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.
It is ideal where security is your number one concern or where there is a need to share securely across different physical locations. Speed is less than ideal in certain usage scenarios. It is limited by the speed of the internet and it can be difficult to pull large quantities of documents when researching or answering discovery requests, although, that being said, it can be addressed by maintaining your own secure server to contain a mirror of your online documents. But then the security for a mirror falls back on the organization.
Delay. At times, there is a delay between saving a document into Netdocuments and actually seeing them in the appropriate workspace. Such a delay is caused by the system indexing the newly added file.
Netdocuments' servers slow down at times causing users to receive error messages. This can be quickly remedied, but can become a nuisance.
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
The product is simple to learn and adheres to well-known web user protocols. The NetDocuments team spends a lot of time talking to customers regarding how to improve their interface, and are pretty quick about implementing good ideas. The system is reliable and repeatable, and similar functions are laid out consistently and in formats that users are used to.
NetDocuments is a performant web app. It is reliable and provides all the functionality of a sophisticated document management system. It also can serve, through its APIs, as a base system for other applications, which enhances its value. Other vendors find the company easy to work with, and it consistently seems to be the first to offer new features and technologies to its customers.
I've never had to contact support, but I won't give it a ten. We've had a few hiccups along the way, but nothing that couldn't be fixed within 24 hours.
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.
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.
NetDocuments has really saved us from hiring more people. The document management system is a core technology to any law firm. Our last DMS was an in-house system. It easily required the attention of half a FTE and offered a fraction of the functionality.
NetDocuments has also been relatively easy for our employees to use. We have a high adoption rate and it allows for our employees (and third parties) to collaborate pretty well.
NetDocuments offers any number of certifications -- e.g. ISO 27001, business associate agreements for HIPAA -- certifications that are required by some clients, that we could not possibly attain with an in-house system.
