regarding any Social Security Disability application that may have been filed on behalf of a plaintiff. It is intended to be used by the firm who is representing the plaintiff in connection with the application for Social Security Disability and may be hidden for other firms. If your firm does not represent plaintiffs in that capacity and this page is visible, it can be hidden for some or all Case Groups in Admin > Case Menu Configurator. The page, if hidden, can be made visible in the same manner.
Documents |
The Documents page contains all the documents that have been associated with the case. There are two main areas in this page: the table of documents itself, and a preview pane showing the content of the selected document.
The Table
The table of documents contains a few features not found in most SmartAdvocate tables. There is a Create Document button that opens the document generation page, allowing you to Generate a document using a template. There is an Attach Document(s) button that brings up the document attachment panel, allowing for Attaching an Existing Document. There is a Clear Filter button above the table, which clears any filters currently being applied to the table (the same function as the Clear hypertext in the Filter Builder bar). There is a pair of buttons that allow you to change the location of the preview pane relative to the table (either below the table or to the right of the table). There is a set of checkboxes below the table, each of which affects whether certain documents are shown in the table. The Emails checkbox, when checked, makes emails sent from within SmartAdvocate or added to SmartAdvocate from Outlook visible in the table (by default they are filtered out, although the default can be changed in User Preferences). The Photographs checkbox, when checked, makes photographs added to SmartAdvocate visible in the table (by default the box is unchecked, although the default can be changed in User Preferences).The Only High and Critical checkbox, when checked, filters documents of Normal or Low priority out of the table. The Envelopes checkbox, when checked, makes documents in the Envelope subcategory of the Forms category visible in the table (they are filtered out otherwise). The Display Folders checkbox, when checked, shows the documents within a folder structure.
The table has the following available columns:
A Checkbox selector column used to select multiple rows of the table for mass actions.
Icon: An icon representing the type of document.
Description: A description of the document.
Category: The document's document category.
Sub-Category: The document's document subcategory.
Date: The date and time that the document was created.
From: The case contact that sent the document.
To: The case contact to whom the document was sent.
Direction: Either Incoming, Outgoing, or Memo, depending on whether the document was sent from the firm, to the firm, or within the firm.
Review: If the document's value to the case has been analyzed, this column will contain an icon indicating the results of the analysis; if the document has been reviewed, this column will contain a check-mark icon that, when hovered over, displays the name of the reviewer and the date and time of the review. The column can contain both types of icons.
Origin: The means by which the document entered the SmartAdvocate system. Among the possibilities are Attached, Generated, Scanned, and SA Email.
: The priority level of the document.
Action: A right-click icon. The right-click menu contains the options Open, Copy, Edit Properties, Email, Email Link, Download (rename), Download, Upload, Send to Folder, Share in Client Portal, and Delete. For documents with a doc, docx, xlsx or xls extension, the option Copy as PDF is also present. For emails that were sent from within SmartAdvocate, only Open, Email, Email Link, Send to Folder, and Delete are usable; the other options are greyed out.
Additional columns are available for the Documents table, which can be added by clicking on the Show/Hide Columns button. Columns can also be hidden using the Show/Hide Columns button. See Tables for general information about table structure and usage. The additional available columns are:
Actions: An action column containing either an open icon (for emails that were sent from within SmartAdvocate) or an open icon, a copy icon, an edit icon, and an email icon.
Comments: Any comments regarding the document.
Created By: The staff member who added the document to SmartAdvocate.
Created Date: The date and time that the document was added to SmartAdvocate. (This is slightly different than Date, which can be set manually at the time a document is added.)
Delivery Method: The method by which the document was delivered to the firm.
Document Modified By:
Document Modified Date:
Document Path:
Document Type: The document's document type. This column is based on the document's extension and the mapping defined in the Document Type Groups and Document Type Extensions picklists.
Extension: The characters after the period in the document's file name.
File Name: The document's file name in the SmartAdvocate system, excluding the extension.
Folder: The folder in which the document has been placed. Folders can be used to characterize the nature or type of a document, to make it easier to locate. Right click on any document, or click on the Action icon, and choose Send to Folder to place a document in an existing folder or to create and place the document in a new one.
Legacy Type: An older classification of the document. Among the possibilities are Document, Email, Incoming Mail, and Scanned Document.
Properties Modified By:
Properties Modified Date:
Shared In Portal: Whether the document is available in the Client Portal (not yet implemented; coming in a future release).
Shared With Everyone:
Opening a document opens the underlying file using your computer's default program for opening files of its type. Copying a document brings up a panel allowing you to choose the case file to copy the document to; there are radio buttons allowing you to choose to copy the note to the same case, a related case, or a different case (which provides you a list of all cases). Copying a document as a PDF creates a new document in the same case, whose underlying file is the copied file converted to a PDF. Editing the properties of a document brings up the same panel for document details that Attaching an Existing Document does. Emailing a document brings up the Case Email panel with the document's underlying file attached to the email. Selecting Download (rename) opens up a file renaming panel allowing you to rename the file, then downloads the underlying file (with the new name) through your browser. Selecting Download downloads the underlying file through your browser. Selecting Upload opens a panel allowing you to choose a file to upload from your computer; the chosen file will replace whatever the underlying file of the document previously was. Note that the name of the file in SmartAdvocate will not change, including the file extension, so it is strongly recommended that you not use this function to replace a file with another file of a different extension; this may cause the file to be impossible to open or read. Selecting Delete brings up a confirmation message (to prevent accidental deletion); clicking OK in the confirmation message deletes the file from the table.
Document Folders
Document folders can be created within each case. Folders can be used to characterize the nature or type of a document, to make it easier to locate. Note that folders are used for viewing purposes only; no actual folders are created on the user's or network drive.
Folders (called "System Folders") can be created by the firm's SmartAdvocate Admin, in which case they will be available for all users in every case. Folders (called "User Folders") can also be created by each user. User Folders will only be available to the specific user who created it, and only in the case in which the folder was created. Documents placed in a System Folder by any user will be visible in that folder for all users. Documents placed in a User Folder will only be visible in that folder to the individual who placed it in the folder, even if other users have created identical User Folders in their system.
To view documents in their Folders, click on the Display Folders checkbox.
Click on the plus sign to the left of the folder name to see a list of the documents in that folder.
To place a document in a folder, or to move the document from one folder to another, right click on the document or click on the action icon. In the dropdown, click on Send to Folder.
A panel will open that will allow you to either create a new folder (by simply typing the name of the new folder) or select one of the folders available in that case (both User and System Folders will be listed). Click on Update to move the document to the folder.
Document folders can also be chosen when generating a document from a template.
Preview Pane
This area allows you to view the contents of a document without actually opening it. You can change the relative size of the preview pane and the table of documents by dragging the border between them to a point of your choosing. Most files will be visible in the preview pane, but not all file extensions are supported. Additionally, different files are handled slightly differently by the preview pane. Image files will automatically scale to be as large as possible while fitting entirely inside the pane. The text in text-based documents will shift to fit horizontally in the pane, though this may cause a need to scroll vertically; images embedded in text-based documents will not be scaled at all, so it may be necessary to scroll vertically or horizontally to see them in their entirety. PDF documents will not be scaled at all.
Photographs |
The Photograph page allows you to view image files that have been saved to the case file in documents. All of the files that appear in the Photograph page also appear in the Documents page, and the document properties are also shared between the two pages; however, the Photograph page allows you to see all the images in a case at a glance, and conveniently print or email them as needed. You can also add images to the case file directly through this page (they will also appear in the Documents page once you have done so).
The Structure of This Page
Add New Photograph button. Used to add images to the case file.
Print Selected button. Used to print multiple images.
Email Selected button. Used to email multiple images.
Grid Pagination tool. Used to navigate through pages of images. Also shown on bottom of page.
Page Sizing tool. Used to customize the size of the photo grid by altering the number of rows of photographs visible on a page. The size of the individual photographs does not change; accordingly, increasing the number of visible rows may require you to scroll through the photographs to view all of them. Also shown on bottom of page.
Image Grid. Displays the photographs and allows various actions to be performed on them.
Image Grid
The image grid is the main part of the Photograph page. Here, the images are arranged in a grid, with four on each row. The images in the grid are cropped and resized so that they all appear in equal-size squares in the grid, which may mean that parts of non-square images are not visible in the grid; however, the actual image files are not affected. You can click any image to view it fully, at its normal size. See Image Viewer.
Each image in the grid has an action bar across the bottom of the image. The bar is normally nearly transparent; hover the mouse over an image to make the bar more visible. The bar contains the following elements:
The description of the image (if any).
An Edit link.
A Print link.
A More... link. Clicking this button brings up a menu of additional actions, specifically Open, Email, and Delete.
A checkbox. Used to select multiple images for printing or emailing.
Editing Image Properties
To edit the properties of an image in the grid:
Click the Edit link in the action bar of the image whose properties you wish to edit. This will bring up an Add/Edit panel for photographs, with the existing information filled in.
Fill the fields in with your desired information.
Click Save to save the changes and close the panel.
If you decide you do not wish to save the changes, click Cancel instead of clicking Save to undo the changes and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
Printing an Image
To print an image:
Click the Print link in the action bar of the image you wish to print. This will open a new tab containing only the image, and immediately bring up your browser's print options for that tab.
Select the print options you desire and print the image. (Since the printing is performed by the browser and not by SmartAdvocate, different users may have different printing interfaces. Consult your browser's help if you need further details at this point.)
Note that after printing, the tab containing only the image will remain open. You may close this if you wish.
Opening an Image
To open an image:
Click the More... link in the action bar of the image you wish to open. This will bring up a menu of options.
Click the Open option in the menu. This will open the underlying image file in your computer's standard viewer for files with the image's file extension. (Changing the standard viewer for a given file extension is possible, but outside the scope of this manual.)
Emailing an Image
To email an image:
Click the More... link in the action bar of the image you wish to email. This will bring up a menu of options.
Click the Email option in the menu. This will open the Case Email panel with the underlying image file attached to the email.
Fill out the email with your desired content.
Click Send to send the email.
If you decide you do not wish to send the email, click the white X at the upper right of the panel to close the panel without sending the email.
Deleting an Image
To delete an image:
Click the More... link in the action bar of the image you wish to delete. This will bring up a menu of options.
Click the Delete option in the menu. This will bring up a confirmation message (to avoid accidental deletions).
