Robert Ambrogi Blog
The cloud-based practice management platform Rocket Matter today rolled out a complete, top-to-bottom redesign of its user interface — its first full redesign since it launched in 2008. The redesign also adds a new workflow tool that allows firms to create templates that automate the set up of new legal matters.
“This is our first major redesign,” Larry Port, Rocket Matter’s CEO and founder, told me last week. “We’ve made iterative changes, but never before have we blown it up and done a full sweep. This is based on listening to our customers and digesting their feedback.”
The Add New button is now globally available throughout the platform.
As of today, new Rocket Matter subscribers will see only the new interface. Existing subscribers will be able to toggle back and forth between the new interface and the prior one. The ability to toggle will sunset after 45-60 days.
The new design gives Rocket Matter a modern look, with a cleaner layout, new colors and improved typography. It is engineered to take advantage of modern displays, displaying across their full width, whatever the width of the device may be, and displaying more vividly in retina displays.
The changes are not just cosmetic. The navigation bar has been moved to the far left and can be collapsed to increase screen real estate. A global “Add New” button has been added, so that whatever page a user is on, the user can add a new matter, contact, event, payment, time or expense, file or message. When a user adds a new contact, the add-contact form opens in a modal window within the same page, rather than requiring the user to go to a new page.
While the changes introduced today focus primarily on the user interface, there is also a notable new functionality added in the form of Matter Templates. Law firms can now create templates that will automate the process of setting up new matters for specific practice areas. Firms will be able to customize the data fields to be filled out for different types of new matters and to set specific tasks and events.
Once a matter template is set up, it can then be used for each new matter of that type. This is particularly useful for areas of practice that involve standard sets of tasks and events. By using the template, these tasks and events will automatically populate in the firm’s calendar and workflow. Tasks and events can be set to cascade from other events so that the completion of one task triggers the next.
Rocket Matter is one of the two originators of cloud-based practice management. When it launched the beta version of its product in 2008, it was the first cloud-based practice management platform to be released, followed just a week later by Clio.