Cases
Manage your legal cases in Vertex — from creation to disposal.
Cases are the core of Vertex. Every matter you handle — civil suits, criminal appeals, writ petitions, bail applications — lives as a case in your organization's workspace.
Adding Cases
There are three ways to add cases to your organization:
Search from e-Court
The fastest way to add an active case. Go to Court Portals → e-Court → Search and find your case by CNR number or case number. Once found, save it to your organization — all details, parties, hearing history, and dates are imported automatically.
Cases added from e-Court have auto-sync enabled by default, meaning Vertex will periodically check for updates (new hearing dates, status changes, orders) and keep your case data current.
See Court Portals for the full integration guide.
Bulk Import
If you have many cases to add at once, go to Court Portals → e-Court → Import and upload the .txt export file from the e-Court portal. Vertex extracts all CNR numbers from the file and imports each case automatically.
You can optionally check "Auto Assign Cases To Me" to be assigned to all imported cases as admin.
On free plans, auto-assignment is mandatory for imported cases.
Create Manually
Go to Cases → New Case and fill in the details:
- Court Name — the name of the court hearing the case
- Case Type — civil suit, criminal appeal, writ petition, etc.
- Case Number — the official court case number (must end with a valid year)
- CNR Number — the 16-character Case Number Record (e.g.,
HRCV010012342024) - Filing Number & Date — the filing details
- Registration Number & Date — the registration details
- First Hearing Date — when the case was first heard
- Next Hearing Date — the next scheduled hearing (required if case is not disposed)
- Decision Date — set this if the case has been decided
- Case Status — e.g., Pending, In Progress
- Nature of Disposal — required if a decision date is set (e.g., Dismissed, Allowed, Settled)
- Court Number & Judge Name — the specific court room and judge
Manually created cases have auto-sync disabled by default.
Case Details
Each case in Vertex contains:
Parties
Every case has parties classified as Petitioner or Respondent, each with an optional advocate name. You can add, edit, or remove parties from the case detail view.
For cases imported from e-Court, parties are populated automatically.
Hearing History
A chronological record of all hearings, including:
- Judge Name
- Business Date and Date of Hearing
- Purpose of Hearing
- Proceedings — what happened at the hearing
- Advocate Notes — your own notes for each hearing (not from e-Court)
Hearing history syncs from e-Court automatically — only new entries are added, and existing ones are never overwritten. You can also add hearings manually.
e-Court Data
For cases linked to e-Court, a dedicated tab shows all data from the court portal:
- Parties with advocate names
- Acts & Sections applicable to the case
- IA (Interlocutory Application) status
- FIR details (for criminal cases)
- Hearing history
- Final orders & judgements
- Case transfer history
- Subordinate court information
See Court Portals for details.
Files
Each case has its own file management system with folders and documents. See File Management.
Linked Cases
You can link related cases together. Two link types are supported:
- Connected — related cases in the same or different courts
- Counter — counter cases
Linking is symmetric — when you link Case A to Case B, the connection appears on both cases. You can add an optional reason for the link. Both users need Editor-level access or above on both cases to create or remove links.
Searching & Filtering Cases
The cases list page supports:
- Search — by CNR number, case number, or party names
- Status filter — Active (no decision date), Disposed (has decision date), or All
- Date range — filter by next hearing date
- Assignment filter — show only cases assigned to you
Non-admin users see only cases they're assigned to. Admins and owners see all cases in the organization.
Cases are ordered by next hearing date (soonest first) for active cases, and by decision date (most recent first) for disposed cases.
Case Roles
Each user assigned to a case has a role that controls what they can do:
| Role | View | Edit Case | Manage Parties & Hearings | Assign Users | Delete Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Viewer | Yes | — | — | — | — |
| Editor | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | — |
| Admin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
The user who creates a case is automatically assigned as Admin on that case.
Appearing User
One user per case can be designated as the Appearing User — the counsel who appears in court for that matter. This is a special designation separate from the case role.
Bookmarks
You can bookmark cases for quick access. Bookmarked cases are highlighted in your case list for easy reference.
Case Limits
The number of cases you can create depends on your organization's plan:
| Plan | Max Cases |
|---|---|
| Free | 10 |
| Standard | 100 |
| Pro | 500 |
| Team Starter | 200 |
| Team Pro | 500 |
| Enterprise | Unlimited |
You'll receive a notification when approaching your limit. Existing cases are never deleted when downgrading — you just can't create new ones beyond the limit.