Case - General (v2020)

Owned by Igor Selizhuk
Last updated: Mar 31, 2021 by allison
8 min read

Case Summary

The set of Case Summary Panels and Tabs can now be configured for each Case Group. Different Panels and Tabs can be shown or hidden for different Case Groups. This configuration includes 4 new Custom Panels that can display information from customized templates you can create.

The configuration can be done under Admin → Picklist Maintenance → Case Summary Page Design.

The templates for new panels can be configured under Admin → Email/Note/Appointment/View Templates

The assignment of the templates to case types or groups can be done under Admin → Template Pages Configuration.

Added ability to assign multiple staff members to a case at the same time by using the new Teams functionality.

Teams can be defined under Admin → Picklist Maintenance

 

Replaced two icons on the Tasks Panel with a standard “right-click” icon. Implemented standard Task menu.

 

Added a drop-down for case group selection on the Edit Case dialog.

 

Labels and indicators for contact sub-types (Adult, Deceased, Incompetent, Minor/Infant) can now be customized in Picklist Maintenance → Contact SubCategory. Also, those labels will be displayed in Red on the Case Summary and on the brief contact pop-up.

 

 

Added ability to display full status comments on the Case Summary. This is a system-wide configuration, which can be set in Admin → System Parameters → Case Summary.

 

 

Added ability to quickly view all Notes, Appointments, Tasks, and SOLs/Critical Deadlines without leaving the Case Summary page. Just click the “View All” link at the top right corner of the applicable panel.

 

Added Room and Part display to Courts/Dockets Panel

 

Added Infant, Funding, and Prior Attorney flags

Added ability to set Settlement Value.

 

Added display of the note subject in the “Last Notes” panel. This change only applies if note subject is enabled in System Parameters (Internal) → Notes.

 

Added Status Days column on the Case Status History Dialog.

Appointments/Calendar Screen

  • New Appointment Dialog was redesigned and appointments functionality was enhanced.

  1. Appointment Template support. You can now select an appointment template that can automatically pick Activity Type, select Attendees, and populate both Subject and Comments. Appointment Templates can be created under Admin → Email/Notes/Appointment/View Templates.

  2. Streamlined Attendees selection. Staff assigned to the case can be added using check-boxes. There are also shortcuts for Case Parties, Case Contacts, Firm Staff, and a full list of contacts from SmartAdvocate.

  3. Ability to attach documents. Documents can be selected from the case or new documents can be attached. These documents will also be attached to any appointments sent to Outlook via the Outlook Plugin.

  4. Rich text appointment comments. You can now use the same rich text formatting capabilities that were already available for notes and emails.

  5. Invite format can now be customized via templates. Control the way appointment information is formatted into an invite that is being sent to appointment participants by editing the [AppointmentInvite] Email Template.

  6. Availability for selected staff can be easily checked. Pressing “Staff Availability” button on the New Appointment panel brings up scheduler screen with appointments for selected staff.

Added setting that allows administrators to specify staff case roles to be automatically added to new appointments, under System Parameters → Calendar.

Added option to Add Attendees and Replace Attendees to the right-click menu in the Office and Case Calendars. Can be performed on multiple appointments at the same time.

Case Navigation Panel

Added two new settings under System Parameters → Case that control the behavior of the case navigation panel. By default, both are set to True and preserve previous system behavior. You can change them to prevent Plaintiff panel from automatically expanding when pages from the General Panel are shown. You can also allow the General panel to collapse when pages from other panels are shown.

The following video demonstrates the behavior with different combinations of those settings.

Case Value

Added Organization column to show employer (if any) of the provider.

Close Case Dialog

Added support for email generation

Added ability to limit Case Close Reasons by Case Group and Case Type. It can be configured in Picklist Maintenance → Case Close Reasons.

Critical Comments

Critical Comments dialog will be shown when users go directly to pages other than Case Summary.

Critical Deadlines

A warning will be displayed if an SOL falls on the weekend or a holiday.

You will be now able to select an individual (not only an organization like before) in the SOL’s “Served by” field.

Documents can now be associated with SOL records.

