Matter access
Control who can view, work on, or manage a matter.
A Matter is the access root for the work on that file. Workspace role decides what kind of action a member may take. Ownership and grants decide which files they can open.
Who can access a matter
A Legal-team member can open a matter when they are:
- the owner;
- given a direct grant; or
- in a group that has a grant on that matter.
The Legal team is Owner, Admin, Member, and Read-only. Administrators do not receive a bypass of Matter content. Transcribers are not part of the Legal team; they only see recordings assigned through the Queue.
Client access does not open every matter for that client.
View, Work, and Manage
| Level | What it allows |
|---|---|
| View | Read the matter and its authorised work |
| Work | Make ordinary shared changes, including drafts you then share |
| Manage | Change sharing, transfer ownership, and supported lifecycle actions |
Optional features still need their own permissions. For example, Clara, form preparation, and Pillar extraction each have a separate execution permission.
Read-only members are capped at View, even if a grant would otherwise allow Work or Manage. They cannot create, upload, record, publish, or ask Clara to do new work.
Share a matter
- Open the matter.
- Use the sharing control in the header, or expand Sharing in Edit matter.
- Add a member or group.
- Choose View, Work, or Manage.
- Confirm the grant.
Sharing changes apply immediately. They are independent of saving matter details.
A group used only to route transcriber queue work does not grant access to the matter. Add a Matter grant when the group should see the file.
Recordings that belong to a matter inherit that matter's access. They do not have a separate sharing audience.
Locked matters
The matter directory can list files you cannot yet open. Locked rows show the name, reference, and dates only.
Eligible Legal-team members can request access. Work is the default request for Member, Admin, and Owner. Read-only members can request View only. Matter managers approve or decline requests from the sharing dialog. You can cancel a pending request and request again after a refusal.
Transcribers see locked rows without a request action.
Change ownership
Ownership transfer is available to a member with Manage access. Expanding the transfer control does not move ownership. Select an eligible new owner and confirm Transfer ownership.
The former owner may lose visibility immediately if they have no remaining grant.
Integrations
Connected practice systems such as Clio act for the workspace, not as a person on the sharing list. There are no per-matter integration grants. Private conversations and unshared drafts stay outside that access. See Integrations.
Review access regularly
- Share only the people who need the file.
- Remove grants when someone leaves the matter.
- Check group membership, because adding a member to a group can open every matter already shared with that group.
- Transfer ownership before changing a Matter owner to Read-only or deactivating them.