Advocate Panel — User Manual

1. Signing in and your workspace

A workspace is one office on Advocate Panel: a chamber, a firm, an in-house legal team, a bar association, a Bar Council office or a legal aid office. Everything you record belongs to that workspace and nobody outside it can see it. One person can belong to several workspaces (for example a chamber and the district bar association) and switches between them.

Sign in

1. Open legal.bharatamvinyas.com (or the Android app).
2. Enter your email and password and choose Continue.
3. If you belong to more than one workspace, choose the one to open. You can change it later from Switch org at the top.
4. The first time, the owner's Onboarding checklist appears on the dashboard (office details, team, Bar Council profiles). Finish it once.

New office: sign up online (free trial)

1. On the sign-in page (web or Android) choose Create a workspace — free trial, or open legal.bharatamvinyas.com/register.
2. Enter your name, work email, mobile number and a password (at least 8 characters with letters and numbers), the name of your chamber / firm / organisation, and what kind of office it is (solo advocate, chamber, firm, multi-office firm, in-house legal team, bar association, Bar Council office, legal aid office).
3. Read and accept the Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, DPDP notice and Data Processing Addendum, then choose Start my free trial.
4. You are signed in to your new workspace at once, as its owner, with every module open for the trial (14 days). No card is needed.
5. We email you a link to confirm your email address. Until you do, a banner reminds you; Send the link again sends a fresh one. Confirming is needed before you choose a paid plan.
6. Invite your team from People & ops → Team, and start with your first client, case or hearing.

Free trial, plans and payment

• A banner at the top shows the days left in the trial. We also email the owner 7, 3 and 1 day before it ends, and on the day.
• When the trial ends your records stay safe: everyone can still open, search and export them, but adding or changing work is paused until a plan is active. The banner and each refused save say so.
• Choose a plan (web: Admin → Plans & billing; Android: More → Communications & workspace → Choose a plan). A free plan is switched on at once. For a paid plan, fill in who the invoice is for (GSTIN optional) and send the request: our team sends a GST invoice with bank / UPI details within one working day and switches the plan on as soon as the payment is received. You can cancel a request while it is waiting.
• Only the workspace owner or an administrator can change the plan. See the refund & cancellation policy.

Forgot password / locked out

Choose Forgot password? on the sign-in page and enter your email. A link to set a new password arrives by email and works for 60 minutes; setting it signs you out on every device, then sign in with the new password. Your workspace owner can also reset your access from Team, or write to support@bharatamvinyas.com. Two-step sign-in (MFA) can be turned on from Admin → Security & privacy.

2. How every screen works

All lists in the web app follow the same layout, so once you know one you know them all:

• Menu (left): grouped as Practice, Clients & matters, Files, Communications, Research, Finance, People & ops, Admin. You only see what your role and your plan allow.
• Title and breadcrumbs at the top show where you are; the line under the title explains the screen.
• Filters: press Filters to open the search and filter box; Apply reloads from the server.
• Find in page narrows the rows already shown.
• Export: the four icons download the list as CSV, Excel, PDF or Word.
• Pages: Prev / Next and Rows (5, 10, 20, 50) at the bottom.
• Open on a row shows its details and the next steps for it. Buttons appear only when that step is allowed (for example Approve appears only on a draft).

Printing

Every printable paper (issued document mark, member ID card, premises pass, title search report, invoice) opens in a new tab with a Print button. Print at 100% scale or choose Save as PDF. Print links expire after 30 minutes; open a fresh one from the record if needed.

3. The Android app

Install

1. On the phone, open legal.bharatamvinyas.com/downloads/advocate-panel.apk.
2. Allow Install unknown apps for your browser when asked, then install.
3. Sign in with the same email and password as the web.

Finding things

• The bottom tabs hold the daily screens: Diary, Clients, Cases, Sync and More.
• More lists every module your role can use as tiles: Today's briefing, Case file actions, Notice desk, Court filing desk, IP docket, Title & revenue files, Legal aid, Lok Adalat, Billing desk, Association office and the rest.
• Inside a tile: the list is on top, + / Add creates a record, tapping a row opens it, and the buttons under the record are the next steps (the same steps as the web).