Click the OK button in the message to confirm the deletion.
If you decide you do not wish to delete the image, click Cancel instead of clicking OK to cancel the deletion. You can also click the black X at the upper right of the message to do the same thing.
Until you either confirm or cancel the deletion, you may not be able to visit any other tab in your browser.
Grid Pagination
The Grid Pagination tool allows you to navigate through pages of images if all the images do not fit on one page. The tool contains the following elements:
First page button. Click to navigate to the first page of images.
Previous page button. Click to navigate to the previous page of images.
Individual page list. Click any number in this list to navigate directly to that page of images.
Next page button. Click to navigate to the next page of images.
Last page button. Click to navigate to the last page of images.
Page Sizing
The Page Sizing tool allows you to change the number of rows on each page of the grid. To do so:
Click the dropdown in the tool.
Select the number of rows you wish there to be on each page of the grid.
The size of the individual photographs does not change; accordingly, increasing the number of visible rows may require you to scroll through the photographs to view all of them.
Selecting "All" will put all the images on one page. This is not recommended if you have an extremely large number of images in a case.
Adding an Image
To add a new image:
Make sure you have the image on your computer and know where the file is stored.
Click the Add New Photograph button. This will bring up a panel with a Browse... button.
Click the Browse... button. This will open up a file explorer window.
Navigate to the image file you wish to add and select it, probably by clicking the file then clicking Open (this may be different for different operating systems or browsers). This will cause it to be automatically uploaded to SmartAdvocate and expand the panel to include the property editing fields.
You may repeat steps 3 and 4 as many times as you wish to add multiple images at once. Note that any information you add in the next step will be applied to each of the images you add simultaneously.
Fill the fields in with your desired information.
Click Save to save the image in SmartAdvocate and close the panel.
If you decide you do not wish to save the image in SmartAdvocate, click Cancel instead of clicking Save to undo the changes and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
Actions for Multiple Images
You can print or email multiple images at once. To select the images on which you wish to perform the collective action, click the checkbox located in the bottom right corner of each image you wish to select. This may require navigating between pages of the grid. Navigating between pages will not undo any of your selections, and images will remain selected even if they are not visible on the current page. If you do not want to include an image you have selected, click the checkbox again to deselect it.
Once you have selected the images, to print them:
Click the Print Selected button. This will open a new tab containing all of the selected images, and bring up your browser's print options for that tab.
The Print Selected button will have the number of selected images listed in parentheses, to help ensure you have selected the images you intended to.
Select the print options you desire and print the images. (Since the printing is performed by the browser and not by SmartAdvocate, different users may have different printing interfaces. Consult your browser's help if you need further details at this point.)
Alternately, to email them:
Click the Email Selected button. This will open the Case Email panel with the underlying image files for all of the selected images attached to the email.
The Email Selected button will have the number of selected images listed in parentheses, to help ensure you have selected the images you intended to.
Fill out the email with your desired content.
Click Send to send the email.
If you decide you do not wish to send the email, click the white X at the upper right of the panel to close the panel without sending the email.
The Add/Edit Photograph Panel
The Add/Edit Photograph Panel contains the following fields:
Category: The document category to apply to the image.
Sub-Category: The document subcategory to apply to the image.
From: The contact that sent the image. Selecting the checkbox automatically fills the dropdown with your firm.The dropdown's contents include all that case's case contacts and all universal case contacts.
To: The contact from whom the image was sent. Selecting the checkbox automatically fills the dropdown with your firm.The dropdown's contents include all that case's case contacts and all universal case contacts
Priority: The priority level of the image.
Description: A description of the image.
Image Viewer
The Image Viewer is a screen you can access from the Photograph page that lets you view each image individually against a black background, navigate between different images, or view the entire set of case images, one at a time, in a slideshow. To access the Image Viewer, click any image in the Image Grid; that image will become the current image in the Image Viewer. To leave the Image Viewer, click the white X in the upper right of the screen.
The viewer contains the following elements:
Play/pause button. Located in the upper right corner of the screen. Used to start and stop the slideshow. The slideshow will automatically scroll the current image forward to the next image at a regular rate. If the current image is the last one, the slideshow will scroll forward to the first image.
Close button. Click the X in the upper right corner to close the Image Viewer.
Current image. The individual image presently being viewed. This image appears at its actual dimensions, with no resizing.
Forward button. Click to scroll the current image to the next image.
Backward button. Click to scroll the current image to the previous image.
Image Thumbnails. Contains all the images in the case file, resized to small squares of equal size. Click any thumbnail to make that image the current image.
Page forward. Click to scroll several image thumbnails to the right.
Page backward. Click to scroll several image thumbnails to the left.
Case Value |
The Case Value page allows you to view the various expenses must be paid from any settlement at the close of the case.
Court Rules |
SmartAdvocate integrates with CalendarRules, which provides automatic calendar rules for many courts throughout the United States. CalenderRules can automatically add Critical Deadlines, Appointments, and Tasks to SmartAdvocate based on the court rules of the appropriate jurisdiction. A subscription with CalendarRules is required for this integration to function.
SmartAdvocate may, in the future, integrate with other services that provide court calendaring services. Please contact your sales representative at 877-GET-SMART (877-438-7627) for additional information.
The information in this manual specifically describes the SmartAdvocate – CalendarRules integration.
The Court Rules functionality can be accessed through the Court Rules page within a case.
Creating a Court Rule
To add a new court rule, click on the Add New Court Rule button. This will open a panel to choose the jurisdiction and other information that will allow the creating of the appropriate critical deadlines, appointments, and tasks.
Jurisdiction: The court from which the rules will be taken.
Trigger: The event the occurrence of which will trigger the creation of critical deadlines, appointments, and/or tasks in the case calendar.
Name: The name for the court rule. This field will auto populate with the description of the Trigger, however you will be able to edit, replace or remove the information in the field.
Trigger Date: The date on which the Trigger occurred.
Get Court Rules: Click to create the list of events that will be added to SmartAdvocate, based on the jurisdiction, trigger, and trigger date entered.
Activity List: List of the critical deadlines, appointments, and tasks that will be created based upon the rule.
Fields in the Court Rule Panel
Jurisdiction
The jurisdictions available may depend upon the specific subscription your firm has with the rules provider. Click on the down arrow to reveal a list of all available jurisdictions, including each specific court (and, where available, even specific judges) from which you can choose.
Trigger
The Trigger is the event the occurrence of which will trigger the creation of critical deadlines, appointments, and/or tasks in the case calendar. The list of possible trigger events is provided and set by the rules provider.
Name
By default, the name for the court rule is set as the description of the Trigger, however you will be able to edit, replace or remove the information in the field.
Trigger Date
Click on the down arrow to choose the date from which the events created by the rule will be calculated (such as the date the summons and complaint were served, or the date an Order was entered).
Create the Rules
Once the criteria for the rules have been set, click on the Get Court Rules button to populate the rules table.
Get Court Rules: Click on the Get Court Rules button to populate the rules table based upon the criteria selected.
Rules Table: List of the appointments, tasks, and critical deadlines that will be created in the case based upon the rule.
Save: Click on the Save button to add the events from the rule into the case.
Court Rules will automatically choose an event type (appointment, task, or critical deadline) for each entry in the rules table. However, each individual entry can be edited to change the event type or not be entered into the case at all. Click on the activity and then on the down arrow to view a list of the available options.
Once you save the Court Rule, the various events it creates will be entered in the Case Calendar.
Retainer/Referral |
The Retainer/Referral page allows you to view and record the details of the case's retainer, referral source, and any referrals out or substitutions of attorney.
The Structure of This Page
Note: The tables in this page only appear if they contain at least one row. For that reason, in actual cases, this page will almost certainly contain only a few of these tables.
Recovered Client checkbox. Indicates whether a client in this case is again represented by the firm after an interval in which the client was no longer represented by the firm. Click the checkbox to change it from selected to deselected or vice versa.
Add Retainer button. Used to add a new retainer to the case file.
Retainer table. Contains the retainer details and allows various actions to be performed on them.
Add Paid Advertising button. Used to add new paid advertising to the case file.
Add Other Referral button. Used to add a referral from a source other than an attorney or a paid advertisement to the case file.Add Referring Attorney button. Used to add a referral from an attorney to the case file.
Paid Advertising table. Contains the paid advertising details and allows various actions to be performed on them.
Other Referrals table. Contains the details of other referrals and allows various actions to be performed on them.
Attorney Referrals table. Contains the details of attorney referrals and allows various actions to be performed on them.
Add Referred Out Attorney button. Used to add a referral out to another law firm, a new co-counsel firm, or a client-instigated substitution in favor of another firm.
Add Sub Out Attorney button. Used to add a substitution of attorney in favor of your firm.
Add Workers Compensation Attorney button. Used to add a workers' compensation referral to another law firm.
Select Refer-Out Firm button. Used to add a referral out to another law firm according to your firm's refer-out rules.
Add Prior Attorney button. Used to add an attorney who worked on the case prior to the time it reached your firm.
Refer Out table. Contains the details of firms that have taken on part or all of the case and allows various actions to be performed on them.
Sub Out table. Contains the details of substitutions of attorney in favor of your firm and allows various actions to be performed on them.
Workers' Compensation table. Contains the details of workers' compensation referrals and allows various actions to be performed on them.
Prior Attorney table. Contains the details of prior attorneys and allows various actions to be performed on them.
Retainer Table
The Retainer table is where the details of retainers are stored. Each row of the table represents an individual retainer. See Tables for general information about table structure and usage, including all buttons and other tools in this table that are not mentioned below.
Columns in the Table
The Retainer table contains the following columns:
Plaintiff Name: The plaintiff to whom the retainer applies.
Retainer: The details of the retainer (the retainer number and the dates the retainer was sent, received, and signed).
Statement: The dates the retainer statement was sent and received.
Closing Statement: The details of the closing statement (the closing retainer number and the dates the closing statement was sent and received).
Fee: The firm's fee (whether it be an absolute amount or a portion of recovery), and the amount advanced by the plaintiff.
Comments: Any comments about the retainer
Action: Edit icon, Delete icon
Editing a Retainer
To edit a retainer:
Click the Edit icon in the Action column of the row representing the retainer you wish to edit. This will bring up an Add/Edit panel for retainers, with the existing information filled in.
Fill the fields in with your desired information.
