A cashier who sees everything and changes nothing
Four roles that match how a firm actually works. Sight of the firm's work and the right to edit it are separate permissions, so read-everything with write-nothing is a real setting rather than a compromise.
What user roles should law firm software have?
A firm needs at least four: a fee earner who sees only their own matters, a supervisor who oversees all firm work, a cashier who can see every matter but edit none while handling client money, and an administrator with full access. Writford ships exactly those four.
- What roles does Writford have?
- Four: fee earner, supervisor, cashier and administrator. A fee earner runs their own matters. A supervisor is a second owner minus client money. A cashier sees every matter and edits none. An administrator is a second owner outright.
- Can somebody see every matter without being able to change them?
- Yes, and that is exactly what the cashier role is for. Seeing the firm's work and being able to edit it are two separate permissions, so read-everything with write-nothing is a real combination rather than an approximation.
- Can a fee earner see other people's matters?
- No. A fee earner sees their own matters and anything explicitly shared with them, and nothing else. That is the narrowest access level and it is the default.
- Does the role decide whose work it is?
- No. The role is about access, not attribution. An administrator can still be the responsible fee earner on a matter and record their own time, because who the work belongs to is a separate field on the matter.
- Who can move client money?
- Only a cashier or an administrator. Handling client money, transferring from client to office and refunding client money are separate permissions from billing, so a supervisor can raise a bill without being able to move money held for a client.
- Are credits and storage per person?
- No. Credits and storage are pooled across the firm rather than rationed per seat, so a busy week for one fee earner does not mean somebody else runs out.
The four roles a firm actually has
A fee earner runs their own matters and sees nothing else. A supervisor is a second owner minus client money. A cashier sees every matter, edits none, and exists to move money. An administrator is a second owner outright. Four presets rather than a permissions matrix somebody has to design from scratch.
- Fee earner: their own matters, and what is shared with them
- Supervisor: sees and edits all firm work, no client money
- Cashier: sees all firm work, edits none, handles client money
- Administrator: everything
- Set once per member, applied everywhere in the app
Sees every matter. Changes none of them.
This is the combination most systems cannot express, and it is why the design exists. Seeing the firm's work and being allowed to edit it are two separate permissions in Writford, not one setting called firm access. Collapse them into one and your cashier either cannot do their job or can rewrite a fee earner's file.
- Read everything, write nothing: a real setting, not a workaround
- Sight of the firm and the right to edit it are separate flags
- A cashier can reconcile and post without touching the legal work
- The asymmetry is deliberate and is not going to be simplified away
Raising a bill and moving client money are different rights
Handling client money, transferring from client to office, and refunding client money are separate permissions from billing. A supervisor can bill a matter without being able to move money the firm holds for a client, which is the separation a firm's own controls usually assume and most software does not offer.
- Client money handling separate from billing
- Client to office transfers a distinct right
- Refunding client money a distinct right
- Supervisors bill without touching client funds
Your role says what you can reach, not whose work it is
An administrator is not stopped from being the responsible fee earner on a matter, and a fee earner is not the only person who does legal work. Who a matter belongs to and who recorded the time are fields on the matter. The role only decides what a person can reach.
- Responsible fee earner is a field, not a role
- Anybody can record their own time on work they did
- Changing somebody's access does not rewrite whose work it was