4. Roles: who can do what

The owner gives each person a role in People & ops → Team. The role decides which menu items they see and what they can add or change. The server enforces it, on the web and on the phone alike. Roles can be adjusted per workspace (Team → role matrix).

Other roles available in Team: Legal secretary (adds clients, matters, documents, diary), External counsel (works on the matters they are given), Association admin (runs a bar association workspace), and for in-house teams General counsel Legal manager Legal operations Business requester (raises requests to legal).

Guide: Owner / Partner

1. Set up once: finish Onboarding on the dashboard; add your offices; invite the team in Team with the right role; add courts you appear in (Courts & directory).
2. Every morning: read Today's briefing on the dashboard (hearings, appointments, deadlines due in three days, open tasks). The same briefing comes by email at 07:30 on days that have something.
3. Approve: outgoing notices drafted by others (Notice desk), title reports (Title & revenue files), and requests waiting in Admin → Approvals.
4. Money: watch Finance → Billing dashboard; issue invoices; follow unpaid ones.
5. Safety: set ethical walls for conflicted matters; review Audit log; turn on MFA for everyone.
6. Integrations: add SMS / WhatsApp / email / payment gateway keys in Admin → Integrations when you are ready to send for real.

Guide: Advocate / Associate

1. New client: CRM intake → record the enquiry → run the conflict check → when clear, open the matter (see Clients, intake & conflicts).
2. Before court: send a legal notice from the Notice desk; when it goes to court, use Open the case on the notice.
3. Filing: prepare the paper on the Court filing desk, tick the checklist, file, cure registry defects, and record registration (the case gets its number).
4. Hearings: add hearings on the case; after each date, record what happened and the next date. Send the next date to the client on WhatsApp or SMS from the hearing.
5. Daily: Diary and Today's briefing; Deadlines & tasks for limitation and to-dos.
6. Specialised work: trade marks and patents in the IP docket; bank title searches in Title & revenue files; legal aid cases in Legal aid & Lok Adalat.

Guide: Paralegal / Clerk

• Clerk: Cases, Diary, Cause list, Deadlines & tasks, Documents and Evidence, and the Court filing desk (prepare, tick checklist, file, record defects and cures, register). Matters, notices and billing are not shown to a clerk.
• Paralegal: everything a clerk does, plus clients, matters, notices, IP and title files (add and edit).
• Each day: check the Cause list, update hearing outcomes, upload orders to Documents, and follow registry defects on the filing desk (the cure-by date is on the diary).

Guide: Receptionist

• Front desk: check in visitors, allocate a meeting room, notify the advocate, check out; log parcels and deliver them.
• Enquiries: record new enquiries in CRM intake; website enquiries arrive there by themselves (source "website").
• Notices received: log an incoming legal notice on the Notice desk (the reply-due date goes on the diary for the advocates). Approving or dispatching notices is for advocates.

Guide: Accounts

• Billing: invoices (GST), retainers, payment links, recording payments; Bank reconciliation to match statements.
• Accounting: vouchers, ledgers, reports, cash closing, Tally export.
• Expenses: court fees from the filing desk arrive as case expenses automatically; approve and bill them.
• Office: assets, procurement (requisitions → quotations → purchase orders → receipt) and inventory.

Guide: Bar association office

• Members: People & ops → Association → members: add, edit, print member ID cards (the card's QR shows whether the member is in good standing).
• Dues: set dues schedules, run them, remind unpaid members, verify payments.
• Events, elections, campaigns: plan events and attendance; run elections (stages, voter roll, ballots, results).
• Premises: vehicle stickers, gate passes and lockers (see below).

Guide: Bar Council office

• Enrolment: receive applications, scrutinise papers, put the committee decision, enrol on the roll (roll number), record AIBE.
• Discipline: register complaints, decide prima facie, refer to the disciplinary committee, record hearings and the order.
• Details in Bar Council office.

Guide: Legal aid office (DLSA / clinic)

• Receive applications, decide eligibility (s.12 categories or income), assign a panel lawyer, follow the case, close with the outcome.
• List cases for Lok Adalat sittings and record awards.
• Details in Legal aid & Lok Adalat.

