Legal practice management software is the backbone of your firm. So we’re helping you ensure it’s well adapted to your areas of focus. Building on our previous Practice Management Buyer’s Guide, we’re pleased to offer this primer on how the latest software can help you succeed in a variety of practice areas — and how easy an upgrade can be.
For a comprehensive overview of Practice Management solutions,
Check out our Practice Management Buyer’s Guide here »
Full practice management solution with built-in legal accounting. No QuickBooks required.
Learn MoreDownload Buyer’s Guide Now »
Next Generation, Cloud-Based Law Practice Software That Makes Everyone’s Job Easier
Learn MoreDownload Buyer’s Guide Now »
Over 40,000 professionals in the legal business rely on Assembly Software’s products to power their firms. Their flagship, cloud-based platform, Neos, configures precisely to a firm’s needs with its case checklist, document management, and analytics features. Assembly’s brands include Needles, Trialworks, and Neos.
Learn More
Build, Manage, and Grow Your Personal Injury Practice. CloudLex handles productivity, communication, collaboration and reporting across your personal injury law firm from case intake to settlement and beyond, including storage and archival.
Learn More
Filevine is the leading cloud-based collaborative work solution for law firms. Powering everything from case management and document management to client communication and business analytics, Filevine’s custom and bespoke tools simplify and elevate practice management and growth.
Learn More
Law Ruler’s mission is to simplify the process of growing your practice. Our comprehensive Legal CRM, Client Intake, and Marketing Automation solutions streamline communications, generate more business, and save you valuable time so you can do more of what matters most… serving your clients.
Learn More
Moxtra powers your OneStop Customer Portal – your digital branch, with continuous collaboration experiences, helping you retain and grow customers, manage your distributed organization, and lower your costs for doing business. Moxtra’s Customer Collaboration Platform can power your branded OneStop Customer Portal as a fluid extension of your existing website, web or mobile app, or as a standalone web and mobile app.
Learn More
MyCase is a complete law practice management solution that helps firms run efficiently from anywhere, provide an exceptional client experience, and easily track firm performance so that they can reach their business goals.
Learn More
PracticePanther is a leading cloud-based law practice management software solution that serves tens of thousands of legal professionals in 170 countries. Through its intuitive and user-friendly interface, PracticePanther offers features in case management, time tracking, billing, client intake, built-in payment processing, calendaring, native unlimited eSignature, native 2-way text messaging, and much more to empower lawyers to automate their practices.
Learn More
Legal Practice Management Software Built for Today’s Busy Firms
Learn More
SmartAdvocate is a fully integrated legal case management system made to handle the challenges of today’s fast paced, highly competitive, and technologically demanding world. Initially designed by and for personal injury and mass tort litigation firms, SmartAdvocate is now used by a wide range of practices.
Learn More
At HALF THE COST of other solutions, TimeSolv provides the robust time, billing, and payment needs law firms demand, without the extra features you never use. Store payment information and run hundreds of payments in seconds on YOUR timeline, achieving ZERO AR!
Learn More
There has been lots and lots of movement within the legal technology space of late. And law practice management software providers are the ones doing most of the moving — whether they are acquiring or being acquired.
But every single one of those moves is seismic for a not insignificant number of attorneys who are users of the affected software programs.
So, in this episode of the Non-Eventcast, we brought in a fabulous foursome of guests, who helped us cut through all the noise.
What does law practice management software do?
Law practice management software forms the backbone for the full scope of a firm’s business operations — all the way from client intake to invoicing and future business development. It organizes varied data related to clients and matters into comprehensive files, saving enormous amounts of time and allowing lawyers to focus on high-level legal work instead of administrative tasks.
How can case management software support my practice area?
From family law to trusts and estates, different practice areas have different emphases. Do you need to track net-worth metrics for a division-of-assets dispute? Manage the sprawling case information related to a general litigation matter? Streamline the intake process critical to a personal injury practice? Today’s practice management software can be adapted to your practice area, dramatically increasing the benefits it provides.
What are the biggest challenges in upgrading your case management platform?
Migrating your data to a new system — be it on-premises or in the cloud — will inevitably create challenges for any law firm. However, today’s software providers are experts at this process. They will work with you to create a path that requires the smallest amount of effort. In the end, most firms will find that the effort has been well worth it, as new software provides transformational business benefits. As an added bonus, this process will help you clean out data and systems that are no longer needed at your firm.
What are the biggest misconceptions about practice management tech?
These are myriad. Some small firm managers wrongly believe they don’t need a robust practice management platform and that their legacy systems will keep them in business. Others see the costs as too high, or the task of onboarding too onerous. While concerns like these aren’t frivolous, the reality is that practice management software is now table stakes for law firms looking to remain competitive. And the longer you continue to work in your current system, the more difficult an upgrade may become.
