Cases

Permission required: case.read

A case is the central unit of work in CaseBright. Every client matter (an asylum application, a green card petition, a court matter and so on) is tracked as a case. A case holds its steps, documents, comments, to-dos, hearings, fees, members and history.

Open Cases in the left sidebar to see the case list.

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1. Case statuses, government status and priority

Every case carries three separate indicators. All three appear as badges under the case title and can be changed in the Details panel of the case page (see section 5).

Case status

Where the work on the case stands inside your firm.

Status	Meaning
In progress	The case is actively being worked on (the default for a new case)
On hold	Work is paused for now
Submitted	The application or filing has been sent to the authority
Completed	All work is done
Cancelled	The case was stopped before completion

When you change the status to Completed, a Complete case dialog asks how long the work took. The time you enter is added to the case's Time spent.

Government status (Gov't status)

Where the matter stands with the government or court. It is set separately from the case status.

Gov't status	Meaning
Not submitted	Nothing has been filed yet
Being processed	Filed and waiting for a decision
Approved	Approved
Denied	Denied
RFE	A Request for Evidence was received
NOID	A Notice of Intent to Deny was received
NOIR	A Notice of Intent to Revoke was received
Biometrics appointment	A biometrics appointment is scheduled or done
Rejected	Returned without a decision (for example, for a filing defect)
Refused	Refused (typically in a consular context)

Priority

Priority	When to use
Low	No near deadline
Normal	Standard cases (the default)
High	A deadline is approaching
Urgent	A critical deadline or urgent client need

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2. The case list

The Cases page lists the cases you can see. What each column shows, filters, sorting and saved views are covered in Lists, Filters and Saved Views.

From the list you can also:

• Click New case to start a new case (requires case.create, see section 3).
• Search with Search cases... and narrow the list with Filters.
• Use the Actions menu for Import CSV/XLSX, Export, Import case notes (CSV/XLSX), Export case notes and Job history (requires case.import / case.export).
• Select several cases with the checkboxes and use Transfer ownership (see section 11) or Export.
• Administrators have a row menu with Archive case and Delete case (see section 12).

Click a row to open the case page.

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3. Creating a case

Permission required: case.create

1. On the Cases page, click New case. The Create new case page opens with three steps.
2. Contact profile: choose Select existing contact and search by name or email, or choose Create new contact and fill in the contact form. Click Next: Workflow & details.
3. Workflow & details:
   • Department (required): the department the case belongs to. Only departments you are a member of are offered. If you are not in any department, ask an administrator to add you to one.
   • Workflow (optional): the workflow that defines the case's steps. The list shows the workflows of the selected department. You can also leave it empty and build the steps later.
   • Case title (required) and Case description.
   • Priority level, Due date and Expiration date (both dates are optional).
   • Custom fields: the workflow's custom fields, if any. Fields marked as required must be filled in.
   • Case assignments: the Role seats for the case. When you pick a workflow, its default assignments are loaded automatically. Use Add seat to add another role, and optionally pick a staff member for each seat (a seat can stay Unassigned).
4. Click Next: Review, check the summary (contact, case details, case members and Workflow steps & team assignments), then click Create case.

CaseBright creates the case, copies the workflow's steps, document collections, due date rules and custom fields into it, and opens the new case page.

If you open a lead and click Convert to case, the same page opens with the contact already selected. See Leads.

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4. The case page at a glance

The case page has four parts:

• Header: the case title, the client and the key facts.
• Stepper: a horizontal strip of the case's top-level steps, shown above every tab. Click a step to open it.
• Tabs: the sections of the case. The main tabs are always visible; the rest are under More. On a phone, the tabs become a Choose a case section menu.
• Right-side panel: on the Case progress tab only (see section 5).

