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#The Best Law Firm Case Management Software - An In-Depth Comparison

Over drinks recently, a friend and public interest lawyer expressed uncertainty over which new case management software his organization would migrate to in the near-future. There s a lot of information out there. I wanted to try and help provide some insight. There are some key differences between the major players in the case management software market these days. They are not all created equally, or even similarly. Some are server-based while some are web-based / cloud-based (big difference). Some play well with third-party software like Quickbooks, Microsoft Word, and Google or Apple calendars.

Here s a quick primer on the main differentiating points between software to help you decide which to go with:

Web or cloud based (interchangeable terms) basically means that your software, case data, calendars, and information are not stored locally on your computer but rather on servers on the Internet, maintained by the service provider. I ve known many lawyers to be hesitant about having their confidential client information in the cloud, afraid of it being compromised or there being an ethical violation issue to having client data on the Internet (even though it is secured).

First, let s address the protection of your information. I personally feel secure with cloud-based services. If my data is stored locally on my laptop hard drive alone and my computer crashes, I ve lost all that information unless I am consistently making backups of my drives. Cloud computer servers often have redundant, duplicate storage (aka RAID ) of all files to ensure they aren t lost if any drive fails. Just imagine the liability a host would face if they stored all your client data and lost it.

That being said, security is definitely very important to many of the cloud-based services. High-level data encryption is crucial. Call up your prospective website and ask specifics on their data security policies. Sometimes their websites will neglect mentioning details about data security.

On the ethics of cloud-based services, many state bar ethics committees have released reports (see e.g. Massachusetts Ethics Opinion 12-o3. Oregon Formal Opinion 2011-188 ) generally permitting attorneys to use web-based storage services (like Google Docs and Dropbox) provided that the attorneys take reasonable steps to ensure their information is secure and not shared with third-parties. Summary don t share your password or your files with third-parties. Regarding cloud-based case management software, the Iowa State Bar addresses that more attorneys are using cloud-based services and goes through a discussion of the potential legal issues that may arise when using these services. The committee concluded: