Viewing a Contact or Company

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To view a contact’s information, simply click on Contacts, click on Search Contacts & Companies, and search for the desired contact. Click anywhere on the line item corresponding to the contact you wish to view, and their contact card will open up in the right panel, on the Contact Details area. Contacts attached to a particular case can also be viewed through the Parties tab of said case.

Contact/Company Details

The left side of the Contact Details area is where all of the general information for that Contact/Company is displayed, such as name, phone number, email address, and so forth. Some fields will only be available for contacts (e.g. social security number) and some only for companies (e.g. date founded).

Contact Details

To add or edit information in this tab, click Edit in the top right corner of the contact card. Once it has been updated, click Save.

Printing Mailing Labels

To print a mailing label, click Print Envelope underneath the primary address, select whether or not you would like a return label, edit the address block if desired, and click Print.

Managing Multiple Addresses, Numbers, & Email

MerusCase supports an infinite number of aliases, addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, and email addresses for contacts. With this feature, it is necessary to select a Primary address, phone number, fax number, and email address for each contact so that MerusCase knows which data to pull into your firm’s Court Forms & Letter Templates.

To add additional addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, and email addresses, click Edit then click on the corresponding Add button next to the fields that correspond with the additional contact information you would like to add.

To remove an address click on the corresponding Remove button. To remove an email, phone number, or alias click on the corresponding remove button that has an icon with circle and a minus sign within it.

To set a Primary address, click on Mark as Primary next to the appropriate item. To mark an email, phone number, or alias as Primary click on the corresponding button with a star icon.

Once a primary has been set (and you’ve clicked Save), it will be indicated by a star on the Contact Details Tab.

Logging Calls via the Contact Card

When viewing a contact, the option to Log Call is present. This button is conveniently located within the Contact’s information as a way to quickly log details as you’re on the phone with that contact.

Clicking on Log Call will open a popup prompting you to log the call via a new case activity. If you are viewing the Contact from within a case, the case field will be automatically populated with the current case. If you are viewing the Contact from your firm’s rolodex, this field will need to be entered.

By default, the activity tag Telephone Call will be selected.

Cases

The Cases tab allows you to view and/or detach the various cases on which each company or contact is a party. The number bubble next to the Cases tab is an indicator of how many cases the contact is listed as a party on.

As with all filters in MerusCase, there are several different filtering options available in order to help you find a specific attached case:

Case (matter): This searches by the name of the case.

Case Status (Use ‘TO’ to specify a date range): Using Case Status as your filter will allow you to search by status and date.

Party Type (Case Specific): Party Type filters the case list by the party type the contact holds for each individual case.

Staff Responsible: You can search by the initials of someone who is a responsible party on the case.

Visible/Hidden: Filter by whether the Contact/Company is hidden or visible on a case. For additional information on hiding parties on cases, see Hiding Parties.

Employee: When an employee is attached to a company, you can search for their cases through that company’s rolodex card.

Unlink cases from the Contact or Company by clicking on the control column and selecting Remove (as a Party) from Case.

Employment History (Contacts)

The Employment tab contains current and previous employment information for a contact. This information can be added manually or can be generated automatically by linking and unlinking contacts from companies.

Adding Employment History

Manually record historical employment on a contact by clicking New Employment and inputting appropriate company details.

For each entry in Employment History, the Start Date and Company Name are required. When you enter the company name, the Auto-Complete widget will suggest entries from your Rolodex, and will create a new company record if no matching record exists.

Optional fields include the End Date, Title/Position, where you can note their role at a given company, if known, and the Reason for Leaving, where you can enter notes related to why they left the company.

Editing Employment History

To edit the employment history at a certain company, click on the name of the company you want to edit, then change the employment history details. Once your changes have been made, click Save.

Deleting Employment History

To delete, click on the Control Column (displayed as three little dots) next to the desired line item and select Delete.

Generally, anytime a user deletes an item, a popup message will appear asking for confirmation from the user.

Filtering Employment History

Any table in MerusCase allows for filtering across any of the columns on your screen to provide the user a tailored list within the system. In other words, use the filter to quickly find a specific line item within the table.

Additionally, MerusCase supports the use of multiple filters at once. For instance, a user can search for all open (by the Case Status column) cases within Browse Cases and then apply a second filter to then search for Assigned to Me (by the Staff column) within those open cases.

To apply multiple filters, enter the first filter then click on the magnifying glass. On click, a drop-down window will appear. Click Add Filter and toggle what to filter by.

Select Always use this column if you wish to always use the same filter type. Many firms find it particularly useful to select this option when filtering for cases, forms, or templates.

To remove a filter, click on the added filter button (each applied filter appears as a button underneath the Search/Filter bar). For example, to remove the filter for open cases, click on the button Status: Open underneath the Search/Filter bar.

Employees (Companies)

The Employees tab contains any current employees for the selected company. This information can be added manually or can be generated automatically by linking contacts to companies.

Clicking on any row within the Employees tab will take you to that contact’s rolodex entry.

Adding an Employee

Add contacts to the list of employees by clicking Add Employee.

