17 Best apps for lawyers to boost productivity in 2026

As a lawyer, client meetings and courtroom appointments may require you to switch gears quickly. Having an efficient set of apps that work on your computer and smartphone can make managing your law practice a lot easier. You’ll have access to the information you need when you need it, save time, and be able to offer a better client experience.

In this article, we’ll give you an overview of the best apps for lawyers. We’ve categorized the apps so you can pick ones that best suit your law firm’s needs from relevant categories.

If you’re a solo practitioner or part of a small firm, you don’t need to break the bank to build a solid tech stack. Many of the apps in this guide are free or available at a small-business-friendly cost. For example, with apps like Quo, Coffee, or HubSpot, you can stay organized and professional without much overhead.

17 Best apps for lawyers compared

Here’s a side-by-side look at the tools in this guide:

Tool	Category	Best for	Starting price	Key features
Quo	Communication	Business phone for law firms	$15 per user per month	Shared numbers, AI answering service Sona, call transcripts, Clio integration, in-app task assignment
Coffee, formerly Legaler	Communication	Secure video calls	Free	Encrypted video meetings, Clio integration, AI assistant
Slack	Communication	Internal team messaging	Free	Channels, Quo integration, AI on paid plans
Clio	Practice management	Integrations & automation	Contact sales	Document management, billing, court e-filing, AI tools
MyCase	Practice management	Solo & small firms	$50 per user per month	Billing, intake, LawPay integration, document management
CARET Legal	Practice management	Workflow automation	Contact sales	Built-in email, automated workflows, billing & accounting
HubSpot CRM	CRM and intake	Free CRM for small teams	Free	Intake pipeline, Quo integration, lead tracking
Lawmatics	CRM and intake	Client intake automation	Contact sales	Round-robin scheduling, ROI tracking, automated workflows
Toggl Track	Billing and time tracking	Free time tracking	Free	Browser extension, Clio integration, billable rate tracking
Bill4Time	Billing and time tracking	Robust billing features	$39 per user per month	Trust accounting, LEDES export, expense management
Evernote	Note-taking	Search-first organization	Free	PDF & image search, Web Clipper, camera capture
OneNote	Note-taking	Microsoft Office users	Free	Copilot AI, voice transcription, spreadsheet embedding
iAnnotate	Annotation	iOS annotation	$9.99 one-time	PDF markup, audio comments, cloud sync
OneDrive	Cloud storage	Microsoft users	$6 per user per month	1 TB storage, AES 256-bit encryption, Microsoft 365 integration
Box	Cloud storage	Mid to large law firms	$5 per user per month	Granular permissions, Box Sign, HIPAA & FedRAMP compliance
Fastcase	Legal research	Mobile-friendly law library	Free via bar membership	Case law database, AI search, citation checking
Harvey AI	Legal research	AI-powered legal assistant	Contact sales	Document analysis, drafting assistance, US case law research

Communication apps

When your client urgently needs help and your cell is unreachable, they’re likely to feel anxious. Instead, you can use communication apps to direct them to a colleague, let them know when you’ll be able to speak, or ask them to leave a message. Here are the best communication apps to help you save time and stay in touch with clients or colleagues.

1. Quo: Best business phone app for legal professionals

Pros

• Unlimited calling and texting in the US and Canada
• Shared numbers for better collaboration
• No hardware required
• ⁠AI voice agent to take calls 24/7
• Texting automations on every plan
• ⁠​Call recording
• AI features like call transcripts, call tags, and call summaries
• Role-based access and team controls to restrict access to sensitive client information
• Enterprise-grade communication and data encryption

Cons

• No two-factor authentication*⁠

⁠​*Nearly all virtual phone numbers share this problem. For safety reasons, companies like Facebook, Uber, and Google rarely let you authenticate accounts through a virtual phone number.

Clients expect to text and call a single, professional business number. Using a business phone system means you won’t need to give your personal number to clients, tribunals, courts, or opposing lawyers.

