The Best Law Firm Software to Radically Transform the Way Lawyers Engage with Their Clients
Just five years ago, law firm software was in its infancy. Today, there are dozens of companies competing for lawyers’ business, all claiming to be the best in the industry. While you may find yourself struck with a bit of choice paralysis, there is a silver lining: you have the ability to choose from a large variety of great software to find the perfect fit for your business. But keep in mind that most of these choices focus on what your staff does in the “back-office.” Relatively new to the legal tech space is software the truly focuses on the client-consumer.
As such, investing in law firm software, especially law firm practice management software, could transform your firm, but it’s not a decision to make lightly as there are core functions to consider. There are four broad categories of law firm software: practice management, client relationship management, contract and document management, and research assistance.
This page is tasked with helping you learn subtleties you need to know about practice management software, as well as different types of software lawyers can use to improve their practice. Let’s start with the specifics.
What software do law firms use?
Every law firm’s technology differs, but there are some core software “features” that every law firm should be using:
- Calendaring software
- Accounting software
- Word processing software
- Legal research software
- Digital communication software
- Secure video conferencing software
A key goal of software providers is to provide as many features as possible into a single solution or to tie-in seamlessly with the core components of the tech-stack. A practice management software is the closest thing to a “all-in-one” solution to your administrative tasks listed above. It features productivity tools for law firms that enhance communication and lead to higher client satisfaction, but the ability to do all things "great" is elusive.
A key promise of practice management software is automation. Automating many of your time-consuming legal practices can make managing your firm easier and more efficient. In many cases, this can lower costs and increase revenue by allowing you to maximize your productivity during billable hours.
What does law practice management software do?
Let’s break down what legal practice management software actually does.
Practice Management
A practice management software helps streamline all of the administrative duties throughout your firm. Think of practice management as all the work you are doing in the “back-office” to get the case work done and to run the business of the firm.
This includes:
- Marketing and Intake (Generating Legal Clients)
- Tracking billable hours
- Calendaring- Docketing
- Invoicing
- Task management
- Overall reporting
Displaying information is a key ingredient, usually in the form of homepages or dashboards. You can customize your dashboard and pick and choose from various features to find the right match for your needs. Solo practices and large-scale legal firms with hundreds of clients can equally benefit from a practice management software.
The best part about legal practice management software is that it puts all of your core tasks and essential information in one location and “at-the-ready.”. The centralized, user-friendly dashboard makes it easy for you to quickly identify important data and keep your practice running smoothly.
Team coordination is also a big part of these solutions. They enable you to coordinate with your legal assistants, paralegals, or practice partners to ensure accuracy and consistency across all your internal workflows. When balancing a heavy caseload, lawyers can rely on practice management software to help streamline daily processes.
Many practice management software also merges with other types of legal software for law firms, such as client relationship management (CRM). CRM is known as Customer Relationship Software outside of the legal space. But in our sector we are dealing with “clients.” The concept is the same. Our client is our customer. A CRM makes it easier for you to communicate with clients, track leads, and gather information for your cases and to retain a single source of truth. The best practice management software solutions incorporate some level of CRM.
Do law firms need a CRM?
The answer is tricky given that it could add to the complexity of the firm’s tech stack if a proper assessment of needs is not conducted. The answer depends on the size of a firm and the growth objectives. Large-scale firms will lose countless billable hours to case administration and initial consultations without a CRM; small to midsize legal firms will struggle to manage their own growth if they are committed to manually managing all of their cases and prospective clients. Even a solo law firm can use a CRM to streamline its processes, maximize its productivity, and ensure it is able to quickly nurture its leads and grow its client base.
Without a CRM incorporated into the operation, law firms can quickly fall behind their competition. The best CRM for law firms offer readily accessible and perfectly organized information about clients that start when they are prospects. This is either directly related to customizable intake forms or an integration with an intake solution. You can easily determine which leads are hot or cold and personalize your outreach to increase your chance of conversion. But you can also capture the much needed info in the first contact.
CRMs are also useful in law firm management because they take this “prospect” information and allow firms to assign cases to attorneys, use integrated messaging to handle communication between clients and lawyers, and send automated messages for document requests, appointment reminders, and more. A great example of a customer relationship software is the Case Status Mobile Client Portal.
What do lawyers use in court?
It’s worth noting that most of the software used by law firms and attorneys are used in a preparation effort. Lawyers don’t depend on software when they’re in court but the preparation leading up to court appearances will 100% rely on the use of software solutions. While legal software programs can certainly speed up case prep, it can’t deliver a strong argument or examine witnesses. Some lawyers have already attempted to use AI in court filings…and the results have yet to show solid outcomest. In the courtroom, a lawyer has to rely on their own skill, intuition, and best judgment. All of the tools they use beforehand can help them deliver greater results for their clients.
Do lawyers use Microsoft Word?
Lawyers use Microsoft Word to draft legal contracts, write legal reports and letters, review contracts, and more. Google Docs is also a popular word processing software for lawyers. Both software feature cloud-based storage and offline-editing features to make documents more secure and accessible.
All lawyers need strong working proficiency in Microsoft Word, as their job requires an extensive amount of contract review, writing, and preparation. They also have to write letters to other attorneys and individuals related to their clients’ cases.
To date, Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing tool for lawyers, but Google Docs is a close second, especially thanks to all of its collaborative features.
What is a law tech company?
A law tech company provides software to law firms that enhance their practice. Usually, this is a Software as a Service (SaaS) company that offers subscription-based packages to law firms. The subscription model allows you to customize your product’s features, ensuring that you only pay for what you’ll use.
