Winning the Work Is Hard Enough. Onboarding It Shouldn’t Be.
For UK firms, a new matter cannot begin until the client's identity has been verified. Anti-Money Laundering (AML) obligations and Know Your Business (KYB) checks have to clear before a single substantive hour is billed. It's necessary. For most firms, it's also the slowest and most disconnected part of taking on new business.
The problem isn't the checks themselves. It's where they happen. Verification usually lives in a separate portal, away from the matter. Someone re-keys company names and registration numbers into another system, waits for a report, downloads a PDF, and files it back manually. Every hand-off adds delay, invites a re-keying error, and leaves a gap in the audit trail that a regulator may one day ask to see. Meanwhile, the client experiences the firm's first impression as friction.
That first impression matters more than firms admit. Onboarding is the opening chapter of the relationship, and a clunky start quietly signals how the rest of the engagement will feel.
A connected way to onboard, not a bolt-on
Litera is trusted Legal AI that best unifies the practice and business of law, built on 30 years of legal expertise that no AI startup can shortcut. That foundation shows up in a simple principle: the tools lawyers rely on should work where lawyers already work, without a new platform to learn or a new login to remember.
Litera CMM (Case and Matter Management) is where firms run a matter from intake to closing. The Thirdfort integration brings client verification and AML checks directly into that flow. Thirdfort's identity and business checks now take place within the matter record itself, connected to the account rather than parked in a separate tool.
What changes for the firm
When the integration is enabled, the account created in CMM appears in the electronic checks grid, with the check type already set to Know Your Business. From there, the workflow carries its own weight:
- Company details and transaction references populate automatically, and a new company can be matched against Companies House without leaving the matter, so no one re-keys what the system already knows.
- Check status moves visibly from new to open, to in review, then to complete, so teams always know where a matter stands.
- Reports, approval decisions and comments attach to the account record, giving compliance a clean, defensible audit trail in one place.
Verifying the people behind the matter follows the same approach, with a higher level of assurance. A Know Your Client (KYC) check confirms an individual's identity within the same matter record:
- Enhanced NFC ID takes your clients minutes on the Thirdfort app. They enter their details, photograph and scan their passport, and the app does the rest.
- Thirdfort's Enhanced NFC identity verification is fully compliant with HM Land Registry's Digital ID Standard and the identity verification requirements for Companies House, enabling Authorised Corporate Services Providers to verify directors and Persons with Significant Control (PSCs).
- Evidence, results, and approval status attach to the matter record alongside the business checks, so client due diligence lives in one place.
Onboarding is only the first check, not the last. AML obligations continue for as long as the relationship does, and the integration supports ongoing monitoring, so a client cleared at onboarding doesn't quietly become a risk the firm never sees. Changes surface against the matter, keeping due diligence current without anyone re-running the work manually.
The result goes beyond time saved. Faster, cleaner onboarding gets billable work started sooner and frees capacity to take on more. A smoother, more professional start builds trust with the client from the very first interaction. That combination of efficiency, stronger client relationships, and room to grow is the fuller return firms should expect from connected Legal AI, not speed alone.
When verification is embedded directly into legal workflows, compliance becomes a more seamless part of the work. Together, Litera and Thirdfort help firms reduce friction by bringing trusted verification capabilities into the platforms legal professionals use every day.
See how the Thirdfort integration fits into your onboarding
Compliance is not going to get lighter. The firms that treat onboarding as part of the client relationship, rather than a hurdle in front of it, will feel the difference in every new matter. The Thirdfort integration for Litera CMM is available to UK firms. Explore how Litera CMM and Thirdfort work together, and let's talk about what a connected onboarding workflow could look like for your team.
