Documentation

Platform Overview

PractaHQ is a legal practice management platform built for law firms in Zimbabwe. It brings matters, clients, time recording, billing, trust accounting, deadlines, and firm administration into one organised workspace so partners and staff can work from the same source of truth.

The product is designed around how local practices actually operate: multi-currency billing (USD and ZiG), matter-centric files, trust ledgers, conveyancing and labour workflows, practising certificate and CPD tracking, and precedent libraries your firm can tailor.

Each firm workspace is private to that firm. Partners decide who joins, what each person can do, and how the firm is configured. PractaHQ is the system your team uses day to day — not a public directory or marketplace for client files.

Initial Setup

After your firm is onboarded, a Partner or Admin should complete a short foundation setup. This takes most firms under an hour and makes everything that follows smoother.

1. Firm profile — Confirm the firm name, contact details, and branding used on invoices and correspondence.
2. Practice areas — Align practice areas with how you describe work internally (Litigation, Conveyancing, Employment Law, Corporate & Commercial, and so on).
3. Invite the team — Send invitations from Staff Directory. Each person sets their own password and signs in with their firm email.
4. Assign roles — Give Partners, Associates, Lawyers, and support staff the access that matches their responsibilities.
5. Open your first client and matter — Create a known client, open a matter, and walk the team through logging a time entry and a task. That single walkthrough usually establishes the habit.

Tip: Complete firm branding and staff invitations before you migrate a large matter list. It avoids rework on invoices and ownership later.

Roles & Team Access

Access inside PractaHQ follows your firm hierarchy. Roles keep fee earners focused on files, while Partners and Admins retain oversight of firm settings, approvals, and financial modules.

• Partner / Admin — Firm configuration, staff, billing oversight, trust, and broad matter visibility.
• Associate / Lawyer — Day-to-day matter work, documents, tasks, time entries, and assigned files.
• Intern / Staff — Support access appropriate to administrative or training roles.

Partners can refine permissions further where your plan includes granular access controls — for example limiting who may void invoices, manage staff, or adjust trust entries. Review access whenever someone joins, changes role, or leaves the firm.

Client Directory

The Client Directory is your firm’s address book and matter history in one place. Register individuals and corporate clients, keep contact details current, and open any client to see related matters, invoices, and notes at a glance.

• Separate individual and corporate profiles so company secretarial and commercial work stay organised.
• Link every matter to a client so billing, trust, and reporting stay consistent.
• Use conflict checks when opening new instructions so the firm can record that the check was done before work begins.

Treat the directory as an internal practice tool: keep entries accurate, avoid duplicate client records, and prefer one master profile per client with all matters linked to it.

Matter Management

Every file your firm opens is a Matter. The matter record is the hub for status, lead counsel, team members, deadlines, tasks, documents, activity, counsel briefs, and execution tracking.

• Open cleanly — Select the client, title the matter clearly, set practice area, and assign a lead lawyer.
• Track stage — Move matters through statuses that match your firm’s language (open, pending, closed) so WIP and dashboards stay meaningful.
• Assign the team — Add co-counsel or support staff so the right people see the file without relying on informal email chains.
• Keep the activity feed current — Notes, comments, and updates create a shared file history for anyone who picks up the matter later.

Closing a matter should be deliberate: confirm outstanding WIP is billed or written off per firm policy, settle trust where required, complete checklists, and mark the matter closed so it leaves active workload views.

Tasks & Documents

Tasks keep instructions actionable. Assign work to a fee earner, set a due date, and move items across a simple board or list until done. Documents live on the matter so the working file stays together — pleadings, correspondence, research, and court filings can be organised by type, with version history when a document is updated.

• Use tasks for court-driven steps and internal follow-ups alike.
• Upload the working versions your team needs; name files consistently so colleagues can find them quickly.
• Prefer matter-linked documents over personal desktop folders when the file is shared across the team.

Zimbabwe Practice Tools

Beyond general matter management, PractaHQ includes workflows shaped for common Zimbabwean practice areas. These sit on the matter and in dedicated firm modules so you do not need a second spreadsheet system.

• Conveyancing workspace — Stage rail from instruction through registration, property and party particulars, duty and fee fields, and a transfer checklist.
• Labour pack — Dispute details, NEC/forum notes, settlement fields, and a labour checklist through conciliation, arbitration, and Labour Court stages.
• Counsel briefs — Record counsel instructed, chambers, brief fees, hearing dates, and brief status.
• Execution / sheriff tracking — Writ details, sheriff office, judgment amounts, and stages from issue through sale or stay.
• Company secretarial — Compliance deadlines for annual returns, director changes, and related corporate reminders against corporate clients.
• Practising certificates & CPD — Track certificate numbers, expiry dates, and CPD hours against annual targets for practitioners in the firm.

