Clio Matters

Clio Matters

Overview

A matter is Clio's core object — the case or client file. It is the hub that almost everything else in Clio (activities, tasks, communications, documents, calendar entries, bills) references via matter_id. See the api-patterns skill for the full matters-as-hub picture and the deliberate v1 scope limits that apply across every domain.

Tools: clio_matters_list, clio_matters_get, clio_matters_create, clio_matters_update. Navigate into the matters domain first (clio_navigate) — these tools aren't visible until you do.

No delete tool exists for matters. A matter that shouldn't exist anymore gets closed (status change), not removed — see below.

Key Fields

A matter typically carries:

• Client — the contact (person or company) the matter is for. Every matter has exactly one client contact; see the contacts skill for how a contact can be party to many matters in different roles.
• Responsible attorney — the attorney of record on the matter
• Status — see lifecycle below
• Practice area — the area of law the matter falls under (e.g. Litigation, Real Estate, Family Law) — usually a firm-configured picklist
• Matter number / display number — Clio's human-readable matter identifier (distinct from the internal numeric ID)
• Description — free-text summary of what the matter is
• Custom fields — firm-specific fields configured in Clio; treat these as opaque key/value pairs unless the firm has told you what they mean

Matter Status Lifecycle

Matters move through a small set of statuses. Typical values:

Treat status as the primary signal for "is this matter live." When a user asks for "my open matters" or "what's still active," filter on status rather than trying to infer activity from recency of activities/tasks alone — a matter can be quiet-but-open (waiting on a court date) or closed-but-recently-touched (final billing cleanup).

Closing a matter is a status update (clio_matters_update with status: "Closed"), not a delete. There is no way to remove a matter through this integration — that's consistent with the no-delete-anywhere rule and with legal records retention practice.

Creating a Matter

Minimum viable create: a client contact and (usually) a responsible attorney. Before calling clio_matters_create:

1. Resolve the client contact first. Search contacts (clio_contacts_list with a name/company filter) before creating a new one — duplicate client contacts are a real mess in a matter-centric system. See the contacts skill.
2. Confirm practice area and responsible attorney if the firm uses them for routing/reporting — don't leave them blank silently if the user's context implies a specific practice group.
3. Ask before guessing at custom fields. Firm-specific custom fields often drive downstream automation (billing templates, conflict workflows) — don't populate them with assumptions.

Updating a Matter

clio_matters_update — same shape as create, but scoped to an existing matter_id. Common updates: status changes (open → pending → closed), reassigning the responsible attorney, correcting the practice area, or editing the description. There's no partial-vs-full-update ambiguity to worry about here beyond the standard rule: only send the fields that are actually changing plus the ID.

Practice Area & Custom Field Considerations

• Practice areas are usually a closed, firm-configured list — if a value the user wants doesn't exist, say so rather than inventing a close match.
• Custom fields vary firm-to-firm and are not part of the fixed schema — when summarizing a matter for a user, surface custom fields you can read but don't assume you know what they mean without firm context.

Linking a Matter to a Client Contact

The client relationship is set at creation (or via update) using the contact's ID from clio_contacts_list/clio_contacts_get. A matter has one client contact, but that contact may be party to many other matters — always resolve by searching contacts rather than assuming a name is unique; law firms frequently have multiple contacts with similar or identical names across different matters.

Related Skills

• Clio API Patterns — connection, navigation, matters-as-hub model, scope limits
• Clio Contacts — the client (and other-role) contacts linked to a matter
• Clio Time & Billing — activities and bills scoped to a matter