Working out who has access to which file, reconstructing time spent on a matter from a paper diary, spotting a procedural deadline the day before: the daily reality of a small law firm. This application brings together case files, time tracking, deadlines and fees, while strictly walling off each individual file.
Who the application is for
For a law firm bound by French professional secrecy rules, who wants to wall off its files by lawyer, track time spent and procedural deadlines, and bill its fees.
What the application does
- Creates a file per client, with a lead lawyer, a type of dispute and a reference assigned automatically.
- Walls off each file: a fee-earner only sees, searches or edits the files where they are the lead lawyer or have been explicitly added as an authorised collaborator — including the related time entries, fee agreements and deadlines.
- Records a fee agreement, fixed fee or hourly rate, with its signature date, and blocks the confirmation of a fee note until a signed agreement exists on the file.
- Automatically values each logged item of work (drafting, advice, hearing, research, correspondence) at the file's current hourly rate.
- Tracks procedural deadlines (hearing, filing of submissions, limitation period) with an automatic alert as the deadline approaches and a synchronised calendar event.
- Generates a fee note from a fixed fee or from billable time spent, then invoices it, and shows on the file the balance between time valued and fees billed.
Day to day
- Create the client's file with its lead lawyer, and add authorised collaborators if needed.
- Sign the fee agreement before entering any billable work on the file.
- Log each item of work and its duration: the valued amount is calculated automatically.
- Record procedural deadlines and let the automatic alert warn the lead lawyer as the deadline approaches.
- Generate the fee note, confirm it, then invoice it; track the file's profitability on its own page.
What the application does not do
- It does not handle any client funds on the firm's behalf: escrow funds must go through a separate dedicated system required for the legal profession in France.
- It does not draft legal documents or submission templates.
- The deadline alert is a management tool, not a legal guarantee that the time limit will be met: responsibility for following the procedure remains with the lawyer, and procedural rules can change.
- It is not interconnected with lawyers' secure electronic filing network, nor with the courts.
Free and full editions
The free edition already carries confidentiality-walled client files, valued time tracking and procedural deadlines with alerts, with no time limit at all. The full edition installs on top without losing anything, and adds the fee agreement, the fee note, invoicing and the per-file profitability indicator.
Getting started
Assign each lawyer to the right group, create your first files with their lead lawyer, then sign each one's fee agreement before entering any billable work — checking yourself, with your bar association, the rules that apply to your firm.
Going further
To find out whether this application suits your business and how to activate it, compare the plans or write to us.