Guide: Client (portal)

• Sign in from External client? Open client portal on the sign-in page with the invitation.
• See your matters and next hearing dates, documents shared with you, invoices and payments; upload papers; message the office.

Guide: Platform support staff

• The support portal opens after sign-in. Platform directory lists every workspace (kind, standing, plan, team size, last use) — no client data.
• The separate client-base portal works through the platform API with a platform staff sign-in: GET /api/v1/platform/plan-requests (requests to move to a paid plan), POST /api/v1/platform/organizations/{id}/subscription (switch a plan on for N months after payment; clears the trial lock and emails the owners) and POST /api/v1/platform/organizations/{id}/alerts (pause or resume a workspace's automatic alerts). Every new sign-up and every plan request is also emailed to the operator address.
• To help inside a workspace, the customer issues a support PIN from Admin → Support access; you exchange it for a time-limited session that shows only what they allowed. Everything you do is audited under your name.

Dashboard & today's briefing

The dashboard shows today's briefing (hearings with time and court, appointments, deadlines due within three days with limitation ones marked, and your open tasks), plus counts for your areas. Each line opens the record.

Diary, calendar & schedule

• Diary: hearings by date for your cases. Calendar: hearings, appointments, deadlines and leave together. Today schedule: the day in order.
• Alarms, court holidays and leave are set from Alarms, holidays & leave (Android) / the calendar settings.

Google / Outlook calendar sync (both ways)

1. An admin adds the office's Google Cloud or Microsoft Entra app keys under Integrations; the setup guide there shows the redirect URL to register.
2. Each person presses Connect Google or Connect Outlook and signs in to their own account. Nobody else in the office can see or change that connection.
3. Out: your hearings, deadlines, tasks, leave and reminders for the next four months appear in that calendar, and change there when they change here.
4. Back: events you make in Google or Outlook show in your agenda as busy. A task or reminder you move or rename there is moved or renamed here; a reminder you delete there is dismissed here.
5. Hearing and deadline dates come from the court and the diary: change them in Advocate Panel. If one is moved in Google or Outlook, it is put back at the next sync.
6. Sync runs every 15 minutes, and when you press Sync now. Disconnect stops it; tick the box to also take this app's events out of that calendar.

Clients, intake & conflicts

1. Record the enquiry in CRM intake (who, what about, how they came).
2. Run the conflict check on the client and the other side. Hits are listed; clear it, or waive it with the written consent noted.
3. Open the matter once the check is cleared (a matter cannot be opened without one).
4. Client file: KYC items, contact preferences (WhatsApp/SMS consent), engagement letter.

Importing clients from a spreadsheet

1. Save the sheet as CSV (Excel: File → Save as → CSV), or download the template. The first line names the columns: name is needed; phone, email, type, legal name, category, address, city, state, PIN, source and notes are read when present. The Clients export reads back in as it is.
2. Press Check the file. Nothing is saved yet: each line shows whether it will be added, skipped (already a client, or a repeat in the file) or needs fixing, and why.
3. Tick fill in what their record is missing to add a missing phone, email or legal name to clients already on the books; nothing already there is blanked out.
4. Press Import. Up to 5,000 clients at a time; every client added or changed is in the audit log.

Matters

A matter is the client's piece of work (one or more cases, notices, files and bills). Set the responsible advocate, priority and limitation date. Archive a finished matter (it can be restored). The summary marked "the client sees" appears in the client portal.

Cases, hearings & cause list

1. Add the case on its matter: court, case number, CNR, stage.
2. Add hearings with date, time, court hall, purpose and the appearing advocate.
3. After the hearing record the proceedings and the next date. Old dates are never overwritten; the history stays.
4. Tell the client: on a hearing, Next date on WhatsApp or SMS opens your phone's WhatsApp/SMS with the message written (only for clients who agreed to case updates).
5. Linked cases (appeal, revision, execution…), vakalatnamas and the status history are on the case.

Deadlines, tasks & limitation

• Add a deadline or task on a matter or case; tick it when done.
• Limitation rules: apply a rule to a date (for example 30 days from receipt of notice under s.138 NI Act) and the deadline is created, skipping court holidays if you choose.
• The notice desk, filing desk and IP docket put their own due dates here by themselves.

