Software for law firms that bill by the hour and lose days to admin.
Matter management, conflict checks, billable hours, invoice approval, and hearing deadlines, moved out of inboxes, diaries, and paper files into one system. Built for how a multi-office practice actually runs, not how a US practice-management vendor assumes it does.
Packaged legal software or a custom build? See the comparison
Legal work is unusually well suited to custom software and unusually badly served by it. The vocabulary is specific, the deadlines are statutory rather than negotiable, and the approval chain runs through partners who are in court. Generic practice-management software gets all three wrong at once.
We built a full ERP for King Stubb & Kasiva, a multi-office Indian firm: matters, conflict checks across current and historical parties, billable hours, a four-step invoice approval on Power Automate, SharePoint-backed document control, and a Copilot Studio bot grounded on the firm's own matter base. It tracks 800+ active matters and cut invoice turnaround from twelve days to two.
What usually breaks first.
- 01
Invoices take weeks to leave the building
A bill waits on a partner who is in trial in another city. One invoice sat for forty-one days before anyone noticed.
- 02
Matters live in individual inboxes
The status of a matter is whatever the associate who handled it last remembers. Handover means a long conversation and a folder search.
- 03
Conflict checks are a memory test
Before opening a matter, someone tries to recall whether the firm has ever acted against that party. Across nine offices and a decade of history, that does not scale.
- 04
Documents are named FINAL (revised)
No naming convention, no version history, no clear line between internal drafts and what the client has seen.
- 05
Hearing dates live in a diary
Statutory windows and listing dates are tracked manually, so the safety net is one person's attention.
What we build for legal & law firms.
Matter management
Client, opposing party, practice area, lead lawyer, hearing calendar, document folder, and billing arrangement on one record, in the firm's own vocabulary.
See the service Approval workflowsBillable hours and invoice approval
Time capture that lawyers actually use, then a multi-step approval that reviews the total against the retainer or cap before it goes out.
See the service Custom web appsDeadline and limitation engines
Statutory windows computed from the triggering date and escalated before they close. Already proven on a Section 138 recovery build.
See the service Document automationSharePoint document control
Files mapped one to one with each matter, auto-named to a convention, versioned by default, with internal versus client-shared scoping at file level.
See the service Power Apps · low-codeCopilot Studio bots
A bot grounded on the firm's own matter base that answers status questions in seconds. The juniors use it more than the partners do.
See the service Document automationGST invoicing and client reporting
Compliant invoice generation and the client-facing reports that partners currently rebuild by hand each month.
See the servicePackaged legal software or a custom build?
If your firm fits a packaged product's template, buy it. Legal case management software from a vendor is ready to use, the vendor maintains it, and for a single office with standard matter types it is often all you need. A custom law firm ERP is worth it when the firm's own rules are exactly what the template gets wrong. This is the comparison we walk through on a first call.
| Where it matters | Typical packaged product | Custom law firm ERP |
|---|---|---|
| Offices and practice groups | One configuration shared across offices | Matter routing, numbering and visibility set per office and practice group |
| Approvals | The approval steps the product happens to support | Multi-step chains by partner, value or practice group, escalated when the approver is in court |
| Statutory deadlines | Usually entered by hand as diary dates | Computed from the trigger date, as in our Section 138 case manager, and escalated before the window closes |
| Accounts | Export files, often re-keyed into Tally | Invoices and receipts posted to Tally or your accounts system through an integration |
| Documents | The vendor's document store, or a sync to it | Your own SharePoint, one folder per matter, versioned and named to a convention |
| AI assistant | The vendor's own assistant, where one exists | A Copilot Studio bot grounded only on your matter base, inside your Microsoft tenant |
| A good fit when | One office, standard matter types, no unusual approvals | Several offices, firm-specific approvals, Section 138 or limitation workflows |
Not sure which column you are in? Bring the full journey of one matter, from intake to the final invoice, to a call. We will tell you honestly whether packaged matter management software covers it.
Software we have already built into this sector.
Law-firm ERPMulti-office law-firm ERP with a Copilot bot.
Matter management, conflict checks, billable hours, a four-step invoice approval on Power Automate, SharePoint document control, and a Copilot Studio bot grounded on the firm's own matter base.
Section 138 case management, on a deadline engine.
Bounced-cheque recovery for a manufacturing distributor. Statutory windows computed from the return date, escalated before they close, logged for board review.
- Microsoft 365
- SharePoint
- Power Automate
- Copilot Studio
- Azure AD SSO
- React + TypeScript
- PostgreSQL
Straight answers.
- Why build a custom system instead of subscribing to legal practice software?
- Off-the-shelf legal practice software works when your firm fits its template. Multi-office firms usually don't: approval chains, billing rules, conflict checks and matter numbering differ by practice group. We start with a requirement study of how your firm actually runs, then build around it, and connect it to the Microsoft 365 tools your lawyers already use.
- What is the difference between matter management software and a law firm ERP?
- Matter management software keeps the register: client, opposing party, court, responsible lawyers, hearing dates and documents for each matter. A law firm ERP adds the business side around that register: time entry, billing, multi-step invoice approval, GST invoicing and partner reporting. The King Stubb & Kasiva system is a law firm ERP. A smaller office often starts with the matter register alone and adds billing once the register is in daily use.
- What should legal case management software track for an Indian law firm?
- Every matter with its client, court and responsible lawyers; hearing dates and the next step after each one; limitation and filing deadlines computed from their trigger dates, so nobody has to type them; the documents filed against each matter; time entries and the invoices raised from them; and an audit trail of who changed what. The King Stubb & Kasiva system covers matters, billable hours, GST-ready invoicing and SharePoint document control, and our Section 138 case manager computes statutory deadlines automatically.
- Is there a version for smaller chambers or an advocate's office?
- Yes. The same approach scales down. A smaller office usually starts with one module, such as a matter and hearing register with reminders, or time entry and invoicing, and adds the rest once it is in daily use. As with every build, the scope and timeline are agreed after a requirement study with the people who will use it.
- Is our client data safe in a custom system?
- It sits in your own Microsoft tenant under your own identity provider, with least-privilege access and audit logging on every record. That is usually a stronger position than a third-party practice-management SaaS holding the same data in a jurisdiction you did not pick.
- Can it handle multiple offices and practice groups?
- Yes. The King Stubb & Kasiva build runs across a multi-office practice with separate practice groups, per-group visibility rules, and consolidated partner reporting.
- Do lawyers actually log their time in it?
- Only if capture takes seconds. We design the time entry path first and everything else around it. If logging an hour is slower than writing it on a notepad, the system has already failed.
- What about the Copilot bot, is that a gimmick?
- The firm asked for it expecting a gimmick. It is grounded strictly on their own matter base, so it answers status and next-hearing questions rather than inventing them, and the junior associates use it more than the partners do.
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Tell us what's slowing your legal & law firms team down.
A 30-minute discovery call. We map the process, point out the easy wins, and outline a clear plan (no obligation).