• To add an existing contact: Enter a name into the Existing Contact Full Name search bar.
• To create and add a new contact: Click If you want to create a new contact and add them as an employee, click here. This will allow you to create a new contact in the rolodex using the employee’s contact information.

Detaching an Employee

To detach an employee from a company, click on the Control Column next to the desired line item and select Detach Employee. A pop-up message will appear asking for confirmation from the user.

Filtering Employees

Any table in MerusCase allows for filtering across any of the columns on your screen to provide the user a tailored list within the system. In other words, use the filter to quickly find a specific line item within the table.

Additionally, MerusCase supports the use of multiple filters at once. For instance, a user can search for all open (by the Case Status column) cases within Browse Cases and then apply a second filter to then search for Assigned to Me (by the Staff column) within those open cases.

To apply multiple filters, enter the first filter then click on the magnifying glass. On click, a drop-down window will appear. Click Add Filter and toggle what to filter by.

Select Always use this column if you wish to always use the same filter type. Many firms find it particularly useful to select this option when filtering for cases, forms, or templates.

To remove a filter, click on the added filter button (each applied filter appears as a button underneath the Search/Filter bar). For example, to remove the filter for open cases, click on the button Status: Open underneath the Search/Filter bar.

Previous Addresses

The Previous Addresses tab stores all previous addresses for a contact or company.

Adding a New Previous Address

Add previous addresses by clicking Add Previous Address and inputting the appropriate data.

Editing a Previous Address

Edit previous addresses by clicking on one of the addresses and editing the appropriate information. Once all changes have been made, click Save.

Deleting a Previous Address

To delete, click on the Control Column (displayed as three little dots) next to the desired line item and select Delete.

Generally, anytime a user deletes an item, a popup message will appear asking for confirmation from the user.

Filtering Previous Addresses

Any table in MerusCase allows for filtering across any of the columns on your screen to provide the user a tailored list within the system. In other words, use the filter to quickly find a specific line item within the table.

Additionally, MerusCase supports the use of multiple filters at once. For instance, a user can search for all open (by the Case Status column) cases within Browse Cases and then apply a second filter to then search for Assigned to Me (by the Staff column) within those open cases.

To apply multiple filters, enter the first filter then click on the magnifying glass. On click, a drop-down window will appear. Click Add Filter and toggle what to filter by.

Select Always use this column if you wish to always use the same filter type. Many firms find it particularly useful to select this option when filtering for cases, forms, or templates.

To remove a filter, click on the added filter button (each applied filter appears as a button underneath the Search/Filter bar). For example, to remove the filter for open cases, click on the button Status: Open underneath the Search/Filter bar.

Travel History and ID Documents

The sections for Travel History and ID Documents contain a variety of useful information pertaining to the contact’s immigration specifics.

Billing: Cases

If the selected Contact or Company has been assigned as the Bill To Party in a case via Case Details, the Billing: Cases tab will display these cases. This list will provide the date this Bill To party was last invoiced, the cycle he/she is on, delivery method, and next invoice date. All this information is set within the Billing: Setup tab below.

If the contact or company is not billed on any cases, this tab will display no options.

Create Invoices

Quickly create invoices from this interface by selecting a line-item(s) and clicking Create Invoices. Please note that this interface is displaying options to Create Invoices, but the traditional way to create invoices is via the Books section.

Filtering by Case

Any table in MerusCase allows for filtering across any of the columns on your screen to provide the user a tailored list within the system. In other words, use the filter to quickly find a specific line item within the table.

Additionally, MerusCase supports the use of multiple filters at once. For instance, a user can search for all open (by the Case Status column) cases within Browse Cases and then apply a second filter to then search for Assigned to Me (by the Staff column) within those open cases.

To apply multiple filters, enter the first filter then click on the magnifying glass. On click, a drop-down window will appear. Click Add Filter and toggle what to filter by.

Select Always use this column if you wish to always use the same filter type. Many firms find it particularly useful to select this option when filtering for cases, forms, or templates.

To remove a filter, click on the added filter button (each applied filter appears as a button underneath the Search/Filter bar). For example, to remove the filter for open cases, click on the button Status: Open underneath the Search/Filter bar.

Use the QuickFilters above the search bar to automatically fill in filter criteria to only display billable items based on total or invoice period.

Billing: Setup

Set the default billing rates, billing time increment, invoice cycle, preferred method of delivery, and more for a specific contact. By doing so, anytime a new case is created and this contact is assigned as the Bill To party, the rates defined in this tab will be automatically filled in on that case.

Additionally, if a rate or billing time increment has been renegotiated and/or updated by the Bill To party, use this interface to control the rate accross each case this contact is assigned to. For example, if the Attorney Responsible rate is set to $120.00 and is then negotiated to $150.00 or, updating the rate for this contact within this view will prompt the user to either update all or none of the historical case rates. The prompt will have a list of checkboxes for each field in Billing: Setup (e.g. Minimum Invoice Amount), allowing you to select exactly which one(s) you would like to update on every case that this contact is the Bill To party on.

If the contact or company is not a billing contact on any cases, this tab will display no options.

LEDES Data Sources

This is where you can set up the appropriate information for this billing contact if you handle invoicing via LEDES export.