The Onit LSR to matter workflow is the process that converts a legal service request into a matter once the work grows beyond a simple ask, carrying the request’s data and history into the new record. When it works, a lawyer converts the request and keeps working. When it does not, the matter starts with half its history missing. Plenty of departments still do this by hand: a 2025 survey of more than 110 in-house legal professionals found that 44 percent manually create, assign, and update matters.
What is the Onit LSR to matter workflow?
The Onit LSR to matter workflow is the configured path that creates a matter from a request record, closes the request as converted, and links the two. It exists because most legal work starts as a business question and only some of it becomes a matter worth tracking for cost, risk, and outcome.
Requests and matters do different jobs. A request records one ask and how quickly Legal answered it. A matter records ongoing work, with budgets, outside counsel, invoices, and a lifespan of weeks or years. The two sit close together in Onit’s product line, since Unity LSR is an add-on purchased with Unity ELM, the platform where matters, budgets, and invoices live.
The conversion itself is a single action. The design work is everything around it: when to use it, what moves across, and who takes over.
When should an Onit LSR be converted to a matter?
An Onit LSR should be converted to a matter when the work needs tracking the request record cannot provide, such as budgets, outside counsel, or a long timeline. Write the criteria down so every lawyer applies the same test.
- Effort threshold. Work expected to take more than a set amount of lawyer time, often five to ten hours, becomes a matter. Smaller asks resolve inside the request.
- Outside counsel involvement. Any request that needs an external firm converts, because invoices, budgets, and billing guidelines live on the matter.
- Dispute or regulatory risk. Threatened claims, regulator contact, and investigations convert immediately, regardless of expected effort, so risk reporting captures them.
- Duration. Work expected to run longer than 30 to 60 days converts, since a request open that long distorts turnaround reports.
Keep a short list of request types that always convert, such as subpoenas and litigation holds. Convert within two business days of the work qualifying, and review requests open longer than 30 days each month for any that should already be matters.
What data carries over in the Onit LSR to matter workflow?
Data carried over in the Onit LSR to matter workflow should include every field the matter needs to start work without asking the requester again. Agree the list during design and confirm it in testing, because what moves across depends on your configuration.
- Core request fields. Business unit, region, legal entity, counterparty, and description. These map directly and save the lawyer from re-keying.
- Context and documents. The request description, key comments, and every document the requester sent, so the matter opens with its context intact.
- Requester as client contact. The person who submitted the request becomes the business contact on the matter, keeping them in the loop as the work continues.
- Link to the original request. A reference on the matter pointing back to the request, and a reference on the closed request pointing forward to the matter.
Leave out request-only data such as intake priority and turnaround timers.
How do LSR fields map to matter fields in Onit?
LSR fields map to matter fields in Onit through a mapping table agreed during design, where each request field either copies directly, translates to a different value, or triggers a new field the lawyer completes at conversion. Treat the table as a controlled document.
- Direct mapping. Fields with identical meaning and values on both records, such as region or legal entity, copy across unchanged.
- Translated mapping. Fields whose values differ between records. A request type of “Litigation and disputes” might become a matter type of “Litigation” with a subtype chosen at conversion.
- New required fields. Matter fields with no request equivalent, such as practice area, budget, or matter lead, prompted on a short conversion screen.
Keep the conversion screen to three to six fields, because a long form pushes lawyers to delay converting. Picklists are where mapping usually breaks: if the request uses 12 business units and the matter uses 14, two values have nowhere to land. Translated mappings only hold when the Onit matter type configuration is settled before the mapping table is written.
Who should own the matter after an Onit LSR is converted?
The matter should be owned by the lawyer who will lead the ongoing work, which is often the request assignee. Set a default per matter type, and let the converting lawyer change it on the conversion screen.
For advice, employment, and regulatory matters, the request assignee typically becomes matter lead, since they already know the facts. For litigation, ownership often moves to a litigation lead while the original assignee stays on the team.
Record the original assignee on the matter too, so reports show which lawyers generate matters through intake.
How do contract requests convert differently in Onit?
Contract requests in Onit usually follow a different path from other requests, because their destination is a contract record or contract workflow, with matters reserved for disputes and complex negotiations. The conversion rules and the fields that matter differ.
