Overview
Client Matter Centricity helps your organization organize work in Legora around clients and matters in a way that matches how law firms structure work.
In particular, you can link a Legora workspace to an iManage matter (workspace) so that access in Legora mirrors iManage (for governed work). You can also create standard Legora projects manually when you don't need an iManage connection.
For more information, read the white paper on Client Matter Centricity.
Client Matter Centricity supports two ways of working:
Connected matters (iManage): A Legora workspace linked 1:1 to an iManage workspace/matter. Access in Legora mirrors iManage.
Manual projects: A standard Legora project created manually (not connected to iManage).
Availability & prerequisites
Availability depends on rollout phase and workspace configuration. The first phase supports iManage as the DMS and third-party ethical walls providers.
For DMS-connected matters, a supported DMS integration must be configured and enabled as an allowed matter source.
Customer-specific metadata mappings may be required so Legora can correctly match Client ID and Matter ID from the source system.
Project and matter types
Connected matter
Use this when the matter is governed by a connected DMS such as iManage.
The DMS is the source of truth for permissions.
Access in Legora mirrors the matter-level security state from the DMS.
Permission editing in Legora is restricted for governed matters.
Access is managed in the connected DMS and synced into Legora.
Manual project
Use this for internal or non-governed workflows where DMS-backed enforcement is not required.
Permissions are managed directly in Legora.
Admin setup
Admins can configure connected matters (iManage) in Settings:
Enable Client Matter Centricity
Go to Settings → Clients & Matters.
Enable Client Matter Centricity.
Confirm how access is managed for iManage-connected matters in your rollout.
Configure matter sources
Go to Settings → Matters.
Choose which matter sources are enabled:
iManage
Create manually
API
Configure any legacy project controls that should remain available during rollout.
Configure iManage-specific inputs
For iManage rollouts, admins typically need:
A dedicated iManage service account
Customer and library identifiers
Metadata mappings for Client ID and Matter ID
Access required to read workspace security, group membership, and change event queues
For detailed setup, see: iManage Integration & Ethical Walls — Quickstart Guide
Create a project
Option 1: Create a connected matter (iManage)
From the left menu, click Create new.
Select Project → iManage.
If prompted, sign in to iManage.
Select the relevant iManage library.
Search for the iManage matter (workspace).
Select the iManage matter.
After creation, Legora links the connected matter to iManage and begins synchronizing access.
Option 2: Create a manual project
From the left menu, click Create new.
Select Project → Manual.
Enter the project name.
Link a client.
Add a Matter ID.
(Optional) Add a description.
Click Create project.
Duplicate checks (connected matters)
When you create a connected matter from iManage, Legora checks whether that iManage workspace already exists as a connected matter.
If it already exists, Legora will reuse the existing connected matter rather than create a duplicate.
If you need to recreate it, you may need to delete it and (if applicable) permanently delete it via data retention.
Ethical walls (how they are supported)
If your organization uses an ethical walls provider, Legora supports ethical walls indirectly via iManage:
The ethical walls provider defines restrictions.
The provider enforces restrictions in iManage (via iManage groups and workspace access control lists).
Legora mirrors the resulting iManage access state through permission sync.
What this means in practice
Ethical walls support depends on the provider managing iManage user groups (and/or workspace access control list changes) that are reflected at the workspace/matter level.
Ethical-walls-driven group or access control list changes are picked up through the normal iManage security sync and reflected in Legora.
This currently applies at the matter / workspace level. Document-level permissions inside a workspace are not currently synced.
How DMS permission sync works
For iManage-connected matters, Legora keeps matter access aligned through background synchronization:
Legora links a matter in the DMS to a matter in Legora.
Legora reads the workspace security state from iManage.
Background sync processes monitor change events and re-fetch the latest workspace security when relevant changes occur.
Direct users and groups are resolved and mapped into Legora.
Access is granted or removed in Legora so that the governed matter stays aligned with the DMS.
Key behavior
Sync is currently one-way from iManage to Legora.
The current focus is workspace / matter-level access parity, not document-level permission syncing inside a workspace.
If a user loses access in the DMS, access can be removed from the governed matter in Legora.
Current rollout limitations
The current beta does not include a full migration experience from legacy projects.
Initial governed-matter support is focused on iManage.
Document-level permission syncing is not part of the current scope.
Some governance controls and broader DMS parity are planned for later phases.
Troubleshooting
I don't see the iManage option when creating a project
Ask an admin to confirm that:
iManage is configured and enabled in Legora
iManage is enabled as an allowed source for project creation
Need to recreate a connected matter?
Delete the project first. If your organization uses data retention, you'll also need to permanently remove it from the Data Retention admin page before you can create it again.
Is iManage Security Policy Manager (SPM) supported?
Legora does not currently support iManage Security Policy Manager in lockdown mode. It is planned for a future release. In the meantime, contact your Legora account team for guidance on your setup.
A matter is not visible for selection
Confirm that Client Matter Centricity is enabled.
Confirm the relevant matter source is enabled.
Check that Client ID / Matter ID metadata mappings are configured correctly.
Verify that the user has access to the underlying matter in the source system.
Users or groups are missing from a governed matter
Confirm that the relevant workspace security or iManage group membership includes those principals.
Check whether the affected principals can be resolved into Legora users.
Re-run a manual sync if your rollout includes that control.
Access did not update immediately
Sync runs in the background and may not be instantaneous.
Change detection and reconciliation depend on the configured polling interval and queue processing.
If a rollout includes manual sync controls, use them to validate the latest state.
A user was removed unexpectedly
Check whether the user still has access in the connected DMS.
For governed matters, DMS permission removal can result in Legora access removal.
Review whether the change came from a group membership update or workspace security change.
Manually syncing permissions
If your organization provides a manual sync option:
Open the connected matter in Legora.
Open the integration panel.
Select Sync permissions.