For solo practitioners and small firms
Case preparation that works entirely by email.
Give a matter its own email address. Send it the correspondence, attachments and documents you already have — then ask, in ordinary English, for the work you need doing. It comes back to your inbox.
There is no app to install, no website to log into and no password to remember.
Currently in limited preview with a small number of practitioners.
The whole idea
Nothing new to learn.
Every practice management tool asks you to change how you work. This one asks you to send an email.
You already know how
If you can forward an email, you can use MatterCase. It works from Outlook, Gmail, your phone, your laptop, your assistant's desk — anywhere you already read mail.
Nothing to migrate
No import project, no data cleanse, no onboarding week. You start with the next email you were going to send anyway, and the file builds itself from there.
It fits around your system
Keep your existing case management, your billing software and your filing conventions. MatterCase runs alongside them — copy it in on what matters and it does the rest.
How it works
Three steps, and you have already done two of them.
Each matter gets an address
We set up a dedicated address for the matter — something like [email protected]. Only people you name are allowed to send to it.
Email it like a colleague
Forward correspondence as it arrives. Attach statements, contracts, invoices, photographs, disclosure. Or simply write and ask for what you need, in plain English.
The work comes back
First a short receipt confirming exactly what was filed. Then a considered reply — with the documents you asked for attached, ready to open, edit and use.
Please add these to the file. Can you also give me a chronology of everything that has happened since the March letter, with the source of each entry, and pull out anything that touches on the payment schedule?
— a short while later —
Both documents are on the file. Here is the chronology from 4 March to date — 31 entries, each referenced back to the document it came from. Six entries relate to the payment schedule; I have listed those separately at the end and flagged two apparent inconsistencies for you to look at.
chronology-smith-v-arden.docx payment-schedule-extracts.docxAn illustration of a typical exchange. Wording and turnaround vary with the request.
What it takes off your desk
The necessary work that never bills well.
The jobs that eat an afternoon and have to be right — handled, so your time goes to the part only you can do.
- Filing and indexingEvery message and attachment goes into the right matter, named, dated and listed. Nothing sits in an inbox waiting to be sorted.
- ChronologiesA dated sequence of events built from the documents on the file, with each entry pointing back to its source.
- Summaries of long documentsA 200-page bundle reduced to what it actually says, with the passages that matter quoted rather than paraphrased.
- Bundle and document indexesLists of what is on the file, in the order you want them, ready to paste into a bundle index or a disclosure list.
- First draftsRoutine letters, schedules, attendance notes and tables — drafted for you to review, correct and make your own.
- Finding thingsAsk where something is and get a straight answer with the document, instead of opening folders for twenty minutes.
- Keeping the record straightWhat arrived, when it arrived and who sent it, preserved exactly as received. Useful long after anyone remembers the detail.
- Reading what just landedForward a new letter and get back what changed, what it asks for and what now falls due — before you have finished your coffee.
Who it is for
Two people usually feel the relief first.
The lawyer with too many files open
You are carrying more matters than the day has hours for. The law is the easy part; it is the assembling, the indexing and the "where is that letter" that runs late into the evening.
MatterCase absorbs the preparation so you arrive at each file already briefed — and spend your hours on strategy, advice and the client in front of you.
The person in the middle of a case
Whether you are represented or handling matters yourself, you have accumulated a shoebox of emails, letters and forms — and a nagging sense that something important is buried in it.
Send it all to one address. Get back an organised file, a clear sequence of what happened, and documents prepared properly — so what you hand to your solicitor, or to the court, is in order.
Safeguards
Built for people who are careful with files.
Case papers are not ordinary documents. The design assumes that, and starts from what must never go wrong.
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Originals are never altered.Every email arrives and is stored exactly as sent, untouched. Everything else is derived from that record and can be rebuilt from it.
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Nothing is deleted.Messages and documents are added to the file, not removed from it. There is a complete record of what came in and what went out.
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One matter at a time.Work on a matter can only see that matter's own file. There is no shared pool of documents and no way for one client's papers to surface in another's.
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Only named people may write in.A matter accepts mail only from the addresses you approve for it. Anything else is set aside untouched and never enters the file.
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It only ever replies to you.MatterCase does not contact the other side, the court, or anyone else. It answers the address that wrote to it, and nothing leaves without being recorded first.
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Your file stays ordinary.A matter is a plain folder of emails, PDFs and documents — not a proprietary database. Ask for it and you get it, in a form anything can open.
Plainly stated
What MatterCase is not.
We would rather you knew this from the homepage than found it out later.
- We are not a law firm. MatterCase does not practise law, does not give legal advice, and no solicitor-client or attorney-client relationship arises from using it. Nothing it produces is advice on your case.
- It prepares; you decide. Everything that comes back is working material for a qualified person to check, correct and take responsibility for. Professional judgement stays exactly where it is.
- It can be wrong. The replies and documents are produced by an AI model reading your file. It works only from the papers on that file, but it makes mistakes — read before you rely on it, exactly as you would a first draft from anyone else.
- It is not a filing service or a diary. It does not file at court, does not serve documents, does not chase deadlines on your behalf, and takes no step in proceedings.
- It is early. MatterCase is in limited preview. While independent backup, retention and access controls complete their review, we set up with sample or anonymised matters rather than live client files — and we will tell you plainly when that changes.
Questions
The ones we are asked most.
Do I need to install anything or learn new software?
No. There is no application, no browser login and no dashboard. If your email works, MatterCase works. That is deliberate: the surest way for a tool to go unused in a busy practice is to require a new habit.
What if I already use a case management system?
Keep it. MatterCase is not trying to replace your system of record — it sits alongside and does the preparation work. Copy the matter address into your correspondence and both files stay current.
Where do my documents actually live?
On a server we run and control, arranged as ordinary folders of emails and files — one folder per matter. You can ask for a complete copy at any time and receive something any computer can open. There is no proprietary format holding your papers hostage.
Who can read my matter?
Only the people you approve for it. A matter accepts mail only from named addresses, and the part of the system that prepares work for one matter is given that matter's files and nothing else. During the preview the service is operated by a very small team; before we accept live client material, the access, backup and audit controls that a practice would expect will be documented and independently reviewable.
Does it use AI, and does my file train it?
Yes, it uses a large language model — that is how it reads a bundle and drafts a chronology. Your matter is supplied to the model only to answer your request. We do not sell your data, and we do not use client material to train models. If that matters to your professional obligations, ask us and we will put the specifics in writing.
How quickly does it reply?
Usually within minutes. A short receipt confirming what was filed comes back almost immediately; the substantive reply takes as long as the reading does — longer for a heavy bundle than for a two-page letter.
What does it cost?
Nothing during the preview. We would rather find out what it is worth to you than guess. Pricing will be simple and stated plainly before anyone is asked to pay.
I am not the lawyer — I am the one in the case. Can I use it?
Yes. A good deal of what makes litigation exhausting for a client is document work, and that part is not reserved to lawyers. MatterCase will help you organise your papers and prepare documents properly. It will not tell you what your rights are or what you should do — for that, you need a lawyer, and being organised makes their time go further.
Start with one matter.
Tell us a little about your practice, or about the case you are dealing with. If it is a fit, we will set up an address and walk you through the first email. No call required — an email back is fine.
[email protected]