> ## 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.

# Avenue Overview

> The four fixed phases every client matter moves through — and why HoLaCe locks them in that order.

Every client matter in HoLaCe lives in exactly one **Avenue** at a time. Avenues are the highest-level concept in the system — the answer to "where is this case in its life right now?" before any of the finer detail. There are four of them, in this order, and you cannot create new ones, rename the underlying enum, or skip ahead:

1. **Prospect**
2. **Pre-Litigation**
3. **Litigation**
4. **DNQ** ("Did Not Qualify")

\[Screenshot: Pipeline view with the four Avenue columns labeled across the top]

<Note>
  Avenues are intentionally **not customizable**. Workflows, Stages, and Steps inside each Avenue can be tuned to your firm — but the four-Avenue spine stays the same so reporting, AI, and cross-firm analytics work consistently. See [Workflows, Stages & Steps](/case-management/workflows-stages-steps) for what *is* tunable.
</Note>

## What each Avenue represents

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Prospect" icon="seedling">
    A potential client who has reached out (or been added by your team) but hasn't signed a fee agreement yet. The work in this Avenue is intake-shaped: capture the story, run a conflict check, qualify, and either sign or move to DNQ.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Pre-Litigation" icon="briefcase-medical">
    A signed client whose case is being worked toward demand and settlement without a lawsuit. Most PI matters live here the longest — investigation, treatment, records collection, demand, and negotiation all happen inside this Avenue.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Litigation" icon="gavel">
    A case where suit has been filed (or is about to be). Discovery, depositions, motions, and trial prep all run inside the Litigation workflow's Stages.
  </Card>

  <Card title="DNQ" icon="circle-xmark">
    Closed-out matters that aren't being pursued. A Prospect who didn't sign, a signed client who later disqualified, a case that statute-of-limitations'd out — they all land here. DNQ is a deliberate *parking lot*, not a deletion.
  </Card>
</Columns>

## Linear progression — no skipping

A Journey moves through Avenues in a strict forward order:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Prospect → Pre-Litigation">
    Triggered when the contract is signed and the journey is qualified. This is the most common forward transition.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Pre-Litigation → Litigation">
    Triggered when an attorney decides to file suit (or the case becomes one where filing is required to preserve rights). Done from the journey detail page.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Any Avenue → DNQ">
    Available from any forward Avenue when a case is closing without a settlement — declined intake, conflict, dropped client, statute expiration. DNQ is reachable from all three forward Avenues.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Warning>
  You cannot move a Journey **backward** through Avenues from the UI. If you need to revive a DNQ'd matter, contact your firm admin — it's an intentional speed bump because reopening a closed file has compliance implications.
</Warning>

## When the Avenue changes vs. when the Stage changes

This is the most common point of confusion for new users:

* **The Avenue changes only at the four big lifecycle moments above.** Most days, your Journeys are not changing Avenues.
* **The Stage changes inside an Avenue every time you complete its Steps.** Stages are the day-to-day movement.

A typical Pre-Litigation Journey will move through 9 Stages (Investigation → Treatment → Records Collection → Demand Prep → Demand Sent → Negotiation → ...) before its Avenue ever changes. See [Workflows, Stages & Steps](/case-management/workflows-stages-steps) for the full hierarchy.

\[Screenshot: A single Journey card showing its current Avenue, current Stage, and step progress side by side]

## Why this matters for your reporting

Because every firm uses the same four Avenues, your firm-level dashboards and HoLaCe's AI insights can answer questions like:

* "How many Prospects converted to Pre-Litigation last quarter?"
* "What's our average time-in-Pre-Lit before demand?"
* "Which referral sources produce the most DNQs?"

You don't have to map your custom statuses against a normalized model — the Avenue layer *is* the normalized model.

<Tip>
  Each Avenue has a default firm-display label (e.g. "Active" instead of "Pre-Litigation") that your firm admin can set in admin settings. Reports and the AI agent still operate on the underlying Avenue, so renaming is purely cosmetic for your team's vocabulary.
</Tip>

## Where to go next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Workflows, Stages & Steps" icon="layer-group" href="/case-management/workflows-stages-steps">
    The full hierarchy under each Avenue and what your firm admin can customize.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Journey Lifecycle" icon="route" href="/case-management/journey-lifecycle">
    Follow a single matter from creation through close.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>