PCLaw lets you automatically number Matters by Client or by Firm.
Automatic Matter Numbering By Client
In the Example above we assigned the Client a Number of 0001 and the Matter a number of 0001-001. The Next Matter shown below will have a Client ID of 0002 and a Matter ID of 0002-001. PCLaw increased the Client ID by 1 increment and also increased the Matter ID by 1 increment.
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Now what happens if we leave automatic numbering by client on but introduce Alpha Characters instead of just Numeric.
We will leave the Client ID as 0001 but we will put in BayerCraig as the Matter ID. The next Client ID is 0002, which is an increase of 1 and the Matter ID is still 0002-001. As show in the image below, PCLaw completely ignored the previous Matter ID. Therefore, if you want to use Alpha characters as the Matter ID, PCLaw will ignore them and replace the next matter id with numeric characters. This can be problematic when linking to a practice management software like Amicus Attorney, because the Matter ID will be grayed out with a numeric number already in place and you will not have the option to replace it. To fix this, change PCLaw Automatic Numbering to By Matter. It will still increase the Client ID while leaving the Matter ID Blank.
Automatic Numbering by Matter
In the Matter above, we used 09-0001 as the Matter ID and 001 as the Client ID. The next Matter we create, as seen in the example below, will have the Matter ID of 09-0002, an increase as 1 and the Client ID of 002, an increase of 1.
Now, lets look at the same example, but lets introduce Alpha Characters. In the example below we will use the Matter ID of 09-0001 but the Client ID of BayCra.
When we go to create the next Matter, PCLaw will increase the Matter ID by 1 and will leave the Client ID blank.
In our experience, it seems that firms have more success when they set PCLaw to Automatic Numbering by Matter. For the Client they use Alpha Characters and for the Matter they just use a sequential number. For 2008, there first matter would be 08-0001 and at the start of 2009 they would start all over again to 09-0001.
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