Notice desk

Outgoing notice

1. Log a notice: choose Outgoing, the kind (legal notice, cheque dishonour s.138, demand, eviction…), subject, addressee and address, the matter, the reply period (days) and the notice text. Save.
2. Approve for dispatch: someone other than the drafter approves (a one-person office approves its own).
3. Mark dispatched: how it was sent (registered post AD, speed post, courier, email, hand, WhatsApp) and the tracking number.
4. Mark served with the date: the reply-due date is worked out and goes on the diary and the morning briefing.
5. Record reply when the reply comes; the diary deadline is completed.
6. Open the case if the matter goes to court — the case is created on the matter and linked to the notice.

Incoming notice

Choose Incoming and the date it was received: the reply clock starts at once. "Replies due within a week" is listed at the top of the page.

Court filing desk

1. Prepare a filing: the case, the paper (plaint, written statement, application, appeal, writ petition, bail application, caveat…), title, mode (physical counter or e-filing) and the court fee.
2. Tick the checklist — it is filled in for the kind of paper (index, synopsis and list of dates, memo of parties, vakalatnama, affidavit, court fee, annexures…). Mark filed appears only when every point is ticked.
3. Mark filed with the diary / acknowledgement number. The court fee is recorded once as a case expense (to be billed to the client).
4. Record defect for each objection the registry raises, with the cure-by date. The earliest open cure-by date is on the diary.
5. Mark a defect cured one by one. Re-file appears when all are cured.
6. Mark registered with the registration / case number: the case takes that number if it had none.

Documents, evidence & paper authority

• Documents: upload to a matter or case; versions are kept; share with the client through the portal; filing bundles.
• Import: bring in a spreadsheet of existing clients, matters or cases.
• Evidence: exhibits with chain of custody and the evidence certificate.
• Paper Authority: stamp papers and authority instruments, scan and verify the bearer, print settings.

Issued documents (QR marks)

1. Add a document type (for example "Opinion letter") and set where the mark sits on your letterhead.
2. Issue a copy to a person. Its QR mark opens a page showing who received it, when, and who issued it — so a photocopy can be checked.
3. Print the mark on your stationery (load the letterhead, print at 100%).

IP docket

1. Add a right: trade mark, patent, design, copyright or GI; the mark/invention; applicant; classes (1–45 for marks); application number; filed-on date; office.
2. Record what the office did as it happens: examination report, reply filed, hearing, accepted, published, opposed, counter-statement, registered/granted, renewed, refused, abandoned.
3. Each event sets the next date and puts it on the diary. Default periods under Indian law: trade mark exam reply 30 days; patent FER reply 6 months; request for examination 31 months; opposition window 4 months after publication; counter-statement 2 months; renewal 10 years (marks); design 10 years plus one 5-year extension; patent renewal fees from year 3. If the office letter gives a different date, enter it in "Due date set by the office" — it wins.

Title & revenue files

1. Open a title file: purpose (bank loan, purchase…), bank and borrower, owners, the schedule of property, survey/khasra/CTS number, village, district, state and the search period (30 years by default).
2. The usual papers are listed (encumbrance certificate, record of rights, mutation entries, title and mother deeds, tax receipts, plan, conversion order, owner ID). Mark each received, verified or not available (with the reason).
3. Add entries: each link in the flow of title (date, from, to, document number, sub-registrar), encumbrances (subsisting or discharged), revenue records (pending, done, disputed).
4. Draft the opinion: clear and marketable, clear subject to conditions (write them), or not clear. A clear opinion is refused while an encumbrance subsists, a revenue entry is pending or disputed, a chain link is unverified or a paper is missing.
5. Issue the report (a second person in a team) and Print the report. Before issue, "Preview the report" shows it marked DRAFT.

Legal aid & Lok Adalat

Applications

1. Receive an application: applicant, phone, the category under s.12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act (SC/ST, woman or child, person with disability, industrial workman, in custody, disaster victim, trafficking victim) or income with the annual income, and what the matter is.
2. Decide eligibility: categories are entitled whatever their income; for income, the ceiling you enter applies (₹3,00,000 if none). An ineligible decision states why.
3. Assign a panel lawyer from your office, or name an outside panel advocate; note the next date.
4. Close with the outcome (won, lost, settled, withdrawn, referred to Lok Adalat, advice given).

