6.1 The Associates Dashboard

This page is your central hub for managing everyone connected to your firm. It's divided into two main sections:

• Active Team Members: This is a list of all associates who have accepted your invitation and are currently part of your firm. Each member is displayed on a card showing their name, role, and the number of cases they are assigned to.
• Pending Invitations You Sent: This section appears whenever you have an outstanding invitation. It helps you keep track of who has been invited but has not yet responded.

Keeping this list current ensures every Team Member picker throughout the app—including case assignments, invoicing, and project dashboards—has the right people available.

6.2 Inviting a New Associate

Adding a new member to your firm is a simple, secure invitation-based process.

1. From the Associates Dashboard, click the "+ Invite Associate" button in the top-right corner.
2. The Invite Associate window will appear. Fill in the required details:

• Email Address: Enter the email address of the person you want to invite. They must have or create a Digital Lawyer Diary account with this email.
• Role: Specify their role within your firm (e.g., "Partner," "Senior Associate," "Paralegal"). This is for your organizational reference.

What happens next?
The system clearly explains the process: The person you invite will receive an email and a notification within their own Digital Lawyer Diary account. They will appear in your "Pending" list until they accept.

Click the "Send Invitation" button.

6.3 Managing Pending Invitations

Once the invitation is sent, a new card will appear under the "Pending Invitations You Sent" section.

This card shows the invitee's email, their assigned role, and a "Pending" status. You have two options here:

• Resend: If your associate hasn't seen the invitation, click this to send the invitation email again.
• Cancel Invitation: If you sent the invitation by mistake or no longer wish for them to join, click this to revoke the invitation.

6.4 What the Invitee Sees: Accepting the Invitation

Your team member will receive the invitation inside their own Digital Lawyer Diary account. When they log in and navigate to their "Associates" page, they will see a pending invitation from your firm.

They have two choices:

• Accept: By clicking "Accept," they officially join your firm's workspace. They will then appear in your "Active Team Members" list, and the pending invitation will be removed.
• Decline: If they click "Decline," the invitation is rejected and removed.

6.5 Managing Active Team Members

Once an associate has accepted your invitation, their card moves to the "Active Team Members" list.

From here, you can:

• Assign them to cases (as shown in the Case Management section).
• Manage their permissions by clicking the three-dot menu icon on their card. This allows you to edit their role or remove them from the firm if they leave your practice.

6.6 Assigning and Reviewing Cases

Each associate card includes a three-dot menu in the top-right corner. Use it to keep case assignments synchronized:

1. Click Assign Cases to open the selection dialog.
2. Search, filter, or scroll through the list, then select one or more matters to share with the associate.
3. Choose Select Cases to Assign to confirm. The associate gains immediate access to those files.

Need to audit workloads later? Choose View Assigned Cases from the same menu to see everything currently shared with that team member—including status and court details—without leaving the Associates module.

Tip: Use Select All or Clear All inside the dialog to handle bulk reassignment when someone joins or leaves a matter.