Tip #206 - How to Add Related Non-Party Contacts

Occasionally, you may need to document the existence of certain non-party contacts that are associated with a matter. These "Related Non-Party Contacts" may include family members, friends or other associates that are needed, but do not fall into any of the standard categories of contacts in the case, such as Plaintiff, Defendant, Witness, Expert, etc. It is not unusual for a plaintiff, for example, to give the law firm permission to discuss his or her case with a family member such as a spouse, adult child or parent. Such individuals cannot be added to the case as a Party. They typically would be added as a “Related Non-Party Contact” and should be added on the Plaintiff’s or Defendant’s Page, depending on which party they are associated with._[1]

Follow these steps to add a Related Non-Party Contact for the Plaintiff:

1. Click the Plaintiff tab on the left menu.

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1. Click the “Summary” tab under the Plaintiff’s section to display the full Plaintiff’s Summary sub-panel.

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1. Click the “Add Non-Party Contact” button to add the information.

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1. Click the drop-down in the Non-Party Contact field to display all available Contacts in SmartAdvocate.

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1. It is unlikely that the Contact you want to add to this case already exists in the database, so you will need to click the “Add New” button (bottom left of the dialog box) to create the new Contact. Complete the Contact Card for the new Contact (the Contact Type is usually “General”, but you can choose any appropriate Contact Type from your list of available Types). After you have added the Contact, the Name and Address will populate in the "Non-Party Contact" field.

1. Complete the remainder of the page by selecting which Plaintiff the Contact is associated with, and enter any comment (optional) that may be appropriate.

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1. Follow the same procedure to add a Defendant Related Non-Party Contact under the Defendant’s Section.

[1] It is possible that we may add the functionality to display Non-Party Contact information on the Summary Screen in a future update of SmartAdvocate