Lok Adalat

1. List a case for a sitting: date, case reference, parties, nature (motor accident, bank recovery, matrimonial, cheque, labour…), referred from.
2. Record result: settled (award number, terms and amount — final), not settled, or adjourned to a new date. A settled case linked to a legal aid application closes it.

Research & court sync

• Library: bare acts (BNS, BNSS, BSA and others) with sections; save research notes and citations to matters.
• Court sync: imports case status from a licensed court-data provider once connected in Integrations; until then it runs in test mode. Imported fields are checked one by one before they change your case.

Notifications, WhatsApp & social

• Notifications: messages to clients and team (hearing reminders, dues reminders), with the outbox showing what was sent.
• Channels: SMS, WhatsApp and email go out once their provider keys are added in Admin → Integrations. Quiet hours and each client's consent are respected.
• WhatsApp without a provider: from a hearing, "Next date on WhatsApp" opens your own WhatsApp with the message ready.
• Social: compose and schedule posts for the firm's pages once the networks' keys are added.

Bulk SMS & WhatsApp: one person, many, a group, staff or clients

1. Connect your own provider first (owner / admin): web Admin → Integrations; Android More → Administration → Integrations. SMS: MSG91 or Twilio. WhatsApp: Meta WhatsApp Cloud API or Twilio. Use Send test to check. Your workspace sends with its own account and is billed by the provider directly.
2. Import contacts: pick a CSV file (or paste it). Columns: name, mobile, level, opted out (yes/no); a first line with column names is fine. Up to 5,000 per import. Numbers already in the book are recognised in any format (+91, 0, spaces, dashes) and not added twice. You can put the imported people straight into a group. Lines that cannot be used are listed with their line number.
3. Groups: create as many as you need (Executive, Library committee, District bar …). Add or remove people by ticking them in the contact list (web) or with Add / Remove members (Android). One person can be in many groups.
4. Send: choose the channel, then any mix of: all staff, staff by role or team (or chosen people on Android), all clients, chosen clients or the clients of chosen matters, several groups, whole bar levels, everyone in the address book, single contacts, and extra numbers for this send only. Leave anyone out by name. Each number gets one message even if it is in several lists. Opted-out people are always skipped, and so is anyone without a mobile number on file (shown as "no mobile number").
5. Kind of message and templates: choose General, Meeting, Event, Hearing or Promotion / greeting, and start from a saved template if you like. Write {name} to put each person's own name in the message and {firm} for your office name. A promotion reaches only clients whose contact has "agreed to marketing messages" ticked; the others are listed as "has not agreed to promotions".
6. Send later: pick a date and time and the message is scheduled; it goes out at that time (checked every 5 minutes). Until then you can Cancel it and nobody receives it.
7. Templates: WhatsApp needs a template approved by Meta for messages outside a 24-hour reply window, and Indian SMS needs a DLT-registered template. Enter the template name (WhatsApp) or DLT template id (SMS). If your WhatsApp template has a {{1}} placeholder, tick "Put my message into the template" and your text goes into it.
8. Progress: Sent messages lists every send with how many went out, are on the way, were stopped (and why, in Notification outbox) or were skipped as opted out. Messages go out continuously, about 500 a minute per workspace.
9. Not connected yet? The send is saved as "Not sent — provider not connected". Connect the provider, then press Send now on it. Nothing is ever shown as sent until the provider accepts it.

Who can do it: owner, partner and admin roles, plus anyone whose role has Workspace add rights. Every import, group change, send, cancel and "Send now" is recorded in the Audit log with who did it and when.

Automatic alerts: hearings, meetings and events

Reminders that go out on their own, with the court, room, bench and judge filled in, so everyone gathers on time. Every workspace starts with these (you can change or switch each one):

• Hearing: the day before, 6 pm (on) — to the client and the advocate, on WhatsApp, SMS and in the app.
• Hearing: 1 hour before (on) — to the client, the advocate and the case team: "please gather now at Court, Room, Bench, Judge".
• Hearing: morning of the day, 8 am and Hearing: 30 minutes before (off until you switch them on).
• Meetings & events: the day before, 6 pm (on) and 30 minutes before (off) — to the attendees of an item in the Schedule.

