Players

What are Players?

Players represent the people, companies, and organizations involved in your case. They appear as participants in timeline events and help you track who did what and when.

Players can include:

• Parties: Plaintiffs, defendants, third parties
• Individuals: Witnesses, employees, executives
• Companies: Corporations, LLCs, partnerships
• Law Firms: Attorneys and legal representatives
• Government Entities: Agencies, courts, regulators

Creating Players

From the Player Panel

1. Open your timeline
2. Click the Players button in the toolbar (or sidebar)
3. Click Add Player
4. Fill in player details:
   • Name: Full name or company name
   • Role: Position or relationship (e.g., "CEO", "Plaintiff's Attorney")
   • Description: Additional context
5. Click Save

While Adding Events

When creating or editing an event:

1. Click the Parties field
2. Start typing to search for existing players
3. If the player doesn't exist, click Create New
4. Fill in details and save

The player is immediately available for use.

Player Properties

Basic Information

• Name: Required - full name or organization name
• Role: Optional - job title, position, or relationship to the case
• Description: Optional - additional context or notes

Enhanced Properties

For legal case analysis, players support additional metadata:

Entity Type

Specify what kind of entity the player represents:

• Person: Individual human beings
• Company: Corporations, LLCs, businesses
• Law Firm: Legal practices and attorneys
• Government: Government agencies, departments
• Other: Any other type of entity

Side

Indicate which side of the case the player is on:

• Plaintiff: Plaintiff side, claimant
• Defendant: Defendant side, respondent
• Third Party: Non-party witnesses, contractors, etc.
• Court: Judges, court staff
• Neutral: Mediators, arbitrators, neutral experts

Importance

Rank the player's significance to the case:

• Primary: Key parties central to the dispute
• Secondary: Important supporting parties
• Supporting: Minor participants or witnesses

These properties help organize and visualize complex cases with many participants.

Managing Players

Editing Player Details

1. Open the Players panel
2. Click on the player you want to edit
3. Modify any field
4. Click Save

Changes apply to all events where this player is mentioned.

Deleting Players

1. Open the Players panel
2. Click the delete icon next to the player
3. Confirm deletion

Note: This doesn't delete events—it only removes the player link. Events will no longer show this player as a party.

Key Players View

The Key Players view provides a strategic overview of all players in your timeline:

Accessing Key Players View

1. Open your timeline
2. Click Key Players in the toolbar or view switcher
3. Players are displayed grouped by side (Plaintiff, Defendant, etc.)

What You'll See

For each player:

• Name and role
• Entity type (person, company, etc.)
• Side (plaintiff, defendant, etc.)
• Importance level
• Activity statistics:
  • Number of events they're involved in
  • Date range of their involvement
  • Recent events

Using Key Players View

• Click a player to see all their events
• Filter timeline by clicking "Show events" for a specific player
• Understand relationships by seeing who appears on which side
• Identify gaps in your timeline (players with few events might need more research)

Player Features

Player Filtering

Filter your timeline to show only events involving specific players:

1. Open the filter bar
2. Click the Players filter
3. Select one or more players
4. Timeline shows only events where those players are involved

Useful for:

• Tracing one person's actions through the case
• Comparing activities of opposing parties
• Isolating witness testimony or involvement

Player Mentions

When you link a player to an event, that creates a "mention":

• Track which events involve which players
• See a player's full activity timeline
• Generate player-specific reports
• Find all interactions between two specific players

Activity Tracking

For each player, Thea tracks:

• Total events: How many events they're involved in
• First appearance: Earliest event date
• Last appearance: Most recent event date
• Event frequency: Distribution of their involvement over time

Access this from the Key Players view.

Best Practices

Naming Conventions

• Use full names: "John Smith" not "JS" or "Smith"
• Include titles for clarity: "Dr. Jane Doe" if relevant
• Company legal names: "Acme Corporation" not just "Acme"
• Be consistent: Always use the same spelling and format

Organization Strategy

• Create players early: Set up key players before adding many events
• Use roles: Add role descriptions to clarify relationships
• Set importance levels: Mark primary parties to highlight them in views
• Indicate sides: Especially useful in litigation for quick visual organization

Complex Cases

For cases with many participants:

• Group by affiliation: Use the "Affiliation" field to link related players (e.g., employees of the same company)
• Parent entities: Use "Parent Entity" field to show corporate structure
• Camp labels: Use custom labels for coalition or group identification

Player Export

When you export a timeline:

• Player information can be included in exports
• Key Players view can be exported as a separate report
• Player-filtered timelines export only relevant events

Next Steps

• Working with Events - Link players to events
• Filtering & Search - Filter timelines by player
• Key Players View - Analyze player involvement
• Categories - Combine player and category filtering