User Roles & Permissions
Understanding roles, permissions, and access control in Vertex.
Vertex uses role-based access control at two levels: organization roles (who can do what in the workspace) and case roles (who can do what on a specific case).
Organization Roles
Every member of an organization has one of five roles, listed from most to least privileged:
Owner
The user who created the organization. Full control over everything.
- All Admin permissions
- Delete the organization
- Cannot be removed or have their role changed
- One Owner per organization
Admin
Manages the team and organization settings.
- All Billing permissions
- Invite new members
- Change member roles (except Owner)
- Remove members (except Owner and self)
- Edit organization settings (name, bio, logo)
Billing
Access to organization and member information.
- All Member permissions
- View all organization members and their roles
- Invite new members
Member
Standard access to cases and features.
- All Guest permissions
- Create cases
- Import cases from e-Court
- Upload files
- Full access to assigned cases
Guest
Limited, read-only access.
- View cases they are assigned to
- Download files they have access to
Organization Role Permissions Summary
| Action | Guest | Member | Billing | Admin | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View assigned cases | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Create cases | — | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Import from e-Court | — | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Upload files | — | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| View all members | — | — | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Invite members | — | — | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Change member roles | — | — | — | Yes | Yes |
| Remove members | — | — | — | Yes | Yes |
| Edit org settings | — | — | — | Yes | Yes |
| Delete organization | — | — | — | — | Yes |
Non-admin users only see cases they are personally assigned to. Admins and Owners see all cases in the organization.
Case Roles
Within each case, assigned users have a separate role that controls their access to that specific case:
Case Admin
Full control over the case.
- All Editor permissions
- Assign and unassign users
- Set the appearing user
- Delete the case
Case Editor
Can modify case data.
- All Viewer permissions
- Edit case details (dates, status, court info)
- Add, edit, and remove parties
- Add, edit, and remove hearing history entries
- Link and unlink related cases
- Upload and manage files
Case Viewer
Read-only access to the case.
- View case details, parties, and hearing history
- View e-Court data
- View and download files (subject to file access level)
Case Role Permissions Summary
| Action | Viewer | Editor | Admin |
|---|---|---|---|
| View case details | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| View e-Court data | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| View & download files | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Edit case details | — | Yes | Yes |
| Manage parties | — | Yes | Yes |
| Manage hearing history | — | Yes | Yes |
| Link / unlink cases | — | Yes | Yes |
| Upload & manage files | — | Yes | Yes |
| Assign / unassign users | — | — | Yes |
| Set appearing user | — | — | Yes |
| Delete case | — | — | Yes |
The user who creates a case is automatically assigned as Case Admin.
File Access Levels
Individual files and folders can have their own access controls, separate from case roles:
| Level | View & Download | Upload & Edit | Manage Permissions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Viewer | Yes | — | — |
| Editor | Yes | Yes | — |
| Owner | Yes | Yes | Yes |
File access is inherited — if a user has access to a parent folder, they automatically have access to all files and sub-folders inside it. Organization Admins and Owners always have full access to all files.
File-level access control is only available on Team plans. In personal organizations, only the organization owner can access files.
How Roles Interact
A user's effective permissions are determined by the combination of their organization role and case role:
- Organization Owner/Admin — full access to all cases and files, regardless of case role
- Case Admin — full access to that specific case
- Case Editor/Viewer — access limited to their case role
- File access — can further restrict or grant access at the file level within a case
When a member is removed from the organization, all their case assignments, bookmarks, and file access records are deleted. Any file access they held is transferred to the admin who removed them.