# Deals and pipelines for matters > Track each mandate as a deal, move it through your stages, record the conflict check and set up pipelines to match how your firm works. Source: https://www.leadlex.com/help/crm-basics/deals-and-pipelines Last updated: 2026-10-21 A **deal** is a piece of work you are trying to win or are already doing, usually one matter or mandate. In the app they appear as deals; for a law firm, read each one as a matter. A deal belongs to a company, involves contacts, and sits in a stage of a **pipeline**. Open **Pipeline** in the left rail to see them all. ## Create a deal 1. Open **Pipeline** and choose **New deal**. From a company record you can choose **Add deal** instead. 2. In **Create New Deal**, start on **Basic Info**. Fill in **Deal/Mandate Name** (for example "Buy-Side Acquisition - Series C"), **Pipeline** and **Stage**. These three are required. Pick the **Company** and the **Matter Type**. 3. Open **Contacts** to set the **Primary Contact**, **Primary In-House Counsel** and **Decision Maker**. 4. Open **Commercial** for **Estimated Fee Value**, **Probability (%)**, **Priority** and **Fee Model** (**Flat Fee**, **Hourly**, **Blended Rate** or **Panel Rate**). 5. Choose **Create Deal**. The **Details** tab holds the internal team: **Relationship Partner**, **Matter Lead** and **Owner**. Already have deals in a spreadsheet? Choose **Import** on the pipeline. ![The Pipeline board with deals in stages](/help/deals-and-pipelines/pipeline-board.webp "The Pipeline board, with a pipeline selected and deals in each stage.") ## Work the pipeline Use the **Board**, **List** or **Forecast** switch to change the view, the search box to find a deal, and the pipeline picker if you run more than one. Drag a deal card to another stage to move it. The strip across the top summarises the pipeline: **Pipeline total**, **Weighted**, **Closing this Q**, **Hot deals**, **At risk**, **Past stage SLA** and **Won YTD**. Weighted value uses each stage's probability. When you move a deal, a prompt offers a next step that fits the stage, such as **Send stage update email**, **Create follow-up task** or **Schedule meeting**. Moving a deal to a won stage offers **Send thank-you email**, **Create onboarding task** and **Schedule kick-off**. A lost stage offers **Send follow-up email** and **Schedule re-engage (90 days)**. ## Inside a deal A deal has tabs for **Overview**, **Activity**, **Emails**, **Meetings**, **Tasks**, **Notes**, **Documents**, **Conflict**, **Signals** and **Related deals**. The properties panel shows **Pipeline**, **Stage**, **Matter**, **Value**, **Probability**, **Close date**, **Priority** and **Tags**, and the summary row shows **Days in stage** and **Last contact**. Choose the Lexi button in the header to ask Lexi about this deal: summarise it, draft a follow-up, suggest next steps or assess risk. ## Record the conflict check The **Conflict** tab on each deal shows one of three states: **Cleared**, **Pending** or **Not run**. Choose **Mark cleared** or **Mark pending** to record the outcome of your own check. LeadLex does not decide for you. The tab does not run a search itself, and marking a deal cleared or pending only records your answer. When LeadLex suggests **Run conflict check** as a next step, it creates a task for you. To screen names against your own CRM first, ask Lexi to run the Conflict Check skill (see [Lexi skills](/help/lexi-and-channels/lexi-skills)). Admins can make this binding. Under **Pipeline settings → Conflict & compliance**, **Block stage progression until clear** stops a deal from advancing past a stage you choose (**Contacted**, **Discovery**, **Proposal Sent** or **Engaged**) until the check is cleared. **Re-check after** sets how many days a clearance stays valid, and **Reviewer email** is where review requests go. Choose **Save changes**. ## Set up your pipelines Choose **Pipeline settings** at the top of the Pipeline page. The sections are **Pipelines & stages**, **Matter types**, **Fee structures**, **Card display**, **Conflict & compliance**, **SLA & momentum**, **Lexi automations** and **Team & visibility**. Every member can open Pipeline settings, but only workspace admins can change them. Everyone else sees a read-only view. 1. In **Pipelines & stages**, choose **New pipeline** and name it. 2. Add stages and name them. Each stage has a probability, which drives the weighted forecast, and an SLA in days, which flags a deal as at risk when it sits too long. 3. Mark the stage that means won and the one that means lost. 4. In **Matter types**, edit the list your firm uses, for example patents, trade marks or litigation. A stage marked won can also create a paired deal in another pipeline, which the app calls the **Retention bridge**. It is useful for turning a won deal into a follow-on pipeline. ## What happens next Give each open deal a next step. See [Tasks, notes and follow-ups](/help/crm-basics/tasks-notes-follow-ups).