The aim of the Defendant Party accelerator is to provide a custom work type to enable defendant level case handling, data capture and activities. The Defendant Party work type is not intended to be used as a standalone matter type, but as a related child work type to existing claimant matter work types. This enables cases to be handled holistically at a matter level, but with the ability to capture appropriate information at defendant level, such as reserves, and information about the different defendants and their role on the matter. Data on the defendant party work item can be ‘rolled up’ and presented at matter level.

Context/Background

In law firms managing claimant dispute cases there can sometimes be multiple defendants on a case. In this scenario it is often required that case handling and data capture is specific to each defendant, for example when there are multiple defendants…

• The status of each defendant may need to be recorded and tracked
• The damages/losses claimed of each defendant may need to be recorded and tracked
• Defendant specific data may need to be captured, such as whether their liability status, their role in the incident/claim, etc.

It is intended that the Defendant Party work type is ‘plugged in’ to existing matter work types and is not intended to be used as a standalone matter work type. When the defendant party work type is utilised on relevant claimant matters, the user journey is designed to be as seamless as possible, with defendant party work items created (either automatically or manually) with one defendant party work item per defendant on the parent matter. 

The defendant party work items should be visible on the parent matter; a custom widget displays them as a customisable card list, with configurable buttons to open the relevant defendant party portal page.

The claimant party work type has a defined portal; tailored portal pages provide distinct purposes to guide the user to the information they need, such as reserve details or defendant MI (management information). This portal is designed to look ‘embedded’ within the matter – showing the parent matter menu in the left hand navigation, so it is easy for users to navigate back to the matter.