A tab only appears if you have the permission for it:

Tab	What it holds	Permission
Case progress	Case Insights and the step list	case-step.read
Documents	Document collections, requirements and files	case-document.read
Comments	Case and step comments, with the activity timeline	comment.read
Tasks	To-dos linked to the case	task.read
Calendar	A month view of this case's dates	case.read
Events	Hearings and interviews (staff only)	case.read
Payments	Payment steps, invoices and the case ledger	fee.read or invoice.read
Members	Staff and departments assigned to the case	case.read
Forms (under More)	Your firm's own forms for this case	form.instance.read
Government forms (under More)	Government PDF forms filled from the case	pdf-form.read
Communications (under More)	Client messages and the call log	client.read or client.update
AI workflows (under More)	AI checks run on this case	ai.case-chat.use
Custom fields (under More)	The field definitions of this case	case.custom-fields.manage

Header

• The back arrow returns to the case list.
• Case title: click it to edit the title.
• Pin to sidebar: pins the case to your sidebar for quick access. Click again to Unpin from sidebar.
• Case actions menu (the three dots), shown only when you have one of its actions:
  • Move case… and Sync fields… (see section 10), for administrators or users with both case.update and case.custom-fields.manage.
  • Sync steps… (see section 10), for administrators or users with case-step.update, when the case was created from a workflow.
  • View source workflow (administrators only): opens the workflow the case was created from.
  • Delete case (administrators only, see section 12).
• Now / Next card: the step currently in progress and the one after it, with their due dates or how many days late they are. Click a step to open it.
• Next event chip: the next hearing or interview, if any.
• Under the title: the client (with the number of related contacts, if any), the client's A-Number (or No A-Number), the case status, government status and priority badges, and the client's email and phone. Click the A-Number, email or phone to copy it.

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5. Case progress tab

This is the default tab. It shows Case Insights at the top (an AI summary of the case, see AI Assistant) and the Steps list below it. On the right is the side panel.

The right-side panel

The panel shows the next event and three tabs:

Details

• Department and Workflow, with a Move case button if you are allowed to move the case.
• Case status, Gov't status and Priority: click a value to change it.
• Service, submission and payment steps that are in progress, each with its current status. Hover for details, click to open the step.
• Retainer date, Due date, Expiry and Notion ID: click to set or change.
• Time spent: the total of the times entered when steps and the case were completed.
• The case members that have a role, one line per role (for example "Attorney #2" when two people hold the same role).
• Case description: click to edit.
• Custom fields: the values of the case's custom fields. Edit them and click Save changes.
• Internal forms: pick one of the case's internal forms from the list to fill it in right here.

Attachments

Every file uploaded to a step or attached to a comment on this case. Filter with All, In steps or In comments, and click a file to download it. Files in the Documents tab are not listed here.

Activity

The case's activity log: who did what and when, grouped by day. Click a step in the log to open it.

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6. Working with steps

The Steps list shows every step of the case, with a progress bar (for example "4 of 10 done · 40%").

Step types

Type	Used for
Task	A general action item
Payment	Fee items to be paid
Document collection	Files to collect from the client or staff
E-signature	A contract to be signed electronically
Mail / serve documents	Delivering documents to a party, with tracking
Submission	A filing with an authority
Form	A form template to be filled in
Interview	A scheduled interview
Hearing	An immigration or state court hearing

Step statuses

Status	Meaning
Not started	Work has not begun
In progress	Actively being worked on
Pending	Waiting on the client or a third party
Done	Completed
Cancelled	Will not be completed

Finding steps

• Search case steps... searches step titles.
• Open, Mine and All switch between open steps, steps assigned to you, and every step.
• Hide completed hides done steps; a note shows how many are hidden, with Show to bring them back.
• The filter bar narrows the list by Overdue, This week, Person, Type and Status.
• Expand all / Collapse all opens or closes all substeps.

Updating a step

1. Click a step to open it.
2. Under Status, pick the new status.
   • If you choose Pending, the Why is this step pending? dialog asks for a reason, which is saved in the step notes. Click Mark as pending.
3. To finish a step quickly, click Complete step (the circle next to the step). The Complete dialog asks How long did it take to complete this?. Pick a preset or enter hours and minutes. If the step has substeps, you can tick Close child tasks as well. Click Complete.

