> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.holace.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Contact Categories

> The 12 built-in contact categories and why they matter for journey linking and reporting.

Every contact in HoLaCe belongs to exactly one of **twelve fixed categories**. The categories are the same for every firm — they're a deliberate taxonomy designed around personal injury practice, not a free-form contact type field.

\[Screenshot: Contacts page with the 12 category cards across the top, each showing a count]

## Why categories are fixed

A contact's category controls more than how it's displayed:

* **Form fields** — the contact form shows different fields per category (e.g., adjusters get claim-number and carrier fields; medical providers get NPI and tax-ID fields).
* **Journey linking** — when you attach a contact to a journey, the relationship type that's offered depends on the category (a `MEDICAL_PROVIDER` can be linked as treating provider, IME, or expert witness; a `DEFENDANT` can only be linked as defendant or adverse party).
* **Reporting** — caseload analytics, fee-attribution, and the COO Engine all bucket activity by contact category.
* **Search** — global search filters by category, so you can scope to "find me every adjuster from State Farm" rather than "find me everyone with State Farm in their name."

Forcing a small fixed taxonomy is what makes those features possible. Free-form contact types would mean every firm reinvents the categorization wheel and the AI has nothing consistent to reason about.

## The twelve categories

| Category                 | Who fits here                                                                                                   |
| ------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Client Related**       | Family, friends, emergency contacts, next-of-kin — people connected to the client but not the client themselves |
| **Witness**              | Eyewitnesses, character witnesses, fact witnesses (use **Expert Witness** below for retained experts)           |
| **Attorney**             | Opposing counsel, co-counsel, referring attorneys                                                               |
| **Medical Provider**     | Physicians, hospitals, urgent cares, imaging centers, physical therapists, chiropractors                        |
| **Insurance**            | Adjusters, insurance company contacts, subrogation contacts                                                     |
| **Lien Holder**          | Medicare, Medicaid, hospital liens, ERISA liens, ad-hoc medical liens                                           |
| **Expert Witness**       | Retained medical experts, economists, accident reconstructionists, vocational evaluators                        |
| **Court / Legal Entity** | Judges, mediators, arbitrators, court clerks, bailiffs                                                          |
| **Employer**             | HR contacts, payroll, supervisors — used when documenting wage loss                                             |
| **Funding Company**      | Pre-settlement funding companies, medical funding companies                                                     |
| **Investigator**         | Private investigators, surveillance companies (your own and the other side's)                                   |
| **Defendant**            | Defendants, adverse parties, at-fault parties — distinct from their attorneys (those go in **Attorney**)        |

The plaintiff (client) themselves is *not* a contact — clients live on the journey itself, not in the contact directory. A client's emergency contact is what would go in **Client Related**.

## Picking the right category

Two patterns to keep in mind:

1. **Role, not relationship.** Categorize by what role this person plays in plaintiff PI cases generally. A surgeon who later testifies as your retained expert is two records — one **Medical Provider** for the treatment, one **Expert Witness** for the retained role. They're different relationships and you'll want to bill, contact, and report on them differently.
2. **One contact, one category.** Don't shoehorn a single record into multiple roles — split into two records.

## What if none fit?

If you have a recurring need that none of the 12 categories cover, that's a signal worth surfacing — open a [bug report](/admin-cross-cutting/support/in-app-bug-button) describing the use case. The taxonomy is fixed today, but it's evolved before based on real-firm feedback.

<Note>
  Linking and managing contacts on a journey: [Managing Contacts](/admin-cross-cutting/contacts/managing-contacts).
</Note>