---
title: Close a legal matter
description: Close a legal matter assigned to you when you complete all activities for resolving the legal matter. You can also close the matter if you find that it doesn’t need any further action.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/employee-service-management/legal-matter-management/close-legal-matter.html
release: australia
product: Legal Matter Management
classification: legal-matter-management
topic_type: task
last_updated: "2026-03-12"
reading_time_minutes: 1
breadcrumb: [Work on a legal matter, Use, Legal Matter Management, Legal Service Delivery, Legal and Contract Operations, Employee Service Management]
---

# Close a legal matter

Close a legal matter assigned to you when you complete all activities for resolving the legal matter. You can also close the matter if you find that it doesn’t need any further action.

## Before you begin

Ensure that you've closed all related matter tasks before closing the legal matter.

**Note:** A legal matter cannot be closed if it has any open ad hoc approval records or for its artifacts.

Role required: sn\_lg\_matter.matter\_fulfiller

## About this task

As a collaborator added to a legal matter, you can access and work on the legal matter just as matter owners can. However, you can't modify the **Matter owner**, **Assignment group**, and **Assignment group permission** fields.

## Procedure

1.  Navigate to **All** > **Legal Request** > **Legal Counsel Center**.

2.  In the Legal Counsel Center tab, select the list icon \[Omitted image "lsd-lcc-list-icon.png"\] Alt text: List icon.

3.  In the **Lists** tab, open a legal matter by selecting an option under **Matters**.

<table id="choicetable_qbl_2bj_gtb"><thead><tr><th align="left" id="d293619e110">

Option

</th><th align="left" id="d293619e113">

Steps

</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td id="d293619e119">

**As an assignee**

</td><td>

1.  Select the **Assigned to Me** option.
2.  Select a legal matter to work on.
3.  If the legal matter is newly assigned to you, select **Start** to start working on it.

The state of the legal matter updates to Work in Progress.

</td></tr><tr><td id="d293619e148">

**As a collaborator**

</td><td>

1.  Select the **Collaborations** option.
2.  Select a legal matter to work on.


</td></tr></tbody>
</table>4.  In the **Activity** section, enter comments, add links to related knowledge base articles, or attach files.

5.  Click **Close Complete**.

6.  In the Close Complete Matter dialog box, enter comments in the **Comments** field.

    Comments entered in the Close Complete Matter dialog box will be posted in all open related requests.

7.  Close related legal requests in the Assigned or Work in Progress states along with the parent request by selecting the **Close related requests** check box.

8.  Click **OK**.


## Result

-   The legal matter is closed and its state updates to Closed Complete.
-   If the parent legal request of the matter is not associated with any other open matters, the request is also closed.
-   If you chose to also close all related requests, they are also closed if they meet the following conditions:
    -   The state is either Assigned or Work in Progress.
    -   The requests are not associated with any other open matters.

**Parent Topic:**[Work on a legal matter]()