Click Save to save the changes and close the panel.
If you decide you do not wish to save the changes, click Cancel instead of clicking Save to undo the changes and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
Deleting a Retainer
To delete a retainer:
Click the Delete icon in the Action column of the row representing the retainer you wish to delete. This will bring up a confirmation message (to avoid accidental deletions).
Click the OK button in the message to confirm the deletion.
If you decide you do not wish to delete the retainer, click Cancel instead of clicking OK to cancel the deletion. You can also click the black X at the upper right of the message to do the same thing.
Until you either confirm or cancel the deletion, you may not be able to visit any other tab in your browser.
Adding a Retainer
To add a new retainer:
Click the Add Retainer button. This will bring up an Add/Edit panel for retainers, blank except for defaults.
Fill the fields in with your desired information.
Click Save to save the retainer and close the panel.
If you decide you do not wish to save the retainer, click Cancel instead of clicking Save to undo the changes and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
The Add/Edit Retainer Panel
The Add/Edit Retainer Panel allows you to fill in the details of a retainer. See Add/Edit Panels for general information about panel structure and usage. This panel contains the following fields:
Plaintiff Name: The plaintiff to whom the retainer applies.
Retainer #: The identification number of the retainer.
Retainer Sent: The date the retainer was sent to the client.
Retainer Received: The date the retainer was received from the client.
Retainer Signed: The date the retainer was signed by the client.
Statement Sent: The date the retainer statement was sent.
Statement Received: The date the retainer statement was received.
Closing Statement Sent: The date the closing statement was sent.
Closing Statement Received: The date the closing statement was received.
Closing Retainer #: The identification number of the closing retainer.
Retainer Fee: A radio button allowing a choice regarding whether the fee is calculated as a percentage of the total recovery or as an absolute amount.
Fee Structure: The percentage or fraction that represents the fee as a portion of the total recovery. This field is uneditable and unused unless Retainer Fee is set to Percentage. If this field is left blank when changes are saved, Retainer Fee will be automatically reset to Amount.
Retainer Amount: The amount of the retainer fee.
Advance By Plaintiff: The amount of advance payment to the firm by the plaintiff.
Attorney Fee Agreement: Whether a formal fee agreement has been entered into.
Comments: Any comments about the retainer.
Paid Advertising Table
The Paid Advertising table is where the details of paid advertising that generated the case lead are stored. Each row of the table represents an individual contact running your paid advertisements. See Tables for general information about table structure and usage, including all buttons and other tools in this table that are not mentioned below.
Columns in the Table
The Paid Advertising table contains the following columns:
Plaintiff Name: The plaintiff that contacted your firm because of the advertisement.
Advertising Source: The contact running the advertisement.
Sub Type: The medium in which the advertisement was placed.
Advertising Date & Time: The date and time the plaintiff viewed the advertisement.
Comments: Any comments about the advertising.
Action: An Edit icon, and a Delete icon.
Editing Paid Advertising
To edit paid advertising:
Click the Edit icon in the Action column of the row representing the paid advertising you wish to edit. This will bring up an Add/Edit panel for paid advertising, with the existing information filled in.
Fill the fields in with your desired information.
Click Save to save the changes and close the panel.
If you decide you do not wish to save the changes, click Cancel instead of clicking Save to undo the changes and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
Deleting Paid Advertising
To delete paid advertising:
Click the Delete icon in the Action column of the row representing the paid advertising you wish to delete. This will bring up a confirmation message (to avoid accidental deletions).
Click the OK button in the message to confirm the deletion.
If you decide you do not wish to delete the paid advertising, click Cancel instead of clicking OK to cancel the deletion. You can also click the black X at the upper right of the message to do the same thing.
Until you either confirm or cancel the deletion, you may not be able to visit any other tab in your browser.
Adding Paid Advertising
To add new paid advertising:
Click the Add Paid Advertising button. This will bring up an Add/Edit panel for paid advertising, blank except for defaults.
Fill the fields in with your desired information.
Click Save to save the paid advertising and close the panel.
If you decide you do not wish to save the paid advertising, click Cancel instead of clicking Save to undo the changes and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
The Add/Edit Paid Advertising Panel
The Add/Edit Paid Advertising Panel allows you to fill in the details of paid advertising. See Add/Edit Panels for general information about panel structure and usage. This panel contains the following fields:
Plaintiff Name: The plaintiff who contacted your firm because of the advertisement.
Advertising Source: The contact running the advertisement.
Sub Type: The medium in which the advertisement ran.
Advertising Date & Time: The date and time the plaintiff viewed the advertisement.
Comments: Any comments about the advertising.
Other Referrals Table
The Other Referrals table is where the details of "other" referrals, those coming from a source other than an attorney or a paid advertisement, are stored. Each row of the table represents an individual referral. See Tables for general information about table structure and usage, including all buttons and other tools in this table that are not mentioned below.
Columns in the Table
The Other Referrals table contains the following columns:
Plaintiff Name: The plaintiff who contacted your firm because of the referral.
Other Referral Name: The contact that made the referral.
Relationship To Firm: How the referring contact is related to the firm (e.g. former client, expert, etc.).
Primary/Secondary: Whether the referral was directly to your firm, or led indirectly to the plaintiff contacting your firm.
Received Date: The date the plaintiff received the referral.
Comments: Any comments about the referral.
Action: An Edit icon, and a Delete icon.
Editing Other Referrals
To edit other referrals:
Click the Edit icon in the Action column of the row representing the referral you wish to edit. This will bring up an Add/Edit panel for other referrals, with the existing information filled in.
Fill the fields in with your desired information.
Click Save to save the changes and close the panel.
If you decide you do not wish to save the changes, click Cancel instead of clicking Save to undo the changes and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
Deleting Other Referrals
To delete other referrals:
Click the Delete icon in the Action column of the row representing the referral you wish to delete. This will bring up a confirmation message (to avoid accidental deletions).
Click the OK button in the message to confirm the deletion.
If you decide you do not wish to delete the referral, click Cancel instead of clicking OK to cancel the deletion. You can also click the black X at the upper right of the message to do the same thing.
Until you either confirm or cancel the deletion, you may not be able to visit any other tab in your browser.
Adding Other Referrals
To add a new other referral:
Click the Add Other Referral button. This will bring up an Add/Edit panel for other referrals, blank except for defaults.
Fill the fields in with your desired information.
Click Save to save the referral and close the panel.
If you decide you do not wish to save the referral, click Cancel instead of clicking Save to undo the changes and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
The Add/Edit Other Referral Panel
The Add/Edit Other Referral Panel allows you to fill in the details of other referrals. See Add/Edit Panels for general information about panel structure and usage. This panel contains the following fields:
Plaintiff Name: The plaintiff who contacted your firm because of the referral.
Other Referral Name: The contact that made the referral.
Relationship To Firm: How the referring contact is related to the firm (e.g. former client, expert, etc.).
Primary/Secondary: Whether the referral was directly to your firm, or led indirectly to the plaintiff contacting your firm.
Received Date: The date the plaintiff was referred to your firm.
Comments: Any comments about the referral.
Attorney Referrals Table
The Attorney Referrals table is where the details of referrals by attorneys are stored. Each row of the table represents an individual referral. See Tables for general information about table structure and usage, including all buttons and other tools in this table that are not mentioned below.
Columns in the Table
The Attorney Referrals table contains the following columns:
Plaintiff Name: The plaintiff who contacted your firm because of the referral.
Referring Attorney: The details of the referral (the referring law firm, attorney, and file number).
Fee Agreement: The dates that the fee agreement was sent and received.
Referral Fee: The fee to be paid to the referring attorney (whether it be an absolute amount or a portion of the firm fee).
Retainer: The identification number of the referring attorney's retainer and whether your firm is using that retainer.
Disbursement: The referring attorney's total disbursements on the case and whether your firm has reimbursed the referring attorney.
Comments: Any comments about the referral.
Action: An Edit icon and a Delete icon.
Editing an Attorney Referral
To edit an attorney referral:
Click the Edit icon in the Action column of the row representing the referral you wish to edit. This will bring up an Add/Edit panel for attorney referrals, with the existing information filled in.
Fill the fields in with your desired information.
Click Save to save the changes and close the panel.
If you decide you do not wish to save the changes, click Cancel instead of clicking Save to undo the changes and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
Deleting an Attorney Referral
To delete an attorney referral:
Click the Delete icon in the Action column of the row representing the referral you wish to delete. This will bring up a confirmation message (to avoid accidental deletions).
Click the OK button in the message to confirm the deletion.
If you decide you do not wish to delete the referral, click Cancel instead of clicking OK to cancel the deletion. You can also click the black X at the upper right of the message to do the same thing.
Until you either confirm or cancel the deletion, you may not be able to visit any other tab in your browser.
Adding an Attorney Referral
To add a new attorney referral:
Click the Add Referring Attorney button. This will bring up an Add/Edit panel for attorney referrals, blank except for defaults.
Fill the fields in with your desired information.
Click Save to save the referral and close the panel.
If you decide you do not wish to save the referral, click Cancel instead of clicking Save to undo the changes and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
The Add/Edit Attorney Referral Panel
The Add/Edit Attorney Referral Panel allows you to fill in the details of an attorney referral. See Add/Edit Panels for general information about panel structure and usage. This panel contains the following fields:
Plaintiff Name: The plaintiff who contacted your firm because of the referral.
Referring Law Firm: The law firm that made the referral.
Referring Attorney: The attorney who made the referral. If there is a contact in the Referring Law Firm field, the dropdown will only show attorneys employed by that contact. Click the Show All button to make the dropdown show all attorneys. (Once you have done so, you can click the Show Only Firm's Attorney button to go back to showing only attorneys employed by the referring law firm.)
Referring File#: The referring attorney's file number for the case.
Fee Agreement Sent: The date the fee agreement was sent.
Fee Agreement Received: The date the fee agreement was received.
Referral Fee: Whether the referral fee is calculated as a percentage of the firm's fee or as an absolute amount.
Percentage: The percentage or fraction that represents the referral fee as a portion of the firm's fee. This field is uneditable and unused unless Referral Fee is set to Percentage. If this field is left blank when changes are saved, Referral Fee will be automatically reset to Amount.
Amount: The amount of the referral fee. This field is uneditable and unused unless Referral Fee is set to Amount.
Retainer #: The identification number of the referring attorney's retainer.
