ALB is a comprehensive UK Legal Practice Case Management solution that integrates all law firm processes into one system, including legal accounting, document management, time recording and client / matter management. The vendor states that their system is used by 700+ UK legal firms, and 68 per cent of them reported that ALB helps their fee earners save time every single day. They further state their customers gain real benefits in improved efficiencies, better management, consistent customer…
N/A
Elite ProLaw
Score 4.5 out of 10
N/A
ProLaw from Elite (formerly of Thomson Reuters) is the legal billing management software that connects the entire organization, helping teams deliver premier client service. By combining client and matter management, docketing, time entry, billing, and accounting, ProLaw helps simplify a practice while enhancing productivity firm-wide. ProLaw is software is designed to simplify and coordinate the work of lawyers and staff by combining case and matter management, time entry, billing,…
It has all you need built in right out of the box with all the core features you'd expect; Client Matter Inception process, Time Recording, Diary, Customisable Workflow modules, Billing, etc. Then there's all the extra modules which other products don't necessarily have; Wills and Deeds databases, Purchase Ledger (Accounts and Cashiers love everything to do with the accounts side), Laserform Integration, pdfDocs integration, OverVu integration for easy reporting.
Inevitably there will be compromises as with any piece of software. Especially one that covers off so many angles. The development tools could be stronger, the way addresses are handled seems to me to be overly complex. Having said that though, the software's primary purpose is to help Fee Earners and support staff provide services to clients and it does this admirably. You can't expect Visual Studio. I've seen users make a mess of the simplest of address databases with strong training provided so it might not be to my taste but I imagine they didn't develop it for fun.
My biggest gripe with the software is that some errors look severe. Other software would trap them in a more gentle manner. However, users quickly adjust to this and Advanced do some very clear monitoring to reduce them as the product mores forward.
once the software is set up, it streamlines the billing process and helps with E-discovery on cases. You can also customize some areas to fit your needs specific to your firm. Paperless Proforma eliminates a lot of paper and streamlines the Prebill process. It also incorporates email billing to eliminate wasted paper.
At times the dashboard and User Experience and User Interface do not follow a logical pathway. It can be confusing at times, but not extremely detrimental.
The client portal has also experienced some issues with the User interface and user experience functions as well.
ProLaw has been working on easier ways to add multiple documents to emails without flipping back and forth or changing document names to the storage number of the document in its database.
Although you can export billing information to an excel sheet, it would be beneficial if one could print all billed items for a matter that included the description of the billed event rather than just the amounts. Currently the only way to do this would be by printing statements.
The usability is slightly above average. The all-in-one approach has been great and useful, but some of the functionality and user experience and user interface issues can affect usability. Some might be nitpicky, but not following logical pathways or ones that may pose issues for those that have disabilities can really create issues.
In terms of usability, the tool is intuitive and easy to use. Initially, it might be a little bit difficult to grab all the functions it can perform, but with the experience, doing the tasks become an easy job and the tool improves your team's productivity and efficiency. It really helps you to deliver excellent service to your clients in less time and at a low cost.
The support, if we are talking about technical support with the product itself when issues arise, is average. It's not terrible, but not great either. It is average and what you might expect. Some issues are delayed in getting responses and we constantly have to be upgrading to higher tiers or developers. Some responses are quick though. Response time could be improved, much like other organizations.
ProLaw support is very good overall. Sometimes it takes some effort to get up the ladder if you need an expert's help but overall they do a very good job. There have been minor issues during projects but they allow one to schedule upgrades and available technicians for upgrades at request.
ALB Legal Software is a more efficient product than MyCase and PracticePanther mostly for the integration it allows and the "all in one" approach that it takes. It takes several different areas and functions of legal practice and puts in one platform eliminating the need to leverage 2-3 platforms sometimes i.e. timekeeping, document management, mobile access, client portal, etc. Keeping it under one roof helps.
Client base - numbers, Support of User Group Formation, location - hours of support, all in one product - eliminated document management and allowed through security for attorneys to access to ledger information, supported non-cloud solution as we were not ready to go to cloud, Non-modular so all parts of the system seemed to work better together and even if not ready immediately to utilize some parts, we adopted over time as we because familiar with the product, I knew firms that Prolaw already, Sales person - Tom Mulligan was wonderful to work with, ProLaw was the only software demo'ed that could report directly on our fee credits as we currently allocate - WE ARE AN EAT WHAT YOU KILL FIRM, Our outside IT firm had worked on ProLaw before, Software was capable of supporting a paperless environment, without additional cost I could get a second data base to run our internal leasing through with is technically a separate company from the business of law. We didn't need any additional hardware when we installed, we already had everything it needed to run
