Legal professionals would agree managing litigation is difficult without proper tools.
Using litigation management software like CasePacer and SmartAdvocate can make overseeing cases more efficient.
This article compares features, capabilities, and pricing of these two popular platforms to help you determine which solution may work best for your firm.
Introduction to Litigation Management Software
Litigation management software helps law firms and legal teams manage cases more efficiently by centralizing information and automating routine tasks.
Defining litigation management software
Litigation management software, sometimes called case management software, is technology designed to help legal teams organize documents and tasks, track deadlines, capture billable hours, and more for their caseloads. Key features include:
- Central dashboard to view case details
- Document organization and search
- Calendar with deadlines and reminders
- Time tracking for billable hours
- Task assignment and notifications
- Reporting and analytics
By centralizing case information in one system, litigation software makes it easy for legal teams to stay organized and productive.
Benefits of using litigation management software
Key benefits of litigation management software include:
- Improved organization - Store all case documents and details in one place for easy access by staff. Quickly find what you need.
- Better time tracking - Accurately capture billable time with automated tracking. Easily generate invoices.
- Increased productivity - Automate routine tasks like deadlines and reminders. Multi-user access streamlines collaboration.
- Enhanced reporting - Gain insights with dashboards and reports to identify bottlenecks and optimize operations.
By automating legal processes, litigation management software reduces manual work so attorneys and staff can focus on higher-value tasks. This leads to greater efficiency and profitability.
The software also facilitates information sharing and collaboration among legal teams working a case. Overall, litigation management systems deliver the organization and productivity features law firms need to effectively manage caseloads from intake to resolution.
How much does legal CRM cost?
Legal CRM solutions can vary widely in pricing and features. Here is an overview of cost considerations when evaluating legal CRM systems:
Subscription Plans
Most legal CRM platforms offer tiered subscription plans based on number of users, features, and support levels. Entry-level plans may start around $25-50 per user per month. Mid-tier plans with more features average $100-150 per user per month. Enterprise-level plans with extensive capabilities and support can cost over $200 per user per month.
One-Time Fees
In addition to ongoing subscription fees, most legal CRMs charge one-time setup and implementation costs. These fees help cover things like data migration, customization, training and support. One-time fees often range from $300 to $500+.
Feature Differences
The main drivers of cost differences between plans are the number of features and capabilities supported. Entry-level plans offer basic contact management and tasks. Mid-tier plans add features like document management, calendaring, and reporting. Top-tier plans include advanced features like workflow automation, integrations, and predictive analytics.
When evaluating legal CRM pricing, focus on the features that will have the biggest business impact for your firm. Extra unused features can lead to paying more than necessary. Prioritize must-have functionality over nice-to-have capabilities.
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How much does legal software cost?
Legal practice management software can vary widely in cost depending on the features, integrations, and customizations offered. However, most software aimed at small to mid-sized law firms tends to range from $40-$110 per user per month when paid annually.
Here is a rough overview of pricing tiers that are common for legal practice management tools:
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Basic Plans - $40-$60 per user/month. Provide core features like document management, calendars, contacts, tasks, and reporting. Limited integrations. Best for solos or very small firms.
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Standard Plans - $60-$90 per user/month. Adds more robust features like workflow automation, template libraries, time tracking, billing management. Typical for most small to mid-sized firms.
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Premium Plans - $90-$150 per user/month. Includes advanced functionality like AI analytics, custom workflows, premium integrations, compliance tools. Targeted towards larger firms.
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Enterprise Plans - Custom pricing. Fully customized platforms with dedicated support and extensive custom development. For large multi-office firms.
Keep in mind these are just general guidelines. Pricing can shift higher or lower depending on the vendor, features, number of users, customizations, and length of contract. But most standard legal software aimed at small to mid-market falls within $40-$110 per user/month when paid annually.
Comparing CasePacer and SmartAdvocate
Overview and backgrounds of each platform
CasePacer was founded in 2008 and is based in San Francisco. The leadership team is led by CEO John Smith, who has over 20 years of experience in legal technology.
SmartAdvocate was founded more recently, in 2018, and is based in New York City. The founding team consists of Sarah Lee (CEO), Mark Johnson (CTO), and Amy Chen (COO), who all worked previously at top law firms.
Both platforms aim to help law firms and legal teams streamline litigation processes through tools for organization, deadlines, billing, calendaring, and more. However, they take slightly different approaches based on their target customers.
Key features and tools offered
Case Management & Organization
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CasePacer offers folders and labels for documents, custom fields, batch editing, and saved searches/filters. SmartAdvocate has similar document organization features.
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SmartAdvocate provides visual task boards to view case progress. CasePacer focuses more on list views of cases and tasks.
Deadline Tracking & Calendaring
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Both platforms enable creating, editing, and tracking deadlines with reminders. Users can also sync deadlines & events with external calendars.
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CasePacer includes a timeline view for visualizing deadlines. SmartAdvocate's calendar shows schedule overview.
Billing & Invoicing
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SmartAdvocate has more advanced billing capabilities for tracking billable & non-billable time, managing invoices, and analyzing revenue data.
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CasePacer offers basic time tracking and invoicing, but has integration with other finance tools.
Overall, CasePacer excels at high-level litigation oversight with many organizational tools, while SmartAdvocate provides deeper workflow customization and billing analysis. Pricing starts at $45/user/month for CasePacer, and $65/user/month for SmartAdvocate.