Quo is a VoIP provider for law firms, designed for solo practitioners and small practices looking for a simple, modern way to manage phone communications. It can help you:

• Keep your team on the same page. Shared numbers let multiple team members manage calls and texts, so everything doesn’t fall on one person. It also gives everyone visibility into past conversations, even if they weren’t the ones who handled them.

Here’s how Chris Sands, CEO of the family law office Hannon de Palma, uses shared numbers:

“You might be in court and need to know what a paralegal said to the client three weeks ago. We can go into the paralegal’s number in their shared inbox and see: did the client actually agree to the thing that they’re saying they didn’t agree to, or did the other side say X and now they’re saying Y?”

• Respond professionally, even when you’re busy. Set auto-replies to let clients know you’ve received their messages and when they can expect a reply.
• Never miss an important call. Sona, an AI answering service for law firms, can answer basic FAQs, collect callback details, and take a messages.
• Track conversations over time. Automatically log call recordings, summaries, and transcripts so you can reference any past interaction — even months later.
• Connect with the tools you already use. Quo integrates with Clio and other tools in your workflow. This way, your client communications and case management stay in sync without manual data entry. 
• Protect your client data. Quo supports data privacy standards like the California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA. It’s also SOC 2 compliant, helping you meet your ethical obligations around security and confidentiality. Read more about security at Quo.

Samantha Kompa, Founder of Kompa Law, puts it plainly:

“Quo is the most important tool in my tech stack to run my digital law firm.”

Try Quo for free for seven days to see for yourself why growing law firms use this business phone platform.

Key features of Quo

• Unlimited texting and calling in the US and Canada 
• Available on web, desktop, and mobile so you can work from home or on the go as a virtual lawyer
• Texting templates for fast replies 
• In-app task assignment 
• On-demand and automatic call recording with searchable call history
• Call transcripts and summaries 
• AI call handling with Sona 
• Phone menu and smart routing 
• Cold and warm transfers 
• Voicemail transcription
• Business hours and after-hours call handling 
• Call analytics and reporting
• Integrations with over 9,000 tools like Clio, HubSpot, and Slack

Quo pricing

Quo offers three flexible pricing plans for lawyers:

• Starter: $15 per user per month for texting and calling in the US and Canada, on-demand call recording, voicemail transcriptions, our AI voice agent, Sona, and more
• Business: $23 per user per month for automatic call recordings, AI call transcripts and summaries, CRM integrations with tools like Clio, custom ring groups, IVR, analytics and reporting, call transfers, and more
• Scale: $35 per user per month for AI call tags, priority chat and email support, inbound phone support, and dedicated onboarding

Every Quo plan also comes with 1,000 free automation credits, or 10 Sona calls. If you need more, Quo offers five pricing tiers. That way, you can easily scale based on the number of calls you need to take.

	Tier 1	Tier 2	Tier 3	Tier 4	Tier 5
Sona tiers	Free	$25 per month	$49 per month	$99 per month	$199 per month
Included credits	1,000 credits/10 calls	4,000 credits/40 calls	10,000 credits/100 calls	25,000 credits/250 calls	60,000 credits/600 calls
Overage rate per call	$1.00	$0.75	$0.65	$0.55	$0.45

*Calls under 15 seconds don’t count toward this amount

2. Coffee, formerly Legaler: Best secure video calling app

Pros

• Offers a free tier
• Integrates with apps like Clio and Slack
• Video-meeting AI assistant
• Meeting analytics

Cons

• Not as well-known as Zoom or Google Meet, so clients might need some initial guidance on usage

Coffee, formerly Legaler, is a secure video meeting platform built for legal professionals. It offers encryption, admin controls, and a waiting room so only the right people can join your meetings. With Coffee, clients can also join meetings directly from their browsers, which means one less barrier to getting on a call.

Already using Clio as your practice management system? You can integrate Coffee with it. This makes it easy to send meeting invites and automatically archive notes, agendas, and meeting details to the right matter. You can also connect Coffee to Slack to get notifications and set up meetings instantly for internal collaboration.

