Service
For managing partners and practice managers who need matter, document, deadline, time and billing workflows designed around how their firm actually runs rather than a generic practice system configured as far as it will go.
The problem
Where it usually starts
A growing firm usually runs on a practice system chosen a decade ago plus everything that grew around it: matter files split between a document store and shared drives, a limitation-date spreadsheet kept by one paralegal, time recorded in a separate app and keyed into the billing system at month end, and a client-money ledger reconciled by the cashier from printouts. Each tool is fine alone; the gaps between them are where the risk sits.
Where it gets harder
A fee earner opens a matter for a new client without the conflict search catching a related company because the contact was spelled differently.
Scope of the service
A custom practice management build normally covers:
We start by following three real matters of different types from first contact to archive, noting every handover, every form filled twice and every date that lives in a person's head. Those become named stages in the scope document: new client, conflict check, open matter, tasks and key dates, time recording, billing, close and archive.
A twelve-fee-earner firm with litigation, private client and property departments needs different task templates per department, limitation reminders that escalate on a schedule the compliance officer sets, interim billing on litigation matters, and a cashier who must approve every client-account movement before it posts. That approval step and the department-specific templates are what make it a custom project.
Deliverables
Process
Each stage maps onto the project view in your client panel. Durations are set in your proposal, never on this page.
Access to the current practice system, the document store, the limitation spreadsheet and the accounts package, with a named contact per department.
Matter walk-throughs with a fee earner from each department plus the cashier and compliance officer; the scope document and milestone plan are agreed.
Clickable designs of the matter view, the diary, time entry and the bill, reviewed with the people who will use them daily.
Built in stages: contacts and conflict search first, then matters, documents and key dates, then time and billing, then the client-money ledger and portal.
Each department runs a set of test matters end to end, including a month-end bill run and a client-account reconciliation on sample data.
Changes from the review, particularly to templates, reminders and approval steps, are made and re-checked against the scope document.
Data migrated and reconciled against the old system, reminder schedules tested, cut-over date agreed with the cashier around a month end.
The firm runs on the new system; optional maintenance and hosting continue under their own agreement.
Integrations
Systems this kind of business usually asks us to connect. Each integration is confirmed during discovery; none is assumed.
How we would approach it
In this scoping scenario, a firm with litigation, private client and property departments wanted every client-account movement to be requested by a fee earner and approved by the cashier before it posted, with limitation reminders escalating from the fee earner to the supervisor to the compliance officer on a schedule the compliance officer controls. The scope we would propose: a request-and-approve step on the client-money ledger with the audit trail recording both people, department-specific matter templates carrying their own tasks and key dates, interim billing for litigation matters only, and a partner dashboard of matters against budget.
The reason this needs a custom build is the approval workflow: most practice systems let a user post to the client account directly and rely on policy, which is exactly the control this firm wanted enforced by the system.
Pricing
Every proposal is priced on scope. These are the factors that move it most for this kind of build.
FAQ
When the firm's controls, templates or billing rules break the assumptions of the law firm management package. During discovery we lay your matter walk-throughs against the package and tell you plainly whether configuration covers them or whether, for example, your client-money approval steps need a custom workflow.
We treat access to any external official portal as an integration opportunity to assess individually, because each has its own access rules and some offer no interface at all. The scope document states what has been assessed and what has not; nothing is promised as a ready feature.
The build keeps client and office money separate, records every movement with who requested and who approved it, and supports reconciliation. The rules the firm must follow come from its own compliance arrangements; the system enforces the controls you specify but does not interpret regulation on your behalf.
Usually yes. We export from the current system, map matters, contacts, documents and balances, and reconcile the ledger against the old system before cut-over, which we plan around a month end with the cashier. The scope document states what can be carried over once we have seen the data.
The firm does. Source code and data are handed over at delivery; hosting and maintenance are optional, separately agreed and movable to another provider.
Answer a few questions about your business, your current systems and what should change. We reply with a clear, competitive proposal.