Practice Management and Case Management System Selection for Law Firms.

Do you feel that your practice and case management systems holding your practice back? Are people re-keying the same details, working around gaps between systems or waiting for the information they need? Is your current system approaching end of life, or struggling to keep up with the way you want to work with clients?

📅 Talk to us

Choosing new core systems is one of the biggest decisions a law firm make as you will won't want to be going through this process again for at least ten years. A few early demonstrations can help people see what modern systems can do. What shapes the outcome is getting the firm to a clear understanding of its own business and needs before the full supplier evaluation starts. That's where we focus at the outset.

What the firm gets

• Technology advisers who understand the business.
• A decision the partners can stand behind, tied to the firm's plans for the next three to five years.
• The real cost and benefits of each option over five years, with nothing important left out .
• Suppliers tested on what matters to your firm, backed by technical due diligence where it counts.
• A clear view of the risks, including how easily each route could be reversed.
• A firm that's ready for the new system when it arrives.

Technology advisers who will understand your business 

Carton & Co advises law firms on technology alongside business strategy, business development and client relationships. A new system has to help the firm deliver services, win and keep clients, so we start with the business and how you need tech to support it.

Allan Carton is a qualified solicitor with an MBA and experience in practice. He understands how lawyers and law firms work from the inside and knows the suppliers and their products. Through our client listening work he stays close to what law firm clients expect and how the legal market is changing.

Frank Manning leads the technical due diligence and supports project management through implementation. He brings over 25 years' hands-on experience of infrastructure selection and deployment, cyber security and data protection, application selection and technology project management, in the UK and internationally. He looks closely at integration, data migration, infrastructure, security and fit with your Microsoft 365 estate. During implementation he helps anticipate the issues before they cause delays.

Our approach

Every selection is different, but the shape of each project is broadly the same, built on our experience of working with lawyers and law firm management over the years.

Set the direction

• Start with the business and IT strategy. A business strategy for the next three to five years and an IT strategy that fits it. Helping develop the IT strategy is usually our first step.

• Evaluate current systems and usage. What's underused, what better configuration could fix and what the current estate costs to run.

• Set up a steering group that decides. Small, with the authority to decide, fixed meeting dates and actions with names against them.

• Agree objectives and priorities. Signed up to by the partners, they become the brief for suppliers. Detailed workflow design comes later.

Choose

• Focus on what differentiates. The same brief to every shortlisted supplier, then the points that looked challenging in the demonstrations played back to see how each would tackle them.

• Model the full cost. Five years, cash and P&L, for each route and for staying put. Quoted figures kept apart from estimates.

• Weigh the benefits against your priorities. We identify and evaluate the potential benefits in each area of the business. The priorities the firm has set are then balanced against what sets each supplier apart, with the risks laid out for the partners alongside the scores.

• Negotiate the commercial terms. Price, discounts, licence bundles and payment phasing, along with the technical points, service levels and supplier commitments the contract needs to capture. The firm's own lawyers negotiate and advise on the legal terms.

Get ready

Prepare the firm before the system arrives. Data cleaned up, templates rationalised, processes defined in the departments that go first, champions trained and project management resourced.

Where selections usually go wrong

• The system is chosen before the firm agrees what it's for. Suppliers end up writing the specification

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• One or two areas get all the attention. It is critical to cover all areas of business and then prioritise.

• The comparison leaves out expensive parts. A per user licence is only part of the programme cost.

• Decisions drift. A steering group that talks without deciding costs months.

• The firm isn't ready when the system arrives. Training on new software won't fix unclear processes or poor data.

Sometimes the answer is not to move

Not every review ends in a new system. It can be better to fill the gaps in a system your people already know, through better configuration, improved supplier terms or other tools that work alongside it. The market is moving that way too. Firms are shifting from a single practice and case management system towards several integrated solutions working together, with AI playing a part. We'll tell you if staying put is the better answer, helping you find the right mix of tools to improve if that's the right solution for your practice.

What you get

• A clear brief and a shortlist, tested against the same requirements.

• A five-year cost model for each option, rerun at each decision point.

• A weighted comparison scored by your steering group.

• A paper for the partners setting out the options, the risks and the decision.

• Negotiation of price, discounts, licence bundles and payment phasing, with technical input to the contract.

• Support with implementation planning.