Coffee also has an AI assistant, Piccolo. The AI communication tool handles transcription, meeting summaries, and live translation. It can also automate scheduling. The main caveat: it’s less widely recognized than Zoom or Google Meet, so some clients may need a quick heads-up before their first call.

Coffee pricing

Coffee is free to use.

3. Slack: Best for quick, internal communication

Pros

• Offers a free tier
• Supports internal and external communication
• Integrates with tools like Quo
• AI assistant on paid plans

Cons

• On the free tier, communication older than 90 days is deleted

You can use Slack to keep your firm’s communication separate from client conversations. Create channels by matter or function, like intake, active cases, or operations. This way, questions, handoffs, and quick decisions don’t get lost in emails.

Slack is especially useful for time-sensitive intake. The team can loop in the right attorney, confirm next steps, and keep a record of the decisions. 

You can also integrate Slack with Quo to get missed call notifications, texts, and voicemails right in your desired Slack channel. For example, if you forward texts to a Slack channel about a new intake or urgent client request, your team can coordinate a response more quickly.

If you’re on a tight budget, you can use Slack’s free plan. Just know that it only saves up to 90 days of messages.

Slack pricing

Slack offers four pricing plans:

• Free: Up to 90 days of message history, integrations with 10 apps, 1:1 meetings, and 1:1 external messages
• Pro: $8.75 per user per month for basic AI with conversation summaries, unlimited message history, unlimited app integrations, group meetings, and group external messages
• Business+: $18 per user per month for conversation summaries, workflow generation, AI search, daily recaps, and file summaries
• Enterprise+: Custom pricing for enterprise-grade AI with enhanced search capabilities, multiple SAML configurations, EMM integration support, and native data loss prevention

Legal practice management software

Law firms have many moving parts. Law practice management software can help centralize operations and provide a single source of accurate information for research. You also need information at your fingertips to ensure the best outcomes for your clients. 

Here are some apps you can use for managing your practices and legal research:

4. Clio: Best practice management tool for integrations

Pros

• Expansive integration library
• Offers AI and automation features to speed up legal work
• Users praise its robust billing and payment features

Cons

• Integrations require an upgrade
• Users find the analytics tools to lack deep customization and granular insights

Clio is a cloud-based law practice management solution. It offers several features to help you manage your practice remotely. For example, it helps you with client intake forms, billing, and document e-signing.

Clio also has AI-powered tools for legal analysis, advanced document automation, court e-filing, and more. This way, you can spend less time on admin and more time on casework. You can also track time spent on specific tasks and set automatic reminders based on US court filing deadlines.

Clio also has one of the more expansive integration libraries in legal tech. It connects with tools across communication, document management, and accounting. If you’re using Quo as your business phone, the Clio integration lets you keep client calls and messages synced with the right matter. That way, your communication history lives where your casework does.

Clio pricing

Clio’s pricing starts at $49 per user, and most plans have a free trial. But they don’t publicly list the legal app’s costs. You’ll have to get in touch with sales.

5. MyCase: Best for solo lawyers and smaller firms

Pros

• Base plan is less limited than Clio
• Integrates with LawPay
• Users praise their customer support

Cons

• Integrations require an upgrade
• Limited integrations compared to Clio

MyCase is a case management and practice management platform for solo practitioners and small firms. It covers the core bases, like client intake, billing, document management, and time tracking.

Compared to Clio, MyCase’s base plan is notably less restrictive. It gives smaller firms access to more features without having to upgrade right away. One standout feature is its native integration with LawPay, a legal-specific payment processor. This lets you accept credit card and eCheck payments directly from invoices. That way, your billing stays clean and there’s less friction with getting paid.

The tradeoff is a thinner integration library overall. If your firm relies on a specific third-party tool, it’s worth checking compatibility before committing. Integrations beyond the basics also require a higher-tier plan.