Are we using[...]: Whether your firm is using the referring attorney's retainer.
Disbursement: The referring attorney's total disbursements on the case.
Reimbursed?: Whether your firm has reimbursed the referring attorney.
Comments: Any comments about the referral.
Refer Out Table
The Refer Out table is where the details of firms that have taken on part or all of the case are stored. Each row of the table represents an individual referral out (or addition of co-counsel, or substitution). See Tables for general information about table structure and usage, including all buttons and other tools in this table that are not mentioned below.
Columns in the Table
The Refer Out table contains the following columns:
Plaintiff Name: The plaintiff effected by the referral out.
Refer Out Attorney: The details of the referral out (the law firm and attorney that have taken on the case, and the attorney's file number for the case).
Dates: Dates relevant to the referral out (the date the attorney contacted the plaintiff, the date the referral out occurred, the date the attorney accepted the case, the date the attorney rejected the case, and the date the attorney's retainer was signed).
Refer Type: Whether the attorney took on the case because your firm referred the case, your firm took the attorney on as co-counsel, or the client substituted the attorney in for your firm.
Fee: The fee associated with the referral out (whether it be an absolute amount or a portion of the total fee) and the date the fee was paid.
Comment: Any comments about the referral out.
Action: An Edit icon and a Delete icon.
Editing a Referral Out
To edit a referral out:
Click the Edit icon in the Action column of the row representing the referral you wish to edit. This will bring up an Add/Edit panel for referrals out, with the existing information filled in.
Fill the fields in with your desired information.
Click Save to save the changes and close the panel.
If you decide you do not wish to save the changes, click Cancel instead of clicking Save to undo the changes and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
Deleting a Referral Out
To delete a referral out:
Click the Delete icon in the Action column of the row representing the referral you wish to delete. This will bring up a confirmation message (to avoid accidental deletions).
Click the OK button in the message to confirm the deletion.
If you decide you do not wish to delete the referral, click Cancel instead of clicking OK to cancel the deletion. You can also click the black X at the upper right of the message to do the same thing.
Until you either confirm or cancel the deletion, you may not be able to visit any other tab in your browser.
Adding a Referral Out
There are two different ways to add a new referral out. One is more heavily integrated with the SmartAdvocate system, requiring that you have set up refer-out rules for your case types, but also automatically sending an email about the referral; this method can only be used for full referrals. The other is a more basic approach that does not trigger any automatic actions, but can also be used for additions of co-counsel and substitutions.
To add a new referral using the more integrated method:
Make sure you have set up your firm's refer-out rules. See the Refer-Out Rules administrative page for instructions on how to set the rules up.
Click the Select Refer-Out Firm button. This will bring up a panel for selecting the firm to refer the case out to. See The Select Refer-Out Firm Panel for details about the fields
The state in the Case State field will match the state the case is located in, but if you wish to choose a firm based on the refer-out rules for a different state, select that state; otherwise, leave the field as is.
Select the firm you wish to refer the case to from the Law Firms table. This will bring up the comments associated with that firm in the Comments area.
Click the Continue button to choose the selected firm. This will bring up the Case Email panel, using the Referral Summary email template.
If you decide you do not want to add the referral, click Cancel instead of clicking Continue to cancel the addition and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
Make any edits you wish to make to the email, then click Send to send it. This will also close the open panels, and add a new referral with the law firm and referral date already input according to your selection, the type set to Referred Out, and the fee amount set to $0. (You may need to edit the new referral to fill in or fix some details.)
If you decide you do not want to send the email, click the white X at the upper right of the Case Email panel to close it. This will not close the Select Refer-Out Firm Panel, nor will it finish adding the new referral. It will only revert you to the previous step in these instructions.
To add a new referral (or co-counsel, or a substitution) using the basic approach:
Click the Add Referred Out Attorney button. This will bring up an Add/Edit panel for referrals out, blank except for defaults.
Fill the fields in with your desired information.
Click Save to save the referral and close the panel.
If you decide you do not wish to save the referral, click Cancel instead of clicking Save to undo the changes and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
The Add/Edit Referral Out Panel
The Add/Edit Referral Out Panel allows you to fill in the details of a referral out. See Add/Edit Panels for general information about panel structure and usage. This panel contains the following fields:
Type: Whether the attorney took on the case because your firm referred the case, your firm took the attorney on as co-counsel, or the client substituted the attorney in for your firm.
Plaintiff Name: The plaintiff affected by the referral out.
Refer Out Law Firm: The law firm that has taken on the case.
Refer Out Attorney: The attorney who has taken on the case. If there is a contact in the Refer Out Law Firm field, the dropdown will only show attorneys employed by that contact. Click the Show All button to make the dropdown show all attorneys. (Once you have done so, you can click the Show Only Firm's Attorney button to go back to showing only attorneys employed by the referring law firm.)
Client Contact Date: The date the attorney contacted the plaintiff.
Their Case #: The attorney's file number for the case.
Ref/Co-Counsel Out Date: The date the referral out occurred.
Acceptance Date: The date the attorney accepted the case.
Rejection Date: The date the attorney rejected the case.
Are they using our Retainer?: Whether the attorney is using your firm's retainer.
Retainer Date: The date the attorney's retainer was signed.
Fee Split Sent: The date the fee split agreement was sent.
Fee Split Received: The date the fee split agreement was received.
Confirmation Letter Sent: The date a letter confirming the new representation was sent.
Letter Received: The date a letter confirming the new representation was received.
Is Fee Paid?:
Paid Date: Whether the fee associated with the referral out has been paid.
Fee: Whether the fee associated with the referral out is calculated as a percentage of the total fee or as an absolute amount.
Percentage/Fraction: The percentage or fraction that represents the fee associated with the referral out as a portion of the total fee. This field is uneditable and unused unless Fee is set to Percentage/Fraction. If this field is left blank when changes are saved, Fee will be automatically reset to Amount.
Amount: The amount of the fee associated with the referral out. This field is uneditable and unused unless Fee is set to Amount.
Comment: Any comments about the referral out.
Sub Out Table
The Sub Out table is where the details of substitutions of attorney in favor of your firm are stored. Each row of the table represents an individual substitution. See Tables for general information about table structure and usage, including all buttons and other tools in this table that are not mentioned below.
Columns in the Table
The Sub Out table contains the following columns:
Plaintiff Name: The plaintiff effected by the substitution.
Sub Out Attorney: The details of the attorney being substituted for (the law firm and attorney that were substituted for, and the attorney's file number for the case).
Sub Out: The details of the substitution (the date the substitution was made, the method of serving the notice of substitution, the date the letter of substitution was sent, and the date the case file was transferred to your firm).
Disbursement: The amount of the attorney's disbursements on the case and the date the attorney was reimbursed.
Fee: The fee of the attorney being substituted for (whether as an absolute amount or as a portion of the total fee), the date the fee was paid, and the date of the court order mandating payment.
Comment: Any comments about the substitution.
Action: An Edit icon and a Delete icon.
Editing a Substitution
To edit a substitution of attorney:
Click the Edit icon in the Action column of the row representing the substitution you wish to edit. This will bring up an Add/Edit panel for substitutions, with the existing information filled in.
Fill the fields in with your desired information.
Click Save to save the changes and close the panel.
If you decide you do not wish to save the changes, click Cancel instead of clicking Save to undo the changes and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
Deleting a Substitution
To delete a substitution of attorney:
Click the Delete icon in the Action column of the row representing the substitution you wish to delete. This will bring up a confirmation message (to avoid accidental deletions).
Click the OK button in the message to confirm the deletion.
If you decide you do not wish to delete the substitution, click Cancel instead of clicking OK to cancel the deletion. You can also click the black X at the upper right of the message to do the same thing.
Until you either confirm or cancel the deletion, you may not be able to visit any other tab in your browser.
Adding a Substitution
To add a new substitution of attorney:
Click the Add Sub Out Attorney button. This will bring up an Add/Edit panel for substitutions, blank except for defaults.
Fill the fields in with your desired information.
Click Save to save the substitution and close the panel.
If you decide you do not wish to save the substitution, click Cancel instead of clicking Save to undo the changes and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
The Add/Edit Substitution Panel
The Add/Edit Substitution Panel allows you to fill in the details of a substitution. See Add/Edit Panels for general information about panel structure and usage. This panel contains the following fields:
Plaintiff Name: The plaintiff affected by the substitution.
Sub Out Law Firm: The law firm that was substituted for.
Sub Out Attorney: The attorney who was substituted for. If there is a contact in the Sub Out Law Firm field, the dropdown will only show attorneys employed by that contact. Click the Show All button to make the dropdown show all attorneys. (Once you have done so, you can click the Show Only Firm's Attorney button to go back to showing only attorneys employed by the referring law firm.)
File #: The attorney's file number for the case.
Sub-Out Date: The date the substitution was made.
Sub-Out Method: The method of serving the notice of substitution.
Sub-Out Letter Date: The date the letter of substitution was sent.
Disb. Paid: The date the attorney was reimbursed for disbursements.
Disb. Amount: The amount of the attorney's disbursements on the case.
File Transferred: The date the case file was transferred to your firm.
Comment: Any comments about the substitution.
[Send Letters] Defendants, Defendant Insurance Co., Defendant Attorneys, Lien Holders: Whether a letter has been sent to the defendants, Defendant Insurance Co., Defendant Attorneys, and/or Lien Holders notifying them of the substitution.
Is Prior Attorney Entitled To Fee?: Whether the attorney who was substituted for is entitled to a fee.
Fee Amount Agreed: Whether the amount of the fee due to the prior attorney has been formally agreed to or not. This field does not appear unless Is Prior Attorney Entitled To Fee? is blank or set to Yes.
Percentage: The percentage or fraction that represents the fee due to the prior attorney as a portion of the firm's fee. This field is uneditable and unused unless the promptless field is set to Percentage. If this field is left blank when changes are saved, the promptless field will be automatically reset to Amount. This field does not appear unless Is Prior Attorney Entitled To Fee? is blank or set to Yes, and Fee Amount Agreed is selected.
Amount: The amount of the fee due to the prior attorney as a portion of the firm's fee. This field is uneditable and unused unless the promptless field is set to Amount. This field does not appear unless Is Prior Attorney Entitled To Fee? is blank or set to Yes, and Fee Amount Agreed is selected.