The opened step also shows its Due date and Assignments, and a set of tabs that depends on the step type: Documents, Service details, Submission, Hearing or Interview, Fee items, Contracts, Forms, plus Comments, Attachments and Activity on every step. In Attachments you can upload files from your computer or, if your firm connected Google Drive and you have integration.gdrive.manage, use Import from Google Drive.

Assigning people to a step

1. Click Assign people on the step (or in its More actions menu).
2. On Case assignees, pick staff members, departments or the client. On Search organization members, find other staff who are not on the case yet.
3. Click Assign.

To assign many steps at once, click Batch assign above the list, tick the steps, choose the assignees and click the assign button. Turn on Replace existing to remove the current assignees of those steps first.

Due dates and scheduling

• Click Edit due date on a step to set a date by hand.
• Open the step and use the scheduling button next to Due date to open Scheduling settings (requires case.update). Choose a Scheduling mode:

Mode	What it does
Manual	You set the due date yourself; nothing recalculates it
Automated due date	The date is calculated from a Rule type, an optional Trigger step and Offset (days)
Recurring	At each recurrence date the step resets to Not started and its due date moves forward (task steps only)

Automated rule types: After case created, After case started, After step started, After step completed, Earliest open child due date and Relative to a date on the case (a case date, a date custom field, or a hearing or interview). Click Recalculate to apply an automated rule immediately. Steps with an automated or recurring date show an Auto due or Recurring badge. See Workflows for how these rules are set up in templates.

Editing, adding, moving and removing steps

Permission required: case-step.update

• Edit step (in More actions): change the Title, Description, Notes, Assigned roles and Step visibility (Internal only or Visible to client; visible steps appear in the client portal).
• Add step → Add step: create a new step (Create step dialog). You can mark it Required step, make it a Recurring task step, and add Document collections with requirements.
• Add step → Add sub-workflow: copy a sub-workflow template into the case. The dialog shows what will be copied (steps, document collections, form templates, due date rules and so on); click Confirm and copy.
• Drag a step by its Reorder step handle to move it.
• Remove (in More actions): deletes the step. If it has substeps, they are deleted too.

If a case has no steps yet, use Add first step or Start from a workflow. Start from a workflow copies a workflow's steps, due dates and custom fields into the case as if it had been created from it; pick one and click Apply workflow.

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7. The other tabs

Documents

The case's document collections, requirements and files, the intake queue for bulk uploads, and the client's own documents. This tab is described in full in Documents.

Comments

Choose which comments to show: Case comments, Step comments, or (on cases converted from a lead) Lead comments, which are read-only notes from the original lead.

1. Type in the comment box. Mention a colleague with @ so they are notified.
2. Attach files if needed.
3. Click Post.

Use Reply to answer a comment, and switch between Newest first and Oldest first. The activity timeline sits beside the comments; Open activity log opens the full log in the side panel.

Tasks

The to-dos linked to this case. You can create a new to-do here; it is linked to the case automatically. See Tasks & To-dos.

Calendar

A month view of this case only: step due dates, to-dos, hearings and interviews. Move between months with the arrows or Today. Hover over a day and add a to-do with that due date. Hearings and interviews are managed in the Events tab.

Events

The case's hearings and interviews, with their continuances and outcomes. This tab is for staff only. See Events (Hearings & Interviews).

Payments

Shows a Payment summary (total, pending, paid and waived amounts) with Generate invoice (requires invoice.create), and three views:

• Payment steps: each payment step with its Fee items. Staff with fee permissions can use Add fee item and edit or delete items. Fee item statuses are Pending, Paid, Waived and Cancelled.
• Invoices: the invoices generated for this case, with their status and balance.
• Case ledger: the balance movements for the case.

If the case has no payment steps, add a Payment step to the workflow or the case. See Invoices & Fees.

Members

The Case members table lists every person and department assigned to the case, with Member role, Assignee, Type (Individual or Department), Assigned and Assigned by. Managing members requires case.assignments.manage.

To add a member:

1. Click Add team member.
2. Search for a team member or a department.
3. Optionally choose a Member role (optional).
4. Click Add member.

