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Matters
Matter workspaces
Organise every document, research thread, and draft around a single matter
A matter is the central unit of work in 8rney. Every document you upload, every research question you ask, and every draft you save can be tied to a matter — keeping context intact across the entire lifecycle of a deal, dispute, or advisory task.
What belongs in a matter#
Source documents
Contracts, pleadings, policies, correspondence, and other files directly relevant to the legal issue. These become searchable context for the AI.
Research threads
The questions you asked and the cited answers you received. Preserved so the reasoning behind a recommendation is visible later.
Draft documents
Working notes, memos, redlined contracts, and AI-assisted drafts created during the matter. Clearly separate from final approved output.
Chats
AI conversations scoped to the matter — ask questions about your specific documents without starting a general research session.
Matter workflow#
Create the matter at intake
Open a matter as soon as work becomes real. Don't wait until documents have scattered across email threads and personal chats.
Name it consistently
Use a predictable pattern: Client / Issue or Business Unit / Project. The naming standard matters more than the specific format — pick one and stick with it.
Upload the first source set
Add the essential documents immediately. The AI's ability to give you matter-specific answers depends on having the right source material available.
Run scoped research
Ask questions from inside the matter. The AI will use your uploaded documents as context alongside the live legal databases.
Save all outputs inside the matter
Every note, draft, and risk summary should live in the matter — not in a personal chat or a local downloads folder.
Matter overview#
The Matters page shows all active matters across your workspace with:
- Status (active, archived, closed)
- Document count
- Last activity timestamp
- Deal type (M&A, employment, real estate, litigation, general)
- Quick links to analysis, documents, and research
Use this as the operational dashboard for your team's current workload.
Matter analysis#
Each matter has an Analysis tab that runs a structured AI analysis across all uploaded documents:
- Key clause extraction
- Risk flags and anomalies
- Obligation timeline
- Outstanding issues
This is generated on demand — not automatically — so it reflects the current state of your document set when you run it.
Archiving matters#
Archive a matter when the active work is complete but you want to preserve the record. Archived matters remain searchable and their documents remain available to the AI.
Before archiving, confirm that the final output is clearly identified and that any working draft is either promoted to final status or explicitly labelled as a draft.
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