Is Fee to be paid at closure of case?: Whether the fee due to the prior attorney will be paid after the conclusion of the case. This field does not appear unless Is Prior Attorney Entitled To Fee? is blank or set to Yes.
Date Paid: The date that the fee due to the prior attorney was paid. This field does not appear unless Is Prior Attorney Entitled To Fee? is blank or set to Yes.
Check #: The number of the check used to pay the fee due to the prior attorney. This field does not appear unless Is Prior Attorney Entitled To Fee? is blank or set to Yes.
Is fee to be decided at the end of case?: Whether the amount of the fee due to the prior attorney will be decided at the end of the case. This field does not appear unless Is Prior Attorney Entitled To Fee? is blank or set to Yes.
Stipulation Date: The date of the stipulation determining the fee. This field does not appear if Is Prior Attorney Entitled To Fee? is set to Undecided.
Court Order Date: The date of the court order determining the fee. This field does not appear if Is Prior Attorney Entitled To Fee? is set to Undecided.
Who is moving for court order?: The party that made the motion for a court order to determine the fee. This field does not appear if Is Prior Attorney Entitled To Fee? is set to Undecided.
Other: The date of any other means of determining the fee. This field does not appear if Is Prior Attorney Entitled To Fee? is set to Undecided.
Workers' Compensation Table
The Workers' Compensation table is where the details of referrals of workers' compensation claims out to workers' compensation attorneys are stored. Each row of the table represents an individual referral. See Tables for general information about table structure and usage, including all buttons and other tools in this table that are not mentioned below.
Columns in the Table
The Workers' Compensation table contains the following columns:
Plaintiff Name: The plaintiff affected by the referral out.
Workers Compensation Attorney: The details of the referral out (the workers' compensation law firm and attorney, and the attorney's file number for the case).
Dates: Dates relevant to the referral out (the date the attorney contacted the plaintiff, the date the referral out occurred, the date the attorney accepted the case, the date the attorney rejected the case, and the date the attorney's retainer was signed).
Fee: The fee associated with the referral out (whether it be an absolute amount or a portion of the total fee) and the date the fee was paid.
Comment: Any comments about the referral out.
Action: An Edit icon and a Delete icon.
Editing a Workers' Compensation Referral Out
To edit a workers' compensation referral out:
Click the Edit icon in the Action column of the row representing the referral out you wish to edit. This will bring up an Add/Edit panel for workers' compensation referrals out, with the existing information filled in.
Fill the fields in with your desired information.
Click Save to save the changes and close the panel.
If you decide you do not wish to save the changes, click Cancel instead of clicking Save to undo the changes and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
Deleting a Workers' Compensation Referral Out
To delete a workers' compensation referral out:
Click the Delete icon in the Action column of the row representing the referral you wish to delete. This will bring up a confirmation message (to avoid accidental deletions).
Click the OK button in the message to confirm the deletion.
If you decide you do not wish to delete the referral, click Cancel instead of clicking OK to cancel the deletion. You can also click the black X at the upper right of the message to do the same thing.
Until you either confirm or cancel the deletion, you may not be able to visit any other tab in your browser.
Adding a Workers' Compensation Referral Out
To add a new workers' compensation referral out:
Click the Add Workers Compensation Attorney button. This will bring up an Add/Edit panel for workers' compensation referrals out, blank except for defaults.
Fill the fields in with your desired information.
Click Save to save the referral and close the panel.
If you decide you do not wish to save the referral, click Cancel instead of clicking Save to undo the changes and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
The Add/Edit Workers' Compensation Panel
The Add/Edit Workers' Compensation Panel allows you to fill in the details of a workers' compensation referral out. See Add/Edit Panels for general information about panel structure and usage. This panel contains the following fields:
Plaintiff Name: The plaintiff effected by the referral out.
Workers Compensation Law Firm: The law firm to which the workers' compensation claim was referred.
Workers Compensation Attorney: The attorney to whom the workers' compensation claim was referred. If there is a contact in the Workers Compensation Law Firm field, the dropdown will only show attorneys employed by that contact. Click the Show All button to make the dropdown show all attorneys. (Once you have done so, you can click the Show Only Firm's Attorney button to go back to showing only attorneys employed by the referring law firm.)
Their Case #: The attorney's file number for the case.
Referred Out Date: The date the referral out occurred.
Client Contact Date: The date the attorney contacted the plaintiff.
Acceptance Date: The date the attorney accepted the case.
Rejection Date: The date the attorney rejected the case.
Are they using our Retainer?: Whether the attorney is using your firm's retainer.
Retainer Date: The date the attorney's retainer was signed.
Fee Split Sent: The date the fee split agreement was sent.
Fee Split Received: The date the fee split agreement was received.
Confirmation Letter Sent: The date a letter confirming the new representation was sent.
Letter Received: The date a letter confirming the new representation was received.
Is Fee Paid?: Whether the fee associated with the referral out has been paid.
Paid Date: The date the fee associated with the referral out was paid.
Fee: Whether the fee associated with the referral out is calculated as a percentage of the total fee or as an absolute amount.
Percentage/Fraction: The percentage or fraction that represents the fee associated with the referral out as a portion of the total fee. This field is uneditable and unused unless Fee is set to Percentage/Fraction. If this field is left blank when changes are saved, Fee will be automatically reset to Amount.
Amount: The amount of the fee associated with the referral out. This field is uneditable and unused unless Fee is set to Amount.
Comment: Any comments about the referral out.
Prior Attorney Table
The Prior Attorney table is where the details of attorneys who worked on the case prior to the time it reached your firm are stored. Each row of the table represents an individual attorney. See Tables for general information about table structure and usage, including all buttons and other tools in this table that are not mentioned below.
Columns in the Table
The Prior Attorney table contains the following columns:
Plaintiff Name: The plaintiff formerly represented by the attorney.
Sub Out Attorney: The details of the prior attorney (the prior law firm and attorney, and the attorney's retainer number and file number for the case).
Sub Out: The details of the change in attorneys (the date the change was made, the method of serving the notice of substitution, and the date the case file was received by your firm).
Disbursement: The date the attorney was reimbursed for disbursements on the case and the amount of the disbursements.
Comments: Any comments about the prior attorney.
Action: An Edit icon and a Delete icon.
Editing a Prior Attorney
To edit a prior attorney:
Click the Edit icon in the Action column of the row representing the attorney you wish to edit. This will bring up an Add/Edit panel for prior attorneys, with the existing information filled in.
Fill the fields in with your desired information.
Click Save to save the changes and close the panel.
If you decide you do not wish to save the changes, click Cancel instead of clicking Save to undo the changes and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
Deleting a Prior Attorney
To delete a prior attorney:
Click the Delete icon in the Action column of the row representing the attorney you wish to delete. This will bring up a confirmation message (to avoid accidental deletions).
Click the OK button in the message to confirm the deletion.
If you decide you do not wish to delete the attorney, click Cancel instead of clicking OK to cancel the deletion. You can also click the black X at the upper right of the message to do the same thing.
Until you either confirm or cancel the deletion, you may not be able to visit any other tab in your browser.
Adding a Prior Attorney
To add a new prior attorney:
Click the Add Prior Attorney button. This will bring up an Add/Edit panel for prior attorneys, blank except for defaults.
Fill the fields in with your desired information.
Click Save to save the attorney and close the panel.
If you decide you do not wish to save the attorney, click Cancel instead of clicking Save to undo the changes and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
The Add/Edit Prior Attorney Panel
The Add/Edit Prior Attorney Panel allows you to fill in the details of a prior attorney. See Add/Edit Panels for general information about panel structure and usage. This panel contains the following fields:
Plaintiff Name: The plaintiff affected by the substitution.
Prior Law Firm: The law firm that previously worked on the case.
Prior Attorney: The attorney who previously worked on the case.
Sub'd Date: The date the change in attorneys was made.
Sub Out Method: The method of serving the notice of substitution.
Disb. Paid: The date the attorney was reimbursed for disbursements.
Disb. Amount: The amount of the attorney's disbursements on the case.
Date File Received: The date the case file was received by your firm.
Referral?: Whether the case reached your firm through a direct or indirect referral.
Comments: Any comments about the prior attorney.
Prior Retainer#: The identification number of the prior attorney's retainer.
File #: The prior attorney's file number for the case
Is Prior Attorney Entitled To Fee?: Whether the prior attorney is entitled to a fee.
Fee Amount Agreed: Whether the amount of the fee due to the prior attorney has been formally agreed to. This field does not appear unless Is Prior Attorney Entitled To Fee? is set to Yes.
Percentage: The percentage or fraction that represents the fee due to the prior attorney as a portion of the firm's fee. This field is uneditable and unused unless the promptless field is set to Percentage. If this field is left blank when changes are saved, the promptless field will be automatically reset to Amount. This field does not appear unless is Prior Attorney Entitled To Fee? is set to Yes, and Fee Amount Agreed is selected.
Amount: The amount of the fee due to the prior attorney. his field is uneditable and unused unless the promptless field is set to Amount. This field does not appear unless Is Prior Attorney Entitled To Fee? is set to Yes, and Fee Amount Agreed is selected.
Is Fee to be paid at conclusion of case?: Whether the fee due to the prior attorney will be paid after the conclusion of the case. This field does not appear unless Is Prior Attorney Entitled To Fee? is set to Yes.
Is fee to be decided at the end of case?: Whether the amount of the fee due to the prior attorney will be decided at the end of the case. This field does not appear unless Is Prior Attorney Entitled To Fee? is set to Yes.
Stipulation Date: The date of the stipulation determining the fee. This field does not appear if Is Prior Attorney Entitled To Fee? is set to Undecided.
Court Order Date: The date of the court order determining the fee. This field does not appear if Is Prior Attorney Entitled To Fee? is set to Undecided.
Other: The date of any other means of determining the fee. This field does not appear if Is Prior Attorney Entitled To Fee? is set to Undecided.
Who is moving for court order?: The party that made, or will make, the motion for a court order to determine the fee. This field does not appear if Is Prior Attorney Entitled To Fee? is set to Undecided.
