As a growing law firm, you need to make some tough choices about cutting costs where necessary and investing in areas that can help you optimise your practice. It can range from client management to billing, from research to document management.
You also need to identify the functional areas in your law firm where you can save your efforts with optimized technical support. Making these choices carefully is vital, especially when you’re a small law firm just building your foundation.
There is a long law firm software list from which you can choose the best tools that can help you increase your productivity and decrease your expenses. However, most law firm owners cannot be expected to know about the latest legal tech and the right law firm tools to use and deploy in their law firm.
Therefore, to simplify this choice, we’ve prepared this ultimate guide on the different kinds of law firm software that can help you fine-tune your law firm’s operations. Let’s get started!
Contents
Complete law firm software list
Timekeeping and billing law firm software
Calendar and docket management law firm software
Finance and accounting software
Payment processing and management
Law firm software list: In conclusion
Complete law firm software list
Timekeeping and billing law firm software
The first on our list is a time-tracking and billing software that can help you keep a track of your billable hours.
Not only that, but it can also help you generate invoices based on those hours for each of your clients. Using this tool can help you track your hours, error-free and quicker.
You can also track your law firm’s out-of-pocket expenses, receivables and unpaid bills, time reports, MIS, etc. The tool also dismisses the need to assemble these costs manually and waste your billable hours.
The general features offered by good timekeeping and invoicing tool include:
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Automatic invoice generation
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Invoice management and editing
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Unpaid dues tracking
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Follow up and automatic reminders for payment status
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Multiple payment options
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Integration with accounting software
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Reporting for cash flow, accounts receivable and accounts payable
OUR TIP: If you have international clients, look for a tool that works with multiple currencies to make your billing process easier. For instance, the invoice management tool by Matters.Cloud is available in various languages and works with different currencies.
Document management software
One of the most important tasks of any lawyer is to juggle heaps of legal documents. With every case you accept, you will have to deal with various documents and files unquestionably.
Maintaining these documents manually can drown your office in a paper tsunami, and storing them in hard drives is not the safest of options. Theft, loss, hacking – you name it and your client’s data can be prone to all and more of such issues.
However, with document management software, you can store these legal documents on a cloud repository. You can also securely stash them away in an encrypted digital locker. The options for legal document management software are endless.
Clio is one such legal document management tool that you can use to safely organise, store, access, share and edit your legal documents and confidential files. The tool has cloud storage for lawyers, allowing you to access these files from anywhere using a mobile phone or other smart devices.
OUR TIP: Most document management tools are cloud-based and come with online collaboration and sharing options. The best way to choose between the available options is to calculate your per-user cost.
Legal research tool
Gone are the days when you had to spend hours searching for relevant legal information to support your matter. As a small law firm, you may be operating on a modest budget. Incurring huge costs and wasting more workable hours on legal research is the last thing you will want to do. Now, you can cut short your legal research efforts by almost 80% with online data archives and legal databases.
Use of LexisNexis, SCCOnline, Manupatra, etc. is one way to simplify your legal research methods. However, you can streamline this process further by using a good legal research tool. Tools like LegitQuest, CaseMine, mLeAP, etc. are some of the many legal research tools that can help you find relevant case laws, judgments and other legal information online in seconds.
OUR TIP: AI is the future, at least when it comes to legal research. Make sure that you choose an AI-based legal research software that can generate more precise and condensed results. These tools use natural language processing to evolve and produce results for you without the need to conduct multiple searches.
Calendar and docket management law firm software
As a lawyer, you understand how critical it is to keep your calendar in sync to be prepared for upcoming meetings and hearings. When you are a frequent visitor to courts, you also need to have proper docket management in place. Further, your efficiency also depends on how quickly you can collaborate with your team. Therefore, a calendar and docket management tool take an important place in our law firm software list.
With a calendar and docket management tool, you can schedule reminders for your upcoming meetings and hearings. You can also set up timelines for your team on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis. Such a tool also allows you to track and receive automatic updates for dockets, send case alerts to your team and set compliance deadlines.
OUR TIP: Look for a calendaring and docketing software that comes with a free demo or trial period. One such law firm software is Practice Panther which comes with a free trial and additional integrations with Google, Outlook, etc.
Project management software
Team collaboration is an integral part of running a successful legal practice. More and more law firms are switching over from computer-based productivity tracking tools to cloud-based solutions. A good cloud-based project management tool can allow your team to work together in real-time. They can share documents, track live changes, send reports, and work on team projects more efficiently.
OUR TIP: Project management tools do not have to cost you an arm and a leg. You can use free tools like Google Workspace, WhatsApp, Asana, Trello, etc., to collaborate with your team easily. Platforms like Trello also come with paid plans with additional collaboration features.
Lawyer CRM software
Top-notch and prompt customer relationship management is essential to growing your small law firm. As a lawyer, you may be simultaneously dealing with multiple clients with a myriad of cases. To retain these clients, you need to be quick-witted in engaging them and resolving their queries.
