Disposition and Case Status Compared

Disposition and Case Status are similar but distinct fields on cases/matters.

Disposition is a system field that tracks an application from the prescreen/intake stage through the open/closed case stage or rejected stage. Agencies cannot create or alter the available dispositions.

Case Status is a lookup field and each agency controls the values. It is often used as a workflow tool, focused on pending and open cases.

Disposition

Disposition is set by LegalServer as an application is entered and processed. Users cannot 'select' a disposition, but must step through a process. For example, a user cannot simply change the disposition of an open case to Closed, but must go through the agency's "Close Case" process.

There are six possible dispositions:

  • Prescreen - if an agency begins the application process by using a prescreen, the record will have this disposition. If a prescreen is rejected, the disposition is changed to Rejected Matter. If a prescreen is escalated to an intake, the disposition is changed to Incomplete Intake.

  • Incomplete Intake - an application will be assigned this disposition either after a prescreen is escalated to an intake, or after an intake process is started without a prescreen.

  • Pending - at the end of an intake process, users can select Pending to indicate that the intake is complete but the application has not been officially accepted for service as a case. Pending matters/cases appear in the Cases list on the Cases tab, not in the Matters list.

  • Open - at the end of an intake, the disposition field can be set to Accept to initiate the process to open a case and have the disposition set to Open. The same process can be initiated for a pending case.

  • Closed - a case is assigned this disposition after a user completes the close case process.

  • Rejected Matter - a matter is assigned this disposition after being rejected. Prescreen and incomplete intakes can always be rejected. Open and closed cases can be rejected unless a site administrator has disabled this option.

Case Status

Case Status is often focused on pending and open cases. A pending (disposition) case may have a case status of "Set for team meeting", "Needs supervisor review", "Pending conflict determination", etc. An open (disposition) case may have a case status of "Awaiting pro bono placement", "Ready to close", or practice area values like "SSI - Recon Filed", "SSI - Pending ALJ Decision", and so on.

Case Status can be a helpful workflow tool because each change in status is recorded in the Case Status History, along with the date of the change and the user that made the change. The form to change the case status includes a note field that creates a case note and the option to email the note. See: Case Status

Site administrators control the values available for Case Status in Admin/Lookups/Case Statuses.