WorkPlans |
The WorkPlans page allows you to manage the WorkPlans in the case, including adding entire saved WorkPlans, editing individual WorkPlan items, and marking items completed. Because WorkPlan items may cause various actions in a case as soon as they become active in that case, it is recommended that you not manipulate individual WorkPlan items on this screen; the effects of doing so may not be expected or intended, or there may be no effect at all. It is generally better to prepare WorkPlans using the WorkPlan Management administrative page and related pages, then add them in their entirety either on this screen or using automatic rules set in the WorkPlan Assignments administrative page. There is at least one WorkPlan-related action that must be taken on this page, which is making a selection in Decision items; see Decisions in the WorkPlan Editing administrative page.
This page is structurally nearly identical to the WorkPlan Editing administrative page, and that page contains most of the essential information about using WorkPlans; there are only a few differences in this page:
You may add a new WorkPlan to the case by clicking the Add New WorkPlan button. Doing so will bring up a panel with a single dropdown field allowing you to select the previously prepared WorkPlan you wish to add to the case. Select the desired WorkPlan and click the Update button to add the WorkPlan to the case.
By default, inactive items in the WorkPlans in a case are not visible on this page. To make them visible, select the Show All Elements checkbox; doing so will make inactive items visible (their icons and names will be in grey to indicate that they are inactive) and open the entire hierarchical structure to show all of the items, active and inactive, in the WorkPlan. Deselecting the checkbox will make the inactive items invisible again.
You may mark items completed in the WorkPlan by right-clicking them and selecting Mark Completed. This is not recommended for appointment or task items, because those can be marked completed in the ordinary course of the case; marking an appointment completed in the Calendar also marks the corresponding WorkPlan appointment item completed, clicking the Mark Completed icon of a task in the Tasks area of the Case Summary marks the corresponding WorkPlan task item completed, and entering a Date Complied in a critical deadline also marks it as complete in the WorkPlan. However, Decision items can only be marked completed on this page.
If an item in the WorkPlan includes an action that is performed manually, you may cause that action to occur by right-clicking the action (the Show Actions checkbox must be selected for the action to be visible) and then clicking the Perform option of the menu that appears. You may repeat an action that has already been performed by repeating this process, though there should rarely be a reason to do so.
Negotiation/Settlement |
The Negotiation/Settlement page allows you to view and record the details of negotiations and settlements with insurance companies and opposing counsel. Some of the information on this page is presented in a simplified format in the Negotiations and Settlements area of the Case Summary page, but the Negotiation/Settlement page contains much more thorough information, and is the only place where that information can be directly edited.
Note that financial awards due to arbitration or verdicts are also recorded on this page in the Settlement table, even though they are not technically settlements. This manual will follow the convention of the SmartAdvocate system and use "settlement" to describe any outcome resulting in compensation for a plaintiff. To distinguish between actual settlements and other outcomes, use the Settlement Type field in The Add/Edit Settlement Panel.
The Structure of This Page
Add Negotiation button. Used to add a new negotiation to the case file.
Settlement View button. Opens the Settlement View panel, which displays a summary of the case file for use in negotiations.
Negotiation table. Contains the negotiation details and allows various actions to be performed on them. .
Add Settlement button. Used to add a new settlement to the case file.
Settlement table. Contains the settlement details and allows various actions to be performed on them.
Settlement View Panel
The Settlement View panel provides an overview of the information in the case that is likely to be relevant during negotiations. The panel includes information from various other case pages in SmartAdvocate. To open the panel, click the Settlement View button. To close it, click the Close button or the white X in the upper right corner of the panel. The panel contains the following sections:
Plaintiff: This section contains a Radio button field with an option for each plaintiff in the case. Select the plaintiff whose information you wish to see; all other sections show only the information pertaining to the selected plaintiff.
Incident Facts: This section contains the Incident Facts field from the Incident case page.
Injuries: This section contains information from the Injuries Summary column in a table with two segments taken from the Injuries case page. The first segment is taken from the Injuries Summary column of the Injuries Summary table; the second is taken from the Injury and Description columns of the Injury Details sub-table.
Coverage: This section contains a table with five columns taken from the Insurance Companies tables in the Plaintiff Insurance and Defendant Insurance case pages. The table excludes duplicate records and records from the Plaintiff Insurance page that cover a plaintiff other than the selected one, but it includes third-party administrators as separate rows. The Ins. Co. column is taken from the Insurance Company column of the source table (or the first line of the 3rd Party Insurance column for third-party administrators); the Ins. Type column is taken from the Insurance Type column; the Adjuster column is taken from the Adjuster column (or the Adjuster line of the 3rd Party Insurance column for third-party administrators); the Insured Name is taken from the first line of the Policy Info column; and the Policy Limit column is taken from the Limits line of the Policy Info column for defendant insurance companies, or the UM/SUM Limits line of the Policy Info column for plaintiff insurance companies.
Lienors: This section contains a table with four columns taken from the Lienor Table on the Lien Tracking case page. The Lienor Name column is taken from the Lienor column of the source table; the Lienor Type column is taken from the Lienor Type column of the source table; the Lienor Amount column is taken from the Negotiated line of the Amounts column; and the Comments column is taken from the Comments column.
Disbursements: This section contains the number in the Total column for the selected plaintiff on the Disbursements case page.
Last Demand: This section contains the number in the Demand column of the Negotiation Page with the latest date in the Date field of all those that involve the plaintiff, ignoring those where the Demand column is blank or contains $0.00.
Last Offer: This section contains the number in the Offer column of the Negotiation Page with the latest date in the Date field of all those that involve the plaintiff, ignoring those where the Offer column is blank or contains $0.00.
Negotiation Table
The Negotiation table is where the details of negotiations are stored. Each row of the table represents an individual round of negotiation. See Tables for general information about table structure and usage, including all buttons and other tools in this table that are not mentioned below.
Columns in the Table
The Negotiation table contains the following available columns:
Date: The date of the negotiation.
Plaintiff: The plaintiff whose settlement was being negotiated.
Staff: The staff member who conducted the negotiation.
Negotiating With: The details of the company being negotiated with (for insurance companies: the name of the company, insurance type, policy limits, relevant defendant or plaintiff, name of insured, claim number, and adjuster name and phone number; for law firms, the name of the firm and the attorney name (Advocate) and phone number).
Demand: The amount of the demand made by your firm during the negotiation.
Offer: The amount of the offer made by the insurance company or attorney during the negotiation.
Authorized: The amount the plaintiff authorized your firm to accept.
Settlement: The amount of the settlement reached during the negotiation.
Note: Any comments about the negotiation.
Action: Right-click icon; right-click menu contains Edit, Email, Delete, and Print.
Editing a Negotiation
To edit a negotiation:
Click the right-click icon in the Action column of the row representing the negotiation you wish to edit, or right-click anywhere in that row. This will bring up a menu of options.
Click the Edit option in the menu. This will bring up an Add/Edit panel for negotiations, with the existing information filled in.
Fill the fields in with your desired information. See The Add/Edit Negotiation Panel for details about the fields.
Click Save (for a new Negotiation) or Update (if editing an existing Negotiation) to save the changes and close the panel.
If you decide you do not wish to save the changes, click Cancel instead of clicking Update to undo the changes and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
If you wish to email the details of the negotiation at the same time as you save the changes, click Save & Email or Update and Email instead of clicking Save or Update to save the changes, which will close the Add/Edit panel, and open the case email panel, using the [Negotiation] email template, with the details of the negotiation automatically included in place of negotiation merge codes. Fill out the email with any desired additional content and click Send to send the email, or click the white X at the upper right of the panel instead of clicking Send to close the panel without sending the email. See the Email/Note Templates administrative page for managing email templates.
Deleting a Negotiation
To delete a negotiation:
Make sure there is no settlement linked to the negotiation. If the Settlement column in the row representing the negotiation you wish to delete is not blank, there is a settlement linked to the negotiation. See The Settlement Field for details about linked settlements, and see Deleting a Settlement to first delete the settlement linked to the negotiation, if there is one.
Click the right-click icon in the Action column of the row representing the negotiation you wish to delete, or right-click anywhere in that row. This will bring up a menu of options.
Click the Delete option in the menu. This will bring up a confirmation message (to avoid accidental deletions).
Click the OK button in the message to confirm the deletion.
If you decide you do not wish to delete the negotiation, click Cancel instead of clicking OK to cancel the deletion. You can also click the black X at the upper right of the message to do the same thing.
Until you either confirm or cancel the deletion, you may not be able to visit any other tab in your browser.
Adding a Negotiation
To add a new negotiation:
Click the Add Negotiation button. This will bring up an Add/Edit panel for negotiations, blank except for defaults.
Fill the fields in with your desired information. See The Add/Edit Negotiation Panel for details about the fields.
Click Save to save the negotiation and close the panel.
If you decide you do not wish to save the negotiation, click Cancel instead of clicking Save to undo the changes and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
Emailing a Negotiation
To email the details of a negotiation:
Click the right-click icon in the untitled column of the row representing the negotiation whose details you wish to email, or right-click anywhere in that row. This will bring up a menu of options.
Click the Email option in the menu. This will open the Case Email panel, using the [Negotiation] email template, with the details of the negotiation automatically included in place of negotiation merge codes.
Fill out the email with any desired additional content. See the Email/Note Templates administrative page for managing email templates.
Click Send to send the email.
If you decide you do not wish to send the email, click the white X at the upper right of the panel to close the panel without sending the email.
Printing a Negotiation
To print the details of a negotiation:
Click the right-click icon in the untitled column of the row representing the negotiation whose details you wish to print, or right-click anywhere in that row. This will bring up a menu of options.
Click the Print option in the menu. This will open a new tab containing only the details of the negotiation, and immediately bring up your browser's print options for that tab.
Select the print options you desire and print the negotiation details. (Since the printing is performed by the browser and not by SmartAdvocate, different users may have different printing interfaces. Consult your browser's help if you need further details at this point.)
Note that after printing, the tab containing only the details of the negotiation will remain open. You may close this if you wish.
The Add/Edit Negotiation Panel
The Add/Edit Negotiation Panel allows you to fill in the details of a negotiation. See Add/Edit Panels for general information about panel structure and usage. This panel contains the following fields:
Negotiating with: Radio buttons that allow you to choose the company or law firm being negotiated with.
Date: The date of the negotiation.
Negotiated by: The staff member who conducted the negotiation.
Plaintiff: The plaintiff whose settlement was being negotiated.
Authorized: The amount the plaintiff authorized your firm to accept.
Demand: The amount of the demand made by your firm during this negotiation.
Offer: The amount of the offer made by the company or law firm during the negotiation.
