Migrate from Jarvis Legal to Nutshell

Jarvis Clients map directly to Nutshell People. Name, email, phone, job_title, and address fields have direct equivalents. Clients without an email receive a placeholder email in Nutshell. Internal notes from Jarvis transfer as a custom field on the Person record.

Jarvis Matters have no native Nutshell equivalent, so they map to Nutshell Deals. The Matter name becomes the Deal name, estimated_amount maps to Amount, and responsible_attorney links as the Deal's assigned contact. Legal metadata (case_type, court, opposing_counsel, case_number, practice_area) requires custom fields on the Deal in Nutshell.

Jarvis Time Entries map to Nutshell Tasks. Hours convert to duration in minutes. Entry description becomes the Task subject, date maps to due date, and timekeeper becomes the assigned contact. Billable flag and billing_rate store as custom fields on the Task since Nutshell does not have native billable tracking on Activities.

Nutshell has no Invoice object. Jarvis invoices do not migrate as standalone records. Invoice number, total amount, outstanding balance, and payment status are stored as custom fields on the associated Matter-Deal for billing reference. Actual invoice generation must happen outside Nutshell or via a legal billing integration.

Jarvis stores matter documents in a folder structure. Nutshell has no native document management system. We download all documents, re-upload them to Nutshell Files, and attach them to the corresponding Deal. Folder hierarchy is lost; we record the original folder path in a custom field on each file.

Jarvis matter_status values such as active, pending, closed, and on_hold have no direct equivalent in Nutshell's Deal model. We create a Status_Matter__c pick-list field on the Deal object in Nutshell and map the values one-to-one. Once created, the field displays on the Deal layout for attorney reference, allowing teams to track matter status directly within the CRM without switching contexts.

Jarvis team members and attorneys map to Nutshell users by email address match. Before migration, Nutshell administrators must create user accounts for every attorney and staff member who owns records. Unmatched owners receive a fallback assignment and are flagged for manual resolution.

Jarvis associates each matter with a client. That client-Contact becomes the primary contact on the Nutshell Deal. If a matter links to multiple clients, the primary client maps to the Deal's contact field; secondary clients surface in a custom field for reference.

Jarvis custom fields on matters (such as practice_area, billing_rate_override, referral_source) map to Nutshell Deal custom fields. Field types are preserved where Nutshell supports them (text, pick-list, date, number). Fields with unsupported types (e.g., multi-select pick-lists) convert to text fields with a migration note in the field_mapping log.

Jarvis workflows covering matter progression rules, deadline triggers, and document automation do not transfer. Nutshell's automation engine handles sales follow-up sequences only. We export workflow definitions as a structured reference document so your team can rebuild logic in Nutshell or a complementary automation tool.

Jarvis trust accounting maintains client ledger entries tracking funds received, held in trust, and disbursed. Nutshell CRM lacks an accounting module entirely, so these records have no migration path within the platform. Firms requiring trust accounting capabilities after migration should evaluate a dedicated legal billing platform to operate alongside Nutshell for financial tracking needs.