Migrate from My Legal Software to Odoo CRM

Odoo res.partner unifies contacts and companies, breaking My Legal Software's separate client-company model

My Legal Software stores clients and companies as distinct tables with an association record linking them. Odoo collapses this into a single res.partner record where is_company=True identifies organizations. We resolve this by: mapping My Legal Software companies to is_company=True partners first, then mapping My Legal Software individual clients to is_company=False partners that carry the associated company as parent_id on res.partner. The original client-company link from My Legal Software is preserved in a custom x_mls_company_id field on the res.partner record. If your My Legal Software data has clients with multiple associated companies (an N:1 or N:N relationship in My Legal Software), Odoo will store one as parent_id and surface the others in a custom x_mls_additional_companies JSON field — your Odoo administrator decides how to handle the multi-company case in your firm.

My Legal Software custom form fields require Odoo ir.model.fields creation before migration can reference them

My Legal Software allows firms to define custom fields per matter type — practice_area, opposing_counsel, court_jurisdiction, or settlement_amount. Odoo has no pre-existing equivalent for most of these. We create the corresponding ir.model.fields records on the crm.lead model with the correct ttype (selection for pick-lists, char for text, float for monetary values, date for date fields). Selection-type custom fields require an ir.model.fields.selection record per allowed value. We generate a field-creation script as part of the migration plan so your Odoo administrator can review and apply it before the data migration run. If the custom field uses a data type Odoo does not support natively, we flag it as x_mls_custom_field and store the raw value as text for manual resolution.

My Legal Software matter status values must map to Odoo crm.stage records that exist in the destination database first

Odoo crm.lead.stage_id is a many2one pointing to crm.stage, which is a record in the database — not a pick-list defined in configuration. If your My Legal Software matter statuses (Open, Pending, Archived, etc.) have a specific stage ordering and probability values your firm relies on for reporting, those stages must be created in Odoo before the migration runs. We deliver a stage-creation plan as part of the migration package: a JSON payload that creates the crm.stage records with the correct sequence, name, and fold values matching your My Legal Software status logic. The migration then uses those stage IDs in the value-mapping table so the crm.lead records land in the correct pipeline stage immediately on import.

Billable time entries without an associated matter cannot auto-link to an Odoo project or analytic account

My Legal Software allows time entries to be logged at the firm level or against a client without a specific matter. In Odoo, account.analytic.line records require a project_id to appear in timesheet reports and to flow through Odoo's timesheet invoicing policy. We handle this by creating a default 'General / No Matter' project.project record in Odoo during setup and assigning unmatched time entries to that project. You can reassign them to specific matters after migration using Odoo's timesheet kanban view. We flag each such entry with a x_mls_no_matter=True custom field so your billing team can audit the set before finalizing invoices.

My Legal Software workflow and automation rules do not migrate — they must be rebuilt in Odoo's Studio or ir.actions.server

My Legal Software automations operate on matter-level triggers: auto-assign to attorney on creation, send reminder emails on approaching deadlines, escalate based on status changes. Odoo's equivalent constructs are ir.actions.server (for automated actions), mail.tracking.value (for change logging), and Odoo Studio flows. These are fundamentally different data structures — there is no import-compatible format. We export your My Legal Software automation definitions as a structured JSON document listing each rule's trigger_condition, action_type, and associated_matter_type. Your Odoo administrator reviews this document and rebuilds the automations using Odoo's Studio or a developer-assisted ir.actions.server configuration. The JSON is delivered alongside the migration plan before the data run begins.