Every consultation recorded… every service tracked to completion

What sets managing a legal consultancy and services office apart?

Consultation and services work runs in shorter cycles than litigation and in greater numbers: many questions every month, contracts drafted or reviewed, companies formed or their memoranda of association amended, trademarks registered, contracts and instruments notarised. Each has a client, a fee and a date, but none goes through hearings or judgments. That is why Murafe gives this work two sections of its own, “Legal consultations” and “Legal services”, each with its own file, status and person in charge, and both come together in the client’s file alongside their cases, agreements and powers of attorney.

The service types come preset: drafting and reviewing contracts, forming companies and amending their memoranda of association, notarising contracts and instruments, legal notices, and an “Intellectual property” group covering trademark registration, intellectual property rights and patents; the office adds whatever else suits it in Settings → Lookup lists. Every service has a “Received by” and an “Assigned to”, so the office knows who took the request and who is carrying it out, and the reports count each one’s work. The system does not accept the same name twice in one list, so the types stay tidy however many the office adds.

The consultation: from a passing question to a record you can return to

A consultation is recorded from the “New” button in a few steps: you choose the client, or type the enquirer’s name and phone number if they are not yet a client, then the category, the channel and the consultant. The consultant then notes the question, the legal opinion, the duration and the fee, and sets a follow-up date if needed. The consultation thus stays in the client’s file, so if they come back months later with a related question, a colleague finds the earlier opinion in front of them instead of starting from scratch.

The consultation has its own official printout: the “Legal consultation form”, opened from the consultation itself so that its details are filled in, previewed exactly as it will print, with a serial number, and its signed copy can be attached. In “Statistics and reports” the number of consultations and their fees are counted by month, category and consultant, so the partner knows which categories are most in demand, how much of the month’s work each consultant carries, and when the office needs another consultant. The form can also be printed blank to fill in by hand when an enquirer walks in without an appointment, and the consultation is then recorded in the system later.

When a consultation turns into paid work, nothing is entered twice: a consultation linked to a registered client is converted into a legal service on the same subject, assigned to the same consultant, and the consultation is closed. If it is the start of a dispute, the case is opened straight from the client’s file and the fee agreement is linked to it, while the first opinion stays in the client’s file for whoever takes on the case afterwards. Each step records who received it and who it is assigned to, so it is clear who gave the opinion and who carried out the work.

Service, fees and client on one track

Every legal service has a start date, an expected completion date, a competent authority and a responsible lawyer, and you follow its status until “Completed”. Its own documents, updates and tasks are added to it: a company formation file, for example, keeps the contract drafts, what was submitted to the competent authority and what came back from it in one place. The office can show the service, its updates and its documents to the client in the client portal if the “Legal services” section is turned on for them, so the client knows how far their matter has got without calling.

Fees are written into the service itself, or into a fee agreement covering one or more services, split into instalments with due dates. Only those with the “View fees, paid and outstanding” permission see the fees, the amount paid and the balance in services and consultations, so the consultant works on the opinion, the accountant follows the collection, receipt vouchers are issued in Qatari riyals with the amount written in words, and the client’s statement of account brings it all together for any period. Overdue and upcoming instalments appear on the “Contract instalments” page for whoever follows collection.