Working lawyers, responsible lawyers, originating lawyers and assigned lawyers

This topic explains the differences between working, responsible, originating and assigned lawyers.  It is important to understand these differences so that you can set up your lawyers correctly and record transactions accurately.  Lawyers are assigned to clients/matters in the Clients and Matters screen.

• The working lawyer performs the work on the client/matter.
  Also called the individual lawyer, this is the lawyer who records her or his time spent working on the client/matter.  Time is recorded using the Enter Time feature or Lawyer Desktop.  When you distribute fees to lawyers you can distribute them to a working lawyer.  

• The responsible lawyer oversees work on the client/matter, and might also record time.  
  The responsible lawyer is not necessarily the lawyer who brought the business to the firm nor the lawyer performing the work on the client/matter.  When opening new clients/matters you must specify the responsible lawyer on the General Settings tab of the Clients and Matters feature.

• The originating lawyer brought the business to the firm.
  The originating lawyer is the lawyer responsible for bringing the business to the firm.  Not all firms record originating lawyers.  When opening new clients/matters you can specify the originating lawyer on the General Settings tab of the Clients and Matters feature.

• The assigned lawyer is in charge of the client/matter, and might also record time.  
  Not all firms record assigned lawyers.  When opening new clients/matters you can specify the assigned lawyer on the General Settings tab of the Clients and Matters feature.

Many reports prompt you to choose whether to print by working lawyer, by responsible lawyer, by originating lawyer or by assigned lawyer.

• A report printed by working lawyer only includes transactions distributed to that lawyer, regardless of whether she is the responsible lawyer for the clients/matters on the report.

• A report printed by responsible lawyer includes all transactions on all clients/matters for which the lawyer is listed as the responsible lawyer, regardless of who performed the work on the clients/matters.

• A report printed by originating lawyer includes all transactions on all clients/matters for which the lawyer is listed as the originating lawyer, regardless of who performed the work on the clients/matters.

• A report printed by assigned lawyer includes all transactions on all clients/matters for which the lawyer is listed as the assigned lawyer, regardless of who performed the work on the clients/matters.

For example, let's say that for client/matter 1005, Jane Smith is the responsible lawyer and Mary Jones is the originating lawyer.  Anne Wilson worked on the file, and so a time entry was recorded for her.  A report produced by working lawyer will show the time entry in Anne Wilson's total.  A report produced by responsible lawyer will show the time entry in Jane Smith's total, and a report produced by originating lawyer will show the time entry in Mary Jones' total.

Many reports also enable you to print for the firm, rather than by lawyer.  When you print reports for the firm, clients/matters and transactions are not selected by lawyer number.  For example, a Client Listing report produced for the firm lists all clients/matters rather than those for a particular lawyer.  If the Client Listing is printed by originating lawyer, you will select a particular originating lawyer or a range of originating lawyers, and only those clients/matters where the selected lawyer is specified as the originating lawyer are included.

Ensure you understand these differences so that you can enter transactions correctly and so that your lawyer reports are accurate.