News & Updates
Will AI replace lawyers? Artificial intelligence (AI) will not replace lawyers, but it is fundamentally changing how they get legal work done. As AI becomes more embedded in research, document review, and client intake, firms are increasingly automating many traditional legal tasks. This article examines whether AI can truly replace lawyers, which legal functions are most affected, how law firms are using AI today, and what these trends mean for associate attorneys navigating an AI-driven legal industry.
AI is already reshaping how your firm gets work done. It’s changing how you handle research, drafting, intake, billing pressure, and the future of associate work.
For many firms, the real question is how to use AI without disrupting the way they already work. Firms are figuring out where AI adds value and where attorneys still need to stay hands-on, while navigating how these tools change the work without changing who’s ultimately responsible.
In this guide, we’ll examine where AI affects legal tasks, why associate attorneys feel the most pressure, how firms are using AI today, and what the next 12-24 months are likely to bring.
Will AI Replace Lawyers or Just Change the Job?
The short answer is no: AI will not replace lawyers. What it can do is automate or accelerate certain tasks lawyers have traditionally handled manually, and that distinction matters.
When people ask, "Will lawyers be replaced by AI?" or "Can AI replace lawyers?" they are usually reacting to how quickly these tools have improved at summarizing information, reviewing documents, and generating draft language.
But those capabilities are not the same as practicing law. Lawyers are still responsible for legal judgment, ethical obligations, advocacy, and client outcomes. And courts, clients, and regulators continue to hold licensed attorneys accountable.
A better question is: “Which parts of your work is AI already automating, and what does that mean for you?”
Why Associate Attorneys Feel Most at Risk
If any group in the profession feels exposed by AI, it is associate attorneys. Associates often spend a large share of their time on high-volume, repeatable work:
- Document review
- Contract comparison
- Drafting from templates
- Follow-up tied to matters in progress
Those are also the kinds of tasks AI is taking on.
It’s no surprise that many associates feel pressure as these tasks shift. Many associates are already under pressure to be faster, more accurate, and easier to justify to cost-conscious clients.
But "most exposed" does not mean associates are the most likely to be replaced. It means the tasks that make up their role are among the first to be reshaped by AI, while expectations for more substantive work rise earlier.
Legal Tasks AI Can Replace or Automate
AI is most effective at handling structured, repetitive, text-heavy, and rules-based work that slows your team down.
Legal research and case summarization
AI is already changing the first layer of legal research. Attorneys can use it for a faster first pass to:
- Scan cases, statutes, and regulations quickly
- Summarize large volumes of text
- Highlight recurring themes
- Spot potential issues faster
That means less time gathering information and more time testing whether the output is accurate, relevant, and persuasive. These are the kinds of outputs that actually move cases forward.
Contract review and document analysis
Contract review is another area where AI can help. AI can be useful in due diligence, compliance review, procurement workflows, and any matter involving large volumes of contracts or standard language, including:
- Identifying clauses
- Comparing language across document sets
- Flagging deviations from standard terms
- Surfacing inconsistencies that manual review might otherwise miss
Many firms are also exploring legal document automation software to streamline repetitive drafting and review tasks while keeping attorneys in control of the final output.
Intake, qualification, and administrative work
Some of the fastest wins come from automating intake and follow-up with predefined criteria, so no potential client gets lost. These are areas where automation and AI can reduce a major administrative burden:
- Client intake
- Lead qualification and routing
- Follow-up
- Automated scheduling and reminders
Legal Tasks AI Cannot Replace
For all the attention on automation, there are still core parts of legal practice that AI cannot replace.
AI cannot replace certain legal tasks
Legal work often involves high-stakes decisions where the details matter, and the right call isn’t always obvious. Many matters require attorneys to navigate uncertainty, emotional dynamics, and practical risk in ways that go beyond pattern recognition.
Lawyers do more than surface information. They interpret ambiguity, weigh tradeoffs, and make recommendations when the answer is not obvious. AI can help organize information and support analysis, but legal judgment still depends on attorneys.
Advocacy and negotiation
Legal advocacy is deeply human. Whether in court, at a mediation table, or in a negotiation, persuasion depends on judgment, timing, credibility, listening, and adaptation.
Strong advocates read tone, pressure, resistance, leverage, and opportunity. AI can assist with preparation, but it cannot respond to the human dynamics that shape negotiation and advocacy in the moment.
Ethical responsibility and accountability
The biggest boundary in legal practice around AI use is accountability. Lawyers have ethical duties to clients, courts, and the profession, including competence, confidentiality, candor, supervision, and professional judgment.
Those duties still rest with attorneys. They must verify the work, protect client information, exercise judgment, and stand behind the advice they give.
How Law Firms Are Using AI Today
Law firms are using AI in several practical ways today. It supports legal work by improving intake and connecting workflows inside a legal client relationship management (CRM) system.
AI as an assistant, not a replacement
In many firms, AI is being used to accelerate research, support drafting, improve consistency, and reduce time spent on routine tasks. It helps attorneys work more efficiently, but they still have to review outputs, make decisions, and stand behind the final work product.
AI in client intake, lead qualification, and routing
One of the clearest applications of AI for law firms is in client intake. AI can help firms improve the quality of information they collect, apply qualification criteria more consistently, and move leads through the right next steps with less manual effort.
For example, AI can:
- Evaluate urgency: Identify inquiries that may need faster attention based on timing, case type, or stated circumstances.
- Screen for practice fit: Help determine whether a matter aligns with the firm’s services before teams spend time reviewing it.
- Assess lead quality: Apply defined qualification standards consistently to help teams focus on stronger opportunities. Tools like QualifyAI support this process by helping firms automate intake screening and matter qualification without crossing into the realm of legal advice.
- Collect intake information: Use custom forms and structured workflows to gather client details and create more complete records from the start.
