All features

Counsel from a partner practice

When an outside practice looks after your legal work, its lawyers can work in your organization as your counsel - once an owner accepts, outside your seats, and with everything they do on your record.

Some organizations have a legal practice look after their legal work - fractional in-house counsel, for instance - instead of, or alongside, lawyers of their own. When that practice is a Squire™ partner, its lawyers can work in your Squire organization as your counsel: across your matters, with Squire's AI, and with everything they do on your record.

An owner opens a practice's proposal from the banner, reads its terms on the Counsel page and accepts on the organization's behalf; the engagement turns active, and Counsel activity lists each page and file the practice's lawyer opened, every row named with the practice.

Need an outside lawyer on one matter?

An advocate briefed on one case, your attorney on one deal, the other side's lawyer: invite them as a guest to that matter, document or chat. A partner practice is for the practice that is, in effect, your legal team.

See Bring in outside collaborators

How it works

  1. 1

    The practice proposes, and an owner accepts

    Squire proposes the engagement to your organization. Your owners are emailed, and owners and admins see it on Organization → Counsel with the terms on offer. Only an owner can accept, and accepting is your consent: who accepted, when and on which terms is recorded. Until then the practice's lawyers can open nothing.

  2. 2

    Counsel work as your lawyers

    They have a lawyer's access - never an owner's or an admin's - and use none of your seats. Wherever names appear they're shown with their practice ("Jane Doe · Acme Counsel"), and the team page marks them as external counsel. Your owners and admins can also let them set up your matter types and the sidebar pins everyone sees.

  3. 3

    Ask your counsel

    A panel in your sidebar, under the practice's name, lists the counsel working with you. Its Ask counsel button (the practice may word it its own way) sends them a request that only you and they can see, about a matter if you choose one they can open. They're told straight away, and whoever leaves a new reply unread for ten minutes is emailed.

  4. 4

    Stay in control

    Owners and admins see Counsel activity: every page counsel opened, action they took and file they downloaded, person by person, with monthly figures. On the Counsel page they can Suspend the engagement, which pauses access and removes nothing, or End engagement, which removes it for good. What counsel created stays in your organization.

Counsel can

  • Work on the matters open to your organization, and those they're added to
  • Use Squire™ AI in your organization
  • Install templates and a matter setup from their practice's library, if you let them set up your organization

Counsel can't

  • Open a colleague's private matters or chats
  • Change your settings, members or billing
  • Take one of your seats
  • Keep access once the engagement is suspended or ended

Their library

A practice can offer you its own templates, table templates, skills, house style and matter setup, one at a time or as a pack. Your owners and admins install copies from Their library, in your counsel panel. A copy is yours: when the practice publishes a newer version, you see what changed, and what you'd edited, before you take it.

Who pays

That depends on your arrangement with the practice. You may subscribe to Squire yourselves, or the practice may provide Squire as part of its service and pay for your seats; your billing page says which. Either way, counsel use none of your seats.