Practice management software, built around how your firm bills
Most firms run well enough on Clio, LEAP or Osprey. This page shows what those products cover, where a system built for your firm would do more, and what it would cost against your per-user subscription. A first release with the four core features typically costs £3,500–£5,000 and goes live within a month.
£495 for a working prototype in 5 days. It comes off the build.
Next First Gear slot: w/c 19 Oct · 2 of 3 builds booked this month
Is custom worth it for you?
Three questions, and a straight answer.
What legal practice management software does, and who offers it
These are the jobs practice management software usually covers, and which of five products sold to UK firms offer each one. Press “Need it” on the ones your firm needs. If your system already covers everything you tick, keep it. If it doesn't, the estimate follows your picks.
| Feature | Clio | LEAP | Actionstep | Osprey | Insight Legal | Your firm |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First release | ||||||
| Client and matter recordsContacts, matter types, fee earner and key dates | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Time recordingTimer and manual entries against the matter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Bills from your fee agreementsHourly, fixed-fee stages, disbursements and VAT on one bill | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Client account ledgerClient and office money apart, reconciled at least every five weeks | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Conflict checkSearches every party before a matter opens | Some plans | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| ID and AML onboardingIdentity, source of funds and risk saved to the client | Log only | Yes | Thirdfort | InfoTrack | Enterprise | |
| Phase two | ||||||
| Document templatesLetters and forms filled from the matter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Case workflowsSteps and tasks for each type of matter | Some plans | Yes | Yes | Yes | Enterprise | |
| Client portalClients see progress, sign and upload documents | Yes | Yes | Yes | Premium | Yes | |
| Online paymentsPayment links on bills and money on account | Yes | Yes | Not listed | Yes | Enterprise | |
| Outlook email filingEmails and attachments saved to the matter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Enterprise | |
| Management reportsWork in progress, debtors and fee earner figures | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
From each product's own site, checked Oct 2026: Clio, LEAP, Actionstep, Osprey, Insight Legal. A plan name means that plan and up; Enterprise is Insight Legal's top plan. A named provider means the check runs through that partner. A dash means the product's site doesn't list it.
Next: the tools it connects to ↓What I’d build first, and what waits
The first release follows a client from instruction to bill: the client and matter record, time recorded against it, bills worked out from your rates and fee agreements, and the client account ledger that holds their money. Your income and your SRA obligations run through those four, so they’re picked for you below.
Each matter record holds the parties as well as the client: the other side, their solicitors, counsel and experts, so a conflict search covers everyone the firm has dealt with, and the matter’s key dates sit on it with an owner. Where those searches or ID and AML checks are a weak spot today, they can go live alongside them. Document templates, case workflows, a client portal, online payments, email filing and management reports follow as a second phase, fixed-price like the first.
For an in-house legal team
Without client money, the first release looks different. Requests come in from the business through one form, are triaged and assigned, and each matter tracks its budget against what external firms bill for it. Contracts the team has signed off stay filed to the matter, so the next request about the same supplier starts with the history.
What AI can do here
Three uses that give fee earners time back, with a solicitor making the call:
- Draft the time entry. From the emails and documents on a matter today, it suggests time entries with a narrative, and the fee earner edits and posts them.
- Read what comes in. A completion statement, a court order or a medical report arrives. It pulls the dates and amounts into the matter for a person to confirm.
- Summarise the file. For a matter changing hands, it drafts a summary of where things stand, with links to the documents it came from.
Nothing goes to a client or the court without a person approving it, and client documents only go to an AI service your firm has agreed to. I price these after launch, at £1.5k to £5k each.
The services it should connect to
Tick your accounts package, email and the services you use to check and take money from clients. Each connection is priced into the first release.
Moving your matters across
What comes across. Clients and contacts, matters with their key dates and fee earners, time entries, bills, and client and office ledger balances, with a history of past postings.
