How to Build a Matter Summary that Drives Relevance

A matter summary is based on the key documents supplied to the chronology creation process

A Quick-Fill Guide on how to manually create the matter summary.

Table Of Contents:
- Overview
- Key Issues
- People & Parties
- Entities
- Additional Tips

Best Practices & Hot Tips

1 Overview

Purpose: One-paragraph snapshot so any reader and Mary instantly grasps the dispute.

• Who – claimant & main respondent(s)
• What – alleged wrong / injury
• Where & When – key place + date
• Why – core allegation or damage

An example of this is:

“Ava Thompson alleges negligent left-shoulder rotator-cuff repair at Riverside Surgical Centre on 12 Aug 2023, resulting in nerve injury and chronic pain.”

2 Key Issues (3–6 bullets)

Purpose: Tell Mary what should rank High relevance.

• Use concise statements, not questions.
  • ✅ “Clinical necessity of rotator-cuff surgery.”
  • ❌ “Was the operation really needed?”
• One focus per bullet.
• Add “highly relevant” for mission-critical points.

Example

• Clinical necessity of rotator-cuff repair — highly relevant
• Surgical technique & anchor fixation integrity
• Post-op nerve injury and pain management
• Adequacy of informed consent

3 People & Parties (~8 lines)

Purpose: Individuals whose actions or records could shift liability or quantum.

• Format: Name – Role
• Include treating clinicians, eyewitnesses, key experts.
• Omit admin staff or your own lawyers unless their correspondence is evidence.

Example

• Dr Lucas Meyer – Orthopaedic surgeon
• Dr Helen O’Neill – Anaesthetist
• Dr Samuel Farah – Radiologist
• Dr Priya Desai – Physical-medicine specialist

4 Entities (organisations)

Purpose: The places, and people that are most relevant to your matter.

• Hospitals, imaging providers, employers, insurers, police, etc.
• Use exact legal/trading name.

Example

• Riverside Family Medical Practice
• Riverside Surgical Centre
• Precision Imaging – Riverside

5 Additional Notes (bullet list, one-liners)

Purpose: Extra context that sharpens relevance when core fields aren’t enough.

Use bullets to:

1. Flag low-relevance themes

   “Routine cholesterol tests → Low relevance.”

2. Highlight ambiguities / inconsistencies

   “Timeline unclear: nerve symptoms noted before surgery in some records verify sequence.”

3. Describe open questions / items you’re hunting

   “Any prior left-shoulder injuries <2019.”

4. Provide broader context shaping interpretation

   “Claimant is a professional violinist; functional loss impacts earnings.”

Exclude long narrative, legal argument, or facts already covered elsewhere.

Final 30-Second Check

1. Skim all sections—can a colleague grasp the matter in under a minute?
2. Click Save.
3. Filter to High + Very High and confirm only must-see events remain.

Best Practices & Hot Tips

Follow these habits and Mary will feel like an extra team-member, not another tool

	Practice	Why it pays off
1	Choose 1–3 strong key documents—claim form, case plan, insurer letter, or court pleading.	A rock-solid Summary means cleaner relevance scores and less tidying later.
2	Review Summary and Keep it lean. One short paragraph, 3-6 key issues, only the main people and entities.	The tighter the brief, the less “noise” in High relevance.
3	Write Key Issues as clear statements, not questions.	Mary matches words directly; extra filler like “Did they…?” weakens the signal.
4	Use Additional Notes as a steering wheel. • Flag low-value themes (“Routine bloods → Low”).• Call out ambiguities (“Unclear if two accidents or one—check timeline”).• State what you’re hunting (“Any prior left-shoulder injury before 2020”).	A single line here can shift dozens of events into the right relevance band.
5	Filter to “High + Very High” first.	Surfaces the gold for quick case review or briefing.
6	Glance at “Low” once.	Spot stray high-value facts that slipped down; tweak the Summary to pull them up next run.
7	Refresh the Summary whenever big facts change. (e.g., new surgery, fresh liability decision).	One click realigns every relevance score in minutes.
8	Export late, not early. Do your trimming and tagging inside Mary; export to Word or PDF only when you’re happy with the view.	Saves double-handling edits.
9	Lean on chat support. If relevance looks off or you’re unsure which doc to mark “Key,” drop a message—we typically get back to you within a few minutes.
10	Iterate, don’t hesitate. Tiny edits to the Summary can cut review time by half. Treat it as a living dashboard, not a one-and-done form.