1. When: the day before at a time, on the day at a time, or a number of minutes before it starts. "Minutes before" needs the hearing's time to be entered. A hearing moved to another date or time is reminded again for the new listing; each alert goes out once per listing.
2. To whom: the client, the advocate on the case, the case team (the matter's team and responsible person), the attendees of a meeting or event, or all staff.
3. Channels: WhatsApp, SMS, email and "in the app". Clients receive WhatsApp, SMS and email; "in the app" reaches staff.
4. Templates: each alert uses a message template. Placeholders: {name} {firm} {client} {case_no} {case_title} {court} {room} {bench} {judge} {purpose} {stage} {advocate} {title} {place} {date} {day} {time} {minutes}. For WhatsApp Business, enter the name of the template Meta approved and which placeholders fill its {{1}}, {{2}}… in order.
5. On / off: switch any one alert on or off, or Switch all off for the workspace. Bharatam Vinyas support can also pause a workspace's alerts; the screen then says so.
6. Coming up shows what goes out in the next 48 hours with the exact message; Sent alerts shows what went out, how many messages reached the provider, and which were not sent and why (channel not connected, no mobile number).

SMS and WhatsApp alerts go out only once those channels are connected in Admin → Integrations; until then the log shows them as "channel not connected". Changing alerts needs Communications edit rights; every change and every on / off is in the Audit log.

Client portal

Invite a client to the portal for their matters, choose what they can see (documents, invoices, payments, messages), revoke when needed, and read their messages and uploads.

Billing & payments

• Invoices with GST (CGST/SGST or IGST, place of supply), from time entries, services and expenses; issue, send, record payment, credit notes.
• Retainers: client advances held and applied to invoices.
• Payment links: once a gateway is connected (Payment gateways), the client pays online and the payment is recorded.
• Bank reconciliation: import the bank statement and match receipts.

Running timer for time entries

• Press Start timer, say what you are working on and pick the matter (you can fill these in later). Pause for a break; paused time is not counted.
• The timer runs on the server: close the page, or carry on from the phone, and it keeps counting. One timer per person at a time.
• Stop and save adds an ordinary time entry, rounded up to the minute, ready to bill. Discard drops the time; the discarded timer stays in the audit log.

Accounting & expenses

• Vouchers (receipts, payments, journals) with two or more lines; ledgers; reports; daily cash closing; Tally export.
• Expenses: court fees (automatic from filings), stamps, travel, printouts; approve, then bill to the client.

Team, workforce & office operations

• Team: invite people, give roles, adjust a role's permissions, remove access.
• Workforce: attendance, leave, payroll basics.
• Front desk: visitors, meeting rooms, parcels.
• Assets: the office register; assign, return, report and resolve events. Procurement: requisition → quotations → approval → purchase order → receipt. Inventory: stock, receipts, issues, adjustments.
• Front desk, assets, procurement and inventory are switched on in Admin → Operations modules.

Association: members, dues, events, elections

• Members with enrolment number, class and standing; Print member card (its QR shows whether the member is active).
• Dues: schedules (monthly/quarterly/yearly), run a cycle, Remind unpaid dues, verify payments, online payment once a gateway is connected.
• Events with attendance; Elections: stages, workstream (returning officer…), voter roll, ballots, results (refused while election tasks are open); Campaigns.

Bar premises (stickers & passes)

1. New request: member, pass (vehicle sticker, gate pass, locker), vehicle number or locker number.
2. If the member is not active or has dues outstanding, the pass is held and the reason shown. Collect the dues, or write a reason to issue anyway (for example a committee resolution).
3. Issue pass: it is numbered (VS/2026/0001…), valid to 31 March unless you choose dates; a fee becomes the member's due. A vehicle holds one current sticker.
4. Print the pass. At the gate, scanning its QR shows Valid or Not valid today (revoked, expired or member not in good standing).
5. Revoke with the reason (vehicle sold, misuse…).

