Legal project management in Notion: phases, budgets, scope and status reports

Legal project management in Notion means treating each matter as a project: phases and milestones, a budget, a defined scope and a status you can report. Build it on the databases you already have (Matters, Tasks, Time entries): add a budget to the matter, roll time up to it, and let a formula tell you when you are running over. The result is a matter that delivers on time and on budget, and a client who is never surprised. For the general discipline see legal project management. This guide gives the schemas, the estimating method, the formulas, the capacity view, the weekly rhythm and the client status page.

The six project controls, applied to a matter

The databases

Building an estimate that you can learn from

A good estimate is the foundation of a good budget. Build it from phases, state the assumptions, and keep it with the matter so you can compare it with reality later.

The figures are illustrative. The discipline is to list phases, tie hours to assumptions, and say what would change the estimate. When actuals diverge, you can see which assumption failed.

Budget, burn and forecast: the formulas

Roll Time entries up to Matters as Hours logged, and compute percentage of phases complete from the phase weights. Then:

// Percentage of budget used
if(prop("Budget hours") > 0,
  round(prop("Hours logged") / prop("Budget hours") * 100), 0)

// Percentage complete (from a rollup of weighted completed phases, 0 to 100)
prop("Percent complete")

// Estimated hours at completion
if(prop("Percent complete") > 0,
  round(prop("Hours logged") / (prop("Percent complete") / 100)), 0)

// Variance at completion (positive = over budget)
prop("Estimated hours at completion") - prop("Budget hours")

// RAG status: compare burn with progress
if(prop("Budget hours") == 0, "",
  if(prop("Estimated hours at completion") > prop("Budget hours") * 1.1, "Red",
    if(prop("Estimated hours at completion") > prop("Budget hours"), "Amber", "Green")))

Two cautions. These are estimates, not billing. And the forecast is only as good as your percentage complete: base it on completed phases and milestones, not on how you feel.

RAG thresholds, defined

Define your own thresholds, write them in the wiki, and apply them the same way across matters, or the colours mean nothing.

Scope control in practice

1. Write the scope and the exclusions into the engagement (see the engagement tracker).
2. When the client asks for more, record a Scope change row, estimate the impact, and tell them.
3. Get written approval before doing the work, then update the budget and the engagement.
4. At each milestone, ask: is the scope still what we agreed?

Capacity: who has room?

Group open Tasks by owner and sum their estimates to see load per person; filter by due date for next week and next month. A view of hours remaining by phase across matters shows where the team is bottlenecked. This turns "I am swamped" into a number you can plan around.

A risks register, kept light

The weekly rhythm

1. Open a view of matters sorted by percentage of budget used.
2. Check each amber and red matter: re-plan, re-scope or tell the client.
3. Review milestones due in the next two weeks and tasks overdue.
4. Review the risk register for changes.
5. Update status and send the client view where agreed.

A one-page client status

Build a view with the matter's phase, milestones done and next, budget status and any decisions needed from the client. Share it by controlled access or export it. Keep privileged commentary off the client view. See client status reports.

Learning across matters

After each matter closes, record estimate versus actual by phase. A quarterly view of variance by matter type shows where you consistently under-estimate, so you can adjust templates and pricing. This is the part most firms skip, and the part that makes the next estimate better.

Common mistakes

• A budget set once and never compared with actuals.
• Percentage complete guessed, making the forecast meaningless.
• Doing out-of-scope work first and discussing it later.
• RAG colours with no definitions.
• Over-engineering a small matter with a full project plan.

Related: matter management, billable hours, a firm financial dashboard and the best way to use Notion for lawyers.

Frequently asked questions