Law practice management software is the software that a law firm uses to run itself as a business. It records the time that each lawyer spends on each client's work, turns that time into bills, chases payment and keeps clients informed. It is also called practice management or time and billing software for lawyers.
A law firm sells its lawyers' time. So the firm needs an exact record of who worked on what, for how long. Most firms that bill by the hour record time in units of six minutes, which is a tenth of an hour. A task of 14 minutes is recorded as 0.3 hours, because it is rounded up to the next unit. This way of charging is explained in billable hours.
Say a corporate law firm in Delhi is advising a company that is buying a smaller software business. In the software, this piece of work is one matter, with its own number. Each lawyer records time against that matter number, either with a timer on the screen or by typing entries at the end of the day. On one Tuesday, a partner spends 14 minutes on a call with the client, recorded as 0.3 hours. An associate spends 2 hours 40 minutes drafting the share purchase agreement, recorded as 2.7 hours. The partner's rate is ₹25,000 an hour and the associate's is ₹8,000. So these two entries add ₹7,500 and ₹21,600 to the client's bill.
At the end of the month, the software collects every entry for the matter. A partner reviews the draft bill and removes time that should not be charged, such as a junior lawyer's slow first attempt at a task. The software then produces the invoice, with GST worked out according to the client. Many large clients ask for invoices in a set electronic format. So the software can send the invoice straight into the client's enterprise legal management (ELM) system, where it will be checked line by line.
Then comes payment. Law firms often wait months to be paid. Accounts receivable automation sends reminders, records part-payments and shows partners which clients owe the most.
Not every Indian firm bills by the hour. Many litigation lawyers charge a fixed fee for each court appearance, and many firms charge a fixed fee for a whole transaction. Good practice management software handles all three. It also records the court dates of each case and keeps a check for conflicts of interest: before the firm takes a new client, it searches its records to see whether the firm already acts for the other side.
The documents themselves are kept in a separate legal document management system, filed under the same matter number.