Documents and emails. Both are in the import price. Each document is filed to the matter it belongs to, in the same folders, and emails saved to a matter keep their date, sender and attachments.
How. A trial migration lands in a copy of the new system. Every client ledger balance has to equal your last signed reconciliation to the penny, your accounts team spot-checks a set of live matters, and I correct each difference before launch. Keep read-only access to the old system for a month afterwards.
What your current system lets you take
From each vendor's own help and legal pages, checked Oct 2026. Where a page doesn't say, I've written what I'd ask their support.
I'm on Clio
- An admin can export matters, contacts, tasks, time entries, expenses, notes, calendar and communications as CSV.
- Documents download in bulk as one zip, and reconciliation reports export as PDF. There's a public API for anything the exports miss.
- Their help pages don't say how long data is kept after you close the account. I'd ask that, and for client ledger postings as CSV, before calling to cancel.
I'm on LEAP
- Client details export to Excel. Documents export up to 100 at a time, and LEAP says there's no option to export an entire matter.
- LEAP keeps your data for seven years after the service ends, and it stays your property.
- I'd ask LEAP for a full exit extract of matters, ledgers and documents: what it contains, its format and what it costs.
I'm on Actionstep
- A takeaway file gives you the database, the documents and a manifest as password-protected zips, usually within two working days. The links last 45 days.
- A data export report gives CSV per data source, and documents export per matter as a zip, up to 3,000 items or 3 GB.
- Access ends as soon as the system is deleted and data is kept only briefly, so the takeaway comes first.
I'm on Osprey Approach
- Client and matter tables export to CSV, and reports to Excel, CSV or PDF. Documents come out per matter as a zip.
- The full backup is a Microsoft SQL database with documents inside it. It's free at the end of your agreement and charged during it.
- Osprey's API terms don't allow using the API to move to another system, so I'd import from the backup. Data can be deleted 30 days after the contract ends.
I'm on Insight Legal or Quill
- Insight Legal's terms give you one SQL backup after notice for a trial migration, a final copy within 90 days of the end, and read-only access after termination.
- Their pages don't mention CSV exports. Quill now redirects to Dye & Durham's Unity, so I'd ask Dye & Durham what an exit backup from Unity contains.
Your licences against a build
Enter the people who log in, not just fee earners. I've used Osprey's published prices as an example; pick yours or enter your own figure, and compare over three to five years.
£1,320 a month ex VAT
Breaks even in month 4
The build is the middle of your estimate (£4,250), paid up front. The first month's hosting is free, so the plan starts in month two, and one plan covers every office. Subscription prices are list prices ex VAT and leave out set-up fees and price rises.
What law firm software costs
List prices ex VAT, from each vendor's pricing page, checked Oct 2026.
| Product | Price | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Osprey Approach | £110 (Advanced) or £140 (Premium) per licence a month; Enterprise is quoted. Minimum 3 licences. | 36-month term with a 5% rise each year. The client portal is £10 a licence extra on Advanced. |
| Clio | Per user per month on three plans (Core, Signature, Elite). | Clio's pricing page blocked my checks, so see clio.com for current figures. |
| LEAP | Quote-based, priced per user. A one-off set-up fee may apply. | One plan with everything in it. |
| Actionstep | Quote-based, per user plus implementation fees. | The base fee covers up to 3 licences. Annual billing costs less than monthly. |
| Insight Legal | Quote-based monthly fee, on a 30-day or 12-month rolling contract. | Owned by Dye & Durham, which also owns Unity (formerly Quill). |
| Hoowla | Priced per user from a calculator on Hoowla's site, and conveyancing per completed case. | Built for conveyancing firms. |
When off-the-shelf is enough
A firm of a few fee earners doing mainstream work will pay less for a subscription than for a build. A product is also the better choice if:
- you’re setting up a new firm and want an accounts package your reporting accountant already knows;
- your work is high-volume conveyancing, where specialist case management with portals and search providers built in is hard to beat;
- your fee earners like the system and bills need no fixing.
