Working with Contacts in Actionstep Practice Management and Legal Accounting

In this article:

• Working with Contacts
• Allowing Separate ID Number Sequencing  
• Additional Notes

Working with Contacts

The Actionstep Legal Accounting integration allows you to sync your contacts between both Practice Management and Legal Accounting. 

To create a contact that can be used in both Practice Management and Legal Accounting, simply follow the instructions outlined in the article, Adding a Contact. If you want to use separate numbering sequences for vendors, clients, or other contact types, see the section, "Allowing Separate ID Number Sequencing," below.   

Contacts are linked between the two systems using internal IDs. When you create a new contact in Practice Management, the contact details along with the contact reference number, if provided, are sent to Legal Accounting where the contact is created using the same details. Otherwise, Legal Accounting will create a contact number and populate the contact's Reference field with the auto-generated number. The same process applies to a contact being created in Legal Accounting—the contact details entered in Legal Accounting including the contact number will be used to create the contact's record in Practice Management. Practice Management displays the contact number assigned in Legal Accounting in the Reference # field. (See Contact and Matter Field Mapping Between Practice Management and Legal Accounting for details on how the fields between the two systems are mapped.)  

Additionally, you can edit contacts in either system and the changes to fields that are common between both systems will be automatically reflected in the other. (See Contact and Matter Field Mapping Between Practice Management and Legal Accounting for a list of these fields.)

In Practice Management, once you create a contact, the contact record will include a link near the top-right corner of the contact page showing whether the contact is synced between both Practice Management and Legal Accounting:

A similar indicator will be displayed in Legal Accounting:

The following statuses apply to this link: 

• Green (synchronized) 
• Gray (unsynchronized) 
• Light blue (pending/synchronizing) 
• Yellow (unable to display synchronization status)
• Red (synchronization errors) 

Allowing Separate ID Number Sequencing  

You can choose from three distinct numbering schemes to use for numbering clients, vendors, and other contacts. You must set this preference in both Practice Management and Legal Accounting. Then, when you create a new contact in Practice Management, you can use the Numbering sequence field to indicate which numbering scheme you want used based on the type of contact you're creating.

If the Admin setting is not enabled, all contacts created in Practice Management will be assigned a Legal Accounting client number based on the client number sequencing.

To set this option in Practice Management:

1. In Practice Management, go to Admin > General settings. 
2. In the Contacts section, toggle Allow separate Contact numbering sequences to on. 
3. Click Save to save your changes.

To set this option in Legal Accounting:

1. In Legal Accounting, click Administrator Settings. 
2. Go to Firm > Settings > File.
3. In the Automatic File Numbering section, toggle Use separate numbering sequences for clients, vendors, and other contact types.
   
4. Click Save to save your changes.

Now, when you create a contact in Practice Management, you will have the option to choose whether your clients, vendors, and other contacts are numbered using separate sequencing.

Additional Notes 

• If a user has permissions to create a contact in Practice Management, the contact will be created in Legal Accounting, regardless of whether they also have permissions in Legal Accounting. The inverse is also true—if a user has permissions to create a contact in Legal Accounting but not Practice Management, any contacts they create in Legal Accounting will still also be created in Practice Management.  
• Some features that are available in Legal Accounting are restricted in the Legal Accounting integration: 
  • The integration restricts group contacts (which are available in Legal Accounting but not Practice Management). Instead, you can create multiple clients for a matter that you're managing in Practice Management and they will be synced to Legal Accounting. 
  • Legal Accounting creates a hidden Group Contact using the first client from the Practice Management matter as the Primary Contact on the Legal Accounting Matter. The billing percentages on that mattercan be viewed and edited in the Split/Advanced Billing section of File Manager in Legal Accounting.
  • Adding or removing members of a group contact is also restricted in Legal Accounting when the integration is enabled. If a matter has multiple clients, changes can only be performed in Practice Management. 
  • The Change Primary Contact function available in Legal Accounting is restricted in Legal Accounting’s File Manager. Changes to the primary client on a multi-client matter must be performed in Practice Management. 
• If the Legal Accounting integration is enabled, when you create or edit a contact in Practice Management, you'll see a Reference # field. This maps to the Legal Accounting Contact # field. If you're creating a new contact, this field will be automatically populated using the next available number in the auto-numbering sequence. 

Related Articles:

• Working with Contacts in Practice Management and Legal Accounting
• Working with Matters in Practice Management and Legal Accounting
• Recording Time in Practice Management for Billing Using Legal Accounting
• Correcting Time Entry Issues Between Practice Management and Legal Accounting
• Contact and Matter Field Mapping Between Practice Management and Legal Accounting
• Actionstep Legal Accounting FAQ
• Understanding Contact and Matter Syncing in Legal Accounting