MyCase pricing

MyCase offers three pricing plans:

• Basic: $50 per user per month for case and contact management, time entry, invoicing, trust accounting, online payments with next-day deposits, customizable reporting, and unlimited document storage
• Pro: $100 per user per month for automated workflows, unlimited eSignature and document generation, client intake forms, legal CRM, two-way texting, 70+ integrations, and AI writing and document assistant
• Advanced: $130 per user per month for an AI case assistant, advanced document automation, conflict check, split billing, desktop drive, and open API

6. CARET Legal, previously Zola Suite: Best for workflow automation

Pros

• Built-in email management
• Offers automated workflows for scheduling and task delegation

Cons

• Pricing isn’t available
• Charges an undisclosed implementation fee
• Limited integrations

CARET Legal is a law practice management solution that serves small and mid-sized firms. Running a lean operation? You can track time, manage legal documents, handle billing and accounting, and use the CRM to manage prospects, all from a single platform.

Where CARET Legal stands out is its workflow automation. You can build templates that automatically schedule tasks and calendar events based on matter type. Every time a similar case comes in, the right steps are already queued up. Let’s say you run a family law firm. You could set up a workflow that auto-schedules meetings and court appearances when you open a new dissolution of marriage case. It helps smaller teams stay consistent without relying on one person to remember every step.

CARET Legal pricing

CARET Legal offers three pricing plans. But they don’t publish their pricing upfront, and there’s an implementation fee on top of the subscription costs. 

Client intake and CRM apps

Legal CRM and client intake tools are purpose-built for managing leads and onboarding new clients. They’re a good fit for smaller practices that don’t need a full practice management suite.

7. HubSpot CRM: Best free CRM

Pros

• Offers a free functional CRM for small teams
• Integrates with more than 2,000 apps
• Modular pricing lets you pay only for the products you need
• Native integration with business phone systems like Quo

Cons

• Pricing plans are mostly estimates; you still have to reach out to sales
• Too many features can make it confusing to navigate

HubSpot offers a free CRM. It lets you centralize client information, conversation histories, and deal stages. For law firms, this can double as an intake pipeline. You can track new inquiries, consultations, and retained clients in one place so you don’t miss follow-ups. As your practice grows, you can add specific Hubs — such as Marketing or Sales — to access features like automatic lead scoring and forecasting.

That said, most of HubSpot’s more powerful features require paid plans. Email sequences, automation, and advanced reporting are gated behind paid Hubs ranging from $9 per user to $3,600 per month. 

If you just need a CRM to manage intake and keep client communication organized, the free plan holds up well. You can also integrate it with Quo, which automatically logs your calls, texts, and voicemails directly into HubSpot. That way, every client interaction is on record without any manual entry.

HubSpot CRM pricing

HubSpot offers two plans for its foundational tools:

• Free CRM: $0 per month for its free cloud CRM for small businesses
• Starter: $9 per user per month for 500 HubSpot Credits, an AI-powered assistant, repeating tasks and task queues, and object tags

For more advanced CRM features, Smart CRM plans begin at $45 per user per month and scale up from there. That said, the exact pricing depends on your use case. The HubSpot sales team told us it’s best to get in touch with them directly for an exact quote.

8. Lawmatics: Best for client intake automation

Pros

• Marketing and intake automations
• Offers advanced features like round-robin scheduling, analytics and ROI tracking, and event management
• Built specifically for legal teams

Cons

• Pricing not available
• User minimums on every plan can increase prices
• Client intake requires an upgrade

Lawmatics is a legal-specific CRM and client intake platform. It covers lead management, automated intake workflows, ROI tracking, and analytics. It also helps you with lead tracking so you know where your leads are in the pipeline, where they came from, and what’s converting.

What sets it apart from a basic CRM is its focus on pipeline movement and automation, not just contact storage. You can build intake workflows that trigger automatically when a new lead comes in. For example, you can send follow-up emails or route leads to the right attorney without team members intervening.

