Background

Orion is a contact relational manager. This means you can relate parties to one another, as well as to specific Matters. Most Practice Management users utilize these features well, allowing them to manage all related parties to their case load. One item that is often overlooked is the ability to track and relate judges to certain cases and matters. Firms that operate with a high level of trial cases usually find any information about a presiding judge to be extremely useful. Individuals who have worked a case before a specific judge can provide key pieces of information about that judge, and the knowledge used can make a big difference in your case (especially in high dollar amount cases). If you can identify a contact who may have experience with a certain judge, you can then ask him/her for advice, an option which can be very beneficial.

Orion can help you with this information. First, ensure that the Contact record is created in Orion, and second, relate the party to the particular Matter. You can also relate Judges to other contact records from within the Contacts screen. In this tutorial, we will show you how to do this from within the Matters screen. This assumes the Contact record has already been created in Contacts. If not, create this first and insert the necessary Contact information (phone number, address, etc.).

Instructions

1. From the Matters Screen, highlight your Matter.

2. Right click, and select Add Related Contact.

3. Type in the name of the Judge and select OK.

4. From the Relationship screen select Judge. If Judge does not appear, contact your Firm Administrator to add it, as this list is fully customizable. You can also add any notes about this Judge in the Notes section.

5. When complete, the Judge will appear in the lower Related panel of your screen. You can also choose the + button to see any other relationships that Judge may have, and seeing these relationships allows you to identify any other Matters that have been before that particular Judge. This same information can be seen directly from the Contacts screen. Simply type in the name of the Judge and view the Matters or the Related panel. Any relationships will be displayed there. As relationships build over time, the context of information available to you will grow.