Vienna User Guide
Last updated: September 26, 2026
Vienna is Nougat's legal operations agent. You hire Vienna to manage your firm's tools: email Vienna, message it in Slack or Teams, and it does the work across your email, calendar, documents, practice management, and billing systems. It then reports back in the same thread.
Vienna is software and is not a law firm. Nothing Vienna produces is legal advice. Always have a qualified person review Vienna's work before you file, send, or rely on it.
Table of contents
- Getting started
- Working with Vienna
- Matters
- Connect your firm's tools
- Research and cite checking
- Drafting, e-signatures, and engagement letters
- Calendar, meetings, and deadlines
- Time, billing, and firm health
- Teams, roles, and sign-in
- Troubleshooting
- Security, privacy, and compliance
- Support
Getting started
- Sign up and book onboarding. Create your account and pick a time for your onboarding call.
- Connect your tools. Link your email, calendar, file storage, and practice management accounts from the Connections page.
- Open your first matter. Add the client, court, and key documents, or forward Vienna an email about the matter.
- Ask Vienna for something small. For example, "summarize this filing", "what's due this week?", or "check the cites in this brief". Build up from there.
Working with Vienna
Email Vienna
Email vienna@nougat.law from the address on your Vienna account. Vienna reads the message and any attachments, works out which matter it belongs to, does the work, and replies in the same thread.
Tips:
- Name the matter or client in the subject or first line.
- Attach the files Vienna needs. Links alone may not be enough.
- Keep replying in the same thread so Vienna keeps the context.
- Send one request per email when speed matters.
Slack, Teams, and other channels
Once Slack or Microsoft Teams is connected, you can message Vienna there the same way you would email it. Vienna replies on the channel you used.
What to ask for
- Research: find and summarize authorities, with links to the source opinions.
- Drafting: complaints, motions, client correspondence, and engagement letters, written in your firm's voice.
- Review: check every cite in a draft, compare versions, or flag gaps.
- Organization: file documents to the right matter, pull out deadlines, and update tasks.
- Scheduling: propose meeting times, book with a Zoom link, and prepare a brief before the meeting.
Matters
A matter holds everything about a case or engagement: documents, docket entries, correspondence, deadlines, tasks, time entries, and Vienna's work product.
- New matters start with a short setup checklist, including court and jurisdiction, parties, and the engagement letter.
- Upload documents directly, or let Vienna file them from email and connected storage. Deadlines and meeting details are extracted automatically.
- Search across a matter's documents and docket entries from the file view.
- The email timeline shows client correspondence next to matter activity.
Connect your firm's tools
Manage every connection from one Connections page. Supported connections include:
| Category | Connections |
|---|---|
| Email and calendar | Gmail and Google Calendar, Outlook and Microsoft 365 |
| Messaging | Slack, Microsoft Teams |
| Meetings | Zoom, Otter.ai |
| Files | Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, iManage |
| Practice management | Clio |
| Courts | PACER (federal dockets) |
| Sign-in | Google, Okta, and other firm single sign-on |
Connections can be revoked at any time from the Connections page or from the provider's own settings. Follow your firm's access policies and connect only the accounts Vienna needs.
Research and cite checking
- Case-law quotes are checked against the text of the original opinion before Vienna shows them.
- Precedent research shows the source quote behind each authority so you can read the language yourself.
- Cite Checker: email Vienna a draft, or use the public Cite Checker, to confirm each authority exists and its quotes match.
Always confirm local citation rules and court requirements yourself.
Drafting, e-signatures, and engagement letters
- Vienna drafts documents inside the matter, and you can revise them there or by replying to Vienna.
- Guided drafting walks you step by step through motions and other filings.
- Send documents for e-signature from the matter. Signers don't need an account, and you can require a one-time code to verify them.
- Engagement letters are part of matter setup and can be sent, tracked, and downloaded.
Calendar, meetings, and deadlines
- The calendar brings matter deadlines, hearings, and meetings into one view.
- Vienna spots scheduling requests in correspondence and suggests meetings for you to approve, reschedule, or dismiss.
- Approved meetings are booked with a Zoom link and calendar invite.
- Meeting prep: before each meeting, Vienna prepares a short brief on the matter and the purpose of the meeting.
Deadline tracking is a convenience, not a docketing guarantee. Always confirm deadlines against the record and the applicable rules.
Time, billing, and firm health
- Record billable time against a matter without leaving it.
- Client billing charts show billed value, unbilled work, and which matters carry the most work.
- The firm overview shows financial health, profitability, and team capacity across all matters.
Teams, roles, and sign-in
- Invite team members to your organization and assign them to matters.
- Set roles and access levels to control who can see and do what.
- Transfer a matter to another attorney without losing its history.
- Firms can sign in through their own identity provider, including Okta.
Troubleshooting
"Vienna asked me to resend an attachment"
Your email mentioned an attachment that didn't arrive. Send it again with the file attached, not only a link.
"Vienna asked which matter I meant"
Include the matter or client name, and keep replying in the same thread.
"Where are my results?"
Large scanned PDFs and multi-step requests take longer, and results may arrive in stages. To speed things up, send one shorter request per message with only the attachments it needs.
"A connection stopped working"
Connections can expire or be revoked. Reconnect from the Connections page.
Security, privacy, and compliance
- Encryption in transit and at rest.
- Access limited by organization, matter membership, and role.
- Every connection can be revoked by you at any time.
For formal attestations and trust materials, see the Nougat trust center: https://app.vanta.com/juristai.org/trust/0clwm7e9sja31xt60a2lum
Support
- Product help: vienna@nougat.law
- Privacy questions: privacy@juristai.org
- Legal inquiries: legal@juristai.org
- Frequently asked questions: /faq