Custom pays off when per-user prices climb as you hire, when the way you bill (fixed fees with stages, CFAs, legal aid, blended rates) ends up on a spreadsheet, or when several systems hold parts of the same matter.
Open-source software you could run instead
You could also run free software on your own server and change it as you like. No maintained open-source project is built for UK law firms, and none keeps a client account to the SRA Accounts Rules, but these cover parts of the job. Each was checked Oct 2026.
- Kimai AGPL-3.0
Good for: Time recording by client and project, with rates and exports for billing.
Missing for you: Time only. No matters, documents or accounts.
- ERPNext GPL-3.0
Good for: Office accounts, invoicing, timesheets and projects in one system.
Missing for you: No idea of a matter or a client account, so both would be custom modules.
- Nextcloud AGPL-3.0
Good for: Document storage, sharing links with clients, and Outlook-style calendars.
Missing for you: No practice management at all. Documents aren't tied to matters unless you file them that way.
- Paperless-ngx GPL-3.0
Good for: Scanning post, reading the text and filing it by tag.
Missing for you: Not built around matters, and no billing.
If you'd rather go open source, I can set these up, host them and build the matter records and client account ledger they're missing.
Your plan, ready to keep or send
Everything you ticked, split into a first release and phase two, with a price range for each. Email it to yourself or send it to me.
First release
The first month after kickoff
- Client and matter records
- Time recording
- Bills from your fee agreements
- Client account ledger
Phase two
About a month, after the first release is in use
Nothing picked yet
- First release estimate
- £3,500–£5,000
- Phase two estimate
- None picked
- Break-even on Cruise
- Month 4
Estimates, not quotes: First Gear ends with a fixed price for the first release.
How the estimate works
Each phase starts at £1,500 for what every system needs: logins, hosting, backups and your data imported. Each feature and connection adds £250 to £1,000 depending on its size, and the range is 15% either side of the total. The break-even uses the middle of both phases.
A month, before and after
Illustrative only: a practice manager at a firm of twelve.
| Before | After | |
|---|---|---|
| New client | Details typed into the case system, the ID check run on a separate site, the result saved as a PDF somewhere. | One intake form. The ID check runs from the matter, and the result is filed against it. |
| Mid-matter | A client asks what they owe. The answer is in two systems and a spreadsheet of disbursements. | The matter shows time, bills, money held on account and disbursements on one screen. |
| Billing | Fixed-fee stages billed from a spreadsheet, then keyed into the accounts package. | Bills are drafted from the stage reached and the time recorded, approved, and posted to the ledger. |
| Reconciliation | Bank statement, client ledger and cash book compared by hand over two days. | The three are matched automatically, differences are listed, and the COFA signs the report. |
The rules your system has to follow
- SRA Accounts Rules. Client money is kept apart from office money and paid into a client account promptly. You keep an up-to-date ledger for each client and matter, and reconcile client accounts at least every five weeks (rule 8.3), with the reconciliation signed off by the COFA or a manager.
- Money Laundering Regulations 2017. You identify and verify clients before taking them on, assess the risk, and keep the records for five years after the relationship ends. The SRA’s AML guidance sets out what it expects from firms.
- Scotland. Firms regulated by the Law Society of Scotland follow its own accounts rules (rule B6), which the ledger and reconciliation follow instead.
- UK GDPR. Client files are personal data, and many hold health details (special category data) or criminal offence data, which has its own similar safeguards. The ICO’s guidance covers how long to keep files and how to secure them, and a client’s request to see their data needs an answer within one month.
The software holds the records and runs the checks. Compliance itself is judged by your COFA, COLP, reporting accountant and the SRA or Law Society of Scotland, and that judgement stays with them.
Is my data safe?