There are also features like round-robin scheduling. This distributes incoming leads evenly across your team. For larger firms handling high volume of inquiries, Lawmatics adds a solid layer of operational structure.

But Lawmatics isn’t really built for solo practitioners or very small teams. Every plan has user minimums, which can push the price up quickly. Plus, client intake automation — arguably the core selling point — requires an upgrade from the base plan.

Lawmatics pricing

Lawmatics doesn’t publish pricing publicly — you’ll need to schedule a demo to get a quote based on your firm’s size and needs.

Legal billing and time tracking apps

Consider these tools if you’re struggling to track billable hours accurately or want to send professional invoices and get paid faster.

9. Toggl Track: Best free time-tracking app for lawyers

Pros

• Offers a free plan for up to five users
• Offers invoice creation, basic project management, and more than 100 integrations on the free plan
• Automated time tracking features, like the desktop activity tracker

Cons

• Data compliance features require multiple upgrades
• QuickBooks integration requires an upgrade
• Not tailor-made for legal

Toggl Track works well for lawyers who want accurate billable hour records without a complicated setup. It has a generous free plan that supports up to five users. It also includes invoice creation, basic project management, and access to 100+ integrations.

On the tracking side, Toggl makes it easy to capture time across your entire workday. The browser extension lets you start a timer directly from the tools you’re already working in. You can also connect your calendar to automatically log time spent on phone calls, hearings, and consultations. Plus, it integrates with tools like Asana, Jira, and Clio, so you can track time without switching context.

Use Toggl to assign hourly rates to projects, cases, or tasks to see what you’ve earned as you go. Then mark entries as billable or non-billable to cleanly separate client work from internal admin.

One thing to flag: if you use QuickBooks for accounting, the integration requires a paid upgrade. Data compliance features are also gated behind higher-tier plans. This is worth keeping in mind if your firm handles sensitive matters with strict compliance requirements.

Toggl Track pricing

Toggl Track offers four pricing plans:

• Free: $0 for up to five users, with time tracking across web, desktop, and mobile, 100+ integrations via browser extension, Google and Outlook calendar integrations, and productivity reports
• Starter: $9 per user per month for billable rates, project time estimates and alerts, revenue and productivity analysis, QuickBooks integration, and team collaboration features
• Premium: $18 per user per month for profitability analysis, fixed fee projects, timesheet approvals, data accuracy features, fully customizable reports, and Jira and Salesforce integrations
• Enterprise: Custom pricing for personalized onboarding, a dedicated customer success manager, multiple workspaces, and volume discounts

10. Bill4Time: Best for robust tracking and billing features

Pros

• Strong reporting features
• Offers expense management
• Clients praise its powerful invoicing

Cons

• Limited integrations
• Some users find the interface outdated

Bill4Time is a time tracking and billing platform for legal and professional services. It offers two main tracks, depending on what your firm needs:

1. The Time & Billing plan. This is a solid choice for lawyers who want robust tracking and accounting without full practice management software. In addition to time tracking, it includes client portals, expense tracking, and document management. 
2. The Legal Pro plan. This includes time and billing features and adds legal-specific functions. It includes trust accounting and conflict checking. You also get contingency billing and LEDES export for e-billing compliance.

One limitation to be aware of: Bill4Time’s integration library is thin. If you’re using tools it doesn’t natively connect with, you’ll need to rely on a third-party tool like Zapier to keep your data in sync across platforms.

Bill4Time pricing

Bill4Time offers four pricing plans: 

• Time & Billing: $39 per user per month for time tracking, task and client management, client portal, expense management, accounting, invoicing, document management, QuickBooks integration, and calendar sync
• Time & Billing Enterprise: $69 per user per month for customizable data fields, a dedicated account manager, advanced data import, and advanced customizable reports
• Legal Pro: $59 per user per month for trust accounting, conflict checker, contingency billing, task workflows, LEDES export, and Box/NetDocuments integration
• Legal Enterprise: $89 per user per month for customizable data fields, custom LEDES export, a dedicated success specialist, and advanced data import

Annotation and note-taking apps

Need to take some quick notes during client calls or in the courtroom? These apps make note-taking easier.

