Matter Types

Matter types are templates that define how a category of IP is managed — the fee schedule, reminder timing, custom fields, and confirmation emails. Every matter belongs to exactly one matter type.

What Are Matter Types?

A matter type represents a category of intellectual property, such as "US Utility Patents", "UK Trademarks", or "EU Designs". When you create a matter, you select its type, which determines:

The renewal fee schedule (year-by-year professional and official fees).
When and how reminders are sent (email/SMS, timing, recipients).
What custom fields are available (e.g. "Our Ref", "Client Ref").
How the client renewal page behaves (payment mode, confirmation emails).

Common matter types

US Utility Patent — 20-year schedule with entity-based fees (Large/Small/Micro).
UK Patent — annual renewal from year 5 onwards.
EU Trademark — renewal every 10 years with class-based fees.
UK Design — renewal at years 5, 10, 15, 20, 25.

Creating a Matter Type

Navigate to Matter Types and click New matter type.

Name your matter type

Give it a descriptive name (e.g. "US Utility Patent"). The system may auto-detect a preset based on the name and pre-fill defaults.

Choose a preset (optional)

Presets auto-configure the fee schedule, reminder templates, and custom fields for common IP types. You can always customise these after creation.

Set the payment mode

Instructions only — clients submit renew/abandon instructions without paying online.
Online — clients must pay online when submitting their instruction.
Both with discount — clients can pay online (with a discount) or submit instructions only.

Editing a Matter Type

Click on any matter type to open the editor, which is organised into tabs:

General — name, description, payment mode, online discount percentage, and whether to use styled (HTML) emails.
Schedule — the year-by-year fee table. See Fees & Schedule for details.
Reminders — configure the timing, content, and recipients of renewal reminders. See Reminders.
Custom Fields — add text or date fields specific to this matter type. These appear when editing matters and can be shown as columns in the renewals table.
Confirmation Emails — templates for the emails sent to clients after their instruction (renew or abandon) is processed.

Custom Fields

Custom fields let you track additional data per matter that isn't covered by the built-in fields. Each matter type can have its own set of custom fields.

Field types available:

Text — a free-text field (e.g. "Our Ref", "Client Ref", "Grant Number").
Date — a date picker field (e.g. "Grant Date", "Priority Date").

Custom fields appear in the matter editor and can be enabled as columns in the renewals table. They are also available as placeholders in reminder and confirmation email templates.

Confirmation Emails

After you process a client's instruction, a confirmation email is sent to the contact who submitted it. Each matter type has two confirmation templates:

Renew confirmation — sent when a "renew" instruction is processed.
Abandon confirmation — sent when an "abandon" instruction is processed.

Both templates support placeholders for matter details, contact information, and fees.

Managing Renewals

The renewals table and matter management

Contacts

Manage your client directory