How we work with you

We work alongside your team, doing as much or as little as you need. With full support we can run the selection from the brief through to the contract, implementation plan and project management. With targeted assistance you lead and we come in where it helps most, such as challenging suppliers at demonstrations or reviewing the cost comparison. With strategic oversight we validate your approach and give an independent view at key decision points. We offer fixed prices for defined stages, day rates for flexible support or a mix of both.

Who you'll work with

Together, our legal technology consultants provide the strategic, operational and technical expertise needed for successful AI adoption, from roadmap design through to firm-wide implementation.

Allan Carton  leads the selection and partner engagement. A qualified solicitor with an MBA, he has advised law firms on business development and client relationships since 1990 and on technology since 1992.

Frank Manning leads the technical evaluation. He brings over 25 years' hands-on experience of infrastructure selection and deployment, cyber security and data protection, application selection and technology project management, in the UK and internationally. He tests supplier claims on integration, data migration, security and fit with your Microsoft 365 estate. He's as comfortable with a board of partners as with your IT team.

Practice and case management selection is part of our wider Smarter Working Through Technology service. For the detail of how we run a selection, read our guide Upgrading Technology in Law Firms: A Practical Guide.

Getting Started

Talk to us before you book a demo here >>

Allan Carton

Email: acarton@cartonconsultants.com

Phone: 07779 653105

LinkedIn

Carton & Co: helping law firms modernise and grow through smarter technology, stronger client relationships and practical strategy.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Are you independent of software suppliers?

A: Yes. We're paid by the firm and our advice is about what fits your firm.

Q: How are you different from other IT consultants?

A: We advise law firms on business strategy, business development and client relationships as well as technology. A system is chosen for what it does for how the firm wins, serves and keeps clients, alongside the technical fit. Frank Manning brings the technical depth, so firms get both in one team.

Q: Do we need an IT strategy before choosing a system?

A: Ideally, yes. There needs to be a business strategy in place for the next three to five years, with an IT strategy that fits it. Where there isn't one, helping develop the IT strategy is usually our first step.

Q: How long does it take to choose a new practice and case management system?

A: A focused selection can reach a supplier decision in around four months. Selections covering practice and case management, accounts and CRM together usually take longer. Implementation then runs from six months to well over a year.

Q: Should we replace our system or get more out of the one we have?

A: Check first. Many firms use only part of what their current system can do. If better configuration solves the problem, that's quicker and cheaper. If the system is reaching end of life or can't support how you want to work, replacement makes sense.

Q: Can you help us renegotiate with our current supplier?

A: Yes. Where staying is the right answer, we review what you pay for and what you use, then help you agree better terms, a development plan and service levels with your supplier, alongside your own lawyers

Q: How do you compare suppliers?

A: Every shortlisted supplier gets the same brief. After the demonstrations we play back the points that looked challenging and ask how each supplier would tackle them. Occasionally a short pilot on one of your own workflows is worth it. Your steering group scores the options on a handful of weighted dimensions. Where scores differ widely, we discuss why.

Q: How do you work out what a new system will really cost?

A: We model each route over five years on a cash and a P&L basis. That covers licences, implementation, accounts, hosting, data migration, dual running and the cost of your current systems until they're switched off. Quoted figures and estimates are kept apart. The model is rerun as quotes firm up.

Q: Do you negotiate with suppliers?

A: Yes. Where staying is the right answer, we review what you pay for and what you use, then negotiate price, licence bundles and service levels with your supplier and agree a development plan.

Q: Do you cover accounts and CRM too?

A: Yes. Practice management, case management, accounts and CRM are usually one decision now. We bring accounts in early, because legal accounting and SRA compliance often take longer than case management and can end up setting the timetable.

Q: How does AI affect which system we choose?

A: Much of the future value comes from AI working on your documents, matters and processes. We ask every supplier what their AI does today, what's on the roadmap, how it's charged for and what it will cost at your size. Then we plan AI adoption alongside the implementation.

Q: What does the firm need to do itself?

A: Clean up client and matter data, rationalise templates, define processes in the departments that go first and name champions in each team. It also needs a steering group that meets on fixed dates and takes decisions, plus people with protected time for the work. None of it needs to wait for the supplier.

Q: Where do you work?

A: With law firms of all sizes across the UK and Ireland, in person and online.