Bar Council office

Enrolment

1. Receive an application (name, university, degree year, contact, fee).
2. Record scrutiny: tick each paper in order (degree, marksheets, date of birth proof, character certificate, affidavit of no other profession, photographs, fee receipt). Missing papers make it deficient with the list.
3. Committee approves (only with every paper in order) or rejects with the reason.
4. Enrol on the roll: give the series (for example MAH) or the roll number. The advocate joins the members roll and the two-year window to pass the AIBE starts. Record AIBE when passed.

Discipline (Advocates Act s.35–36B)

1. Register a complaint against an advocate; the date to decide by (one year) is shown.
2. Refer to the disciplinary committee, or dismiss at the threshold with reasons.
3. Add hearings; record the order: dismissed, reprimand, suspension (months) or removal. A suspension or removal changes the advocate's standing at once — their ID card and premises passes stop verifying — and a suspension is lifted automatically when it ends.

Closure & archive

When a matter ends: settle the bills, return or archive documents, and archive the matter. The dashboard lists what is still open on matters being closed.

Settings, security & audit

• Security & privacy: MFA, API tokens, ethical walls, legal holds, privacy requests, retention rules.
• Integrations: SMS, WhatsApp, email, payment gateway and court-data keys, each with a test button.
• Support access: issue a time-limited PIN when you want Bharatam Vinyas support to look at something; revoke any time.
• Audit log: who did what and when, filterable and exportable. Every change shows its values before and after ("status: open → done"); History on a row shows that record's whole life — created, each change, deleted, restored.
• Subscription & billing: your Advocate Panel plan and invoices.

Deleted records and the audit trail

• Nothing is ever erased. "Delete" or "Archive" only hides a record from lists, searches, counts, dashboards, reports and prints. The record stays in the database with who deleted it and when.
• Admin → Deleted records (owner, partner, admin, or any role with Workspace delete rights): every deleted client, matter, case, document, exhibit, invoice, folder, research note, ethical wall, contact group and custom field, newest first, with who deleted it. Filter by kind, search, and press Restore to put one back (a restored case comes back open). Ethical walls apply here too.
• Taking someone off a group or an ethical wall keeps that membership on record; adding them back restores it.
• A deleted folder: its documents and sub-folders move up to the folder above, so nothing goes missing; the audit row lists what moved.
• Passwords, tokens and keys never appear in the trail; they are shown as ***.
• Backups: the whole database and every uploaded file are copied every night at 02:30 and kept for 30 days, and every update of the product proves a backup restores before going live.

Languages

Menus and the main screens are available in English, हिन्दी, मराठी, ગુજરાતી, বাংলা, ਪੰਜਾਬੀ, தமிழ், తెలుగు, ಕನ್ನಡ, മലയാളം, ଓଡ଼ିଆ and اردو (right-to-left). Change it in Admin → Security & privacy → Language (web) or More → Language (Android). Your records stay in the language you type them in.

Firm microsite & enquiries

Publish a simple website for your chamber (home, about, services, contact). Visitors can Request a consultation on the contact page; after they agree to be contacted, the request lands in your CRM intake as a website lead.

Offline work

Offline packs keep chosen matters on a device for court days without signal. Changes made offline are sent from Sync when you are online again; conflicts are shown for you to resolve. A pack can be revoked if a device is lost.

Questions & problems

I cannot see a menu item a colleague sees.

Your role does not include it, the matter is behind an ethical wall for you, or the module is not in your plan. Ask the owner (Team → your role).

A button I expect is missing.

The next step appears only when the record is ready for it — for example Mark filed after the checklist is complete, Re-file after every defect is cured, Issue the report after the opinion is drafted.

"Someone other than the drafter must approve".

In a team, a second person approves notices and issues title reports. Ask a partner or the owner.

SMS / WhatsApp / payment says "test mode".

The provider keys are not added yet. The owner adds them in Admin → Integrations; until then nothing is sent or charged.

The print page says the link expired.

Print links last 30 minutes. Open the record again and press Print.

The Android app will not install over an older one.

Uninstall the older copy first (an older build may be signed differently), then install from the download link.

Still stuck?

Use Help & support in the app, or write to support@bharatamvinyas.com.