Matter Permissions

Smokeball Matter Permissions allow firms to restrict specific users from accessing designated matters. These permissions enable firms to:

• Maintain confidentiality when solicitors within the firm are representing opposing sides in a matter.
• Take on clients with potential conflicts of interest.
• Safeguard the information of high-profile clients.
• Reassure clients about the secure storage of confidential documents, such as medical or financial records.

Enabling Matter Permissions 

• Smokeball Matter Permissions can restrict specified users from: 
  • Opening a matter
  • Assigning new items to a matter
  • Opening items related to a matter
  • Editing items related to a matter
• To enable Matter Permissions, navigate to the Permissions tab within Matter Settings.
• You can access Matter Settings by selecting the cog icon in the upper right-hand corner of the Matter screen. From there, select the Permissions tab in the left-hand menu.

Note: The following users cannot be removed from a matter: 

• The current user setting the permissions (i.e. a user cannot remove themselves) 
• Firm Owners (as designated in Firm Settings).
• A user that occupies a role on the matter: Person Assisting, Supervisor, Matter Fee Earner & Introducer

These limitations is conveyed in the Matter Info matter detail: 

Attempted Access by a Non-Permitted User

If a user does not have permission to access a matter, they will be unable to interact with that matter throughout the Smokeball desktop application, the mobile app, Smokeball Billing, and the Microsoft Office programs that Smokeball integrates with (Outlook, Word, and Excel). 

If a non-permitted user attempts to open a restricted Matter, they will receive an error message indicating they do not have access.

Note: Matters with restricted access will still appear in Matter Search and the Matters List for all users, but those without permission will not be able to open them.

Restriction Specifics

The following will be Restricted/Non-Restricted when permissions are set: 

Additional Rules

1. Any user can enable permissions on a Matter.
2. Any permitted user can modify existing Matter Permissions.
3. Firm Owners will always have access to all matters, as they cannot be unselected from the Matter Permissions setting
4. Users that are set as an Person Assisting on a matter will always have access to a matter
   • If you change the roles within the matter, this will automatically grant access to the new Person Assisting user and hold the previous Person Assisting user as a permitted user until you proactively remove their access. 
5. New users that are added to the firm will have full access to all matters
6. Edits to the permission settings are noted in the Matter's History, visible within Matter Settings

1. Once saved, the Matter Permissions will take immediate effect
2. If a non-permitted user has the matter open when this occurs, they will continue to have access until the close the matter
3. If you are bulk selecting anything in a list and do not have access to 1 of the items selected, you will be unable to complete the bulk selection action