Appearance instructions are a short brief for whoever covers a matter: where it is up to, what to seek at this appearance, and anything they must not do without further instructions. They print in the INSTRUCTIONS band of the file note, so a covering colleague, clerk or town agent knows the plan at the bar table.
Where to add them
- On the court date: open the matter in the detail drawer on the Manage Client page and use the Appearance instructions editor. Anyone in your firm can write them, so a clerk can transcribe what a solicitor dictates.
- When you add or edit the court date: the same field sits on both drawers, so a new listing can be briefed as you create it.
- At print time: in Print File Notes, each matter has an Add instructions box. Type, then click Save. The box tells you when it has saved, and what you write goes back to the court date.
Formatting
The editor has buttons for bold, underline, a bulleted list and a numbered list. Press Enter at the end of an item to start the next one, or on an empty item to end the list. Typing the markers works too: a dash starts a bullet, “1.” a numbered list, and a short line ending in a colon, such as At mention:, heads the items under it.
The box grows as you type, so a long brief stays visible rather than sitting behind a scrollbar. The sheet prints the same headings, numbering and bullets, and still fits one page.
Letting AI draft a starting point
The Suggest button reads the matter’s recent history and drafts a starting point you can edit: where things stand, then bullets covering what to ask the court for, anything to put on the record, and what not to do without further instructions. It skips what the sheet already prints above the band, so the client’s name, charges and bail status are not read back to you. Nothing prints until you save it. Suggest uses your firm’s Briefings AI setting (Settings → AI); if it’s off, the button tells you.
Chasing the instructions
On a blank matter, a colleague or clerk can click Request instructions to notify the solicitor with carriage; the app offers the same on the appearance screen. One request stands per appearance, and the button says so rather than sending twice.
At 2pm the day before a sitting, each solicitor also gets one in-app and email reminder listing their next-day matters that still have none. The email is on by default; switch it off at Settings → Notifications (the in-app reminder still fires).