Migrate from Clarra to HubSpot

Clarra matters have no direct HubSpot equivalent. For firms with multiple matters per client, we create a HubSpot Deal per matter with custom properties (matter_number, practice_area, matter_status) or a dedicated Matter custom object on HubSpot Enterprise. The mapping choice is decided during discovery based on HubSpot tier and reporting needs.

Claral party records with role 'Attorney' or 'Client' map directly to HubSpot contacts. The party role becomes a custom pick-list property on the HubSpot contact (Party_Role__c). Party-type-specific fields (bar_number for attorneys, client_id for clients) migrate as custom properties on the contact record.

Claral parties of type 'Organization' (law firms, opposing counsel, corporate clients) map to HubSpot companies. We resolve the organization's primary billing contact and attach that contact to the company record. Corporate family relationships in Claral (parent-subsidiary) map to HubSpot Company ParentId.

Claral's many-to-many party-per-matter associations require decomposition. Each party on a matter becomes a HubSpot Deal Contact Role entry with the party's Claral role label as the role name (e.g., 'Of Counsel', 'Lead Attorney', 'Client'). If a party appears on multiple matters, it has multiple Deal Contact Role entries.

Claral documents are downloaded and re-uploaded to HubSpot Files, then linked to the corresponding matter Deal record. Document metadata (title, version, uploaded_by, created_date) is stored as Note body text or custom properties on the file record. HubSpot file size limits of 25 MB per file apply; larger documents are flagged for chunking.

Claral calendar entries tied to a matter become HubSpot meetings with the matter's deal as the associated record and the attorney contact as the owner. Recurring calendar entries generate individual HubSpot meeting records preserving the original recurrence pattern in the meeting description. All-day events and deadlines migrate as HubSpot Tasks with a due date.

Claral billing entries (line items with date, hours, rate, amount, description) cannot map to a single HubSpot field. We decompose them into a set of custom properties on the Matter Deal record: total_billed_amount, last_billing_date, billing_status, and a free-text custom property for detailed line-item notes. Clients who need full invoice history retain it as a linked PDF document in HubSpot Files.

Claral tasks attached to a matter map directly to HubSpot tasks associated with the corresponding deal. Task status, priority, due date, and owner email are preserved. Tasks with no matter association migrate as unassociated HubSpot tasks. Completed tasks retain their original completion timestamp.

Claral notes on a matter migrate as HubSpot Notes linked to the matter Deal record. Original author and create date are preserved in the Note body header. Rich-text formatting is converted to plain text or preserved as HTML depending on HubSpot's current Notes format support.

Any custom fields defined in Clarra (practice-area tags, client tier classifications, matter-specific drop-downs) are exported as HubSpot custom properties on the appropriate object (contact, company, deal, or custom object). We create these in HubSpot before migration runs so the field IDs are available for mapping during the data transfer phase.

Claral user accounts are resolved by email match against HubSpot users. Unmatched users are flagged before migration — the team either creates the HubSpot user account first or assigns the user's records to a fallback HubSpot owner. Matter ownership is preserved by mapping Claral user_id to HubSpot OwnerId on the deal record.

Claral logged calls and emails associated with a matter become HubSpot engagements on the matter's contact record. Meeting records in Claral migrate to the HubSpot engagement timeline with original start and end timestamps. All engagement records preserve the owning attorney's contact and the matter as the associated deal.