Panel onboarding playbook: adding colleagues to Practice

Plan the rollout before you send invites

Agree internally: who receives direct bookings, who appears on the practice-wide page, who handles enquiries, and who may see billing. Changing those answers weekly confuses referring firms.

Each mediator needs their own Stripe Connect for party fees routed to them. Platform subscription is per practice; Connect is per mediating seat.

• Soft cap of four mediators per practice—plan seat allocation before hiring
• Colleagues can be provisioned via admin flows or CLI attach for pilots
• Keep a single practice timezone unless you truly operate as distinct regional rooms

Profiles, credentials, and personal booking slugs

Every mediator completes profile, rates, and availability. Personal booking slugs power direct referrals (“book with Alex”) while the practice link powers panel marketing.

Photos and accreditation lines feed directory listings when you opt in. Use consistent naming—parties compare profiles side by side on practice booking.

• Session types and fees can differ by mediator; practice-wide page reflects who is bookable
• Block presets and interval sessions can coexist—document which mediators use which model
• External calendar busy sync is optional per seat; failures should not silently double-book

Practice-wide booking and website placement

Embed or link the practice booking page on your panel site. Parties choose a mediator (when multiple are available), then date and time from that mediator’s live calendar.

Keep personal slugs in lawyer referral templates when the referral is mediator-specific. Use the practice link for general “contact our panel” entry points.

• Waitlist and calendar tooling live under Booking/Calendar—not a second Home list
• Co-mediator matters assign multiple mediating seats on one file
• Booking approval settings apply per practice policy—communicate to coordinators

Roles: admin, mediator, coordinator, billing, viewer

Practice Admin manages subscription, integrations, and governance fields. Mediators see their matters and mediating work. Coordinators often run enquiries and scheduling but should not inherit billing writes by default.

Billing clerk seats focus on fees, exports, and accounting handoff. Viewer/partner read-only suits external supervisors or silent partners.

• RBAC is enforced server-side—client UI hiding alone is not security
• Integration connect/disconnect splits permissions: personal calendar vs practice governance
• Document retention and purge tools are restricted—do not give coordinator retention writes casually

CRM, enquiries, and referral sources

Use enquiries when matter qualification happens before a file exists. Convert holds before expiry—Home inbox surfaces expiring holds so they are not lost.

CRM contacts and referral source fields help reporting on which firms send work. They complement, not replace, your marketing CRM if you maintain one elsewhere.

• Enquiry is not a full matter until converted—avoid duplicating party PII in spreadsheets
• Relationship records support institutional referrers; keep notes factual and non-privileged
• Reports skew toward admin/clerk roles—coordinators should not depend on analytics dashboards for daily ops

Lawyer portal alignment for referred work

On Practice, referring firms can receive read-only matter visibility and secure brief upload for referred cases. Set expectations: portal shows progress, not party intake content or caucus notes.

Matter pack and proof-of-service style exports are Practice features—confirm with each firm what they need before promising custom reports.

• Each referred matter still needs mediator-side consent and conflict workflows
• Firms may use CounselOS or other practice management on their side—portal does not sync trust accounting
• Train lawyers on token links; they should not share portal access beyond the matter team

Directory listing and public profiles (opt-in)

Practice includes optional Neutly directory listing with mediator profile pages. Opt in only when photos, areas of practice, and booking links are current—stale profiles harm trust.

Directory complements your own SEO and association registers; it does not replace NMAS or panel accreditation listings you maintain separately.

• Public profiles link to live booking—not a contact form dead-end
• Geography and practice areas should match where you actually take matters
• White-label and marketing site integrations vary—confirm what is live in your environment

Fees, Connect, and clerk workflows

Each mediating seat completes Connect onboarding. Fee splits and single-payer requests run on the matter; clerks track unpaid lines without becoming the go-between for party card entry.

Accounting integrations, when connected, push paid invoices—they do not replace your chart of accounts decisions or GST treatment advice from your accountant.

• Platform read-only mode blocks mutating integrations but may allow disconnect—know SUB-1 behaviour before go-live
• SMS reminders are Practice-tier—configure opt-in and cost expectations
• Storage limits scale with tier; position papers accumulate quickly on commercial panels

Go-live checklist (two-week parallel run)

Run one internal test matter with two mediators and a coordinator: practice booking → assign → intake → pay → session link. Then one referred matter with a friendly firm on the lawyer portal.

Debrief on inbox noise: approval queues, failed emails, and enquiry holds. Adjust roles before you invite every referring firm.

• Document which email templates coordinators may edit vs admin-only
• Confirm copilot/AI defaults if enabled—staff must not paste party PII into external tools against policy
• Schedule quarterly profile and rate review—booking embeds do not auto-update marketing PDFs

Honest limits for multi-mediator practices

Neutly is not a panel registry, court nomination system, or live video platform. Panel-tier registry integration, funder portals, and high-volume API limits are sales-led—not self-serve Practice checkboxes.

You cannot add a fifth mediating seat without architectural or commercial change—the four-mediator soft cap is real. Party accounts do not exist; every party remains link-based.

Neutly does not auto-select neutrals for courts or run competitive marketplace discovery—your brand and referrals drive demand.