We're pleased to announce the latest release of Access Legal Case Management, Version 2.16.2

This update includes various enhancements and bug fixes detailed below. A PDF copy of the release notes can also be found here.

Resolved an issue in the PDF Viewer where TA6 and TA10 conveyancing forms displayed mostly blank alternating pages when printed. This was caused by inconsistent header and footer spacing between the first and subsequent pages, which shifted content downward and misaligned page breaks.

Page breaks now appear correctly at natural form boundaries across all pages.

For the fix to work the "Paper size" must be set to A4 like in the below screenshot:

When running a write-off on the ALCM completion screen to clear outstanding WIP, the Close button would intermittently remain inactive, preventing matter closure.

Users were required to re-run the write-off through One Office as a workaround.

Fix: A race condition in the completion screen has been resolved.

The Close button now reliably activates following a successful write-off, allowing matters to be closed without the need for manual intervention via One Office.

Resolved an intermittent issue where clicking the W/O button on the Completion tab of a matter failed to write off the outstanding WIP balance. The WIP balance would remain unchanged with no error or feedback displayed, preventing the matter from being closed in ALCM and forcing users to use DPS One Office as a workaround. This has been fixed, and matters can now be successfully closed via the W/O action on the Completion tab as expected.

Previously, when creating an opportunity with the property type Buying and Selling configured for a Residential Sale (CS), the system incorrectly created the matter under the Convey Purchase (CP) application instead of Convey Sale (CS). This also resulted in an incorrect property value being displayed on the file label.

This has been resolved. The system now correctly identifies the intended matter type at the point of quote send, ensuring the prospect matter is created as CS (Convey Sale) with the correct sale data from the outset.

Resolved an issue where, after closing a matter, the "Close Matter" checkbox would appear unticked following save, and the Archive Reference field on the GDPR-Completion tab would fail to populate.

Both fields now correctly reflect the closed state after saving.

Previously, using the [FE] (Forward Event) command in a document template would fail to execute correctly if an [FL] (Folder to Save) command was also present in the same template. This has now been resolved.

Both commands can be used together within the same template as expected, bringing ALCM behaviour in line with OneOffice.

Resolved an issue where reassigning time profit allocation to a different fee earner during a bill request was not being retained when the request appeared in the FD Admin Tasks screen.

The system was incorrectly saving the original fee earner who performed the work rather than the user-selected bill earner, causing OneOffice to read the wrong value.

This has been corrected so that the allocated fee earner selected during the bill request is now saved and displayed correctly throughout the workflow.

Previously, opportunities created without an Introduction selected could become stuck in Prospect status and fail to convert to live matters, even when marked as Open or Accepted.

This has been resolved. A validation check is now in place to ensure the Introduction field is completed before an opportunity can be saved or a quote sent. Users will see the message "Please select an introduction" if this field is missing, preventing the issue from occurring.

The Time Breakdown report was incorrectly displaying the billed/discounted amount instead of the original time value when a billing request was created via ALCM. This caused the discount visualisation to appear incorrectly for clients.

This has been resolved. The report now correctly displays the original time value alongside the discounted amount, ensuring accurate discount visibility for all billing requests raised through ALCM.

When composing or replying to emails within ALCM — either from a case using the "New Email" button or via the Mail section's "Compose" option — typed text in the email body would intermittently become invisible.

The text was still being captured but was not displaying correctly, and would only reappear when the user pressed an arrow key. This issue has now been resolved, and text entered in the email body will display correctly at all times.

When composing emails from workflow templates, the email editor toolbar was incorrectly showing the default font family and size (Arial 10) instead of the formatting defined in the template (e.g. Times New Roman 16). The email content itself rendered correctly, but the mismatch in the toolbar caused confusion for users who were unsure whether the correct formatting was being applied.

This has been resolved. The toolbar now correctly reflects the font family and size of the selected text, giving users an accurate view of the formatting as they compose their emails.

Resolved an issue where font type and size would randomly revert to the default (Arial, size 10) during email composition. This was caused by repeated wrapping of content in new formatting elements on each user interaction (blur, focus, click, keypress), causing styles to drift and override manual formatting selections.

The editor now preserves the user's chosen font settings throughout composition.

Resolved an issue where the client name was not displaying for certain clients on the client screen. This was caused by incomplete population of the client account name.

The fix updates how the client account name is populated and also addresses missing information in matter details, ensuring client names display correctly across all affected records.

When creating an opportunity with the property type Buying and Selling selected, the system was incorrectly routing the matter to the CP (Convey Purchase) application instead of the intended CS (Convey Sale) application, even when the Department and Matter Category were correctly configured for a Residential Sale. This also caused the file label to display an incorrect property value.

This has now been resolved. Opportunities with the Buying and Selling property type will correctly create the matter under the configured application (e.g. CS – Convey Sale), and the file label will reflect the correct property value.

Previously, KPI figures displayed in ALCM could differ from those shown in OneOffice due to an incorrect Year-to-Date (YTD) date range calculation. This has been resolved so that ALCM now applies the same YTD logic as OneOffice, ensuring consistent figures across both systems.

Previously, default display settings configured in DPS Config > Accounts Settings were not applied when opening a Matter Ledger Card, requiring users to manually re-enable their preferences each time. This has been resolved and your configured defaults will now be applied automatically when opening a Matter Ledger Card.

Previously, when composing or replying to emails, the font size would unexpectedly reset to size 10 when the cursor moved into or below the signature area. This occurred even when no signature was present.

The font size and font family dropdowns now correctly retain the selected values when navigating through the email body, including empty lines and pasted text.

The spacing between the email body and the email signature in the mail compose editor was collapsing after an email was sent, causing the last word of the email body to appear merged with the signature.

This has been resolved — the correct line spacing between the email body and signature is now consistently maintained before and after sending.

Previously, right-clicking a file note in a CR matter and selecting 'Edit' incorrectly opened the Time Recording (Proceeding Class) screen. This has been resolved — selecting 'Edit' now opens the correct Edit screen, consistent with the expected behaviour.

Resolved an issue in ALCM where paragraphs after the first in email templates were incorrectly indented. Subsequent paragraphs now display with consistent formatting throughout the email body.

The aged debtor period labels displayed in the User KPI report (e.g. "31-61 days", "61-91 days") were previously hardcoded and did not reflect the date ranges configured in One Office and FD. These labels are now dynamically sourced from the system configuration, ensuring the User KPI report is consistent with all other aged debtor reports.

Resolved an issue where Xdrafting a document could cause the screen to become unresponsive. Users were unable to interact with the application after Xdrafting, despite items appearing highlighted on hover.

This was caused by an underlying error when accessing undefined data during the process. The application now handles this correctly, ensuring normal interaction is restored after Xdrafting.

Foreign asset exchange rates entered in ALCM were being rounded to 2 decimal places instead of the required 4, causing inaccurate valuations in inheritance tax and estate calculations.

This has been resolved — exchange rates are now correctly stored and displayed to 4 decimal places, ensuring accurate asset valuations.

Resolved an issue in the email composer where highlighting copy-pasted or existing text would unintentionally change the font size.

Font size is now only applied when typing at the cursor position — selecting text will no longer alter its formatting.