Tip #75 - How To Automtically Assign Staff To Your New Cases

Did you know that you can have default staff automatically assigned to your cases at intake? This is a very handy feature if your firm always assign the same staff member(s) to specific types of cases. For example, you may always have the same attorney(s), paralegal(s), etc. assigned to your MASS Tort cases of a specific type or your Auto Accident cases. Even if this is an initial assignment which will be changed later, having the staff automatically assigned to the case is very convenient. Please note that the individual who will be making the change to implememnt the automatic assignment must have Admin privileges. We also recommend that only staff members who have had Admin training and is authorized to make modifications to SmartAdvocate in your firm perform any changes to your Case Type setup. Note also that the feature to have staff members automatically asssigned is Case Type specific, i.e., you will need to make the change on a Case Type-by-Case Type basis.

Here are the steps to implement the automatic assignment of staff to your cases.

Click on the ‘Admin’ tab on the tool bar
Click Case Type on the drop down menu
Locate the Case Type you want to work with
Click the SOL icon (little clock) in the far right column under Actions

5. In the bottom right section of the dialog box you will see a button labeled ‘Add Default Staff’ (The section below Staff Name and Role will be blank if no default staff have been assigned to this Case Type)

6. Click the button for ‘Add Default Staff’. You will have two options to add a staff – you can add the name of the ‘Case Creator’, i.e., the person who is doing the intake, or choose a specific staff from the list. (Some firms choose to have the person doing the intake automatically assigned to the case). The role the person is assigned in the case will be dependent on that person’s Default Case Role set in his/her user profile.[1]

In the example shown in the screen shot below we have both the Case Creator and Claude Simpson as Primary Attorney automatically assigned to our ‘3M Earplugs’ Case Type.

7. Click the ‘Close’ button located at the bottom right of the dialog box to save your selection(s) and update your Case Type (note – there is no ‘save’ or ‘update’ button to save your selections, simply click the close button and your entries will be automatically saved)

The automatic staff assignment is particularly useful for those firms using WorkPlans and Automated Procedures to assign tasks to specific case roles (Attorney, Paralegal, Case Manager, stc.) generally immediately after intake, and prior to staff being ‘manually’ assigned.

[1] For those firms that have an integration for intake, and implement the automatic assignment feature where it is assigning the Case Creator, the staff and case role assigned will be ‘Admin - Staff’