Run every matter of a type the same way.
Most firms have a way they do things, and it usually lives with whoever has been there longest. Esqase turns that into matter templates, task lists, and a workflow anyone can follow.
Write the process down once, in the system
Build the sequence as a workflow, the checklist as a task list, and the file setup as a matter template. Written down that way, the process stays when the person who wrote it leaves.
Attaching a workflow copies its steps onto that one record. Editing the workflow later leaves matters you already attached it to alone.
Assigning workflowsTask lists and templates
The checklist a matter type always needs, with its dates.
Matter templates
Stage, team, billing, and tasks applied as it opens.
Same shape on every file, without policing it
Practice areas set the stages a matter moves through, field sets bundle the details you capture on it, and document templates hold the wording that leaves the firm.
Steps, checklists, and how a matter opens.
Read the workflow docsWorkflow
Workflow step types
Nine kinds of step, from the welcome email to converting the lead into a matter.
Copied, not fired
Steps land as to-dos your team works through.
Reused per record
One workflow, attached to many matters.
Tasks
Task lists and templates
A bundle of pre-written tasks with owners and dates that resolve when the matter opens.
Assignees included
Each task already has someone on it.
Dates that compute
Counted from the matter's open date.
Matters
Matter templates
Bundle the stage, the team, the billing setup, and the checklist into how a matter opens.
One per matter type
Set it up once, then use it every time.
Applied in the wizard
Pre-filled for you, and still editable.
Standardize your first matter type.
Browse the docsFAQs
Workflows, checklists, dates, templates, and what runs on its own.
Does a workflow run its steps automatically?
No. Attaching a workflow copies its steps onto the record as to-do items your team completes in order. What can be automatic is the attaching: a workflow set to trigger when a lead is created copies its steps onto every new lead as it arrives.
What is the difference between a workflow and a task list?
A task list is a bundle of pre-written tasks with owners and relative dates, aimed at the checklist a matter type always needs. A workflow is an ordered sequence built from nine step types, so it can also send an email, request a form, book an event, draft a document, raise an invoice, advance a stage, or convert a lead into a matter.
If I edit a workflow, do matters already using it change?
No. Each record keeps its own copy of the steps from the moment they were attached, so editing the original leaves every lead and matter you already attached it to exactly as it was. New attachments use the updated version.
How do dates on a task list template work?
You describe the rule rather than typing a date. A task can start or fall due a set number of days from the matter's open date, from its own start date, or relative to another task in the same list, and Esqase resolves those into real dates.
Can every matter of a type capture the same details?
Yes. Custom fields are typed per category, Contact, Matter, or Lead, and a field set bundles them so you add the whole group in one step. A matter template decides which of those fields a new matter opens with, so every matter of that type starts with the same ones.
Can we standardize the documents that leave the firm?
Yes. Save each letter or agreement as a document template with placeholders for the parts that change, so every draft starts from wording your firm has settled on rather than from the last client's copy.