Relations and rollups: connect matters, clients, time and invoices

What a relation does

Add a Relation property to Matters that points at Clients, and Notion can create the matching property on Clients automatically. Pick a client on a matter and that matter appears on the client's page. You type the link once and see it from both sides.

The core links for a legal practice

Create each relation once, from the database where you will most often pick the link. If you add Time entries all day, put the Matter relation on Time.

Rollups: counts and totals

A rollup needs three choices: which relation to follow, which property on the related pages to read, and how to summarise it (count, sum, earliest date, latest date, percent checked and others).

• On Matters: roll up Actions, property Status, count, to see how many actions a matter has.
• On Clients: roll up Time, property Amount, sum, to see the total fees recorded for the client.
• On Matters: roll up Actions, property Due date, earliest date, to see the first date on the matter.

Helper formulas for open items only

The earliest date across all linked actions includes finished ones, which is not what you want. The fix is a small formula property on Actions that only returns a date while the action is still open.

Then, on Matters, roll up Actions, property Open due date, earliest date. The matter now shows its next open deadline. Formula syntax can differ slightly between Notion versions, so test it on a sample page first.

Use the same idea for billing: a formula on Time called Unbilled amount that returns the amount only when Invoiced is unchecked, rolled up with a sum onto the matter.

Keep it understandable

• Give relations clear names: Client, Matter, Responsible lawyer.
• One purpose per relation. Do not link the same two databases twice.
• Name rollups after what they show: Open actions, Next deadline, Unbilled.
• Check one real matter after every change to make sure the numbers add up.