To change who holds a seat, use Replace seat assignee on the row. You can tick Replace case step assignments with the new assignee to move that person's step assignments too. To remove someone, use Unassign seat; you can also tick Also remove this assignee from case step assignments.

The list of member roles (for example Attorney or Paralegal) is managed by administrators under Metadata management → Case member roles. See Admin Settings.

Forms

The firm's own questionnaires and internal forms attached to this case. See Forms.

Government forms

Government PDF forms filled from the case and client record. See Government Forms.

Communications

Two views:

• Messages: conversations with the client through the client portal. A badge shows Portal active or Portal not activated. If the portal is not active yet, you can send the client an invitation. See Client Portal.
• Call log: phone calls with the client.

To log a call:

1. Open Call log and click Log a call.
2. Fill in Date & time, Direction (Outbound or Inbound) and Outcome (Resolved or Not resolved), and optionally Notes (optional).
3. If the outcome is Not resolved, a follow-up to-do is created. You can choose Assign to (optional) and Due date (optional) for it.
4. Click Save call.

The tab title shows the number of calls that are not resolved. Deleting a call log also cancels its linked to-do.

AI workflows

AI checks (such as the cross-check) run on this case, with their results. See AI Workflows.

Custom fields

Permission required: case.custom-fields.manage

The Case fields screen lists the custom field definitions of this case. There are three kinds:

Kind	Meaning
Synced	Comes from the workflow. Changes are written back to the workflow and the field can be filtered in the case list. Use Edit synced fields to change them.
Global	Defined once for the whole organization under Admin › Global fields.
Case-only	Exists only on this case and never becomes a list column.

To add a field, click Add field and fill in Key, Label and Type (Text, Long text, Number, Date, Yes / No, Single select or Multi-select; select types need Options). You can set Sync with workflow, Required, Show in case detail, Show in case list, Filterable and Sortable.

Archive hides a field on this case but keeps its value; archived fields are listed under Archived fields and can be brought back with Restore.

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8. Archived cases

When an administrator archives a case, it disappears from the case list. Opening an archived case shows Archived case instead of the case page. Users with case.archive can click Unarchive case to restore it.

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9. Case notes import and export

The Actions menu on the case list also imports and exports case notes as CSV/XLSX files. Progress and results of all imports and exports are listed under Job history.

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10. Moving a case and syncing with its workflow

Move case / Sync fields

Permission required: case.update and case.custom-fields.manage (or administrator)

• Move case… moves the case to another department and/or workflow.
• Sync fields… brings the case's custom fields in line with the current workflow and global field templates.

1. Open Case actions and choose Move case… or Sync fields….
2. For a move, pick the target Department and Workflow.
3. Review the list of custom field changes. Each field is shown as removed, added or unchanged. Toggle any row to override the default (for example keep a field on the case, where it becomes case-only). Archived values are kept and can be restored later.
4. Click Migrate case or Sync fields.

Sync steps

Permission required: case-step.update (or administrator)

If the workflow a case was created from has changed, Sync steps… compares the case with its template and lists the differences. Only the rows you leave switched on are applied. Completed steps and manually set due dates are never changed.

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11. Transferring ownership in bulk

Permission required: case.assignments.manage

Use this when a staff member leaves or their cases move to someone else.

1. On the case list, select the cases.
2. Click Transfer ownership.
3. 1. Staff member: search for the person who will take over.
4. 2. Role to transfer: choose the case member role.
5. 3. Replace existing owners: turn this on to remove the current holders of that role (and their related step assignments); leave it off to add the new person alongside them.
6. Click Continue to summary, review the changes per case, then click the transfer button.

The new person is also assigned to the steps configured for that role in the selected cases.

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12. Archiving and deleting a case

Only administrators see these actions.

• Archive case (row menu on the case list): moves the case out of the active list. All its data is kept and it can be restored (see section 8). Requires case.archive.
• Delete case (row menu on the case list, or Case actions on the case page): permanently deletes the case. Type the case title to confirm. Deletion is blocked while the case has issued invoices that are not fully handled. Requires case.delete.

Deletion cannot be undone. Before deleting, read Case Deletion Impact to see exactly what is removed and what is kept.