11. Evernote: Best for search-first organization

Pros

• Advanced search capabilities inside notes, PDFs, and images
• Evernote Web Clipper browser extension for saving online materials to client folders
• AI meeting note-taker

Cons

• Not suitable for storing sensitive client data
• Not fully end-to-end encrypted

While Evernote isn’t specifically designed as an app for lawyers, it has useful features that can make a lawyer’s job easier. 

For example, you can capture legal documents using your camera and edit them by cropping, rotating, or adjusting the folds. Then transfer them to the list of notes in your Evernote account. Evernote also lets you search within PDFs and images,  making it easier to locate a specific clause or reference.

Finally, you can use Evernote to save articles, case law, and legal blogs directly to client folders. From there, you can assign action items based on any note to stay on top of follow-ups.

One important caveat: Evernote isn’t designed for storing sensitive client information. It doesn’t offer the security controls or compliance certifications — like SOC 2 or HIPAA support — that legal-grade tools do. So avoid saving anything covered by attorney-client privilege or confidentiality obligations. Use it for research, notes, and general organization, and keep sensitive case details in a more secure platform.

Evernote pricing

Evernote offers four pricing plans:

• Free: $0 for up to 50 notes, one notebook, 1GB monthly upload limit, 200MB max note size, image and document search, offline mode, PDF annotations, Tasks, and Web Clipper
• Starter: $8.25 per user per month for up to 1000 notes, 20 notebooks, up to three devices, 1,000 attachments, and IA features 
• Advanced: $20.83 per user per month for unlimited notes, notebooks, attachments, and device syncs
• Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing for company ownership of all business data, a dedicated customer success manager, enhanced security and compliance, and 20GB monthly uploads and 2GB per user

12. OneNote: Best for Microsoft Office users

Pros

• Advanced search capabilities inside notes, PDFs, and images
• Evernote Web Clipper browser extension for saving online materials to client folders
• AI meeting note-taker

Cons

• Not suitable for storing sensitive client data
• Not fully end-to-end encrypted

Microsoft OneNote is a solid choice if you’re already comfortable with Microsoft Office. Once you’ve taken notes, you can annotate or highlight them to review them more easily or add images or videos to your notes for context. Compared to Evernote, OneNote offers more ways to embed more information into your notes, such as spreadsheets.

OneNote also has a Copilot AI feature that can summarize notes and help generate content more quickly. And if you’re taking notes in a hurry, you can use OneNote’s voice transcription feature.

One organizational limitation to flag: OneNote uses a fixed Notebook > Section > Page hierarchy. This means each note lives in one specific location. Evernote is more flexible. It lets you apply multiple tags to a single note, so it can live in different locations. For example, a deposition memo could be tagged #ClientA, #Deposition, and #MotionToDismiss simultaneously. This might make retrievals faster, depending on your work.

OneNote pricing

OneNote is free to download, but premium features like collaboration tools require a Microsoft 365 subscription. Microsoft 365 offers three personal plans:

• Microsoft 365 Personal: $9.99 per month for one person, use on up to five devices, 1TB of cloud storage, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote desktop apps with Microsoft Copilot
• Microsoft 365 Family: $12.99 per month for up to six people, with each person able to use up to five devices and 1TB of cloud storage per person
• Microsoft 365 Premium: $19.99 per month for extensive Copilot usage and advanced AI image creation and editing in Microsoft Designer

13. iAnnotate: Best annotation app for iOS users

Pros

• Allows for audio markups
• Built-in document scanning
• Supports iPad split screen for better simultaneous viewing of different documents

Cons

• Only available on iOS devices
• Some users report crashes when marking up large or highly complex PDFs