- Route inquiries intelligently: Sort leads by priority, stage, or next step and direct them to the right person or process.
- Automate follow-up: Trigger responses, reminders, and outreach to ensure promising leads do not stall due to delayed communication.
- Support scheduling: Move qualified leads into consultations with less back-and-forth and fewer manual touchpoints.
- Reduce administrative drag: Improve upstream intake so attorneys spend less time on triage and more time on billable work.
AI paired with legal CRM workflows
AI becomes more useful when it works inside a broader system. That works best when legal CRM software and legal software integrations connect intake, follow-up, and client information into a single centralized system.
When intake data flows directly into a centralized CRM, follow-up can happen automatically, and attorneys can work from more complete, organized information.
What Will Actually Change for Associate Attorneys in the Next 12-24 Months
The table below illustrates which legal tasks firms are already automating, which are likely to change in the next 12-24 months, and which still depend on human judgment.
| Legal task category | Examples of tasks | Level of AI impact | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intake and administrative work | Intake data collection, lead qualification, follow-up, and scheduling | High | Already happening |
| Legal research and summarization | First-pass case law research, statute summaries, issue spotting | High | Already happening |
| Contract review and analysis | Clause identification, risk flagging, document comparison | High | Already happening |
| Drafting standard legal documents | Routine motions, template-based agreements with attorney review | Medium | 12-24 months |
| Litigation prep and discovery support | Document organization, evidence tagging, timeline creation | Medium | 12-24 months |
| Intake decision support | Applying firm-defined qualification rules without legal advice | Medium | Already happening |
| Legal judgment and strategy | Case strategy, risk assessment, application of law to facts | Low | Unlikely to be replaced |
| Client counseling and advocacy | Client advice, negotiation, courtroom advocacy | Low | Unlikely to be replaced |
| Ethical and professional accountability | Malpractice liability, ethical judgment, licensing responsibility | None | Not replaceable |
Fewer low-value tasks, higher expectations
Associates will likely spend less time on intake administration, document work, and other repetitive tasks that can be standardized. As a result, firms may expect associates to handle more substantive work earlier.
As routine work takes up less of the role, firms may place greater value on analytical skills, precision, and the ability to take on client-facing responsibility.
Faster feedback loops
AI-assisted systems can make performance more visible. When workflows are digitized and standardized, firms can see turnaround times, follow-up completion, response rates, matter progression, and other indicators sooner.
Faster feedback loops help strong associates stand out while also making expectations around consistency and execution clearer across the board.
Increased leverage for AI-literate associates
The associates who benefit most from AI will be the ones who adopt it quickly and use it responsibly. That starts with understanding how to prompt, review, verify, and refine outputs. It also involves knowing where automation adds value and where it introduces risk.
The real advantage comes from turning saved time into stronger work, not just faster work.
The real risks of AI in legal practice
AI can create leverage, but only if you understand the risks that come with it. Key concerns include:
- Hallucinations and inaccurate outputs: AI can produce confident-sounding errors, including fabricated citations, misread authority, or oversimplified legal distinctions. In legal work, every output requires attorney verification.
- Confidentiality and data privacy: Firms must handle client information carefully, and not every AI tool is appropriate for legal workflows. Tools can create risk when firms do not understand how data is processed, stored, or reused. That is why firms need clear policies, controlled workflows, and tools built for legal use cases.
- Unauthorized practice of law: AI cannot independently provide legal advice. Firms can use AI to support intake, qualification, and internal workflows, but if implementation crosses into unsupervised legal advice, the risk becomes regulatory exposure.
- Over-reliance and skill atrophy: Attorneys still need to build judgment, pattern recognition, and analytical strength. If AI is responsible for too much thinking, it can result in weaker legal reasoning over time.
How Associate Attorneys Can Future-Proof Their Careers
The strongest position is knowing where AI supports your legal work and where your judgment still matters most.
Focus on high-judgment legal work
The more your value depends on strategy, counseling, nuanced analysis, negotiation, and client communication, the harder you are to replace. Look for opportunities to build skills in asking better questions, improving communication, and taking ownership of recommendations.
Become AI-literate, not AI-dependent
Lawyers do not need to become AI experts. They need to understand how AI fits into their day-to-day workflows.
Learning how to evaluate outputs, identify weak reasoning, spot missing context, and supervise automated processes will better equip you to leverage AI without becoming dependent on it.
Use AI to protect billable work
AI should protect time for more meaningful work. When firms automate low-value administrative steps, intake bottlenecks, or repetitive drafting processes, you can focus your time where it adds the most value: analysis, advocacy, and client service.
The Future of Law in an AI-Driven Legal Profession
AI isn’t changing who’s responsible for legal work. It’s changing how efficiently you can get that work done.
For attorneys, AI is most useful when it automates administrative tasks and streamlines intake, follow-up, and qualification, allowing them to spend more time on substantive legal work.
As a legal CRM, Lawmatics helps firms automate intake, follow-up, and qualification through custom automations. You receive better information and fewer administrative bottlenecks, so you can spend more time practicing law.
To see how AI-supported intake fits into a modern Legal CRM, request a demo.
FAQ
Will AI replace lawyers entirely?
No. AI can automate parts of legal work, but it cannot replace legal judgment, ethical accountability, or advocacy. Lawyers are still responsible for advising clients, applying the law to specific facts, and standing behind the decisions and filings.
Are associate attorneys more vulnerable to AI?
Associate attorneys are more affected by AI-driven task automation because early-career roles often include more routine, document-heavy, and process-driven work. With AI, the structure of their work is changing, with more emphasis on analysis, judgment, and client-facing readiness.
Can AI practice law on its own?
No. AI cannot practice law independently or provide legal advice without attorney oversight. It can support research, intake, and administrative workflows, but licensed attorneys are still responsible for verifying outputs, protecting client information, and exercising professional judgment.
