Legal technology field guides
Use a repeatable selection process before signature and a controlled migration plan after the decision. Both guides preserve workflow meaning, financial controls, data relationships and an exit path.
A defensible selection starts with the firm’s risks and handoffs, then gives every vendor the same facts, scenarios and questions. Product breadth matters less than whether the decisive workflows work for your people and obligations.
Migration playbookMigration is a controlled change to the firm’s operational record. The plan must preserve relationships, documents, dates, financial balances and responsibilities while giving the team a verified rollback and support path.
Buyer topics
Each topic adds workflow requirements, buyer questions, open evidence gaps, and the same five legal demo scenarios. Use the pages to build a requirements agenda, not to pick a universal winner.
Firm-size guide
A small firm rarely has a separate administrator for every system. The useful question is whether attorneys, paralegals and billing staff can move one matter from inquiry to close without losing ownership, deadlines or financial controls.
Open buyer questionsFirm-size guide
For a solo attorney, a system that demands constant administration can create more risk than it removes. Evaluate the full working day: screening an inquiry, preparing documents, tracking a deadline, billing, collecting payment and finding the record later.
Open buyer questionsPlatform guide
Practice management software sits between client service, professional obligations and firm economics. A useful evaluation follows the same record from lead through intake, active work, billing, trust activity, closing and retention.
Open buyer questionsMatter workflow guide
The core test is whether the team can reconstruct the status, history, obligations and next action for a matter without searching across inboxes, personal calendars and disconnected folders.
Open buyer questionsRevenue workflow guide
Speed matters, but billing accuracy depends on review controls and traceability. Test how raw time becomes a client-facing bill, how corrections are recorded and how money is applied across operating and trust accounts.
Open buyer questionsFinancial controls guide
Start by defining scope. Some products provide time, billing and trust ledgers; others also provide operating accounting. The demo must show how transactions reach the general ledger and who owns every reconciliation.
Open buyer questionsIntake workflow guide
A fast response is useful only if the firm also captures the right parties, preserves the conflict decision, obtains informed engagement documents and hands complete information to the working matter.
Open buyer questionsDocument workflow guide
A document is useful when the team can find the right version, understand its matter context, control access and preserve it through staff changes, closing and export.
Open buyer questionsTrust controls guide
Requirements vary by jurisdiction and firm. Use software to make client-level balances, bank activity, reconciliations and approvals visible, then confirm the process with qualified ethics and accounting professionals.
Open buyer questionsA feature name is not proof. Before purchase, require a representative workflow and complete sample export. During migration, reconcile record counts, relationships, documents, dates and financial balances before authorizing cutover.