Settlement: The amount of the settlement reached during the negotiation. An exclamation mark (
) indicates that the data in this field is different from the data for this plaintiff in the Settlement table. For additional details, see The Settlement Field.
Note: Any comments about the negotiation.
Settlement Calculation Based on the Offer: This is a separate section of the Add/Edit Negotiation Panel, used to determine the approximate amount the plaintiff will receive based on a specific settlement amount. The information for most of the fields are taken from information in other pages in the system. You can refresh the data in those fields by clicking on the refresh icon ( ) to the right of that field. An exclamation mark ( ) indicates that the data in the field from which this data is taken is different than the amount presently seen on this page for that field. Click on the refresh icon to obtain the most current data from the source page. You can manually enter data into many of these fields, however if the amount is different than the amount on the source page, an exclamation mark will appear to the right of the field. To pull in the latest amount from the source page, simply click on the refresh icon.
The Settlement Field
The Settlement field in the Add/Edit Negotiation Panel has an additional purpose beyond being used for the Settlement column in the Negotiation table. If a negotiation is saved with a number other than zero in the Settlement field, and there is not already a settlement linked to that negotiation, a new settlement will be added to the Settlement table, with the Date, Plaintiff, Staff, Settlement With, and Settlement columns matching the negotiation's Date, Plaintiff, Staff, Negotiating With, and Settlement columns respectively, and with the Firm Fee column containing $0.00 because it cannot be blank. This new settlement is considered linked to the negotiation, though there is no additional indication of the link.
Any edits to the Settlement field in the negotiation, or to the Gross Settlement Amount field in the settlement, will be reflected in the Settlement column in both the linked negotiation and settlement. Edits to any other field in the negotiation will not be reflected in the linked settlement, nor will edits to any other field in the settlement be reflected in the linked negotiation.
A negotiation cannot be deleted if a settlement is linked to it. Deleting a linked settlement will cause the Settlement column in the linked negotiation to become blank; it will then be possible to delete the negotiation.
Settlement Table
The Settlement table is where the details of settlements are stored. Each row of the table represents an individual settlement. See Tables for general information about table structure and usage, including all buttons and other tools in this table that are not mentioned below.
Columns in the Table
The Settlement table contains the following available columns:
Date: The date the settlement was reached.
Plaintiff: The plaintiff whose claim was settled.
Settled by: The staff member who reached the settlement.
Settlement With: The details of the company being settled with (for insurance companies: the name of the company, insurance type, policy limits, relevant defendant or plaintiff, name of insured, claim number, and adjuster name and phone number; for law firms, the name of the firm and the attorney name and phone number).
Settlement: The amount of the settlement. The sum of this column across all rows in the table appears below the last row of the column.
Amount Received: The total amount of all checks received in connection with the settlement and the date of the check. If there is only one check, this column lists the date of the check; if there is more than one, it only indicates that there are multiple dates. The sum of the amount in this column across all rows in the table appears below the last row of the column.
Type: The type of outcome being recorded as a settlement.
Firm Fee: The net fee earned by your firm from the settlement. The sum of this column across all rows in the table appears below the last row of the column.
Fee Recorded: The total amount of all money actually taken in and recorded as fees from the settlement and the date the fee intake was recorded. If there is only one recorded intake, this column lists the date of the intake; if there is more than one, it only indicates that there are multiple dates. The sum of the amount in this column across all rows in the table appears below the last row of the column.
Amount Distributed: The total amount of all checks issued in connection with the settlement and the date of the check. If there is only one check, this column lists the date of the check; if there is more than one, it only indicates that there are multiple dates. The sum of the amount in this column across all rows in the table appears below the last row of the column.
Escrow Account: The firm escrow account into which the settlement was deposited, and from which it was distributed.
Comments: Any comments about the settlement
Action: A Right-click icon; the right-click menu contains Edit, Email, Delete, and Print.
Editing a Settlement
To edit a settlement:
Click the right-click icon in the Action column of the row representing the settlement you wish to edit, or right-click anywhere in that row. This will bring up a menu of options.
Click the Edit option in the menu. This will bring up an Add/Edit panel for settlements, with the existing information filled in.
Fill the fields in with your desired information. See The Add/Edit Settlement Panel for details about the fields.
Click Update to save the changes and close the panel.
If you decide you do not wish to save the changes, click Cancel instead of clicking Update to undo the changes and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
If you wish to email the details of the settlement at the same time as you save the changes, click Update & Email instead of clicking Update to save the changes, close the Add/Edit panel, and open the case email panel, using the [Settlement] email template, with the details of the settlement automatically included in place of settlement merge codes. Fill out the email with any desired additional content and click Send to send the email, or click the white X at the upper right of the panel instead of clicking Send to close the panel without sending the email. See the Email/Note Templates administrative page for managing email templates.
Deleting a Settlement
To delete a settlement:
Click the right-click icon in the Action column of the row representing the settlement you wish to delete, or right-click anywhere in that row. This will bring up a menu of options.
Alternatively, you can click the Delete icon in the Actions column of the row representing the settlement you wish to delete. This will bring up a confirmation message (to avoid accidental deletions). Skip to step 3.
Click the Delete option in the menu. This will bring up a confirmation message (to avoid accidental deletions).
Click the OK button in the message to confirm the deletion.
If you decide you do not wish to delete the settlement, click Cancel instead of clicking OK to cancel the deletion. You can also click the black X at the upper right of the message to do the same thing.
Until you either confirm or cancel the deletion, you may not be able to visit any other tab in your browser.
Adding a Settlement
There are two ways to add a new settlement. One is to link a settlement to an existing negotiation; see The Settlement Field for details. The other way is as follows:
Click the Add Negotiation button. This will bring up an Add/Edit panel for settlements, blank except for defaults.
Fill the fields in with your desired information. See The Add/Edit Settlement Panel for details about the fields.
Click Save to save the settlement and close the panel.
If you decide you do not wish to save the settlement, click Cancel instead of clicking Save to undo the changes and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
Emailing a Settlement
To email the details of a settlement:
Click the right-click icon in the untitled column of the row representing the settlement whose details you wish to email, or right-click anywhere in that row. This will bring up a menu of options.
Click the Email option in the menu. This will open the Case Email panel, using the [Settlement] email template, with the details of the settlement automatically included in place of settlement merge codes.
Fill out the email with any desired additional content. See the Email/Note Templates administrative page for managing email templates.
Click Send to send the email.
If you decide you do not wish to send the email, click the white X at the upper right of the panel to close the panel without sending the email.
Printing a Settlement
To print the details of a settlement:
Click the right-click icon in the untitled column of the row representing the settlement whose details you wish to print, or right-click anywhere in that row. This will bring up a menu of options.
Alternatively, you can click the Print icon in the Actions column of the row representing the settlement whose details you wish to print. This will open a new tab containing only the details of the settlement, and immediately bring up your browser's print options for that tab. Skip to step 3.
Click the Print option in the menu. This will open a new tab containing only the details of the settlement, and immediately bring up your browser's print options for that tab.
Select the print options you desire and print the settlement details. (Since the printing is performed by the browser and not by SmartAdvocate, different users may have different printing interfaces. Consult your browser's help if you need further details at this point.)
Note that after printing, the tab containing only the details of the settlement will remain open. You may close this if you wish.
The Add/Edit Settlement Panel
The Add/Edit Settlement Panel allows you to fill in the details of a settlement. See Add/Edit Panels for general information about panel structure and usage. This panel contains the following fields:
Settlement with: Radio button list allowing you to choose the company being settled with. The list contains six columns: the radio button, the name of the company, the name of the adjuster or attorney, the primary phone number of the adjuster or the law firm, the insurance type (insurance companies only), and the plaintiff or defendant covered (insurance companies only).
Date: The date the settlement was reached.
Plaintiff: The plaintiff connected to the settlement.
Settled by: The staff member in your firm who settled the case.
Settlement Type: Whether the settlement was obtained through Negotiation, Arbitration, or a Judgment.
Escrow Account: Into which of your firms escrow account the settlement funds have been deposited.
Release To Client: The date the settlement and release agreement was sent to the client for signature.
Release From Client: The date the signed settlement and release agreement was received from the client.
Release To Ins./Att.: The date the signed settlement and release agreement was sent to the insurance company or law firm with which the case was settled.
Check Expected Date: The date the settlement check is expected to be received by your firm. When the date in this field is changed, and the Release To Ins./Att. field is not blank, the Days from Release field is automatically set to the difference in days between the Release To Ins./Att. field and this field.
Days from Release: The number of days after sending the signed settlement and release agreement to the company being settled with that a settlement check is expected to be received by your firm. When the number in this field is changed, and the Release To Ins./Att. field is not blank, the Check Expected Date field is automatically set to the date in the Release To Ins./Att. field plus the number of days in this field.
Date Of Distribution: The date your firm sent the amount due to the plaintiff.
Comments: Any comments about the settlement.
Settlement Calculation: This is a separate section of the Add/Edit Settlement Panel, used to determine the amount the plaintiff will receive based on a specific settlement amount. The information for most of the fields are taken from information in other pages in the system. You can refresh the data in those fields by clicking on the refresh icon ( ) to the right of that field. An exclamation mark ( ) indicates that the data in the field from which this data is taken is different than the amount presently seen on this page for that field. Click on the refresh icon to obtain the most current data from the source page. You can manually enter data into many of these fields, however if the amount is different than the amount on the source page, an exclamation mark will appear to the right of the field. To pull in the latest amount from the source page, simply click on the refresh icon.
The Checks Sub-Table Fields
The Checks Sub-Table contains information about all checks received by your firm in partial or full settlement of the case, as well as all checks issued by your firm in order to distribute the settlement funds. The Checks Sub-Table can be opened by clicking on the plus sign ( ) to the left of the relevant row of the mail table. The sub-table columns that are available in the Checks sub-table are the following:
[unlabeled column]: Checkbox selection, allowing the selection of one or more rows for Mass Status Change.
[unlabeled column]: Whether the check was received as a settlement or paid as a disbursement from the settlement.
Date: The date the check was received or issued by your firm.
Amount: The amount of the check.
Balance: The total balance of the settlement remaining after the check was received or issued by your firm.
Status: Whether the check has been cashed or deposited and cleared the issuing bank, printed, is being held, or has been sent to be printed within your firm.
Check #: The number of the check.