What legal work is safest from AI?
Legal work that depends on strategy, advocacy, negotiation, and client counseling is the least likely to be automated. These responsibilities require judgment, persuasion, relationship management, and the ability to respond to nuanced facts and human dynamics.
Should lawyers be worried about AI?
Lawyers should prepare for change, but not assume AI is replacing the profession. Firms and attorneys who learn how to use AI responsibly will be in a stronger position than those who ignore it.
Just over four years ago, we set out on a journey. A journey to initiate a shift and transform the way law firms think and operate — less like a law firm and more like a business. Though it would undoubtedly be a tough and lengthy process, we knew that a fundamental problem in our industry was left unsolved and that we had the vision to meet that challenge head-on.Today, that journey hits an exceptional milestone — one all budding companies such as ours often only dream of achieving: a round of Series A funding. We are proud and excited beyond words to announce that we have raised $10mil in fresh capital, designed to take the Lawmatics platform to the next level. This funding represents a new beginning for Lawmatics!As with any round of funding, the same questions tend to surface. What will the money be used for? What does this mean for our customers? In response, I want to take a moment to answer those questions with as much transparency as possible.
We raised this money in order to scale Lawmatics.
More money means more people: more people to build the product; more people to aid our customers in their successful use of the platform; more people to help get Lawmatics in front of more people; and more people to interact with our customers and understand their problems that need solving.
Increased cadence in product development
As we scale the number of engineers on the team significantly, Lawmatics users can expect a much higher frequency of updates to the platform. One major catalyst for completing this fundraiser at this juncture was the Lawmatics platform itself. We have an exceptionally enthusiastic and vocal customer base. They are a wellspring of incredible feedback and ideas on making the platform better. And we listen to those customers intently; they drive us to want to move faster. This new war chest will allow us to do just that: We aim to move quicker than we ever have to add the features, functionality and usability that our customers want into the platform.
Enhanced customer success
Providing a great customer experience is in our DNA. This fundraise will ensure that we can continue to deliver on our promise to our customers to provide industry leading customer support and onboarding services. Already, we’re seeing stellar new additions to the team and look forward to the influx of Lawmaticians joining us over the coming months.
A personal thank you
On a personal note, this raise means so very much to me. I want to extend a big thank you to each and every one of our customers and team members who have allowed us to grow to this point. If not for our incredible customers and team, we would not be able to focus on bringing best in class solutions to our law firm customers.Building a company is like having a child. You start it from nothing and nurture it to the best of your abilities. With any luck (and a lot of elbow grease), it’ll grow well beyond its infancy through adolescence and adulthood. While we are still very much in the infancy phase — and hope to preserve our ‘startup’ culture for as long as we possibly can — this round of funding represents a “growing up” of sorts of Lawmatics. And as I reflect, I couldn’t be more proud of the team that we’ve assembled that is so foundational to our success. We are perfectly situated to scale because of the great people we have here now.When we founded Lawmatics, I did not know what we would become. I had no idea what to expect, nor could I imagine how big of a company we could build. Now, our expectations are enormous, and our goals even more so. I can’t wait to see what this team accomplishes with this great, new wind in our sails.
– Matt Spiegel, Co-Founder and CEO
What is your role at Lawmatics, and what does your job entail?
At Lawmatics, I am a Customer Success Specialist. My job is to help, investigate, and solve certain matters law firms encounter while using our software. Whether it is jumping on Zoom, making short videos, or emailing law firms, I’m always happy to help and make sure everything is running smoothly in their account!
How did you end up working for Lawmatics?
I just moved back to San Diego and was casually looking for new job opportunities on LinkedIn and I stumbled upon Lawmatics. I submitted my resume and applied for the position and once I had my interviews with everyone I knew this was gonna be a great place to work and that I would learn so many valuable skills!
What’s the best part of your job?
One of the best parts of my job at Lawmatics is when a customer reaches out and lets you know how much you have helped solve a huge problem. It makes me happy to know that I did something to ease the stress of their hectic schedule!
What challenges have you faced or opportunities you’ve uncovered working remotely during COVID-19?
Working remotely has both its benefits and downsides. One opportunity that came across from working remotely is the ability to work from anywhere. It is nice to have the option of choosing to work from my apartment in San Diego, or back in Redondo Beach with my family. One challenge of working remotely is the lack of face-to-face interactions with my co-workers. Working together in the office allows for clear communication and the ability to easily learn from one another.
Where are you originally from, and how did you end up in San Diego?
I am originally from Redondo Beach, California. I went to school at San Diego State University and fell in love with this city. I went back home for a year after graduation but missed it so much that I moved back!
What do you like to do when you aren’t working?
When I am not working at Lawmatics, I love spending time with my friends and family. Going to concerts, playing golf with my buddies, or going on morning runs are some of my favorite things to do to destress and have a good time!
What is a fun fact most people may not know about you?
I don’t know how or why but I’m insanely good at bowling. Every time I go with friends I beat everyone by a landslide. Watch out for me on the lanes!
What is the one thing you can’t live without and why?
The one thing I cannot live without is hot sauce. If you ask my friends and family I legit put hot sauce on everything. When I lived in Europe for a few months, I made my mom send over so much hot sauce because they didn’t sell the same ones in Europe.
Do you have a favorite saying, quote, or personal mantra and if so, what is it and why?
Growing up my family always told my brother and me that “There is no such word as can’t”. I still stick to this today and remind myself that you should never give up on something even though it is difficult. When things get tough or overwhelming, just take a step back and try to get through it!
Can you walk us through your "Aha" moment - the moment when you realized how powerful the Lawmatics platform is for lawyers and law firms?