Fee earners open their own matters, accounts staff work in the ledgers, and anything behind an information barrier is invisible to people outside it. Opening or changing a matter leaves a name and a timestamp. A ledger posting can be reversed with a new entry, never edited or deleted, so the trail stays intact. Client files are encrypted and kept on UK or EU servers, with nightly backups.
Will fee earners use it?
Fee earners use three screens: the matter, the timer and the bill. I build those to be quick from Outlook and from a phone between hearings. In First Gear a fee earner and your cashier run a real matter through the prototype, and I change whatever slows them down before the build begins.
Other ways to solve it
| Option | Cost | Best for | Where it breaks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Practice management software | A monthly fee per user | Firms with mainstream work and billing | Fee arrangements it can’t model end up on a spreadsheet, and the bill grows with every hire |
| Custom build | £495 for First Gear, the fixed price in your build plan, and an optional monthly plan from £79 | Firms with unusual billing, several systems to join up, or growing headcount | All the cost comes before any saving, and each new practice area is another phase |
| Open source | Free licences, plus hosting and my time to install and link them | Firms with IT support who’d assemble time, documents and office accounts from separate tools | Nothing open source covers UK client accounting, so that part has to be built |
| Spreadsheets and Word | Free | A sole practitioner with a few matters | No conflict check, no audit trail, and reconciliation by hand |
Four guarantees, in writing.
They're written into the terms you accept when you pay.
Every build also comes with a 30-day fix guarantee. If something I built doesn't work as the plan describes, I fix it free.
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See it first
You click through a working prototype before you commit to the build, and you keep it either way.
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Fixed price
You pay the price in the build plan. New ideas go into a later phase with its own fixed price. Nothing is billed by the hour.
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On time
If I miss the go-live date in your build plan because of a delay on my side, you get 3 months of Cruise free (£597). If your data, feedback or sign-off is late, the date moves by the same number of days.
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Yours to keep
Code, data and accounts are in your name from day one. Export your data or cancel a plan whenever you like, and ask for a full handover pack.
You'll talk to me
I've built software for over ten years and started ByteGears in 2020. The person on your kickoff call is the person who writes the code. Recent work includes quoting automation for a renewable-energy installer and a cask whisky auction platform with ID and anti-money-laundering checks.
Questions about a law firm build
Is a custom system cheaper than Clio, LEAP or Osprey?
For a small firm, usually not. Most practice management software is priced per user per month, so the sums change as you hire: a build has one price whether five or fifty people log in. Step 3 on this page works it out with your own numbers.
Can it run our client account under the SRA Accounts Rules?
It can keep the records the rules ask for: a ledger for each client and matter, client and office money kept apart, and the reconciliation report signed off by your COFA or a manager at least every five weeks. Your COFA and your reporting accountant still decide whether the firm complies. I build the records and the checks; I don't certify them.
Does it work as client and matter management software for a Scottish firm?
Yes. The Law Society of Scotland has its own accounts rules, and the ledger and reconciliation are set up to the rules your firm follows. Matter types use Scottish names and stages, so an executry or a purchase with missives to conclude is set up as such, not as an English probate or exchange of contracts. The documents come from your own styles.
Does it work with Outlook, Xero and our ID checks?
Yes. Emails file to the matter from Outlook, invoices and office account entries go to Xero, QuickBooks or Sage, and ID and anti-money-laundering checks run through a provider such as Thirdfort, with the result saved on the client's file.
How soon could we be using it?
First Gear takes 5 days and ends with a fixed price and a go-live date. I'd plan the switch for the day after a reconciliation, so the balances you bring across are ones your COFA has already signed.
What happens to our old matters and documents?
They come across, priced into the import: clients, matters, ledgers, time and bills, and every document filed to the matter it belongs to. I check the imported client balances against your last reconciliation before go-live.
Let's get the gears turning.
Send me your plan. If First Gear is the right start, I'll reply with a payment link that holds your slot. If an off-the-shelf product would serve you better, I'll name it.