TABLE OF CONTENTS


What an Ethical Wall does

An Ethical Wall is a security feature that restricts access to certain cases based on predefined rules. It helps ensure that users can only view or interact with cases they are permitted to see.



Who can set Ethical Walls

Access to the Ethical Walls feature is controlled by user permissions. 


To view or manage Ethical Walls, a user must have the "System Ethical Walls Management" permission set to "Read" or above. For more information on system user permissions, please see the article System Permissions



Set up an Ethical Wall in Equinox

To set up an Ethical Wall in Equinox:

  1. Head to the System tab in Equinox and select Ethical Wall Management.
     
  2. Equinox will take you to the Ethical Walls Management page. This page displays a list of Ethical Wall blocks configured in your Equinox system, under the three Ethical Wall categories:
  • Role
  • Team
  • User



Set up an Ethical Wall for a Role

Set a Primary Permissions Role

If any of users you would like to include in this Ethical Wall block have multiple system permissions roles applied to their user, first ensure to select their Primary Role to match the Ethical Wall role.


  1. To do this, head to the System tab and select System Permissions.
  2. On the Permissions tab, select the user under the Username column. 
  3. From the Edit User Permissions Roles screen, choose the relevant Primary Role from the right-hand dropdown, and confirm by selecting Set.




Create an Ethical Wall for a Role

Once any user permissions role changes have been completed:


1. Head to the System tab in Equinox and select Ethical Wall Management.

2. On the Ethical Walls Management page, under Role select Create.

3. Choose the permissions role you would like to create the Ethical Wall for from the Role dropdown.

4. Select your Policy Mode: "Allow All (except rule matches)" or "Deny All (except rule matches)"

5. If relevant, tick the "Matter user access only" checkbox

6. Confirm by selecting 'Create'.

The new Ethical Wall will now appear on the Ethical Walls Management page under Role.



Add case access restrictions to the Role Ethical Wall

To add case restrictions to the Role Ethical Wall:

1. Select the Role name under the Ethical Walls Management page, for example 'Formalities'.

2. This takes you to the Edit 'Role' Ethical Wall Policy page, which shows an overview of the Ethical Wall for this Role.

3. Select 'Add Rule' on the right-hand side of the page. There are four rule types available:

  • Category
  • Client
  • Applicant
  • Who pays the bill

4. Enter the relevant information and confirm with 'Create'.

5. Once created, the Edit 'Role' Ethical Wall Policy page will be updated.



Set up an Ethical Wall for a Team

Create a Team 

To set up an Ethical Wall for a Team, first create your team under the System tab > Manage Teams.


Create an Ethical Wall for a Team

Once your Team has been created in Equinox:

1. Head to the System tab in Equinox and select Ethical Wall Management.

2. On the Ethical Walls Management page, under Team select Create.


3. Select the relevant Team from the Team dropdown.

4. Select your Policy Mode: "Allow All (except rule matches)" or "Deny All (except rule matches)"

5. If relevant, tick the "Matter user access only" checkbox

6. Confirm by selecting 'Create'.

The new Ethical Wall will now appear on the Ethical Walls Management page under Team.

Add case access restrictions to the Team Ethical Wall

To add case restrictions to the Team Ethical Wall:

1. Select the Team name under the Ethical Walls Management page, for example 'Trademarks'.

2. This takes you to the Edit 'Team' Ethical Wall Policy page, which shows an overview of the Ethical Wall for this Team.


3. Select 'Add Rule' on the right-hand side of the page. There are four rule types available:

  • Category
  • Client
  • Applicant
  • Who pays the bill

4. Enter the relevant information and confirm with 'Create'.

5. Once created, the Edit 'Team' Ethical Wall Policy page will be updated.




Set up an Ethical Wall for a User

Create an Ethical Wall for a User

     1. Head to the System tab in Equinox and select Ethical Wall Management.

2. On the Ethical Walls Management page, under User select Create.

3. Select the relevant user from the User dropdown.

4. Select your Policy Mode: "Allow All (except rule matches)" or "Deny All (except rule matches)"

5. If relevant, tick the "Matter user access only" checkbox

6. Confirm by selecting 'Create'.

The new Ethical Wall will now appear on the Ethical Walls Management page under User.


Add case access restrictions to the User Ethical Wall

To add case restrictions to the User Ethical Wall:

1. Select the Users name under the Ethical Walls Management page, for example 'Taylor Smith'.

2. This takes you to the Edit 'User' Ethical Wall Policy page, which shows an overview of the Ethical Wall for this user.


3. Select 'Add Rule' on the right-hand side of the page. There are four rule types available:

  • Category
  • Client
  • Applicant
  • Who pays the bill

4. Enter the relevant information and confirm with 'Create'.

5. Once created, the Edit 'User' Ethical Wall Policy page will be updated.



Set Up User On Case Restrictions

To add 'user on case' restrictions to the Ethical Wall, either from the Create Ethical Wall or Edit Ethical Wall Policy page, tick the 'Matter user access only' checkbox. 


When ticked, the user will only be able to access cases where they are set as one of the four case users.

Note: the case user labels may be renamed in your system.




Ethical Walls Levels

Ethical Walls are applied in a specific order of priority, from the most general to the most specific:

  1. Role – Based on the user's system permission role
  2. Team – Based on the team the user belongs to
  3. User – Based on the individual user

When multiple Ethical Walls apply to a user, only the most specific level is enforced.



Example: Let’s say our example user, Taylor Smith, is assigned to:

  • The "Formalities" system permission role
  • The "Trademarks" team

And there are Ethical Walls set up for:

  • The "Formalities" role
  • The "Trademarks" team
  • Taylor Smith as an individual user


In this case, only the Ethical Wall set for Taylor Smith's user directly will apply. The system prioritises the most specific rule available.




What happens if a user tries to access a case blocked by an Ethical Wall

If a user tries to access a case and are blocked by an ethical wall, the following message will appear. 



Case information still visible when an Ethical Wall is in place

Note: An ethical wall does not prevent a user from seeing all information associated with the restricted cases.


A user restricted by an ethical wall will still be able to see case information in other system areas, such as:

  • Reporting tools
  • All Cases
  • All Tasks


Legacy Ethical Walls

All legacy ethical walls created prior to Equinox Version 2025.2.8 have been preserved and migrated into the new structure under the “User – Allow all except” ruleset.


Example: 

If the below Ethical Wall was set up for the example user Taylor Smith, prior to Version 2025.2.8, Taylor can access all cases except those where:

  • The client is 'Example Client'
  • The category is 'Patent'


Ethical Walls Management page:

Edit User Ethical Walls page:


This Ethical Wall is retained and will now appear as below in Version 2025.2.8 onwards.


Ethical Walls Management page > User:


 Edit 'User' Ethical Wall Policy page:





Additional Preferences & Settings

To set your default Ethical Wall Policy Modes:

  1. Head to the System tab > System Preferences > Matters > Ethical Walls
  2. Here, you can select "Only Allow All", which would hide the option to add "Deny All except" policies, or "Only Deny All" which would hide the option to add "Allow All except" policies.
  3. Confirm by selecting 'Update'.