Migrate from Aderant Expert to HighLevel

Individual clients (people) map to HighLevel Contact. Corporate or organizational clients map to HighLevel Company. We apply a party-type split during migration: if Aderant marks the party as an Organization, it lands as a Company; if Individual, it lands as a Contact with name fields populated. Hybrid parties (organization with primary contact) get both records linked via the relationship model.

Each Aderant matter becomes a HighLevel Custom Object named 'Matter' so case-specific fields, status, and hierarchy are preserved. If the firm also wants pipeline tracking, a corresponding Opportunity is created with the matter name and a nominal amount. The Custom Object ID is stored on the Opportunity for linkage. Matter hierarchy (parent/child matters) is stored as a self-referential custom field on the Matter object.

Parties stored in Aderant (opposing counsel, referring attorneys, third parties) map to HighLevel Contacts. Email and phone are carried over; if no contact info exists, the party record is created with the name and a 'Party' tag so staff can enrich it post-migration.

Aderant invoices cannot be recreated in HighLevel's billing engine. We export invoices as PDF or structured text and attach them to the corresponding Matter Custom Object as a Note with an attachment. Invoice number, date, amount, and status (Paid/Unpaid/Billed) are stored as fields on the note so reporting queries can filter by billing status.

Time entries become HighLevel Tasks with the narrative description as the task body, date performed as the due date, hours as a custom number field, and billing status (Billable/Non-billable) as a tag. Hours-to-bill amounts are preserved as a currency custom field for reporting but do not generate invoices in HighLevel.

Expense records from Aderant are migrated as HighLevel Tasks following a similar pattern to time entries. Each expense receives a category tag, the monetary amount is stored as a custom currency field, and reimbursement status is recorded as a pick-list value on the task. The client and matter linkage is maintained through the appropriate HighLevel contact or custom object reference, ensuring that expense context is preserved and accessible for reporting and reconciliation in the destination system.

Aderant trust accounts have no HighLevel equivalent. We create a 'Trust Account' Custom Object with fields for account number, client reference, balance, and transaction history (as a JSON text block or linked notes). The object is flagged as a reference-only record — HighLevel does not enforce trust accounting rules.

Aderant calendar events are exported and mapped to HighLevel Appointments. Each appointment receives the subject line, start and end datetime, duration, and physical location or virtual meeting link from the original event. The assigned attorney in Aderant is mapped to the appointment owner in HighLevel. Recurring events require special handling because HighLevel lacks native support for recurring appointment templates, so each occurrence is created as a separate appointment record with the original recurrence pattern stored as a reference field for post-migration review.

Document metadata (filename, file type, upload date, author) is extracted from Aderant and stored as a Note on the related Matter. The actual file bytes are exported to a cloud storage location and linked via URL reference in HighLevel — files are not re-uploaded to HighLevel's native storage unless the firm specifically requests it due to storage limits.

Every user-defined Aderant custom field is assessed for type compatibility. Text, number, date, and pick-list fields map directly to HighLevel custom fields on the target object. Multi-select pick-lists map to HighLevel tag sets. Fields that reference other Aderant records (cross-matters) are stored as text strings on the destination object and flagged for manual verification.

Aderant staff and attorney records are resolved to HighLevel Users by email address. We attempt email matching first; unmatched attorneys are flagged before migration so the firm can either create HighLevel accounts or assign records to a fallback user. Billing codes and rate schedules do not transfer — those are operational settings the firm configures in HighLevel.