Use the workflow that matches the instruction. For conveyancing or employment files, open the relevant matter tab early so the checklist guides the file from day one.

Calendar & Deadlines

Court dates, filing deadlines, and internal reminders belong on the firm calendar and deadline lists — not only in personal diaries. PractaHQ surfaces upcoming and overdue items so Partners can see pressure points across the practice.

• Record hearing dates against the matter when the notice arrives.
• Set deadline owners so someone is clearly responsible for each critical date.
• Review overdue items at the start of the week in Partners’ meetings.

Precedent Library

The Precedent Library holds reusable letters, notices, contracts, affidavits, and memos your firm adopts as house style. Templates can include placeholders (client name, matter title, firm name, and similar fields) so staff produce consistent drafts faster.

Firms may load a Zimbabwe-oriented starter set from the Precedents page and then edit, add, or retire templates to match their own practice. Treat the library as living firm IP: keep only current precedents, and retire outdated wording.

Time Tracking

Accurate time is the foundation of fair billing. Fee earners should log attendances against the correct matter, with a clear narrative, duration, and billable flag. A running timer is available when you want to capture work as it happens; manual entries suit diary reconstruction at the end of the day.

• Log daily — same-day narratives are clearer and reduce month-end disputes.
• Describe the work in language a client would understand on an invoice.
• Partners can monitor unbilled WIP from the dashboard before month-end billing runs.

Invoicing & WIP

PractaHQ supports professional invoicing in USD and ZiG. Convert approved time and disbursements into invoices, issue fee notes to clients, record payments, and keep visibility of outstanding balances. Batch billing and recurring invoice schedules are available for firms that bill on a regular cycle.

• Review unbilled time before generating invoices.
• Use clear invoice narratives and your firm’s payment instructions.
• Mark invoices paid when funds clear so collections reporting stays accurate.

Online payment links can be issued where your firm has enabled that facility. Always confirm receipt in your own banking records before treating a matter as settled.

Trust Accounting

Trust accounting helps the firm maintain client trust ledgers, record receipts and payments, and reconcile book balances to bank statements. The LSZ-style Trust Pack produces a trial balance and client ledgers as at a chosen date for inspection-ready printouts.

• Open or select the correct trust account reference before posting.
• Reconcile regularly — do not wait for an inspection request.
• Keep narratives clear so any Partner can follow a ledger without calling the bookkeeper.

Trust modules support your firm’s own accounting discipline. They do not replace the need for qualified bookkeeping oversight or Law Society compliance procedures your firm already follows.

Bills of Costs

For party-and-party or attorney-and-client bills destined for taxation or recovery, use Bills of Costs. Create a bill against a matter, add line items (or start from common tariff lines), set tax, and print a clean bill for the file, taxing master, or opposing party as required.

Keep draft bills editable until your firm is ready to mark them final, taxed, or paid. Link back to the matter so the litigation file and costs file stay connected.

Staff & People

The People modules help Partners run the firm as well as the files: staff directory, invitations, attendance, leave and advance approvals, payroll support for Zimbabwe PAYE/NSSA contexts, and practising certificate / CPD tracking.

• Keep staff profiles current — role, position, department, and contact details.
• Use leave and advance approvals so decisions are recorded, not stuck in WhatsApp threads.
• Update practising certificate numbers and expiry dates before renewals fall due; log CPD as events occur.

Client Portal

Where enabled for your firm, the client portal lets selected clients view matter updates your firm chooses to share — a controlled window into progress rather than an open inbox. Partners decide which clients receive portal access and what belongs on the file for client viewing.

Use the portal for status visibility and agreed documents. Privileged strategy discussions and internal notes should remain on the internal matter record.

Daily Working Rhythm

Firms that get the most from PractaHQ usually adopt a simple rhythm:

1. Morning — Check calendar, deadlines, and assigned tasks.
2. During the day — Work inside the matter: update tasks, upload documents, instruct counsel or track execution where relevant, and run the timer or log time promptly.
3. End of day — Clear unfinished time entries, leave a short matter note if the next step is not obvious, and mark completed tasks done.
4. Week / month end — Partners review WIP, issue invoices, reconcile trust, and clear overdue deadlines.

Support

If your team needs help with configuration, onboarding, or a specific module, contact PractaHQ support through the channels provided with your subscription. Have your firm name and a short description of what you were trying to do — that allows us to assist quickly.

For product updates and improvements, check the in-app changelog when available. Feature availability can depend on your firm’s plan; Partners can review enabled modules under firm administration.