I would say my “Aha” moment working at Lawmatics was probably one of the first couple weeks working here. I was shadowing one of the Implementation Specialist on one of their onboarding calls and the client was amazed and in awe about all the functionalities Lawmatics has to offer. Eliminating the workload by automating the intake process for busy lawyers made me realize how powerful the Lawmatics platform really is!
Based on your experience, what words of wisdom or advice do you have for legal professionals looking to help their law firms win more business, impress clients, and be more efficient?
Based off of my experience working at Lawmatics some advice I would give law firms to impress clients and win more business is to adapt to current marketing trends. There are so many different methods to broadcast your firm to reach many new potential clients. If your firm is still reaching clients the old fashion way, step out of your comfort zone and try new things! The easier and more efficient your intake process is on clients, the more likely they will choose you!
Our goal at Lawmatics is simple. We want to help lawyers work smarter, not harder, with the support of our robust legal technology platform. We built our client relationship management functionality specifically for lawyers and their unique needs. We know how important it is for lawyers to attract more clients, increase client engagement, and accelerate the growth of their firm.
That’s why we’re thrilled to be recognized by LegalTech Breakthrough as the Overall Client Relationship Management Company of the Year!
The LegalTech Breakthrough Awards program hosted by LegalTech Breakthrough, recognizes standout legal technology companies, products, and services around the globe. The mission of the annual LegalTech Breakthrough Awards program is to conduct the industry’s most comprehensive analysis and evaluation of the top technology companies, solutions, and products in the legal technology industry today. This year’s program attracted more than 1,300 nominations from over 12 different countries throughout the world.
Lawmatics’ was selected based on the intuitive nature of our platform, our ability to easily automate a law firm’s repetitive administrative tasks in one centralized location, and how our platform streamlines the administrative tasks that come with running a firm, helping lawyers focus on their client matters, and in turn, improving the bottom line.
“Law firms are in a constant struggle to cut down on time spent on tedious administrative tasks in order to spend more time on the needs of their clients. Law firms need solutions to help them automate their onboarding tasks and CRM, especially, in order to better meet their clients’ needs,” said Bryan Vaughn, Managing Director of LegalTech Breakthrough Awards. “With Lawmatics, attorneys are able to automate the business side of their firm so they can focus on what matters - representing those that need it most and delivering successful outcomes for their clients. Congratulations to Lawmatics for winning our 2021 ‘Overall Client Relationship Management Company of the Year’ award.”
We are honored to be recognized by the industry, and we look forward to continuing to build the end-to-end legal tech platform that helps lawyers be more efficient, and win more business. Take a look at the full list here to see all of the amazing 2021 LegalTech award winners.
As we head into the final weeks of 2021, it’s hard to believe we’re already here. While there have been considerable challenges throughout the last year, there has also been hope, joy, and unlocked inspiration. Thanksgiving is an opportunity to transform everyday things we may normally take for granted into blessings by practicing gratitude. Gratitude has the power to change what we see as “enough” into “abundance.” It can turn uncertainty into clarity and transform resistance into acceptance by simply reflecting on what we have rather than what we lack.
This Thanksgiving, we at Lawmatics want to share our genuine gratitude for you. Without you, we would not be where we are today, and we wholeheartedly thank you for your support throughout the year.
After working hard all year long to build what is known now as the leading all-in-one legal intake solution, marketing automation, and law firm CRM, our San Diego-based team gathered for a Thanksgiving celebration. The gathering was a wonderful occasion to come together to recognize and celebrate all of the amazing successes of 2021 and share our stories of gratitude with each other.
In between bites of turkey, stuffing, mac and cheese, and pies, the team exchanged what they felt grateful for this year. Here are some we’d like to share.
“This year, I'm thankful for my family and friends. This time of the year is my favorite because you get to spend time with some of your extended family that you don't get to see very much on a regular basis!”
- Ryan Brown, Customer Success
“Colorful sunsets, live music, scented candles, houseplants, cozy slippers, good beer :)”
- Anna Gasperlin, Customer Success
“I’m thankful that I get to travel home for the holidays this year to visit my family and play with my parents’ new puppy.”
- Kevin Looney, Marketing
“Being able to spend time with friends and family.”
- Connor Brown, Implementation
“This year, I’m thankful for Stitch (my Corgi puppy), that all my family and friends are healthy, joining Lawmatics, and the awesome people I’ve gotten to know because of it.”
- Devon Roth, Implementation
“I’m thankful to have been able to buy the lot where I’ll build my house ”
- Diogo Beda, Engineering
“I am thankful for every day I get to spend on this earth with so many amazing people, and especially my Lawmatics family! <3”
- Kaia Dobbs, Sales
“I’m thankful for live music being back in full swing!”
- Val Kirsh, Implementation
“My wife, for being a great support to me, so I can focus better! And that I have the great luck, to share healthy days working towards a common goal with such a bright and dedicated team of wonderful people!”
- Roey Chasman, Engineering
“This year, I’m thankful to have such a long list of things to be grateful for…my family, friends, coworkers, health, mind-blowing experiences, and dreams of what is yet to come.”
- Sarah Bottorff, Marketing
“I’m thankful for my family's health and for the love & support they provide me each day.”
- Bobby Orozco, Sales
“I am very grateful for the health of my family members and that we are vaccinated. We are grateful to be able to come together again and celebrate the little moments of life.”
- Fred Assuncao, Engineering
“I'm thankful for the opportunity to do meaningful work that I'm truly passionate about (helping firms across the country scale their practice); with a team of talented people I'm honored to work with—my fellow Lawmaticians.”
- Andy Campbell, Sales
“My wife, and her savvy. Our dog and her playfulness. The ability to enjoy our surroundings, to be able to play outside, to engage in and explore new creative endeavors, being able to help family and friends... To enjoy the little things. Oh yeah, and thankful for the kickass team I get to work with every day :)”
- Zsolt Mar, Product
“I'm thankful for this great job of mine and all the subsequent good quality life I have that come with it. I also am thankful for the great friendships I have, for whom I am and am becoming, and last but not least, I am thankful for the awesome girlfriend that I had the chance to meet this year.”