Folia’s iAnnotate lets you review and mark up documents directly on your device — PDFs, PowerPoint files, Word docs, images, and web pages. Markup options include highlights, notes, diagrams, and audio comments. This way, you can capture feedback in whatever format works best. You can also use it for note-taking and signing agreements.

iAnnotate also lets you import files from your device or sync them from cloud storage services like Google Drive or Dropbox. One limitation: iAnnotate is only available on iOS and Mac, so it’s not an option if your team is on Windows or Android.

iAnnotate pricing

iAnnotate costs $9.99 on the Apple App Store for individuals. However, if you’re getting the app for your team, you might have to opt for iAnnotate Enterprise. Third-party sources note the pricing starts at a flat rate of around $5,000 per year and offers centralized management and deployment for organizations. For an exact quote, get in touch with their sales team.

Cloud storage solutions

Your team likely needs a simple way to pull up important documents at all times. You can use cloud storage to access documents from any computer or mobile device quickly. 

🚩Remember: It’s your responsibility to ensure your cloud storage solution aligns with professional standards These include, but aren’t limited to, standards outlined in the ABA’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct. For example, you must understand the benefits and risks of relevant legal technology. You also have to make “reasonable efforts to ensure that the services [of an internet-based service to store client information] are provided in a manner that is compatible with [your] professional obligation.”

14. OneDrive: Best for Microsoft users

Pros

• Included in Microsoft 365 subscription
• Personal Vault folder requiring additional authentication methods

Cons

• Some users find file-sharing with external clients to be clunky
• Server-side encryption means Microsoft could theoretically access your data

OneDrive is the best app for lawyers who already use Windows and Microsoft Office. 

It comes pre-installed in new Windows operating systems and seamlessly works in the background to sync files and folders to the cloud.

You can install the OneDrive mobile app on your iPhone, iPad, or Android device. If your team uses both PC and Mac devices, Mac users can use OneDrive by installing the OneDrive app available in the Mac App Store.

On the security side, OneDrive uses AES 256-bit encryption for files at rest and TLS encryption in transit. Microsoft 365 plans also have compliance features like HIPAA support, audit logs, and data loss prevention. For most standard client matters, that baseline is solid.

That said, there’s one limitation to be aware of. Microsoft uses server-side encryption for most plans. This means they hold the encryption keys and could, in theory, access your data. Does your firm handle particularly sensitive matters, like criminal defense or national security? You may want to consider a zero-knowledge encryption solution where only you hold the keys.

Make sure to review Microsoft’s documentation and speak with your IT provider before choosingOneDrive as your main storage.

OneDrive pricing

OneDrive is included with all Microsoft 365 plans. But the exact features you get, like storage amount, depend on the plan you choose. In addition to individual plans, Microsoft offers Business plans that may be more relevant for law firms. Prices shown are for the “With Teams” versions; plans without Teams are slightly cheaper.

• Microsoft 365 Business Basic: $6.00 per user per month for web and mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, custom business email, Microsoft Teams, 1TB of cloud storage per user, and AI chat with Copilot Chat
• Microsoft 365 Business Standard: $12.50 per user per month for full desktop versions of all Microsoft 365 apps and webinar hosting with Teams

Prefer not to pay for Teams? The same plans are available without it at $4.40 and $9.29 per user per month, respectively.

15. Box: Best for mid to large law firms

Pros

• Top-tier security and compliance
• Granular user permissions
• AI integrations from the base plan
• Built-in e-signatures

Cons

• Too costly for smaller firms
• Lacks matter-centric organization
• Business plans have minimum user limits

Box is a cloud storage and content management platform built for mid- to large-sized law firms. It supports advanced document management needs, strict compliance requirements, and larger teams.

With Box, you can collaborate on documents, assign tasks, and watermark sensitive files. You can also set granular user permissions. This way, you control who can view, edit, download, or share any given file.

Need e-signatures? Box Sign handles e-signatures natively, starting from the base plan. Plus, Box AI lets you query documents, generate summaries, and extract key information directly from stored files.

