Migrate from Legal Files to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales

Legal Files matters map directly to Dynamics 365 Cases. Matter number, filing date, status, and matter type translate to Case ID, Created On, Status, and a new_MatterType custom picklist. Attorneys assigned to matters resolve to Dynamics 365 users by email match. Closed matters migrate with historical status preserved.

If the firm's legal workflow requires matter-specific fields that don't fit the standard Case entity (e.g., opposing counsel, litigation phase, jurisdiction, statute of limitations), we create a custom Matter table in Dataverse linked to the Case via a lookup relationship. This is the most common extension for legal-matter migrations.

Legal Files parties of type 'Individual' map to Dynamics 365 Contacts. Full name splits into First Name and Last Name fields. Email address, phone, and address fields map directly. Party notes and role within matter (e.g., plaintiff, defendant, witness) become custom fields on the Contact record.

Legal Files parties of type 'Organization' map to Dynamics 365 Accounts. Organization name becomes Account Name. Website, industry, and address fields map directly where present. Multi-office organizations create multiple Account records with a parent-child hierarchy preserved via the Parent Account field.

Legal Files captures party roles per matter (e.g., Opposing Counsel, Insurance Carrier, Expert Witness). Dynamics 365 has no native party-role-per-case concept. We create a custom multi-select picklist field (new_PartyRole) on the Contact-to-Case relationship or a custom junction entity linking Contacts to Cases with a role designation.

Legal Files documents export to the local filesystem. We re-upload them to SharePoint Online using Dynamics 365's native SharePoint document management integration. Each document set attaches to the corresponding Case record. Original file names, create dates, and author metadata are preserved. SharePoint folder structure mirrors Legal Files' matter/subject hierarchy.

Legal Files emails linked to matters migrate as Dynamics 365 Email activities attached to the Case. Sender, recipient, subject, body, and sent date map directly. Email attachments migrate with the email as SharePoint documents linked to the same Case record.

Legal Files calendared deadlines become Dynamics 365 Tasks attached to the Case with a due date. Critical dates (statute of limitations, discovery cutoffs, trial dates) map as Task records with Subject and Due Date fields. Recurring deadline rules require manual rebuild in Power Automate, as Legal Files' recurring calendar logic has no direct equivalent.

Legal Files time entries (date, attorney, hours, billing rate, description) map to a custom TimeEntry table in Dataverse linked to the Case and Contact. If the firm uses Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations or Business Central for billing, time entries can route to the ERP module for invoice generation. We identify the best path during the migration audit.

Legal Files allows unlimited custom fields per matter. Each custom field is evaluated for type (text, date, picklist, numeric) and mapped to a corresponding Dataverse column with the new_ prefix. Picklist fields require value-by-value mapping where source picklist values differ from Dynamics 365 defaults. We create a field mapping matrix during the audit phase.

Legal Files users and assigned attorneys resolve to Dynamics 365 SystemUser records by email address match. Unmatched users are flagged before migration so the firm can either create their Dynamics 365 user record or assign their cases to a fallback attorney. OwnerId on migrated Case records must reference a valid SystemUser.

Non-document attachments in Legal Files (images, PDFs, spreadsheets linked to matters) re-upload to SharePoint and linked to the corresponding Case. File size limits follow SharePoint Online constraints (250MB per file by default). We verify SharePoint storage quotas before migration to estimate document migration scope.