---
title: Reopen a legal matter
description: If a legal matter requires further investigation after it was closed or canceled, you can reopen it to work on it again.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/employee-service-management/legal-matter-management/reopen-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]
---

# Reopen a legal matter

If a legal matter requires further investigation after it was closed or canceled, you can reopen it to work on it again.

## Before you begin

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="d444768e105">

Option

</th><th align="left" id="d444768e108">

Steps

</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td id="d444768e114">

**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="d444768e143">

**As a collaborator**

</td><td>

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


</td></tr></tbody>
</table>4.  Open the legal matter that you want to reopen.

5.  Click **Reopen**.

6.  In the Reopen Matter dialog box, enter comments in the **Comments** field to note why you are reopening the matter.

    Comments entered in the Reopen Matter dialog box will be posted in all related requests.

7.  Reopen related closed or canceled legal requests along with the parent request by selecting the **Reopen related requests** check box.

8.  Click **OK**.


## Result

-   The legal matter is reopened.
-   The state of the matter updates to the state it was in before it was closed or canceled.
-   If the primary legal request of the matter is closed or canceled, then the request is reopened.
-   If you chose to reopen all related requests also, any related legal requests that are in the Closed Complete, Closed Incomplete, or Cancelled state are also reopened.
-   Any collaborators added to the matter will receive an email notification that the matter has been reopened.

## What to do next

[Work on the legal matter]() to complete it.

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