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Visit fernlex.com and click "Try FernLex for Free" to begin your 14-day free trial — no credit card required. You'll go through a 3-step onboarding wizard: create your first office (name, city, state), invite team members by email with role assignments (Partner, Senior Attorney, Associate, Paralegal, Legal Assistant, etc.), and you're ready to go.

Navigate to Settings → Team Members and click "Invite". Enter each person's name and email, then assign a role. FernLex supports 10 hierarchical roles: Managing Partner, Co-Manager, Partner, Senior Attorney, Associate Attorney, Staff Attorney, Contract Attorney, Paralegal, Law Clerk, and Legal Assistant. Each role has granular permissions across 16 resource types. Invited users receive an email with a link to join your workspace.

Your 14-day trial gives you full access to all features in your chosen plan. You can create matters, upload documents, connect email, invite your team, and explore the AI tools. No credit card is needed to start. At the end of the trial, you can subscribe to continue or your account will be paused.

From the dashboard, click the Quick Actions button (top right) and select "Create Matter". Fill in the matter name, select the case type (Family, Employment, or Asylum immigration), set priority, assign team members, and link a client. The matter will appear in your Cases list with all its tabs: Overview, Tasks, Calendar, Documents, Mail, Billing, and more.

Cases follow a lifecycle: Intake → Forms Drafting → Evidence Assembly → Compliance Check → Attorney Review → Filed → Adjudication. You can update statuses manually or the system advances them automatically as tasks are completed. Each status change is logged in the case timeline for a full audit trail.

Each case has 14+ tabs: Overview (metadata, timeline, assigned team, notes), Tasks, Calendar, Client, Family Members, Sponsor/Petitioner cards (immigration-specific), Documents/Evidence, Mail, Messages, Portal Messages, AI Analysis, Case Intel, Legal Research, Billing (financial cards), Matter Command View, SMS, and Call Prep. You also get Case Health Summary, Quality Metrics, and Score History.

Yes. The Cases page supports filtering by status, assigned user, case type, date range, and priority, plus full-text search across all case fields. You can also perform bulk actions: assign multiple cases, change status in bulk, export to CSV, or archive cases.

FernLex accepts PDF, DOCX, DOC, JPG, PNG, and TXT files. Documents are stored in the Evidence Vault with AES-256 encryption at rest. You can upload via drag-and-drop with a progress indicator, and files are organized by client and matter.

The Evidence Vault is an immutable, versioned document storage system. Every upload creates a new version — previous versions are preserved and auditable. Documents go through a lifecycle: Uploaded → Processing → Reviewed → Approved → Filed. The AI can automatically classify document types (passport, birth certificate, tax return, pay stub, marriage certificate, etc.) and match them to case requirements.

Yes. FernLex integrates with Dropbox and Google Drive. Connect your accounts in Settings → Integrations to sync documents directly into the Evidence Vault. Files are encrypted in transit and at rest regardless of the source.

FernLex includes eight AI employees: Marcus (firm orchestrator for case/task management, status queries, and natural language commands), Harper (client intake), Atlas (matter intelligence), Vera (documents and evidence), Palmer (drafting), Portia (forms), and Iris & Sage (email intelligence — Business plan), plus the Financial Intelligence Agent (14 specialized analyzers for billing, revenue, and trust monitoring). All AI processing happens on-premise via OpenClaw — your data never leaves your infrastructure.

When you upload a document, FernLex notifies your on-premise OpenClaw engine via WebSocket. OpenClaw downloads the file temporarily (HTTPS), processes it in-memory (OCR, classification, extraction, summarization), uploads results back to the dashboard, and immediately deletes the local copy. Document artifacts are locked until an attorney reviews and approves them.

AI Work Units measure AI processing complexity. Different operations cost different amounts: Email Classification costs 100 units, Document Summary costs 400, Drafting costs 800, Risk Analysis costs 1,200, and Multi-Document Analysis costs 2,000. The Starter plan includes 0 units (AI disabled), Professional includes 1,500,000 units/user, and Business includes 5,000,000 units/user. You can purchase additional token packs starting at $15 for 500K credits.

When email syncs from Gmail or Outlook, FernLex runs a 7-stage AI pipeline automatically: (1) Email Classification (USCIS notice, client question, RFE, etc.), (2) Matter/Case Linking via 5-stage cascade matching, (3) Risk Detection (admission of liability, aggressive language, missing disclaimer), (4) Deadline Extraction, (5) Intelligence Analysis (intent, urgency, entities), (6) Attachment Intelligence (document type recognition, case requirement matching), (7) Results stored as immutable EmailInsight records.

FernLex offers three plans: Starter ($49/user/mo) for core practice management without AI, Professional ($99/user/mo) with limited AI (1.5M work units/user, 75 daily AI calls), and Business ($149/user/mo) with unlimited AI (5M work units/user, unlimited calls). All plans include a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. Additional AI token packs are available for any plan.

