Clerk Setup

Clerk prepares email drafts for partners and helps the firm follow delegated work. Before partners can turn on background drafting, a Microsoft 365 administrator must approve access once for the organization.

Before you start

You will need:

• A participating partner with Sonar Legal for Outlook installed.
• Clerk access for the participating users. Ask your Sonar Legal implementation contact to confirm this and mark the participating partners as Partner in the correct organization.
• A Microsoft 365 Global Administrator or Privileged Role Administrator who can approve the request.
• The partner's Sonar Legal account linked to the email address of their Microsoft 365 mailbox.

Approve the connection

1. Ask the partner to open Sonar Legal for Outlook and sign in to the correct organization.
2. In Chat, select the Clerk switch. If approval is required, a Microsoft sign-in window opens.
3. Sign in to Microsoft with the administrator account. Check the organization, application publisher, and requested permissions.
4. Approve the request if it meets your firm's policy.
5. Return to the add-in and confirm that the partner's Clerk switch is on. If it is still off, try the switch again after a short wait.

Once approval is complete, each partner chooses whether to turn Clerk on.

Enter administrator credentials only in Microsoft's sign-in window. Other eligible partners can then turn Clerk on without repeating the organization's approval.

What access is requested?

Clerk needs Microsoft Graph Mail.ReadWrite — Application to read new correspondence and prepare drafts while Outlook is closed. An earlier approval for Sonar Legal Tasks or a delegated Mail.ReadWrite permission may not include this permission.

The standard Microsoft approval applies across the organization's mailboxes. Sonar Legal's own controls limit Clerk drafting to eligible partners who turn it on. Selecting My team chooses delegation candidates; it does not narrow the Microsoft permission.

Clerk does not send the prepared emails. The partner reviews and sends them in Outlook. Mail.ReadWrite itself does not grant permission to send mail. See the Microsoft permission description.

If your firm requires Microsoft-enforced restrictions to particular mailboxes, agree those with your Sonar Legal implementation contact before rollout. Include the mailboxes needed for delegated task tracking in that discussion.

Check the setup with one partner

1. Have the partner choose their team.
2. Send a new email from an external address asking for a clear piece of work.
3. Check Clerk > Drafts and the partner's Outlook Drafts folder after processing completes.
4. Review and send a test delegation. Check that it appears under Clerk > Tasks once Sonar Legal has seen the sent email.

Use a new external message. Turning Clerk on does not ask it to work through the old inbox, and not every message needs a draft.

If something is missing

What you see	What to check
No Clerk switch	Confirm the user's Clerk access, Partner designation, and current Sonar Legal organization.
Microsoft asks for approval again	Confirm application Mail.ReadWrite was approved for the correct application and tenant.
The administrator cannot approve	Use a Global Administrator or Privileged Role Administrator and check the firm's consent policy.
Approval completes but the switch stays off	Try again after a short wait. Ask your implementation contact to check the connection if it persists.
A colleague is missing from My team	Confirm they have an active account in the same Sonar Legal organization.

For one partner, turn Clerk off using their switch. Drafts already in Outlook remain there. For firm-wide offboarding, review the approved application under Microsoft Entra admin center > Enterprise applications and revoke the appropriate access. Removing the add-in alone does not revoke Microsoft's approval. Coordinate changes because shared permissions may also support email search and task tracking.