Best Project Management Software for Law Firms

Today’s SaaS management tools are settling into the most offices. They are used for carrying out the essential daily tasks.

Starting from sending e-mails or communication to multistage processes, such as management of working time, an organization of projects, selling or issuing an invoice.

Thanks to the latest technology they may be implemented in more efficient and easier ways.

The legal sector is no exception. It becomes more difficult to find a legal office, where apps such as Dropbox and Google Drive are not used to store files and data inherent in a particular case.

Why is project management SaaS software something that pays off?

Management tools can be designated as “workspace”. Just a few years ago, the Microsoft Office was the only program to create a document. It was required to have a license, which became outdated after one year.

Nowadays, there is no need to use any paid programs or tools to make a professional document.

Designers of the applications in the cloud, like Office 365 or Google Documents (and many others), absolutely meet the expectations of a modern user and propose solutions in the latest version.

We don’t need to be concerned with updating (because they do it for us).

Of course currently on the market, there are thousands of tools, each of which has its unique features. That’s why I decided to make a list of the top tools, which surely you can use in your legal office.

Team — let them implement the projects successfully

Ensuring suitable conditions is necessary for efficient work. Management tools can make an optimal background at whatever distance, allowing your team to communicate and implement the project.

There is plenty of them, so here comes a question, which one to choose?

There are two tools that can facilitate tasks and otherwise make things easier for lawyers and other workers in this field. Basecamp and Asana offer basic editing tools and intuitive interface — the key to realization complex cases.

Grow your law company with Basecamp

An interface is based on the board available to every team member. You can share everything with strictly chosen coworkers and collaborate on the documents in real-time.

For example: In your law company work four teams of which everyone is working on three cases. Each case means lots of documents and data…

As often happens, they are stored in different locations, and then you’re spending too much time and energy on finding particular information. Basecamp is something that solves this problem.

Basecamp primary objective is to facilitate projects managing, what might happen in the following cases:

• create teams’ board, for instance: team for case X, selling the team — you can add someone outside the team (providing a more efficient means of communication with clients using instant messages);
• add a project to team’s board;
• handling schedules and appointments;
• planning a calendar with deadlines — thanks to the integration with your personal calendar there is a possibility to compare your plans with other team members and carry out the tasks efficiently;
• add necessary documents, data, and information — directly to the application or import them from e-mail or disc.

Easy communication in a team

When your project is already planned, you need to ensure the effective communication to implement it.

There are a few apps — applicable to legal documents — that can get you an easy way to communicate with your coworker.

First of them is Slack — can be integrated with Basecamp. It causes that any project actualizations appears on the Slack or vice-versa — information from Slack will be added to to-do list on Basecamp.

There is also a possibility to use built-in chat. It’s useful when you just need to add the files to a particular case or send a message.

If you use chat in your law office, but outside you communicate with your team via e-mails or SMS, Basecamp will be the solution which provides a more efficient means of communication at any time, and from any location.

Now, let’s talk about the obstacles. Firstly — price. Both Asana and Trello has its free basic version. Basecamp is available only in paid version, what is unprofitable for a small legal firms.

Secondly, not so many possibilities to integrate with other SaaS apps. Zapier solves this problem to some extent — by integration Basecamp with e-mail or Dropbox. However, Asana outclasses Basecamp in this regard.

SaaS management apps are becoming more than just a single tool thanks to the integrations

Let’s assume that you use Asana for project management, Slack for communication, Google Drive for store files and documents, Outlook for e-mail sending and TimeCamp to time tracking.

In this case, Asana will become “command center”. In the same place, you have access to all your tools, but you can also integrate various apps outside this system at once.

Make a to-do list and assign them to particular team members

Asana is the main alternative for Basecamp. A SaaS management and communication tool, similarly to Basecamp, offer a wide range of functionalities, started from task visualization, to chat.

Asana allows you to make a to-do list assign them to particular team members, and have a discussion about the task at the same time. Thanks to Asana every action or status change is immediately communicated to other team members by e-mail or notifications directly from the application.

The main difference between Asana and Basecamp is the number of available integration. More about Asana integrations you can find here.

Let’s move on to the most common integrations and their benefits. It is worth notice that they are available with Basecamp too.

Asana + Slack

Advantages:

• create new tasks and assign to particular team members/projects in Asana, directly from Slacks’ interface;
• comment on the specific case;
• determine a program, stages of implementation;
• notification on Slack about new tasks, projects, comments.

Asana + Google Drive

The integration of Google Drive and Asana lets you adding files from disc, directly from Asana interface. Just one click on the file that you want to add to the project.

TimeCamp - track work hours and issue an invoice

As far as we can tell, cloud storage is used by a majority of workers, but some of them don’t even know about the existence of TimeCamp.

TimeCamp is a simple time tracking online tool letting you monitor time spent in work by you and your employees. It also lets you analyze the employees’ productivity and attendance.

In addition, it allows:

• to monitor and collect information about websites visited by your employees;
• to generate reports for a particular employee or whole team — show their efficiency;
• to track visual work time tracking and issue an invoice.

Work time monitoring is particularly useful when you account on the basis of an hourly rate. In that case, information from the app will determine how much time team spend on project realization. You can also plan a budget for task implementation, determine hourly rate and generate invoices on that basis.

When a team works without a computer, you can use a mobile version of TimeCamp or input the data manually. You can also use integration with calendar, from which you can send an information about the case.

TimeCamp gives even more opportunities when you integrate it with other solutions

List of integrations is wide, but we’re specifically interested, of course, in connection with SaaS for project management — Asana and Basecamp.

After this integration your projects planned in Asana or Basecamp will be automatically noticed in TimeCamp, so you don’t have to transfer them one by one.

Asana and Timecamp integration

The main advantage is the possibility of measuring time directly from the application that we use at the moment. If it is Asana, after installation a plug will appear a button that allows you turn on TimeCamp and start to measure time.

SaaS project management tools generate a complex place for your firm

Modern technology might hold the key to productivity and efficiency in today’s legal office.

There are several types of tasks apps can make run more efficiently, such as: handling schedules and appointments, organizing and storing client data and information related to cases, gaining access to stored resources remotely through mobile apps, etc. They create a relevant “back office” that improve the quality of service.

Management tools that I have just presented in this article are examples of how simple it is to create optimal conditions for everyday work. But, at the same time, a multitude of possibilities doesn’t mean more duties or longer work time. The movement of the documents became quick and intuitive because application fits into your busy schedule, not vice versa.

Moreover, these SaaS management tools create a new, more efficient means of communication, what is crucial for proper functioning of your legal firm.

Customized SaaS apps can help develop a law firm’s identity and make the firm stand out by offering clients a unique connection and experience.