FernLex includes a Clio-style time tracker with a live start/stop timer, billable/non-billable toggle, and UTBMS code support. The Time Tracker page has 11 columns: Date, Timer, Duration, Matter, Task, Description, Client, Billable, Total, and Actions. You can filter by date range, keyword, matter, user, billable status, and rate. Export to CSV, PDF, or Excel. There's also an auto-time tracking system and Smart Time Finder that detects unbilled work.

From the Billing page, click "Create Invoice". Add line items (hourly, flat fee, expense, tax), link time entries from the Time Tracker, and set payment terms (Net 15, Net 30, Net 60, or custom). Invoices support discounts, credits, and multi-currency. You can set up recurring invoices (weekly, monthly, or custom), and the system sends automated late payment reminders. Send invoices via email or share a client portal link for online payment.

Yes. FernLex integrates with Stripe for online payments. Clients can pay invoices via Stripe Checkout directly from the client portal or via a shared payment link. The system tracks partial payments, generates receipts, and supports refunds. You can also manually record payments by check, wire, or cash.

FernLex includes trust/retainer account management. You can create trust accounts for clients, track deposits, and draw from trust when invoicing. Trust balances are monitored by the Financial Intelligence Agent, which generates alerts for low balances or unusual activity. All trust transactions are fully auditable.

The client portal gives clients their own login to: view active cases with visual timelines, upload evidence documents, send and receive secure messages with your team, view assigned tasks, check upcoming deadlines, review and pay invoices, and access AI case insights (document counts, task status, evidence summaries). The portal supports e-signatures and can be customized with your firm's branding (logo, colors, welcome message).

Go to Settings → Client Portal to customize your portal's appearance: upload your firm logo, set primary brand colors, and write a custom welcome message. Clients register at your firm's portal URL and their accounts are automatically linked to your firm.

FernLex uses AES-256 encryption at rest and TLS 1.3 for all connections. Your database uses PostgreSQL Row-Level Security (RLS) with firm-scoped queries. All passwords are bcrypt-hashed. Every firm's data is strictly isolated — every query is scoped to a single firm. AI processing happens on-premise via OpenClaw, so your data never leaves your infrastructure. PII is never persisted locally in the AI engine.

FernLex is designed to meet ABA Model Rules on client confidentiality (Rules 1.6 and 1.1), state bar technology competence standards, and GDPR/CCPA requirements. The platform maintains immutable audit trails for all actions with configurable retention (default 7 years). Security documentation covers threat modeling, authentication, authorization, encryption, and AI security.

FernLex has 10 hierarchical staff roles with granular permissions across 16 resource types and 6 action types (read, write, delete, approve, export, manage). Roles include Managing Partner (highest), Co-Manager, Partner, Senior Attorney, Associate Attorney, Staff Attorney, Contract Attorney, Paralegal, Law Clerk, and Legal Assistant. Custom roles and permissions are available on Professional and Business plans. RBAC is enforced at both the API and UI levels.

FernLex integrates with: Gmail and Outlook (email sync via OAuth), Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar (calendar sync), Zoom and Google Meet (video conferencing), Dropbox and Google Drive (cloud document storage), Stripe (online payments), and PACER/CourtListener (court filing and legal research). All integrations are available on Professional and Business plans. We also offer a REST API for custom integrations.

Go to Settings → Integrations → Email and select Gmail or Outlook. Follow the OAuth authorization flow to grant FernLex access. Once connected, incoming emails are automatically synced and processed through the AI pipeline — classified, linked to cases, analyzed for risks, and indexed for search. You can also compose and send emails directly from the Mail tab.

FernLex supports USCIS forms including I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative), I-485 (Adjustment of Status), I-864 (Affidavit of Support), I-765 (Employment Authorization), I-131 (Travel Document), I-140 (Immigrant Petition), ETA-9089 (Labor Certification), N-400 (Naturalization), N-600 (Certificate of Citizenship), and I-589 (Asylum). The Forms Engine can auto-fill forms using case data, and the USCIS Case Tracker monitors filing statuses.

When you receive a Request for Evidence (RFE) or Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID), FernLex's AI classifies the document type, extracts key requirements, and drafts response templates. The system shows a deadline countdown and enforces a mandatory approval gate — no RFE response can be filed without attorney review. All RFE communications and responses are tracked in the case timeline.

First, try resetting your password via the "Forgot Password" link on the login page. Check your email for the reset link (including spam folder). If that doesn't work, clear your browser cache and cookies, then try again. If you're still locked out after multiple attempts, your account may be temporarily rate-limited — wait 15 minutes and try again, or contact support for assistance.

AI accuracy depends on the quality of your case data. Make sure matter details, documents, and client information are complete and up to date. You can provide feedback on AI suggestions (approve, edit, or reject) to help the system learn. For complex legal questions, always review AI output with a qualified attorney — the system includes mandatory approval gates for critical actions like filing documents.

Go to Dashboard → Support (accessible from the profile dropdown menu) to create a support ticket. Describe the issue, attach screenshots if relevant, and set the severity level (Low, Medium, High, Critical). Our support intelligence system will investigate automatically and escalate to a human agent if needed. You can track ticket status (Open, Investigating, Waiting for Customer, Escalated, Resolved) directly in the Support Center.