Clients and Matters

Understanding the difference between a client and a matter—and how they work together—is the key to using DraftyAI effectively.

What is a client?

A client is a person or entity you represent. It's a one-time record: a name, contact information, family details (if relevant), and other biographical facts. You add a client once, and that client record lives in your system.

In Clients, you'll see a list of all the people and organizations you've added. You can search, edit, and manage their information. Some clients you represent once; others you work with across many years and many cases.

What is a matter?

A matter is a specific legal engagement—a petition, an I-601A waiver, an RFE response, a brief for a pending proceeding. A matter always belongs to a client, and a client can have many matters.

When you create a matter, you choose two critical pieces of context:

• Matter type: The kind of immigration work—I-589 asylum, employment-based petition (EB-1A, EB-2 NIW, O-1), family-based petition, N-400 naturalization, I-601A waiver, cancellation of removal, appeal, etc.
• Forum: Where the case is filed or pending—a USCIS service center, a specific immigration court (EOIR), the BIA, or a federal circuit court.

These two choices define what the matter is. They also shape what tools and templates are available to you, and they become the default context for any drafting you do in that matter.

Why the distinction matters

Imagine you represent Jane Doe on an I-140/I-485 employment-based case before USCIS (matter #1) and, five years later, she files an I-130 adjustment based on marriage to a U.S. citizen (matter #2). Both matters are for the same client, but they're different cases with different forums, different documents, and different statuses.

By separating clients and matters, DraftyAI lets you:

• Reuse client information: Add Jane once; reuse her biographical data across multiple matters without re-typing it.
• Pre-fill tools with case context: When you draft a brief for a matter, the platform already knows "this is an asylum case pending in the Miami immigration court," so you generally don't re-type what the matter already knows. You can skip most questions; DraftyAI inserts a placeholder you edit after generation.
• Track each case separately: Each matter has its own status, files, drafts, and timeline.

Importing existing clients

If your firm uses Clio (a practice management system), you may be able to import existing clients directly into DraftyAI (availability may vary). This brings in existing client records so you don't have to re-create them from scratch. Once imported, they're treated like any other client: you can create new matters for them, attach files, and start drafting.

The payoff

This design—separating clients from matters, and making matter type and forum reusable context—is what makes the platform "smart." Fewer redundant questions. Faster turnaround under deadline. Less room for error. So you generally don't re-type what the matter already knows.

DraftyAI accelerates drafting; it is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. You review, edit, and are solely responsible for every document you file.