- Leandro Nascimento Camargo, Engineering
“I am thankful for the health and happiness of my family and friends. I am also extremely thankful for the fact that every day I get to spend time building a great company with great people. I am thankful I don’t consider what I do to be work.”
- Matt Spiegel, Executive
“I am thankful for the health and happiness of my family and friends, and for the amazing opportunity I have here at Lawmatics!”
- Clare Struzzi, Customer Success
On behalf of all of us at Lawmatics, may your upcoming celebration be one full of gratitude, joy, and an opportunity to embrace that which enriches our lives. Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy November! We love this time of year here at Lawmatics, and our team is very excited for the season to begin. All of the holiday spirit has manifested itself in some great new features from our product team that we are excited to share with you today.
Automation Delivery Windows
The best automation platform in legal just got A LOT better. We have added delivery windows to all actions in our automation platform. This means that you can now specify the hours and days of the week for the delivery of a specific action within an automation. For example, you might have an automation that sends out an e-signature document, but you don’t want that document to go out for signature at 11 pm. With delivery times and windows, you can now set the delivery of that signature document to be during business hours, so if the action to send the e-signature document comes up at 11 pm, it will wait until the next day and until the specified delivery time/window before sending the document.
This feature also works on delay actions, meaning that you no longer have to worry about a delay ending and firing the next action in the middle of the night on a Saturday. The proper use of this new feature will enhance your engagement on every type of communication you have with your contacts in automations.
Support documentation along with instructions on how to use the Automation Delivery Window feature can be found here.
Client Portal Enhancements
Client Portal, one of our biggest new features over the last six months, keeps improving by the week! We are happy to announce that file requests and custom forms are now shareable within the client portal, giving your contacts yet another convenient way to interact with the assets that you share with them. Learn more about the portal here.
What’s more, we have also added a new automation action for granting Client Portal access. You can now automatically invite a contact into the Client Portal via the Lawmatics automation platform. Just use the new Invite to Client Portal action!
We have many more great additions to the Client Portal coming soon. Please keep your eye out for more feature announcements from us that contain some really incredible new portal features that will change the way you communicate with your contacts.
Clio Integration Enhancement
We love our friends over at Clio, and we know that many of you feel the same way. So we are really happy to announce a long-awaited upgrade to our integration with Clio...support for picklist field mappings. You can now map Lawmatics picklist fields to Clio picklist fields. Lawmatics will now present you with a beautiful interface to map the actual values of the picklist fields between the two platforms, allowing you to sync a very important field type in Lawmatics to Clio.
This release also comes with many bug fixes and performance improvements to the platform. We look forward to sharing some of the other projects we have been working on with you soon. ;)
Happy Fall! This is the start of our favorite time of the year, and we are cooking up some awesome holiday surprises. Stay tuned for those announcements! ;)
In the meantime, we released some amazing new features that we think you’ll love, including Custom Asset Emails and Staff Matter Link!
Custom Asset Emails
We are happy to share that you can now customize the emails sent to your clients letting them know they have a document to sign, a form to fill out, an appointment to book, or files to provide. In addition, if you don’t want to use the Lawmatics default email (which just provides for a message body with no merged data), you can now create a plain text email from scratch, complete with any custom fields merged in.
What’s more, you can create a custom email for each individual asset. For example, you can have one email for a simple estate plan intake form and another email for a revocable trust intake form. This allows you added control and customization over the experience your clients receive. Support documentation for Custom Asset Emails can be found here.
Staff Matter Link with Permissions
You may have noticed a couple of additional fields added onto matters over the last few weeks, namely, Lead and Originating Attorney. We are excited to announce that we have now added the ability to link staff to matters too!
Matters in Lawmatics now have an additional field titled Assigned Staff. This allows you to add any additional firm staff to a matter. It is a multi-picklist field, so there is no limit to the number of staff that you can add to a matter. So whether it’s an associate attorney or a paralegal, it is easier than ever to keep track of who is working on what.
Additionally, you can also now base permissions off of Assigned Staff, giving you the ability to limit the matters/contacts that a staff member can view. This rounds out the permission options in Lawmatics, giving you the ability to limit matters based on Lead Attorney, Originating Attorney, or Assigned Staff. Support documentation for this enhancement can be found here.
This release also includes numerous bug fixes.
Our goal is that these additions to the platform make your daily lives simpler. Like we mentioned earlier, we have some really amazing things in the works, so keep your eyes out for more updates from our team.
Happy end of summer! The team has been working on some great features, some of them pretty big! Here are a few updates that we just released into the Lawmatics platform.
This month, we’re excited to announce that we have released a new statute of limitations field, originating attorney/lead attorney features, and more! Read on to learn more about these impactful enhancements to the platform.
Statute of Limitations
We know that many of our customers have statute of limitations (SOL) that they need to track when taking on new cases. We believe this is an important part of the intake process, so we are happy to say that we built SOL into Lawmatics as a native feature.
You can enable SOL on a practice area basis. Doing so will add a SOL field to the matter details. What’s great is that the SOL date can be used in event automations and is visible in the Lawmatics calendar.
New User Lookup Fields
The team is proud to announce that we added “Originating Attorney” and “Lead Attorney” as native fields to Lawmatics. These new fields will allow you more granular tracking and reporting on key metrics for your firm. Key to this new feature is the ability to base matter access permissions on these fields. For example, you can now limit a user’s access to only cases that they are assigned as the lead attorney.
