Migrate from LawPracticeZA to Freshsales

LawPracticeZA clients map 1:1 to Freshsales Contacts. The client's full name splits into First Name and Last Name; physical address, email, and phone migrate directly. Client records without an email address receive a placeholder email flagged for admin review before go-live.

LawPracticeZA matters have no direct Freshsales equivalent — Accounts serve as the closest container. Matter_Number__c, Practice_Area__c, Matter_Status__c, and Open_Date__c become custom fields on the Account. The matter's primary client becomes the Account's primary Contact link. Closed matters archive to a separate 'Archived Matters' Account for historical reporting.

When a matter has a billed or unbilled monetary value, we create a Freshsales Deal linked to the Account. Matter fee totals and disbursement values roll into the Deal Amount. Multiple billable matters under one client merge into a single Deal per pipeline stage to avoid record inflation in Freshsales.

LawPracticeZA fee earners map to Freshsales Users. The API returns the fee earner's name, email, department, and hourly rate. We resolve by email match against Freshsales users; unmatched fee earners are flagged for Freshsales admin to invite or assign to a fallback user before the migration runs.

Billable time recorded against a matter in LawPracticeZA migrates as Freshsales Tasks. The Task Subject carries the matter reference and work description; the date fields preserve the original entry date. Duration converts to Task Reminder_Datetime__c custom field. Fee entries are not billing transactions — they are activity history preserved for reference.

LawPracticeZA invoices do not have a direct equivalent in Freshsales. We create a Product record per invoice — Invoice_Number__c, Invoice_Date__c, Total_Amount__c, VAT_Amount__c, and Status__c (Paid/Unpaid/Overdue) store the financial summary. Line items are not individually migrated; the total and tax amounts preserve the invoice value for reporting.

Trust-account balances, receipts, and transfers have no Freshsales equivalent. We create a custom Product object called 'Trust Account' with fields for Trust_Account_Number__c, Client_Name__c, Current_Balance__c, and Last_Reconcile_Date__c. The trust-reconciliation workflow must be rebuilt as a Freshsales Workflow post-migration. Each client trust account is linked to the corresponding Freshsales Contact record for traceability and reporting purposes.

LawPracticeZA disbursements (out-of-pocket expenses incurred on behalf of a client) map to Freshsales Product records linked to the relevant Account or Deal. Disbursement_Type__c, Amount__c, and Date__c store the expense record. Multiple disbursements per matter are grouped under a parent Product.

Documents attached to LawPracticeZA matters or clients are downloaded and re-uploaded to Freshsales Files, associated with the corresponding Contact or Account record. File size limits of Freshsales apply (25MB per file). Inline images in notes are extracted and re-hosted as standalone Files.

LawPracticeZA communication logs and matter notes migrate as Freshsales Notes. The original timestamp, author (resolved to Freshsales User by email), and linked client or matter (mapped to Contact or Account) are preserved. Rich-text formatting in LawPracticeZA notes is flattened to plain text during migration.

LawPracticeZA allows firms to add custom fields to matters (e.g., Case_Manager__c, Court_Venue__c, Outcome__c). We create matching custom fields on the Freshsales Account object — appending __c in field naming — before data loads. Custom field type mapping: text to text, picklist to picklist, date to datetime.

Client-level custom fields in LawPracticeZA (e.g., Client_Type__c, Referral_Source__c, Billing_Method__c) migrate as Freshsales Contact custom fields. We pre-create the fields in Freshsales admin before the migration batch runs. Type-aware mapping preserves pick-list values, numeric precision, and date formats. Any dependent pick-list configurations or conditional field logic from LawPracticeZA will be documented for manual recreation in Freshsales.