Further, you also need to attract more customers to grow your practice successfully. For this, you will have to track your potential clients and new leads through a systematic pipeline. You will also need to manage new business queries, feedbacks, and client reviews for a clean and trustworthy online reputation.
A client relationship management tool or lawyer CRM system helps you do all this and more. Not only can you manage your existing, new and potential clients, but also communicate with them more methodically. You can also schedule automatic replies to client emails, queries and feedback set tasks for your clients, and receive in-depth reports on your ongoing, pending and completed tasks.
Some CRM tools also provide data analytics that allows you to get a more in-depth view of your legal practice. With such information, you can assess the areas where you need to improve and how you convert your leads into new clients.
OUR TIP: Opt for a lawyer CRM software that comes with integrated marketing tools. Such tools can help you set email blasters and newsletters, post on and manage different social media channels, and track your online presence more closely. Zoho is a popular CRM tool, but it is not specifically designed for law firms. Lawcus is a law practice management solution that comes with a lawyer CRM tool that works well for small and medium-sized law firms.
PDF and document convertor
Earlier, lawyers used to rely heavily on physical copies of case files and legal documents. However, with more and more digitalisation in the client-lawyer relationship, lawyers need to convert different kinds of documents into digital files.
The easiest way to do this is by using PDF and other document converters. You can easily use a scanner to scan hard copies of your documents to convert them into digital copies for easier storage, access and transfer. You can also use other conversion tools to convert pictures and word files into PDF and vice versa.
OUR TIP: There are many free document converters available. You can easily save cost by using online document converters that come with basic features before opting for a premium version.
Password management
Data protection is not to be taken lightly, especially when sensitive information of your clients is in question. Also, there is nothing like ‘far too many precautions’ since cybercriminals are always coming up with new ways to commit data crimes.
A password management software allows you to keep a track of all your passwords in a well-guarded reservoir. You can easily recall and manage your passwords for your different digital accounts and create complex, safe and hack-proof passwords easily.
OUR TIP: It is better to choose a password management tool that also allows you to store additional information like billing addresses, credit/debit card information, and other such personal details.
Knowledge Management System
Legal knowledge is the building block for any case victory and your firm’s success. With the ability to share this knowledge easily between your team members, you can double your firm’s efficiency and productivity. It is also a great tool to reduce operational costs as information flows more fluidly among the team members.
For these reasons, we’ve added a knowledge management system to our law firm software list. A KMS allows you to organise, publish, edit and share important documents easily with your team members. You can also share relevant opinions, case notes, judgments and legal documents in seconds, making real-time coordinate a child’s play.
OUR TIP: Opt for a KMS with additional integrations that allow users to create guides, manuals, handbooks, etc. Document360 is one such tool that allows you to create SOPs, training manuals, PDF guides, etc. for more focused knowledge sharing and management.
Finance and accounting software
Accounting and finance are critical for tracking and optimising your law firm’s performance. A good accounting and finance system can help you identify your expenses, profits, losses, and cash flow more readily. While you can opt to set up a traditional finance and accounting department, the cost may not be feasible for your small practice. Plus, adding some digital elements does not hurt, especially when it can reduce your costs and increase the function’s accuracy.
A finance and accounting software for a law firm is generally equipped with tools like bookkeeping and records management, payroll, tax preparation, financial compliance management, reporting, etc.
OUR TIP: Choose a legal accounting and financial tool that also allows you to connect your bank account for more real-time updates. You can also look for features like statement reconciliation, foreign currency support, etc. ZolaSuite is one such legal accounting tool with an array of cloud-based finance and accounting management functions.
Payment processing and management
With more push towards digitalisation, more than 80% of bills are now paid online or through other digital means. Further, clients are more likely to hire lawyers who have proper payment management and processing setup for quick digital payments.
Therefore, the last on our law firm software list is a payment processing software that can enable you to securely receive, process and track payments online. A good payment management system allows you to process payments from an array of payment options like credit/debit card, online banking, digital bank transfers, UPI, etc.
Further, since the payment system is generally cloud-based and encrypted, you can easily transmit financial information between banks without worrying about security.
OUR TIP: You can choose a payment system that can also be integrated with an accounting system such as QuickBooks or Zero. Timesolv offers integrations with LexCharge and Lawpay along with credit issues, accounting integration, refund and tracking, etc.
Law firm software list: In conclusion
The legal industry has started to gradually open up to several cloud-based and AI-powered solutions. This trend is set to pick up the pace with the global disruption by the COVID-19 pandemic and the world becoming more digitalised.
When it comes to the digital transformation of a small law firm, the benefits of law firm software are many. From increased efficiency to better collaboration, from lower operational cost to more robust risk management. The assortment of law firm software that can help you streamline your practice better is endless.
We’re sure that our list will make it easier for you to choose the best technologies for your law firm. Regardless of which tools you choose from this law firm software list, your legal practice will undoubtedly benefit and these tools will make it easier for you to run your firm more efficiently and cost-smartly.
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