AbacusLaw by CARET vs. Filevine

My understanding is AbacusLaw was bought out by CARET and now pushing their cloud based CMS. Support has always sucked with AbacusLaw. Again, our latest 10+ issues has been going on since 2/13/2023 and it is now 5/18/2023. Abacus STILL does not know how to fix our issues!!! For $60/month per user, you think they would have better support. I have in the process of canceling our contract for breach of contract due to support and the issues for the last 3 months and going with a new CMS. However, the partners of the firm want to stick with a self-hosted (stand alone) CMS, and they are few and far between anymore.

File Vine is well-suited because I believe it was invented to assist Law Firms with document organization for the legal cases collected in a Law Firm. It is easy to navigate and find your documents with a click of a button.

Incentivized

• Security
• Organization
• Easy to use

Incentivized

• Customization - you can easily add sections and fields
• Workato and Zapier integration works well - we can connect Filevine to a multitude of other platforms and services
• Texting and faxing is available across the entire platform
• Integration with Vinesign for e-signature completion

Incentivized

• SUPPORT STINKS - As of today we have been having issues for OVER 3 MONTHS, but Abacus now only has ONE Tier II tech, and ONE Tier III tech and neither one have figured out our problem or fixed it!
• Having a lot of issues since day one
• We have a self-hosted version and are not on the cloud and the updates usually bring other issues. They don't know the term "if its not broke don't fix it."

• The PDF document editor can be easier when trying to save changes. Make a button that says save changes, instead of save file.
• The contacts can probably be more streamlined so that there are not multiple contacts for the same individual or business.
• Tasks should automatically be changed to a new individual in a parallel role when the file changes teams.

Incentivized

It has helped keep our cases well organized, our client contact up to date, and our to do lists to a minimum

Incentivized

Filevine is pretty user friendly. The interface looks good and it is relatively easy to navigate. I would identify as someone who is pretty tech savvy but for someone who isn't so experienced, Filevine is still very usable. Rarely do I come across an issue that I cannot find some alternate work around

Incentivized

The support is generally good and relatively quick BUT when there is a new product or something they want you to buy, I have felt a bit harassed at that point by sales but when I have an issue I don't feel like support jumps on it as quick.

Incentivized

I did not evaluate MyCase when we selected AbacusLaw. I did not select AbacusLaw and was not involved at that time in the decision. I am evaluating MyCase NOW to REPLACE AbacusLaw.

I’ve tried Clio, MyCase, and PracticePanther. Clio is super user-friendly with lots of integrations, MyCase is great for billing and communication but more limited on automation, and PracticePanther is easy to use but not as strong on reporting. Compared to them, Filevine feels more customizable and workflow-focused, though it does take more time to learn.

Incentivized

• We have been using Abacus (and previously Amicus) for so long it is hard to tell.

Incentivized

• Allows much attention to detail on many cases. We can handle more cases more easily. Revenue is up for several years by at least 25%
• Better client communication and less expensive with texting from the file. Less expense than letters. Reduction in letterhead and postage costs of at least $2000 per year. Emailed letters may not be noticed as quickly but text messages are.
• Less time on billing. Saves on our bookkeeper tasks making it more part time and allows paralegal tasks to be added for this person increasing productivity.

Incentivized