Keep your eye out for another addition to this feature set coming in the coming weeks. We will be adding general staff linking, giving you the ability to link as many firm users to a matter as general staff. This will also come with a new permission setting, allowing you to limit a user’s access to only matters they are linked to.
As always, this release includes many bug fixes and improvements. Thank you for your feedback, and keep it coming! Your feedback is an invaluable part of our ongoing effort to improve the Lawmatics platform.
Check in next month for more updates and improvements from the Lawmatics team! Not using Lawmatics yet? There’s never been a better time to start. Book a personalized demo to learn how we can help you grow your law firm!
We’re thrilled to announce that we have been included in the 2021 CRM, Intake, and Virtual Receptionists Buyer’s Guide released by Legal Tech Publishing which spotlights innovative legal technology products for lawyers.We have been recognized in this legal technology buyers guide based on a selection process that included product reviews and supporting articles.“We’re incredibly honored to be recognized as the most intuitive and robust law firm CRM and client intake platform specific to the legal industry,” said Matt Spiegel, CEO. “With Lawmatics, lawyers are able to focus on getting the most desirable outcome for their clients without getting bogged down with day-to-day administrative tasks that negatively impact their client relationships and reputations. This, in turn, leads to more business, happy clients, and profitability.”At Lawmatics, we are dedicated to serving as a go-to resource that helps lawyers be the best they can be. Being included in third-party publications that explain the impacts of solutions in the legal tech marketplace helps us achieve our mission of assisting lawyers. By participating in the Legal Tech Publishing eBook series, we support our community of fellow providers and together can provide lawyers with a succinct list of reputable and vetted selection of products for their consideration.Keep reading to see some highlights from the guide.
Lawmatics helps lawyers get efficient in generating new and recurring legal business
“Lawmatics enables you to automate your entire intake process as well as any other repetitive process or tasks that might be part of your firm’s flow. You can create automated workflows to move potential clients through every stage of the client journey.”
The 4 reasons Legal Tech Publishing recommends Lawmatics
- Lawmatics is for any law firm that wants more leads and is serious about growing its business.
- Automation drives the lead generation and marketing platform.
- The platform integrates with numerous marketing sources and legal apps to drive efficiency and reduce costs.
- Reports analyze costs for leads and clients provide key performance indicators (KPIs) to analyze and measure against as the firm grows.
What is your role at Lawmatics, and what does your job entail?
I am the Implementation Manager at Lawmatics. My job is to make sure that my team and I are onboarding everyone who signs up for Lawmatics to ensure they successfully use the platform. This includes teaching customers about all of our different features, creating automations, and migrating data into Lawmatics.
How did you end up working for Lawmatics?
I had previously worked with Matt and other members of the team at a different company, so when Lawmatics was developed, I did not hesitate to hop aboard!
What’s the best part of your job?
I enjoy turning a firm’s manual intake process into a streamlined and automated process. Doing so allows the attorney to focus on practicing law and their staff to focus more on growing the business instead of wasting hours every day on follow-ups, sending engagement agreements, scheduling appointments, etc. In addition, it is a great experience doing the first run-through of a firm’s new process in Lawmatics and seeing all of the time they will be able to save.
What challenges have you faced or opportunities you’ve uncovered working remotely during COVID-19?
The biggest challenge has been not being able to see the amazing people I work with! But, working remotely has given us some great opportunities to add to our integrations like Zoom and develop some pretty great workflows for attorneys who have to work from home.
Where are you originally from, and how did you end up in San Diego?
I am originally from Sacramento and moved down to San Diego in 2010 to attend San Diego State (go Aztecs!). Aside from living in Spain for a year after college, I have been here ever since!
What do you like to do when you aren’t working?
Spend time with my wife and dog :).
What is a fun fact most people may not know about you?
I am “that guy” that has a regrettable tattoo after a night out with my bone-headed friends.
What is the one thing you can’t live without and why?
Good weather. San Diego has turned me into a huge wimp, and now if the temperature drops below 60 degrees, I am basically out of commission.
Do you have a favorite saying, quote, or personal mantra, and if so, what is it and why?
“Don’t sweat the petty things, and don’t pet the sweaty things.”
I have always been a huge fan of comedy, and my dad got me into George Carlin at a young age. As silly as this quote is, it always comes to mind when I’m feeling stressed.
Can you walk us through your "Aha" moment - the moment when you realized how powerful the Lawmatics platform is for lawyers and law firms?
When I first started onboarding new customers, I quickly realized that Lawmatics could easily handle all or most of their pain points. Our robust automation engine, easy-to-use intake forms/fee agreements, and in-app scheduling solution make the platform a one-stop-shop for most attorneys. It is pretty amazing that almost anytime an attorney presents me with a problem, I can say, “Lawmatics can handle that.”
Based on your experience, what words of wisdom or advice do you have for legal professionals looking to help their law firms win more business, impress clients, and be more efficient?
Don’t over complicate your intake process, and make sure you cater to your client’s preferences. For example, if you are having issues getting appointments scheduled, start sending links where your clients can schedule or, better yet, add a scheduling form to your website.
If you are having issues gathering information from clients, send them easy-to-use intake forms via email and text with reminders that provide them with a link to that form that will take them right where they left off when they started it.
Also, don’t follow up manually. Set up some drip campaigns to keep your firm top-of-mind for clients who are still shopping or aren’t quite ready to move forward yet.
...basically, you should use Lawmatics. :)
Believe it or not, we’re already more than halfway through 2021. And while it’s likely been unconventional, we hope you’re enjoying your summer so far.
This month, we’re excited to announce that we have released Scheduled Marketing Campaign sends and a significantly enhanced table navigation experience. Read on to learn more about these impactful enhancements to the platform.