Security is where Box stands out. It offers AES 256-bit encryption, detailed audit logs, and data loss prevention. It also complies with frameworks like HIPAA, FINRA, and FedRAMP.

The main limitations: Box isn’t built around matter-centric organization. You’ll need to create your own folder structure to match how a law firm works. And if you’re running a solo practice or small firm, the pricing can be a barrier.

Box pricing

Box offers five business plans, all with a minimum of three users:

• Business Starter: $5 per user per month for up to 10 users, 100GB of storage, 2GB file upload limit, unlimited e-signatures, and technical support during local business hours 
• Business: $15 per user per month for unlimited storage, 5GB file upload limit, unlimited e-signatures, 1,500+ integrations, Box AI for single-file Q&A and content generation, and SOC 1/2/3 compliance support
• Business Plus: $25 per user per month for unlimited external collaborators and a 15GB file upload limit
• Enterprise: $35 per user per month for a 50GB file upload limit, advanced workflows, HIPAA and FedRAMP Moderate compliance support, native security classifications, and 1,000 Box AI units per month
• Enterprise Plus: $50 per user per month for a 150GB file upload limit, 2,000 Box AI units per month, threat detection, and 24-hour enhanced support

Legal research software

The right legal research tool can be the difference between billable hours well spent and time lost down a rabbit hole. Here are two options to consider:

16. Fastcase: Best mobile-friendly law library

Pros

• Cost-effective
• Easy citation checking
• AI integration

Cons

• May be too limited for large firms

Fastcase is a comprehensive database for legal information and the US’s largest free mobile law library. It gives you access to a database of case law, statutes, constitutions, regulations, and court rules. It can cover most research needs for solo practitioners and small firms.

If you need more, the full-featured desktop version unlocks additional features. Many bar associations include Fastcase access as a membership benefit, so it’s worth checking into before paying out of pocket. The platform also includes AI-powered search and citation checking tools. This can help you find relevant cases faster and verify that your sources are still good law.

The main limitation is depth. Run a large firm that handles complex, multi-jurisdictional matters? Fastcase may not match the breadth of Westlaw or LexisNexis. But for most day-to-day research needs, it’s a strong and cost-effective option.

Fastcase pricing

Fastcase pricing generally starts at $65 per month for a basic plan. However, depending on your local bar association, you may already receive access for free. 

17. Harvey AI: AI-powered legal assistant

Pros

• Purpose-made for legal firms
• Natural-language UI
• Available on mobile

Cons

• Pricing information not available
• Requires human review of outputs to ensure accuracy
• Targeted toward larger firms

Harvey AI is a research and drafting assistant built specifically for legal professionals. It claims to be designed with enterprise-grade security and large language models trained on legal content.

With Harvey, you can speed up research using sources like US case law and EDGAR filings or upload your own documents for analysis. It can compare contracts, summarize lengthy documents, and surface key information quickly. It can also assist with drafting, helping you move faster on work that’d otherwise call for long stretches of uninterrupted focus.

While Harvey speeds up many parts of the legal research and review processes, you should always review the output for accuracy. Harvey isn’t intended to substitute legal judgment or advice.  

Harvey AI pricing

Harvey AI pricing isn’t publicly available. You’ll need to contact them for a demo. Some third-party sources report it as ranging from $500 to $1,200 per user per month.

Use Quo: The best VoIP system for lawyers

You know you have to stay reachable. But you also need to stay organized when clients call, text, or leave voicemails. The right phone tool helps your firm respond faster and communicate professionally. It also records every interaction for compliance and future reference.

Quo is built for exactly that. It gives small and growing firms a modern business phone system that works across devices. It keeps your team on the same page with shared numbers and conversation history and integrates with the tools you already use. That includes Clio and Slack. Missed calls are covered by Sona, Quo’s AI answering service. Client messages are automatically logged with call summaries and transcripts. And your personal number stays personal.

Ready to see how Quo can work for your firm? Try out Quo for free for seven days.

FAQs