A contract record needs counterparty, contract type, value, term, and signatory details. A legal matter needs practice area, risk, budget, and outside counsel. Map each destination separately, since a single mapping table for both usually leaves contract records missing their commercial fields. Some departments add the contract path in a later phase.
What happens to outside counsel and billing after conversion?
After conversion, outside counsel, budgets, and invoices attach to the new matter, which becomes the record every external cost is tracked against. The request never carries billing, so conversion has to happen before any firm starts work.
- Firm assignment. The outside firm is engaged on the matter, which gives them a matter to bill against from the start.
- Budget. An initial budget is set at or shortly after conversion, so spend is tracked from the first invoice.
- Invoice routing. Invoices submitted electronically are validated against the matter’s firm, rates, and billing guidelines.
The common failure is a firm engaged while the work still sits in the request. Invoices then arrive with no matter to land on, and someone has to create the matter after the fact and reconcile the history. Onit eBilling implementation depends on matters existing before invoices arrive, so make conversion a required step before any engagement letter goes out.
How do you test the Onit LSR to matter conversion?
The Onit LSR to matter conversion is tested by converting at least one request of every type into every matter type it can become, then checking each mapped field, the carried documents, the links, and who can see the result. A typical build needs 30 to 60 conversion test cases.
Check field mapping value by value, especially translated picklists, and confirm that documents open on the matter. Then log in as the requester, the new matter lead, and an unrelated user, and confirm each sees exactly what they should, since matter security is often tighter than request security. Rerun the set in a sandbox before every release that touches either record.
How do you report on Onit LSR to matter conversion?
Reporting on Onit LSR to matter conversion tracks how often requests become matters, how long that takes, and what those matters cost. Together these show how intake demand turns into longer legal work and spend.
- Conversion rate by type. The share of each request type that becomes a matter. A rate that shifts sharply quarter to quarter usually signals inconsistent use of the criteria.
- Time to conversion. Days from request submission to matter creation. Long gaps often mean outside counsel was engaged before the matter existed.
- Cost by originating request type. Matter spend rolled up to the request type that started it, which shows which business asks drive external cost.
These reports only work if every converted request closes with a converted outcome and a link to its matter.
Conclusion
The Onit LSR to matter workflow is where a business question becomes a piece of legal work with a budget, a team, and a history, so the handoff has to be clean. Write conversion criteria every lawyer can apply, agree a field mapping table before configuration, and keep the conversion screen short. Set default matter owners by type, map contract and matter destinations separately, require conversion before any outside firm starts work, and keep the link between records so reporting can follow demand through to spend.
How Basla can help
Basla provides delivery teams for Onit implementation, covering business analysis, conversion criteria and field mapping design, matter configuration, eBilling setup, testing, documentation, and hypercare after go-live. Basla’s business analysts build the mapping tables with Legal, configure the conversion paths, and script the test cases, and Basla delivers legal technology services through staff augmentation or a Basla-managed delivery unit.
On a global Legal Service Request implementation, Basla built eight Front Doors to handle language and country variations, and Basla teams have delivered matter management and eBilling across more than ten global jurisdictions.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Onit LSR to matter workflow?
The Onit LSR to matter workflow converts a legal service request into a matter when the work outgrows a simple ask. The request closes as converted, and its data and documents carry into the linked matter record through the agreed field mapping.
When should a legal request become a matter?
A legal request should become a matter when it needs outside counsel, a budget, or long-running tracking, or when it carries dispute or regulatory risk. Many departments also convert work expected to exceed five to ten hours of lawyer time.
What carries over when converting a request in Onit?
What carries over when converting a request in Onit depends on the field mapping agreed during implementation. Most builds carry core request fields, the requester as client contact, key documents, and a link back to the original request.
Who owns the matter after a request is converted?
The matter is owned by the lawyer who will lead the ongoing work, often the original request assignee. Departments usually set a default owner per matter type and let the converting lawyer change it at conversion.
Do contract requests become matters in Onit?
Contract requests usually go to a contract record or contract workflow, and become matters only for disputes or complex work. Each destination needs its own field mapping.
Why should conversion happen before outside counsel is engaged?
Conversion should happen before outside counsel is engaged because invoices, budgets, and billing guidelines attach to the matter. A firm engaged while work sits in a request has no matter to bill against, which forces manual reconciliation later.
*This article is provided for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Basla Solutions provides legal technology implementation and support services and does not practice law.*