LAW FIRMS
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MATTERMANAGEMENTIN A LAW FIRM
The file never gets lost. What gets lost is who knows where it stands.
THE ANSWER
I put a law firm’s matters in one register. Every matter carries a status, an owner and the next key date. Reminders fire from dates you already hold. Time gets recorded where the work happens, and bills follow from that time. An automation costs €1,500–€10,000, an internal app €5,000–€35,000, VAT excluded.
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IN SHORT
Process automation: €1,500–€10,000.
Internal app: €5,000–€35,000.
Above €8,000, a definition sprint comes first.
Compliance judgement stays with whoever signs.
THE WORK TODAY
THE MATTER IS THE PROCESS
In a law firm almost everything turns around the matter. It opens with a conflict check and terms of business. Then it fills with correspondence, disbursements and recorded hours. Above all sit the key dates and the hearings, which allow no approximation. The case management system holds part of this story. The rest lives in the fee earner’s head.
WHERE IT GOES
FIVE POINTS EVERY FIRM RECOGNISES
It is not the law that slows a firm down. It is retrieving the information the law assumes you already have to hand.
A key date, three diaries
The same deadline sits in a diary, a system and a spreadsheet. When the three disagree, nobody knows which one to trust.
A status you must ask
To know where a matter stands, somebody has to find the fee earner running it. If they are in court, the client’s answer waits until the afternoon.
Time recorded on a Friday
Units get reconstructed from memory at week’s end. So they get rounded down. The work done and the work recorded stop being the same thing.
A bill rebuilt from correspondence
At the end somebody reads back through the correspondence to reassemble activity, disbursements and travel. That is reconstruction, not billing.
A document in three places
The attachment came by email, the signed copy sits in a folder. The latest change lives in a message. Finding it costs more than reading it.
HOW I WORK
THE DATA PERIMETER COMES FIRST
In a law firm the order binds. Deciding what the system may see comes before any line of code, not after the first demonstration.
We fix the system’s scope
Which parts of a matter enter the system and which stay out. Matter number, parties, status and next date are almost always enough. The content of the file adds nothing here and stays out.
I build the matter register
One place where every matter carries a status, an owner and a next date. It also holds the area of work and the other side. One view by fee earner, one by date, one by client.
I fire reminders from dates
From the date already recorded, never from a second entry. The reminder reaches whoever owns the matter, at the notice period you choose, and it records who has seen it.
I capture time at source
Activity is captured in two taps from the open matter. It’s never rebuilt on a Friday from a separate sheet. Units, disbursements and travel land in the same place.
I close the billing loop
A draft bill assembles itself from the recorded time and costs. The invoice follows without anyone rebuilding anything. You review and decide: the system only prepares.
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THE DELIVERY
WHAT THE FIRM KEEPS
The matter register
It carries status, owner and next key date. The filters are the ones people use: fee earner, area of work, date approaching.
Reminders on key dates
They fire on their own, at the notice you chose. They reach the owner and record who read them.
Time captured as you work
Activity, disbursements and travel recorded as you work. The draft bill comes straight out of it.
Roles and access
Who sees what is written down and configured. A trainee, a partner and the accounts team don’t need the same view.
The data perimeter, in writing
Which information the system handles, where it sits and what stays out. It is the document that makes what I built verifiable.
THE TERMS
RANGES, TIMING AND LIMITS
- Internal app
- €5,000–€8,000 Essential, €8,000–€18,000 Standard, €18,000–€35,000 Advanced. VAT excluded. The right shape once you need users, roles and states.
- Process automation
- €1,500–€10,000, VAT excluded, in two to six weeks. Enough when the problem is a single step: reminders on key dates, or collecting documents from a client.
- Timing
- Six to sixteen weeks after the perimeter is defined, for an internal app. The main variable is how stable that perimeter stays once we start.
- Definition sprint
- €800–€2,000, VAT excluded. It always comes first for an internal app and for sensitive data — in a law firm both conditions apply at once.
- What I do not do
- I give no legal advice. I don’t assess whether an obligation is met. I don’t decide what may be processed. I bring the technical part: the rest stays with whoever signs.
I bring the technical part. Judgement stays with whoever signs.
QUESTIONS
- Files are confidential. How do you handle them?
- The first step is writing down what the system sees. Matter number, parties, status and next date are usually enough. The content of the documents stays out. I work on the firm’s own tools and keep no copies after handover. The access rules are yours.
- Do you guarantee no key date is missed?
- No, and I’d be wary of anyone who does. The system repeats the dates you entered. It warns the owner at the notice you chose and records who read it. Responsibility for the date stays with the firm. No deadline depends on one person’s memory.
- Must we leave the case management system?
- No. If it already holds your clients and matters, it stays the source. I build the views and reminders that are missing. Replacing it is your decision, not mine. If it can’t share its data, I’ll say so before we start.
- Does this make sense for a three-partner firm?
- Yes, but rarely as an internal app. At that size the problem usually closes with an automation: reminders on key dates, document collection, time capture feeding the bill. That is the €1,500–€10,000 range, rather than starting at €5,000.
- How much of our time does it take?
- Less than you fear, but not none. I need one person who knows matters and can decide — a partner or office lead. They must be free for the sprint and for testing on real matters. Without them you get a document, not a system.
- Where is the sensible place to start?
- Where forgetting costs most, which is almost always key dates. A register of dates with automatic reminders is a small perimeter, it lands quickly, and it makes it obvious whether the rest is worth doing.
If you can only tell where a matter stands by asking the fee earner. The problem is already defined. Tell me how yours are organised today.