Payee: The name of the contact to whom the check was payable.
Custom Payee: This field can be entered manually. It is not currently used in SmartAdvocate, but may be utilized by the QuickBooks integration in a future release.
Debit: The amount of a check that was received by your firm.
Credit: The amount of a check that was issued by your firm.
Type: The aspect of the money due that the check is meant to pay for.
Mailed: The date on which the check was placed in the mail by your firm.
Expiration: The date on which the settlement expires if not effectuated.
Received: The date on which the check was received by your firm.
Comments: Any comments about the check.
Action: A Right-click icon; the right-click menu contains Edit, and Delete.
Timeline |
The Timeline page contains a list of events in the case file relevant to the management and progress of the case. Events may include creation, deletion, modification, and other actions related to appointments, critical comments, documents, medical records, negotiations, notes, settlements, staff members, case statuses, and tasks. The events listed in the Timeline are added automatically by the SmartAdvocate system and cannot be directly edited or deleted. The Timeline consists of a single table with the following columns:
Date: The date the event occurred (or will occur, if the event is a future appointment).
Event: The type of the event.
Staff: The staff member who caused the event.
Description: A description of the event.
Actions: If the event relates to a document, photograph, or email, the column contains an Open icon; clicking the icon will open the associated document, photograph, or email. Otherwise, the column is empty.
Disbursements |
The Disbursements page allows you to view and record the details of case expenses.
The Structure of This Page
Disbursement Limit section. Lists the expense budget for the case and allows editing.
Financing: Indicates whether the disbursements have been financed by your firm and, if so, the date from which they were financed. If the case disbursements are marked as financed, the interest will be calculated automatically on the Negotiation/Settlement screen.
Summary table. Displays expense totals (total, recoverable, non-recoverable, and waived) spent on behalf of each plaintiff.
Add Disbursement button. Used to add a new disbursement to the case file.
Disbursement table. Contains the disbursement details and allows various actions to be performed on them.
Disbursement Limit
The disbursement limit is intended to provide a guide as to the budget for expenses on the case. The limit is not a hard cap; a case can continue to accumulate disbursements even after passing the limit, but cases with a total disbursement amount greater than the current limit appear in the Cases With Disbursement Exceeding Limit Report to aid in identifying and tracking them. The Disbursement Limit section contains four elements: the limit amount, any comment on the limit amount, Edit hypertext for editing the limit, and Show History hypertext for viewing past changes to the limit.
If the disbursement limit on a case has not been manually set, it is automatically set by the SmartAdvocate system. If the case has an estimated case value range assigned to it via the Edit Case button on the Case Summary page, the disbursement limit will automatically be set to the limit associated with that case value range in the Case Values picklist. If an estimated case value has not been set, the disbursement limit will automatically be set to the value in the Disbursement parameter in the System Parameters administrative page.
To manually set the disbursement limit, click the Edit hypertext. This will open a panel with two Text input fields: one for the Disbursement Amount Limit, and one for the Comment. Both must be non-blank. When you have made your desired edits, click Save to save the changes, or Cancel to discard the changes and close the panel.
To return to having the disbursement limit set automatically instead of manually, click the Edit hypertext, then fill in 0 as the disbursement amount limit and save the changes. (The comment must still not be blank, though it will also be automatically reset on saving.)
To view changes in the disbursement limit over the history of the case, click the Show History hypertext. This will bring up a panel listing the limit amount, the date it was set, the date it was replaced, the associated comment, and the staff member who set it.
Summary Table
The Summary table totals the disbursement amounts in the Disbursement table. It is updated automatically when changes are made to the Disbursement table; no changes may be made to the Summary table directly. Each row of the table represents an individual plaintiff. See Tables for general information about table structure and usage, including all buttons and other tools in this table that are not mentioned below.
Columns in the Table
The Summary table contains the following columns:
Plaintiffs: The plaintiff whose disbursement totals are listed. Each plaintiff in the case is automatically listed in one row, with the primary plaintiff listed in bold.
Total: The total amount of all disbursements made on the plaintiff's behalf.
Recoverable: The total value of all recoverable disbursements made on the plaintiff's behalf. The sum of this column across all rows in the table appears below the last row of the column.
Non-Recoverable: The total value of all nonrecoverable disbursements spent on the plaintiff's behalf. The sum of this column across all rows in the table appears below the last row of the column.
Waived: The total value of all waived disbursements made on the plaintiff's behalf. The sum of this column across all rows in the table appears below the last row of the column.
Disbursement Table
The Disbursement table is where the details of disbursements are stored. Each row of the table represents an individual disbursement. See Tables for general information about table structure and usage, including all buttons and other tools in this table that are not mentioned below.
Columns in the Table
The Disbursement table contains the following available columns:
Status: The status of the check or other payment.
Invoice: The date and number of the invoice associated with the disbursement.
Check: The date and number of the check used to pay the disbursement.
Amount: The amount of the disbursement. The sum of this column across all rows in the table appears below the last row of the column.
Payee: The contact to be paid.
Type: The type of expense.
Plaintiffs: The plaintiffs on whose behalf the disbursement was made. If none of the plaintiffs in the Plaintiffs field are selected, and the Share Expenses Across Plaintiffs field is selected, this column will contain the names of all plaintiffs in the case.
Recoverable: Whether the disbursement can be recovered from the case proceeds.
Waived: Whether the recovery of the disbursement was waived.
Comments: The description of the expense and any comments about the disbursement.
Documents: Any documents related to the disbursement.
Action: An Edit icon and a Delete icon.
Description: The description of the expense.
Invoice Date: The date of the invoice associated with the disbursement.
Invoice #: The number of the invoice associated with the disbursement.
Due Date: The date on which payment of the invoice is due.
Check #: The number of the check used to pay the disbursement.
General Ledger #: The identification number of the disbursement in the general ledger.
Payee [From QuickBooks]: Used by the QuickBooks integration; has no purpose otherwise.
Status Date: The last date on which the status of the disbursement was changed.
Share Expenses Across Plaintiffs: Whether the disbursement should be split equally among the plaintiffs.
Is Payee a Lienor?: Whether the payee of the disbursement also holds a lien on the case.
Check Mailed Date: The date on which the check used to pay the disbursement was mailed.
Check Date: The date of the check used to pay the disbursement.
Editing a Disbursement
To edit a disbursement:
Right-click anywhere in the row representing the disbursement you wish to edit. This will bring up a menu of options.
Alternatively, you can click the Edit icon in the Action column of the row representing the disbursement you wish to edit. This will bring up an Add/Edit panel for disbursements, with the existing information filled in. Skip to step 3.
Click the Edit option in the menu. This will bring up an Add/Edit panel for disbursements, with the existing information filled in.
Fill the fields in with your desired information.
Click Save to save the changes and close the panel.
If you decide you do not wish to save the changes, click Cancel instead of clicking Save to undo the changes and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
Deleting a Disbursement
To delete a disbursement:
Right-click anywhere in the row representing the disbursement you wish to delete. This will bring up a menu of options.
Alternatively, you can click the Delete icon in the Action column of the row representing the disbursement you wish to delete. This will not bring up a confirmation message; it will simply delete the disbursement.
Click the Delete option in the menu. This will bring up a confirmation message (to avoid accidental deletions).
Click the OK button in the message to confirm the deletion.
If you decide you do not wish to delete the disbursement, click Cancel instead of clicking OK to cancel the deletion. You can also click the black X at the upper right of the message to do the same thing.
Until you either confirm or cancel the deletion, you may not be able to visit any other tab in your browser.
Adding a Disbursement
To add a new disbursement:
Click the Add Disbursement button. This will bring up an Add/Edit panel for disbursements, blank except for defaults.
Fill the fields in with your desired information.
Click Save to save the disbursement and close the panel.
If you decide you do not wish to save the disbursement, click Cancel instead of clicking Save to undo the changes and close the panel. You can also click the white X at the upper right of the panel to do the same thing.
The Add/Edit Disbursement Panel
The Add/Edit Disbursement Panel allows you to fill in the details of a disbursement. See Add/Edit Panels for general information about panel structure and usage. This panel contains the following fields:
Invoice Date: The date of the invoice associated with the disbursement.
Invoice #: The number of the invoice associated with the disbursement.
Amount: The amount of the disbursement.
Due Date: The date on which payment of the invoice is due.
Status: The status of the check or other payment.
Status Date: The date on which the most recent check status was entered.
Check Date: The date of the check used to pay the disbursement.
Check #: The number of the check used to pay the disbursement.
Check Mailed Date: The number of the check used to pay the disbursement.
General Ledger #: The identification number of the disbursement in the general ledger.
Payee: The contact to be paid.
Is Payee a Lienor?: Whether the payee of the disbursement holds a lien on the case.
Payee [From QuickBooks]: Used automatically by the QuickBooks integration; has no purpose otherwise.
Disbursement Type: The type of the expense.
Description: The description of the expense.
Plaintiffs: The plaintiffs on whose behalf the disbursement was made. If neither Share Expenses Across Plaintiffs nor any of the checkboxes in this field is selected, the record will not save.
Share Expenses Across Plaintiffs: Whether the disbursement should be split equally among the plaintiffs.
Waived: Whether the recovery of the disbursement was waived or not.
Recoverable: If neither this field nor any of the checkboxes in the Plaintiffs field is selected, the record will not save.
Comments: Any comments about the disbursement.
Related Documents: Tool for adding and tracking documents. Click the Select button to add a document to this disbursement.
The Related Documents Field and Documents Panel
The Related Documents field and Documents panel allow you to select documents that have already been added in the case and specifically relate them to a particular record on this page. This can help you quickly identify and access the most relevant document when you or another staff member visits this page at a later time. When you click Select Documents from the right-click menu, or click the Select button in the Related Documents field, a table of the documents in the case will appear. Find the document or documents you wish to associate with the particular record and select the checkbox for each document. Click Select or Update to confirm the selection. The descriptions of each selected document will appear in the Documents column in the table. Clicking the Open icon to the far left of the row will open that document.
Case UDF |
The Case UDF page contains all user-defined fields for the case's case type that have Case as their Screen value. It is used to store any information about the case that is not otherwise covered by some page in SmartAdvocate, and that does not fit any other category of user-defined fields. See the UDF Editor page for creating and managing user-defined fields, for a description of the available field formats, and for an explanation of how user-defined fields are organized on this and other UDF pages.
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