Migrate from Aderant Milana to Nutshell

Aderant Milana matters are legal work containers with status, attorney assignments, and court rules. Nutshell Deals are sales-pipeline records with stages and owners. Milana matter status (Open, Pending, Closed) maps to Nutshell pipeline stages configurable per firm. The Deal name derives from the matter description or case number.

Attorneys, clients, opposing counsel, and witnesses from Milana migrate as Nutshell People. Each person's role per matter is preserved as a custom field (Matter_Role__c) since Nutshell does not natively support per-relationship role labels. Role values include Attorney, Client, Opposing Counsel, and Witness. We also preserve bar numbers for attorneys and practice area designations for both attorneys and clients in custom fields on the Person record.

Law firms, corporate clients, opposing law firms, and court jurisdictions stored as organizations in Milana map directly to Nutshell Companies. Company type (Client, Opposing Counsel, Court) is preserved as a custom pick-list field. The company name, domain, and any associated custom fields migrate to corresponding Nutshell Company custom fields. Court jurisdictions retain their jurisdiction classification as a separate custom field.

Milana docketing entries (court dates, filing deadlines, hearing dates) map to Nutshell Tasks with due dates. The original court rule reference and jurisdiction are preserved in a custom field. Nutshell Tasks do not auto-calculate deadlines — the calculated due date migrates as a static value.

Milana calendar entries for meetings, depositions, and internal deadlines migrate as Nutshell Activities. Original timestamps and owner assignments are preserved. Meeting locations, subject lines, and start/end times transfer directly to Nutshell Activity fields. Recurring calendar patterns in Milana collapse to individual Nutshell Activities since Nutshell has no native recurrence model for activities.

Milana documents and file attachments associated with matters or contacts are downloaded and re-uploaded to Nutshell's file storage linked to the corresponding Deal or Person record. File metadata including original upload date, file name, and file type are preserved. File size limits per Nutshell apply (default 25MB per file); files exceeding this limit require alternative storage with a reference link stored in Nutshell.

Milana time entries and billing records tied to Aderant Expert do not have a direct Nutshell equivalent. Billed hours and fee amounts are preserved as custom numeric fields on the Deal for reference. Firms requiring full billing history must maintain Aderant Expert access or migrate to a dedicated billing tool.

Milana custom fields defined on matters (e.g., Case Type, Court Division, Referral Source) create as Nutshell custom fields on the Deal object. Field types are matched: pick-lists to pick-lists, text to text, dates to dates. Validation rules tied to Milana field dependencies require manual reconfiguration in Nutshell.

Milana custom fields on contacts (e.g., Bar Number, Practice Area, Client Status) create as Nutshell custom fields on the Person object. Attorney-specific fields map to Person custom fields; client-specific fields map similarly.

Milana matter assignments link attorneys to matters with billing responsibility. Nutshell Deals have a single owner field. The primary attorney (billing lead) maps to Deal owner; secondary attorneys are preserved as Person custom fields or linked Activities. Owner resolution uses email match against Nutshell users. Unmatched attorneys are flagged before migration for team resolution.

Prospective client referrals and inquiries tracked in Milana as leads map 1:1 to Nutshell Leads. Lead status, source, and any custom fields are preserved through the migration. Nutshell Lead fields include name, email, phone, and source tracking. Converted leads follow the Contact-to-Person mapping process to ensure a complete person record is created in Nutshell.