Overview
Ethical walls let you control who can see each contact's Engage workflows. Admins turn them on themselves in Governance, then Ethical walls. Once they're on, you can restrict a contact's Engage workflows to named users or departments, and choose whether new contacts start firm-wide or restricted.
Ethical walls are included in your Legl plan. Nothing changes until you switch them on.
Before you start
You must be an Admin.
If you want new contacts to be restricted by default, add your users to departments first in Settings, then Team & departments. See How to manage your team & departments.
Ethical walls are not available for firms that use the Consultancy Model.
How to turn on Ethical walls
Select Governance in the left-hand navigation, then select Ethical walls.
Select the Configure tab. You can also select Get started on the Overview tab.
Turn on Access permissions. The status changes to: "On. Access to existing and new contacts' Engage workflows can now be restricted to named-users and departments."
How to set the default visibility
Once Access permissions is on, Default visibility appears on the Configure tab. Under A new contact's visibility is set to:, choose one option:
Firm-wide (the default): a new contact's Engage workflows are visible to all Engage users.
Restricted: a new contact's Engage workflows are visible only to the department of the person who created the contact.
ℹ️ Further guidance
What happens next
Existing contacts stay firm-wide until you change them. See How to change who can access a contact's Engage workflows.
New contacts start with your default visibility. The person creating the contact can still choose a different setting. See How to restrict access to a contact's Engage workflows.
Every change to a contact's access is recorded in the contact's history.
How to turn off Ethical walls
Turn off Access permissions on the Configure tab. All Legl users can then see every contact's Engage workflows. Your existing access settings are kept, so they apply again if you turn Ethical walls back on.
Important information
Default visibility applies to new contacts only. If the person creating a contact is not in a department, the contact may stay firm-wide even when your default is Restricted.
Engage requests created through a practice management system integration start firm-wide. You can't set restrictions through the integration yet, but an Admin can change them in Legl afterwards.
There is no bulk change for existing contacts. Change each contact one at a time.
Ethical walls restrict Engage workflows only. Every user can still find the contact in search and see their contact details. Ethical walls apply to individual contacts only.
At firms on the Consultancy Model, the Access permissions switch is off and can't be turned on. To register your interest, contact our Support team.
If you need more help
If you have a question about Ethical walls, contact our Support team.