Harrington Chambers Matter Management
A London commercial law firm moved from Dropbox folders and a spreadsheet to a real matter management platform.
Impact
What changed.
Time capture lift
Recorded billable hours rose 14% across the firm within four months — money that was already being earned but never written down.
Conflict discipline
Conflict checks now happen before a matter opens, in seconds. The firm has not opened a matter without a documented conflict search in over a year.
Client experience
Client portal adoption hit 73% within the first quarter. Document email volume dropped by half and partners report fewer late-evening "where is the file?" calls.
The challenge
Before
Harrington Chambers is a 41-fee-earner commercial firm in the City of London. They had grown past the point where a shared Dropbox plus a master Google Sheet could carry the practice — matter documents lived in inconsistent folder structures, conflict checks were a partner walking down the corridor asking aloud, and time recording happened in two systems that never reconciled. Fee earners admitted to writing off 12-18% of recordable time simply because the timer was inconvenient and recreating the day from memory was unreliable.
- Matter documents stored across inconsistent Dropbox folder structures
- Conflict checks performed by partners asking the room out loud
- Time recorded in two systems that reconciled monthly with manual cleanup
- Fee earners writing off 12-18% of recordable time to convenience
- Bills assembled in Word with manual narrative cleanup before sending
- Client portal nonexistent — documents emailed as zip files
- AML and KYC packs stored in a separate compliance folder, often stale
- No way to see at a glance which matters were burning past budget
The solution
What we built
We built a matter management platform calibrated to how a UK commercial firm actually works. Every matter has a structured workspace with conflict, AML, engagement letter, billing instructions, and key dates as first-class fields. Conflict search runs the moment a new matter is opened and surfaces party-name and counterparty matches across active and closed files with confidence scoring. Time recording lives everywhere — a desktop pop-up, an Outlook ribbon button, a mobile app, and a quick-entry web form — and every entry is structured with phase, task, and narrative. Bill drafting pulls time and disbursement entries into a structured pre-bill, where the supervising partner can write off, transfer, or re-narrate in bulk before approval. The client portal exposes only the documents and bills the client should see, with permissions per recipient. Compliance dashboards show AML refresh status, engagement letter age, and matter budget burn for every active file in one view.
Core workflow connections
How the system flows.
- New MatterConflict SearchAML CheckEngagement LetterWorkspace Created
- Time Capture (5 entry points)Phase + Task + NarrativeDaily Total
- Disbursement EntryReceipt AttachedApprover RoutingBill-ready Status
- Pre-bill DraftPartner ReviewWrite-off / TransferFinal Bill Issued
- Document UploadAuto-classifiedPrivilege MarkedClient Portal Sync
- Budget SetBurn TrackedThreshold AlertPartner Review
- AML Refresh ScheduleDocument RequestClient UploadCompliance Sign-off
- Matter ClosureFinal BillArchive WorkflowRetention Schedule
- Conflict search with party-name and counterparty match confidence scoring
- Client portal exposing only permitted documents and bills per recipient
Process
How we built it.
New Matter → Conflict Search → AML Check → Engagement Letter → Workspace Created
Time Capture (5 entry points) → Phase + Task + Narrative → Daily Total
Disbursement Entry → Receipt Attached → Approver Routing → Bill-ready Status
Pre-bill Draft → Partner Review → Write-off / Transfer → Final Bill Issued
Document Upload → Auto-classified → Privilege Marked → Client Portal Sync
Budget Set → Burn Tracked → Threshold Alert → Partner Review
AML Refresh Schedule → Document Request → Client Upload → Compliance Sign-off
Matter Closure → Final Bill → Archive Workflow → Retention Schedule
Conflict search with party-name and counterparty match confidence scoring
Client portal exposing only permitted documents and bills per recipient
Start a project
Outgrown shared folders for matter management?
We build matter, time, and billing platforms calibrated to your jurisdiction and your fee-earner culture — not a recycled US PMS.
No retainer lock-in · Month-to-month · Full transparency
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