Documents

Option to email a Word Document as a PDF was added to the Documents page. It works the same way as “Copy as PDF”, except that after creating the PDF, it opens an email to which the new PDF document is attached.

Added the ability to print document(s) directly from SmartAdvocate if Document Handler is used (“Download documents for editing“ option in User Preferences.)

  • Added Doc ID and Global Doc ID columns. Doc ID shows a unique id of the document within the case and Global Doc ID shows a unique id of the document within SmartAdvocate.

  • When document preview is shown on the right portion of the screen, you can set a different column layout for the Documents page.

  • Added ability to specify the number of copies when a document is copied.

Expenses (Disbursements)

  • The Amount field is now mandatory on the Disbursement screen.

  • An alert was added if there is a duplicate amount for the same payee and/or Invoice Number. This feature is configured under Systems Parameter → Disbursement.

  • Added the ability to copy case expense records (via the right-click menu).

Made the display of “Total with Interest” line optional. It can be configured under System Parameters → Disbursement.

Added ability to automatically add Expense (Costs/Disbursements) records for document e-Signatures and Text messages. The parameters can be configured on the System Parameters page.

Incident

Added warning if the Incident Date entered is in the future.

Negotiation/Settlement

Negotiation Notes are now rich-text with templates support and can be displayed on both the Notes page and in the Notes panel on the Case Summary page. This can be configured under System Parameters → Automatic Note.

  • Changed Negotiations grid to take less space when there are no or a small number of negotiations entered. This provides more space to see the settlement(s).

  • Added support for recording of the settlement fee split between different attorneys in the Law Firm.

Added ability to suggest or automatically change Case Status when settlement is entered. This feature is configured under System Parameters → Settlement.

Added settings to exclude medical bills in settlement calculations and to charge interest on all case expenses by default.

Check Date field added to Settlement Checks.

Notes

Added ability to filter Plaintiffs and/or Defendants on the “Related To” drop-down.

  • Added ability to copy text messages the same way regular notes are copied.

  • Added Created Date column.

  • Auto text replacement is now available when typing notes or emails.

 

The configuration is done under Admin → Picklist Maintenance → Text Auto Replacement.

Photographs

Added ability to copy photographs

Retainer/Referral

Automatic Retainer Fee Assignment. Now SmartAdvocate can be configured to automatically pick the Retainer Fee based on Case State, Group, or Type.

If multiple rules can be applied to a particular case the rule with the higher priority will be selected. The Automatic Retainer Fee Assignments are set under Picklist Maintenance → Default Retainer Fee Settings.

The available fee values are set under Picklist Maintenance → Default Retainer Fee Values.

Tasks

Added ability to associate documents with Tasks. Documents can be selected from the case or new documents can be attached.

Timeline

  • Added tracking of Settlement modifications and deletions.

  • Added tracking for UDF edits.

  • Added full history for referrals:

    • Referring Attorneys/Law Firms

    • Paid Advertisements

    • Other Referrals

  • Added deletion tracking of many items:

    • Letter of Administration

    • ARB/Mediations

    • Bankruptcy

    • Calendar

    • Appeals

    • All Contacts

    • Time Tracking

    • Witnesses

    • Counter Claims/3P

    • Court Rules

    • Death Compromise

    • Depositions

    • Distributees/Others

    • Employment

    • Evidence

    • Adverse Exams

    • Expert

    • Funding

    • Injury

    • Investigations

    • Attorneys

    • Referring Attorney

    • Hearing

    • Motions

    • Notes

    • OtherReferral

    • Other Providers

    • Paid Advertising

    • Attorneys

    • Decedent Information

    • PlaintiffInjury

    • Police Reports

    • Prior Attorney

    • Prior Claims

    • Injuries-Prior

    • Referred Out Attorney

    • Retainer

    • School/Other Activities

    • Special Damages

    • Sub Out Attorney

    • Trial Prep

    • Vehicles

    • Verdict

    • WorkPlans

UDF Pages

Removed the message that UDFs were saved after the save button is pressed.

WorkPlans

Added ability to perform WorkPlan decisions on any page where tasks are shown.

 

Visit smartadvocate.com/support for other help options including how to access our Support Tracker and Daily Office Hours sessions.