#1 most frequent
Canada
56.4%215 installations of 381
What is PCLaw?
PCLaw is offered as an all-in-one billing, legal accounting, and matter management solution, from PCLaw | Time Matters, a joint venture spun out of LexisNexis in collaboration with LEAP in 2019.
Categories & Use Cases
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Who Buys & Uses PCLaw
#2 most frequent
United States of America
40.7%155 installations of 381
#3 most frequent
Australia
0.8%3 installations of 381
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Pros
- Users can easily navigate the software
- Helpful technical support is provided during business hours
- Accounting features generate detailed reports on expenses and payments
- Cost-effective for small to medium sized firms
Cons
- The software frequently crashes and freezes
- Documents are difficult to view within the software
- No software integrations
- Does not accept online payments
Return on Investment
- It helped the firm save money on case management software
- It negatively impacted productivity when dealing with glitches/crashes
- It was effective in keeping track of the firm's expenses
Other Software Used
Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), Zapier
PCLaw: no frills, all functionality
Pros
- Link to practice management software to synchronize clients.
- Provide structured and organized system for accounting.
- Excellent tool for capturing time entries and keeping employees accountable.
Cons
- Linking system is prone to issues.
- No significant investment in updated features or functionality in several years.
- Could use a facelift, but function over fashion.
Return on Investment
- Great solution for accounting and billing of clients.
- Investment of time from employees in time entries to ensure productivity stays high.
- Forces organization of clients and matters that is universal to all employees.
Alternatives Considered
Amicus Attorney, Tabs3 Billing and Smokeball
Usability
Other Software Used
Tabs3 Billing, Clio, Amicus Attorney
LexisNexis PCLaw - Streamlining Law Practice Management
Pros
- Streamlining billing/collections
- Centralizing case information into a repository
- Capturing billable time
Cons
- Generating bills sometimes comes with errors that are not easy to identify
- Troubleshooting errors in billing is sometimes tricky
- No other issues!
Return on Investment
- Positive ROI on collections tracking
- Positive ROI on reduced time spent searching for case details/contact info/court appearance info
Usability
PCLaw still has it all
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
PCLaw is a robust legal accounting program used in many law firms worldwide for the management of time and billing, trust accounting, and overall firm finances. I have used this as a controller in many law firms in North America along with helping implement and train on the system.
Pros
- Client trust management
- client billing management
- firm accounting
Cons
- PCLaw tends to run into data stability issues which can cause unbalanced accounting and client reports.
- PCLaw is a desktop solution and has limited cloud support
- In my opinion, PCLaw is becoming very expensive and the company cannot justify the cost until they have a system that does not have the instability issues and can work in the cloud.
Most Important Features
- Time and billing abilities
- Practice management tools
- An all in one solution.
Return on Investment
- PCLaw allows me to run my firm efficiently
- PCLaw tends to be glitchy with instability in the tables which can create inaccurate reporting
Alternatives Considered
Soluno
Other Software Used
Soluno, CosmoLex, ESILaw
PCLaw is a good find for a smaller firm
Pros
- The software can hold a decent amount of matters, which works great being an IP firm with multiple (sometimes hundreds) of matters for each client.
- Entry of time/expenses/invoices is very easy once the software is initially set up.
- The software allows you to fully customize your invoices.
Cons
- Like I said in my pros, it can hold a lot of matters. But, if your firm is very large, PCLaw may not be the best option. My old firm grew to the point where they had to switch because they had too many matters for the system to hold.
- The software is definitely dated, and I have some issues with crashing and other weird/buggy behavior. I have to set the default printer every time I log on in order to avoid multiple pop-ups when trying to print a document/report (which definitely doesn't take much time, but it can get annoying).
Return on Investment
- We are able to send out bills efficiently, which helps our cash flow and keeps receivables down (depending on the client).
- We are able to pull detailed accounting reports, which helps us populate our end of the quarter/year spreadsheet for partner's net income.
- Our attorneys are very comfortable with the pre-bill/billing process, so it saves them time, allowing them to bill more.
Alternatives Considered
LexisNexis Juris