Leads

Permission required: case.read to see leads, case.create to create them

A lead is a prospective client who has contacted your firm but has not yet retained you. In CaseBright a lead works much like a case: it belongs to a contact, sits in a department, can follow a lead workflow with steps, and has its own documents, forms, comments and members. What makes it different is its lead stage and the Convert to case button that turns it into a real case once the client signs.

Open Leads from the Intake group in the left sidebar.

---

1. The Leads list

The list shows every lead you have access to. Across the top are tabs for each stage:

Tab	Meaning
All	Every lead, whatever its stage
New	Just created; first contact not made yet
In progress	You are in contact and the consultation is ongoing
Open deal	A retainer has been sent or is being negotiated
Not retained	The prospect did not hire the firm
Retained	The prospect signed the retainer

The table shows the Lead title (with the prospect's name under it), Lead priority, Follow-up date and any custom field columns. On the All tab you also see the Lead stage and Lead substatus columns. Click a row to open the lead.

Searching, filtering and sorting

• Type in Search leads... to narrow the list.
• Filters opens a panel with Workflow, Priority, Assigned to, Member role, Client, Due date and Retainer date. Active filters appear as chips under the toolbar; remove one with its x or use Clear all.
• The sort button lets you choose the field and the direction.
• Columns lets you choose and reorder the columns you see.
• The Views picker lets you save the current filters and sorting as a named view.

Column choices, filters and saved views are explained in Lists, filters and saved views.

Import and export

If you have the right permissions, an Actions menu appears on the toolbar:

Menu item	Permission
Import CSV/XLSX	lead.import
Export	lead.export
Job history	Opens the data transfer history for leads

Archiving and deleting

Administrators see a row menu on each lead with Archive lead and Delete lead.

---

2. Creating a lead

Permission required: case.create

1. On the Leads page, click New lead.

2. Contact details – choose how to attach the prospect:

   • Select existing contact: search by name or email and pick the person or company.
   • Create new contact: fill in Contact type, Display name, Email and optionally Phone and an address. If a contact with the same email already exists, CaseBright uses that contact instead of creating a duplicate.

   Click Next: Lead type & details.

3. Lead type & details:

   • Department (required) – you can only pick departments you belong to. If you are not a member of any department, ask an administrator to add you before creating leads.
   • Lead type (optional) – the lead workflows available in that department. Picking one adds its steps and default team assignments to the lead.
   • Lead title (required) and Lead description.
   • Priority level – Low, Normal, High or Urgent.
   • Follow-up date and Expiration date (both optional).
   • Lead assignments – add role seats with Add seat, choose a Role and optionally a staff member for each seat.

   Click Next: Review.

4. Review – check the contact, lead details, the team members who will have access and the workflow step assignments. Click Create lead.

The new lead opens straight away.

Tip: you can also start a lead from a client's profile: open the Cases tab and click Create lead. The contact is filled in for you.

---

3. Working on a lead

A lead page has the same layout and tabs as a case page (progress, documents, forms, comments, tasks and so on – depending on your permissions). See Cases for how those tabs work. The lead-specific parts are described below.

Lead stage and substatus

In the details panel on the right:

1. Use Lead status to move the lead to another stage.
2. Use Lead substatus for more detail. Only the substatuses that belong to the current stage are offered:

Stage	Substatuses
New	Attempted to contact, Meeting rescheduled, Waiting for client availability
In progress	Follow-up, Long-term follow-up, Pending client action, Business searching, Business plan/project development, Sponsor searching
Open deal	Retainer sent, Retainer signed
Not retained	No answer, Unqualified

When you set a lead to Retained, a Retain lead dialog asks how long the work took. Enter the hours and minutes (or pick a preset) and confirm.

Pinning a lead

Click the pin icon next to the lead title (Pin to sidebar) to keep the lead in the Pinned group of your sidebar. See Lists, filters and saved views.

---

4. Converting a lead to a case

Permission required: case.create

When the prospect signs:

1. Open the lead.
2. Click Convert to case in the page header.
3. The Create new case page opens with the lead's contact already selected. Choose the case workflow and fill in the case details as described in Cases.
4. Create the case.

What happens on conversion:

• The documents uploaded to the lead move to the new case.
• Forms filled in on the lead are carried over to the case.
• The lead's comments stay readable on the case: in the case's Comments tab, choose Lead comments. They are read-only.
• The lead is marked as completed. Its stage is not changed automatically, so set it to Retained if you have not done so already.
• The contact now has a case, so it appears in the Clients list (see Clients).