Schedule Marketing Campaign Sends
We’re proud to announce that you can now schedule one-off marketing campaigns to go out at a specific time in the future. When you select “Run Once” as your campaign type, you will see a toggle that allows you to select “Run on Manual Activation” or “Run at a Specific Date.” If you toggle over to run at a specific date, a field will appear, allowing you to select a date and a time in the future. All you need to do is click “Create,” and the campaign will run at the date and time you chose! No need to activate anything else. You can always edit the run time if you need to change when it is sent.
Better Table Experience
Lawmatics tables will now remember what page you were on and remember the sorting you had on the table last time you were there. This will make navigating around Lawmatics so much more enjoyable and save you tons of time.
Check in next month for more updates and improvements from the Lawmatics team! Not using Lawmatics yet? There’s never been a better time to start. Book a personalized demo to learn how we can help you grow your law firm!
What is your role at Lawmatics, and what does your job entail?
I’m the Chief Creative of Lawmatics, a.k.a the in-house designer. I’ve been shaping the app from day one and everything that has to do with our branding and marketing, with the occasional lending a helping hand to our dev team with front end polishing.
How did you end up working for Lawmatics?
I’ve been a long term member of the Matt-and-the-gang, so when things transpired to start a new business venture, it was only natural to go along.
What’s the best part of your job?
I get to do a lot of different things, which for me is pretty much essential to be happy in a job. I enjoy shaping the company’s image and because it’s such a never ending process, it gives me lots of opportunities to explore new solutions, new ways of doing things all the time. When I’m not doing design work, I try to help out as much as I can with front-end development, which for me is just another creative outlet. It keeps things always interesting to be able to switch between different workflows, it assures me I won’t get bored :)
What challenges have you faced or opportunities you’ve uncovered working remotely during COVID-19?
Well, I’m one of the people who has been working remotely for years before the pandemic, so it was pretty much business as usual for me. Not being able to visit the office and hang out with the team might have been the biggest difference.
Where are you originally from, and how did you end up in San Diego?
I was born and raised in Transylvania (Romania, Eastern Europe) and I currently live (and work remotely) in Bend, Oregon with my wife and doggo. I can’t confirm nor deny the allegations that I’m 400 years old...
What do you like to do when you aren’t working?
Designing is my passion, so when I’m not doing it at work I still just want to design and build stuff. Lately, doing projects around the house proved to be a great creative outlet, and a great way for me to get my hands dirty. Living in the Pacific Northwest, we find ourselves outside a lot and we enjoy the great outdoors around us — like floating the Deschutes river or paddle boarding one of the many Cascade Lakes is something we enjoy to do as often as possible.
What is a fun fact most people may not know about you?
I knew very early on that I wanted to become a designer and it’s pretty much all I wanted to do growing up. Getting a computer was key in this endeavor so I was on a mission to build one. Coming up with the money was all on me and I managed to do it in the end by ransacking old scrap metal from my parent’s farm which I then sold to a scrap yard and bought the components to build my rig. Good times :)
What is the one thing you can’t live without and why?
Probably music. I couldn’t imagine a day without music or working without music for that matter. It’s part of my creative process and it keeps me focused. There’s also a dance party in my office pretty much every day. In fact there is one right now as I’m writing this :)
If you're keen on diving into an eclectic world of sound, check out the playlists I hoarded over the years on Spotify.
Do you have a favorite saying, quote, or personal mantra and if so, what is it and why?
"Aut inveniam viam aut faciam" is Latin for "I shall either find a way or make one" — there’s probably no saying that encompasses creative problem solving better. Gotta love it.
Can you walk us through your "Aha" moment - the moment when you realized how powerful the Lawmatics platform is for lawyers and law firms?
There are numerous CRM systems out there which are targeting all businesses, small to large. They offer all the bells and whistles, mostly very broad features that are intended for all sorts of ventures, but they’re not really a tool for a law practice unless you invest time and effort to hack it into what you need. A dedicated platform that is tailored specifically to the practice of law is where the game-changing really happens! We have lawyers on our team who aid every step of the project to be as useful as possible for the legal industry specifically — and we've barely scratched the surface! We’re going to the moon ;)
Based on your experience, what words of wisdom or advice do you have for legal professionals looking to help their law firms win more business, impress clients, and be more efficient?
So much of the day-to-day of a law practice is automatable! Probably the easiest way to be competitive as a law firm today is to embrace the advancements in technology. The time and effort saved really is invaluable.
If you don’t really know what exactly you could automate within your practice, or how to even approach this - I urge you to get in touch with any of my colleagues who have helped myriads of firms solve tons of inefficiencies with Lawmatics.
Happy June from all of us at Lawmatics. We’re thrilled to share this product release with you today as it’s a big one that’s been a long time coming. In fact, it includes the biggest update to appointment bookings ever! Continue reading for the highlights.
Custom Booking Forms
You can now customize the experience that someone has when booking an appointment on your calendar using legal calendaring software. We have leveraged the power of our custom form builder to give you unlimited flexibility with the fields that you place on a booking form.If you check out the Assets tab on your screen, you’ll see a new option called Booking Forms. From here, you can create booking forms centered around a calendar booking. You can add all the fields you want to the form, and even add fields before and after the calendar selection section. The calendar selection section will always be on its own page in the form.To learn more, check out the Custom Books Form help article.
Multi-Event Select
We are happy to announce that we have added the ability to have one form for multiple events. When you select multiple events for a booking form, the user will be presented first with different buttons for each event type, allowing them to select what type of event they would like to book.
Limit Event Types
You can now also limit the number of particular event types allowed for any given period. For example, if you only want to have four initial consultations per day, you can set Lawmatics up to not allow more than four to be booked. This is configured in the Calendar Settings section under My Settings on the Settings page.To learn more, check out the Event Type help article.
Embeddable Booking Forms
Custom booking forms can also be embedded on your site, just like custom forms! This makes it super simple to include a booking link directly on your site. You can even embed links with multiple event forms, adding the different options right to your site.
