Set the matter’s Practice area when you add the client: Criminal (the default), DVO, or Traffic application.
- Open the Add Client or New Lead form as usual.
- Pick the practice area in the Matter card. For DVO and Traffic application the Bail status card disappears; there is no bail to record.
- Save.
The manage-client page adapts automatically: Charges and Bail sections are hidden, and the milestone suggestions drop the criminal-procedure list (you can still type your own milestones).
Which practice area to pick
Traffic charges are criminal. Drink driving, drug driving, disqualified driving and other traffic offences have charges, bail and sentencing. Keep them under Criminal. Traffic application is only for licence applications (special hardship order, work licence, disqualification removal). Contravening a DVO is criminal too: record the contravention charge on a criminal matter, not on the DVO matter itself.
Recording DVO applications
DVO matters get an Applications section in the manage-client sidebar. Record which side your client is on (applicant or respondent), the other party, whether it is a new order or a variation, and its status. If the other side cross-applies, add a second application with the opposite role; both sit under the same matter.
One person, several matters
A client can hold a criminal matter and a DVO or traffic matter. Use New matter for… from the matter switcher and pick the right practice area for each: a drink-driving charge plus an application to keep driving is two matters.
Court dates and coverage
Law-list matching finds DVO and traffic listings by name, and event types like Application to Vary Hearing are available when adding court dates. Town Agencies coverage works too: the agency email skips the charges and custody sections for these matters, and requests that include a DVO matter carry a DVO badge so covering agents know before accepting.
Changing the practice area later
Open the client’s edit drawer and change it under Practice area. If the file already has saved charges, bail conditions or DVO applications, Acquit warns you first: that data is kept and comes back if you switch back. If it is genuinely a different matter, create a new file instead of converting. DVO and traffic-application matters show their type in place of the bail chip in the header, client lists and matter switcher.