Law tech companies can produce legal research tools, law firm CRMs, contract management software, e-signature software, and much more. Many companies in this field are creating all-in-one solutions that help simplify a law firm’s technology and make their business run more efficiently.
One of the best features of Microsoft Word for lawyers is the ability to save custom templates. This can cut down time spent drafting documents by allowing them to identify appropriate clauses and fill in their clients’ information as needed.
Modifying a template is less time-consuming than writing a contract from scratch, especially for lawyers that work with clients who require similar documentation, such as corporate lawyers.
Software made by legal tech companies has clear objectives that translate to tangible benefits for their clients: higher conversion rates, greater automation, and faster workflows.
What is the best law firm software?
The best law firm software will depend on your needs and goals. For example, if you’re looking for the leading practice management software, Clio is an industry-pioneer that offers a comprehensive platform featuring client intake forms, communication software, time tracking, document management, calendaring, and much more.Today, some of the best law firm software on the market include:
CaseStatus
Transform the way you engage with clients through CaseStatus, the revolutionary legal client app that strengthens communication while offering automated guidance for clients seeking answers to questions, case status, and payment details.
CASEpeer
CASEpeer is a specialized practice management system for personal injury attorneys. Law firms can utilize case timelines, cost tracking, client communication tools, intake forms, turnkey reports for personal injury practices.
Assembly Neos
Built by attorneys, for attorneys. The Neos case management platform was built with legal expertise and technological innovation.Find out how it can maximize your firm’s efficiency.
MyCase
As an attorney, you’ve got a lot on your plate. That’s why we take care of the tech so you can take care of your business. MyCase makes it easy for lawyers to adopt and implement the latest legal software, ensuring you spend less time on administrative tasks and focus more on practicing law while increasing your firm’s revenue.
SmartAdvocate
Award-Winning Legal Case Management Software. Our all-in-one system is loaded with features, capabilities, and reporting that other case management software systems don’t have. The top Law Firms use SmartAdvocate to make their firms more efficient and more profitable.
Filevine
Legal case management software that makes managing cases easier.Connect everything from task automation to client communication and timekeeping to legal documents. Keep the chaos under control with one cloud-based legal software platform.
MerusCase
Adapts to fit your practice - streamlining document automation, time tracking, billing, calendaring, email, and case management into one easy-to-use system that's accessible anywhere, anytime, from any device. Tap into hidden growth opportunities: while MerusCase automates your day-to-day tasks, you'll be free to deal with clients and grow your business.
Litify
The Legal Platform that Transforms your business. Connect your team across departments and start improving business outcomes with the most flexible, secure legal operating platform.
CoCounselor
Save Time and create efficiency. We focus on the Process. You focus on your Clients.
Lawmatics
An easy-to-use tool that combines legal marketing automation with a robust CRM, billing software, and customizable client intake forms for your website. Lawmatics is a streamlined but powerful all-in-one solution for all types of legal practices.
Docketwise
PracticePanther
PracticePanther serves thousands of law firms in more than 170 countries. Their platform includes case management, simple legal billing features, trust accounting, a legal CRM, eSignature, military-grade encryption, texting compatibility with clients, and integrations with popular apps and software.How much does a case management system cost?
The cost of a case management system can vary significantly depending on several factors such as the specific requirements of the organization, the complexity of the system, the number of users, and the vendor chosen. Different vendors offer various pricing models, including subscription-based plans, licensing fees, and customization costs. Additional expenses might arise from implementation, training, ongoing support, and system maintenance. It's advisable to reach out to different vendors, discuss your organization's needs, and request quotes or pricing details tailored to your specific circumstances to obtain accurate cost estimates.
What to Look for in a Law Firm Software
Before implementing a new software into your firm, make a list of the current processes you would like to improve the most through technology. Doing so will give you objectives, which you can use to compare different software that you discover through your research.
For example, if you want to make legal accounting easier, then you might prioritize a practice management system with in-depth billing and invoice features that allow you to manage all your accounts receivable more easily.
For firms that are currently content with the financial management aspect of their practice, investing in a platform that has extensive billing features wouldn’t be a useful investment.
Instead, they would want to look for a platform that aligns with their unique goals, whether that’s improving client intake, improving lead outreach, or simplifying document management.
In addition to defining your goals with any software, it is also important to take some ethical and legal considerations into account. Namely, the level of security it has in place to protect confidential information.
Only use software designed for law firms to manage case data; anything else will likely lack the encryption necessary to keep your clients’ identities and personal records safely secured online. Closely reach each software provider’s terms and conditions and privacy policy to ensure that it is a safe choice for your law firm.
Stay Ahead of the Competition With Legal Technology
The legal industry is notorious for lagging behind others in adopting new technologies. While its understandable to proceed with caution in such an important field, resisting evolution because it presents challenges will only hinder a firm’s growth and success in the long-run.
By adopting the best legal software now, law firms can plan ahead for a future that will be dominated by rapid development, personalized legal service, and real-time management that takes efficiency to new heights.
With the industry-leading law firms using technology to improve their practices, client expectations will also begin to shift. Law firms that want to stay relevant in their respective markets will have to modernize or fear being left behind in the wake of AI-powered platforms, virtual assistants, marketing automation, and customized client experiences.
The good news is that law firms can readily adapt technology now since today’s legal software companies are making software that’s designed to easily integrate into your current workflow.
Reach out to us at CaseStatus today, and discover how our integrative solutions with partners like Clio, Assembly Neos, MyCase, CASEpeer, Filevine, Litify, SmartAdvocate, and Salesforce can transform your client communication.
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