Connect your practice management system

Using DeedBox? Connect directly — no Zapier needed

DeedBox connects to CabRank natively, and it’s the simplest connection we offer: no Zapier account, no workflow to build, nothing to maintain.

• In CabRank, your firm administrator opens Admin → Storage → PMS Connection and chooses the DeedBox card.
• Paste your DeedBox installation address and a secret key issued from your own DeedBox (leave “test mode” unticked when issuing the key, and set the key’s matter-creation defaults — office, lawyer and practice area — on the key’s page).
• Click Test & connect. CabRank verifies the key against your DeedBox and shows your firm’s name when it succeeds.
• From then on, every finalised matter — client, enquiry summary, court information, notes and the completed documents — files itself into your DeedBox automatically.

Not using DeedBox yet? The same screen has a free setup request — we’ll set a firm up with DeedBox at no charge. If your firm runs Clio, LEAP, Smokeball or Actionstep, the Zapier connection below is your path.

How it works

The connection runs through Zapier, the workflow platform Clio, LEAP, Smokeball and Actionstep all support as an official integration surface. Your firm creates a Zapier account and builds one small workflow (a “Zap”): when CabRank finalises a matter → create it in your practice management system. Two things matter about this design:

• Your practice-management login never touches CabRank. You log into your practice management system inside Zapier’s own secure window; the credential is held by Zapier under your firm’s authorisation.
• It can never lose a document. The claiming lawyer always receives the matter documents by email as well — the connection is a convenience on top, not a single point of failure.

Before you start, you’ll need

• Your firm’s CabRank API key — your firm administrator can generate it in CabRank under Admin → Storage → PMS Connection, or email admin@platfirm.ai.
• A Zapier account for your firm — you can create it during step 1. Zapier’s free plan covers a basic two-step connection only; Clio and LEAP need a paid Zapier plan (see Good to know, below).
• Your practice management system login — you’ll enter it once, into Zapier’s window, in step 4.

One-time setup

Shortcut for Clio, Smokeball and Actionstep: a ready-made version of this workflow already exists — open it and Zapier pre-builds the steps for you: Clio, Smokeball or Actionstep. You’ll still paste your API key and sign into your practice system when it asks — steps 3 and 4 below explain what you’re looking at. LEAP firms: build by hand using the steps below and the LEAP notes under step 4.

1. Create (or sign in to) your firm’s Zapier account

Go to zapier.com/sign-up and sign up with a firm email address. Zapier emails you a confirmation — open the confirmation link in the same browser you signed up in (opening it elsewhere can show an “invalid link” error; if that happens, copy the link and paste it into the browser where you’re signed in).

2. Create the Zap

From your Zapier dashboard, click Create → Zap workflow. You’ll see two connected cards: a trigger (top) and an action (below).

3. Set up the trigger — CabRank

• Click the trigger card, search for CabRank and select it.
• Event: New Finalised Matter → Continue.
• When asked to connect your CabRank account, paste your firm’s API key. The connection labels itself with your firm’s name — that’s how you know the key is right.
• Click Test trigger. Your firm’s most recently finalised matters appear (or a sample record if you’re new). Select one and continue — the fields from this record are what you’ll map in the next step.

4. Set up the action — your practice management system

• Click the action card and search for your system: Clio, LEAP, Smokeball or Actionstep.
• Choose the event that creates a new matter or lead (each system names it slightly differently — see the per-system notes below).
• When asked to connect, log into your practice management system in the window Zapier opens. This is the once-only login; it stays in Zapier’s vault.
• Map the fields: click into each box and pick the matching CabRank field from the dropdown (client name → client name, and so on — the field reference below explains each one).
• Click Test step — a test matter appears in your practice management system. Check it looks right (and delete it there afterwards if you like).

Setting up LEAP specifically. LEAP works best as three action steps, in this order:

• Create Card — the client’s record: map first name, last name, phone and email.
• Create Matter — in the matter type and staff boxes, don’t type: pick from LEAP’s own dropdown lists (the matter type closest to the Area of Law, and whoever new matters should belong to at your firm).
• Create Comment — map the Enquiry Summary and CabRank Reference so the story arrives with the file. The PDFs come by the lawyer’s email — LEAP can’t take a file upload through this connection.

Three steps means LEAP needs a paid Zapier plan — see Good to know, below.

5. Name it and switch it on

Give the Zap a name (“CabRank → LEAP” works) and click Publish. That’s it — from this moment, every finalised matter flows through automatically, usually within a minute.

What each system supports

These are the building blocks each system’s own Zapier app provides — your Zap can use any of them as extra steps:

Where a system can’t take a document upload, nothing is lost — the claiming lawyer’s email always carries the PDFs, and the matter record in your system links back to the CabRank reference.

The fields CabRank sends

The full technical reference, including the exact field names, lives on the Developer API page.

Good to know

• Each matter arrives exactly once, and only after finalisation fully completes — your system can never receive a half-finished or duplicate matter from CabRank.
• Which Zapier plan you need depends on your system. Zapier’s free plan only allows two-step workflows (up to 100 matters a month). Clio and LEAP connections need more than two steps, so they need a paid Zapier plan — Professional, from US$19.99 a month billed annually, with a 14-day free trial. The same applies to any connection using document upload or the sync receipt below. A basic two-step Smokeball or Actionstep connection may fit the free plan.
• New Zapier accounts start on a 14-day Professional trial. If your connection needs the paid plan and the trial ends before you upgrade, Zapier switches the workflow off — matters quietly go back to email-only until you upgrade and switch it back on. Worth a diary note.
• Optional — the sync receipt: on a paid Zapier plan you can add a final step, CabRank’s Mark Matter as Synced, mapping in the matter ID your system assigned. CabRank then shows the matter as “Synced” with your file number against it.
• If you pause or delete the Zap, matters simply stop arriving in your system (the lawyer emails continue). Switch it back on and new finalisations flow again — matters finalised while it was off arrive by email only.

If something doesn’t work

• “Unknown API key” when connecting: re-copy the key carefully (no leading/trailing spaces). Still stuck — email admin@platfirm.ai and we’ll reissue it.
• The trigger test shows an old or sample record: click Find new records in the test panel to pull fresh data before testing later steps.
• The action test says the matter can’t be found: your Zap is holding a stale test record — refresh the trigger test (previous point), select the newest record, then re-test the action.
• Zapier’s confirmation email says “invalid link”: copy the link from the email and paste it into the address bar of the browser where you signed up.
• Anything else: admin@platfirm.ai — include your firm name and a screenshot if you can.

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