Legal Project Management Templates for Matter Plans
Build a phased matter plan, record scope decisions and save your work locally.
Build Your Matter Plan
Your plan stays in this tab. Download it before leaving. Nothing is uploaded.
Read the Phased Budget
The phase estimate adds original hours multiplied by the stated rate to fixed external charges. Enter each cost on one work package only.
The forecast adds actual cost, outstanding committed cost and uncommitted remaining cost. Keep these amounts separate. An expense already incurred belongs in actual cost, even if unpaid.
For example, $200 already recorded as actual must leave outstanding commitments. Adding it to both fields overstates the forecast by $200.
Original estimates remain separate from approved budget additions. An approved decision changes the selected package’s remaining assumption and records its forecast before and after the decision.
Use a consistent GST basis for every amount. Entered dates and budgets are planning assumptions. The worksheet calculates no legal deadline and supplies no quote from FinTrace.
Record a Scope Change
The fictional two-phase example starts with $1,400 for preparation and $2,100 for analysis. Its original estimate and forecast both total $3,500.
Package W1 has four hours at $300 and is accepted by the matter lead. Package W2 has a $200 fixed external charge. W3 has six hours at $350.
Record the supplied missing-statement decision against W3. The approved $600 addition raises its uncommitted remaining cost from $1,750 to $2,350.
The new forecast is $4,100, including W3’s $350 actual cost. The original $3,500 estimate stays visible beside the decision-maker and reason.
Proposed and declined decisions stay in the record without changing the budget or remaining costs. Each approved addition is cumulative, while its new remaining amount replaces that assumption.
Check and Export the Completed Plan
Download editable plan saves a JSON file containing the work packages and recorded decisions. Import that file here to continue editing. Print plan opens a printable view.
A missing owner or acceptance criterion appears in the completion check. You can still save an incomplete draft. Accepted work without a named reviewer also appears there.
To check the example, record the $600 change, download the plan and import it again. Confirm the $4,100 forecast, original $3,500 estimate and W1 acceptance remain.
Use anonymous references in this working plan. Keep the firm’s controlled source documents and legal file separately, with access and version controls appropriate to the matter.
For the wider scoping and change-control method, read the legal project management guide.