There’s a term for when attorneys use Latin and other arcane languages to describe legal processes to consumers: “legalese.”
But there’s no similar term for when vendors use technical and other arcane languages to describe their legal software operations to lawyers.
True, this dynamic may seem unfair. But now we have The Legal Tech-to-English Dictionary to help us cope.
Read on for a crash course in practice management terms.
Law Practice Management Software
1. A database for managing law firm clients that organizes primary case information under matter files.
2. A platform for systematizing client data collected from integrated systems via software integrations.
3. Client files organized by email subfolders … in 2002.
Lawyer 1: I just bought a new law practice management software, and I’m spending so much less time looking for everything because it’s all in one place now!
Lawyer 2: Yeah, you should see this Excel file I put together. It’s badass.
Lawyer 1: Just … stop.
Cf. Organization porn.
Relational Database
1. A software that recognizes relationships between segments of data.
2. A system based on the relational model of data, created by Edgar F. Codd.
Cf. Law practice management software
Cf. The Oracle of (Kevin) Bacon.
Client Portal
1. A software system feature that allows law firms to share certain data with clients via an in-system, encrypted holding container, which clients can access using a unique password or PIN (personal identification number).
2. The means by which unwieldy assignments can seamlessly enter your workflow.
Lawyer 1: The good news is that my clients can send me stuff via our portal. That’s also the bad news.
Lawyer 2: Ba-dum-cha.
Lawyer 1: Thanks. I’m here till Thursday. Try the veal.
Cf. Online document drives, most of which are de facto customer portals, also allow users to share information with others in a secure format. Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, et al. offer such features. These can also be connected to law practice management software via integrations.
Cf. Like how in action movies, there’s always a portal with all these aliens coming in to invade the planet. Honestly, I don’t know which portal is worse: that one, or the one that drops a 90-page contract in your lap for review.
Integration
1. Connecting two softwares via an API (application programming interface) that allows each software system to share data with the other.
2. Connecting two softwares via an intermediary program (like Zapier) so that the two programs can share data without the need of an API.
3. A primary reason modern practice management software can be life-changing, particularly for those currently using a combination of dictation machines, hard-copy markups, and the Logo turtle.
Cf. Linking a law practice management software to a productivity software (email, calendar) allows users to sync emails, events and tasks with client files within the law practice management software, cementing that program as a holistic solution for law firm data management. Linking an accounting program to a law practice management software allows users to push expense and invoice data into the accounting program.
Business Intelligence
1. A method for collecting and aggregating data into a digestible format that allows software users to make data-driven business decisions.
2. Reports generated from software systems focused on specific business metrics, including key performance indicators.
3. You know, pretty much everything your law school neglected to tell you about. But, hey: You still know what the Rule Against Perpetuities is!
Lawyer 1: How’s your P&L statement looking for the last quarter?
Lawyer 2: Uh. Um. Res Ipsa Loquitur.
Lawyer 1: Say what?
Cf. NOT the Edsel.
Jared Correia is the host of the Non-Eventcast.
Jared Correia is the host of the Non-Eventcast.
MyCase And LawPay — Better Together
By Above the Law
Why small and midsize firms win big in a blockbuster merger.
LawNext #ClioCon Bonus Episode: Shubham Datta, Clio’s VP of Corporate Development | LawSites
By
3 Lawyers Weigh In With Their Top TikTok Marketing Tips
By Nicole Black
Useful tips and practical advice for lawyers interested in expanding their law firm’s social media footprint.
The Metaverse And The Practice Of Law
By Ken Crutchfield
While early, there is tremendous promise and opportunity for legal professionals as new types of issues surface in the virtual world.
If You’re Working This Weekend It Might Be Because Your Bosses Are Dropping The Ball
By Joe Patrice
If you don’t think there’s a tech solution designed to streamline the mundane parts of your job, you’re wrong.
A Faster Way To Perfect Your Legal Briefs
By Breaking Media
Every lawyer has a method for conducting legal research, crafting an argument, reviewing their work, and performing due diligence.
Extended Case Durations To Hit Law Firm Revenue In 2022 And Beyond
By Brittany Cianflone
Is your law firm positioned to grow in a post-pandemic market?
How eDiscovery Platforms Can Effectively Guide Management Of GDPR Data Requests
By wlim
Read on for proactive and reactive steps your organization should consider now.
Why Biglaw, GCs, And Judges Love This AI Tool
By wlim
A Text IQ webinar — featuring experts from GCs to judges — explores how AI technology is reshaping eDiscovery and privilege review.
Our Sites
© 2022 Breaking Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Registration or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.