Two Factor Authentication
We take your security very seriously at Lawmatics. To that end, we are proud to announce the addition of 2FA to Lawmatics. You can now turn on 2FA from your user settings page. When 2FA is on, you will be emailed a code every time you sign into Lawmatics and will need to enter that code in order to login, after the username and password screen. This additional layer of security will go a long way to giving you the peace of mind you deserve when operating online.
RingCentral Integration
We are really excited to announce another great integration built by our team. You can now connect RingCentral to your Lawmatics account. This will enable you to track all your calls in Lawmatics, including the ability to add custom dispositions to each call along with call notes.Check in next month for more updates and improvements from the Lawmatics team! Not using Lawmatics yet? There’s never been a better time to start. Book a personalized demo to learn how we can help you grow your law firm!
Lawyers are well aware of how important it is to foster client relationships. Each client you take on is an opportunity for future business. And these repeat clients can also serve as helpful referrers that bring in new business to your firm via word of mouth. This means that providing a great customer experience from beginning to end — especially during every stage of the sales process — should be high on your list of priorities.Recently, Lawmatics CEO, Matt Spiegel, joined Moshe Amsel, host of the Profit with Law podcast, to discuss the importance of delivering a great client experience throughout the entire sales process. This enlightening conversation covers:
- The differences between CRM and practice management systems
- KPIs and metrics your law firm can use to evaluate the success of your sales process
- How a positive client experience is more important than the legal outcome
What you will learn when you listen to this episode of the profit with law podcast
Some of the many highlights from this discussion are:
- A CRM is designed to engage, nurture, and build relationships with your clients throughout the sales process.
- There needs to be a balance between transactional interactions and relationship-building moments with your clients throughout the customer journey.
- The three phases of the client customer journey: Intake, Active Case, Case Complete. The final phase is often the most overlooked, and yet, it plays a key role in turning clients into repeat customers and bringing in more referral-based business.
- Not all CRMs are built the same. A legal-specific CRM provides more functionality and support for the unique needs of law firms.
- Creating a seamless series of automations and methods of communication is essential to providing a positive customer experience that scales with the growth of your law firm.
- It’s important not to lose your humanity when setting up automated messages. Your clients want to feel like you’re supporting them 24/7 - even when you’re not!
- Don’t forget to measure the impact of your efforts on a regular basis - what are your conversion rates? How much is the cost per lead and cost per client? Your law firm’s data provides a wealth of information that can help you make better-informed decisions for your law firm.
“It's not the result that they remember; it's the experience that they remember.”— Matt Spiegel
There’s so much more you can learn from this conversation. Listen to Moshe and Matt’s full conversation on the Profit with Law podcast below!
What is your role at Lawmatics, and what does your job entail?
I’m an Account Executive/Sales Engineer. I am responsible for understanding the needs of our potential clients and how Lawmatics can help their firm.
How did you end up working for Lawmatics?
I started working with Matt, Sarah, Roey, Fred, Anna, Johnny, and Zsolt at a previous company. When they started working on Lawmatics, I was at another startup here in San Diego. I was in the middle of a fist bump with my boss celebrating my one-year anniversary when Matt sent me a message, “It’s time…..you got a good sales guy for me? ” Like the bat symbol in the sky...I was called.
What’s the best part of your job?
The best part in my role is that it's more than sales. Firms will tell me their process, and I get fulfillment from showing them how we can automate and save them time. This job allows me to think outside the box and find a way to integrate our platform into a law firm's current processes.
What challenges have you faced or opportunities you’ve uncovered working remotely during COVID-19?
I feel like covid does not have a negative impact on my work. Working remotely allowed me to be more focused on tasks and less stressed to the outside noise. It also taught me how adaptable I could be and realigned my priorities.
Where are you originally from, and how did you end up in San Diego?
I’m originally born and raised in Chicago and moved to the Bay Area in 2010 for a change of scenery and to be closer to family. I ended up moving down to San Diego from San Francisco 6 years ago and have loved every second of it.
What do you like to do when you aren’t working?
Until 2 weeks ago, not a lot due to working on my BS in Information Technology. I am happy to say that it is over now, and I plan to focus on some continued learning, specifically strengthening my coding skills.
When I have some free time, I like to spend it with my better half and nerd out with some online gaming (FPS mainly). I also love cooking and use it as a way to unplug and not look at my phone or slack.
What is a fun fact most people may not know about you?
I used to be a DJ and was very passionate about it for nearly two decades. It started when I was 16, and I ended up visiting my older brother in San Francisco. He was playing gigs all over the city and really loved it. One day he played a record called “Around the World” by my favorite group, Daft Punk, and that was pretty much it. When I got back to Chicago, my brother sent me a DJ starter pack, including two turntables, some vinyl records, and a pair of headphones. The rest was history.
What is the one thing you can’t live without, and why?
Pizza…. It’s simple, really. I have had some good times with family and friends, eating a pie and watching a Bears game. Pizza is also the one thing I try in every new city I visit and love how each city/region/country has their own spin on it.
Do you have a favorite saying, quote, or personal mantra, and if so, what is it and why?
I’m a huge sci-fi person and love the original movie Tron from the ’80s and the sequel Tron: Legacy from 2010 that featured Daft Punk as the composer of the musical score. I always viewed Kevin Flynn as a combination of real-life technology personalities in today’s world (e.g., Musk, Gates).
"Together, we're gonna change the world, man." — Kevin Flynn
Can you walk us through your "Aha" moment—the moment when you realized how powerful the Lawmatics platform is for lawyers and law firms?
This was pretty early on in my time with the company. By the time I arrived at Lawmatics, I had experience selling software across multiple industries and have come across a variety of tools. Lawmatics builds on this but in an intuitive way that lends itself well to firms and the legal space as a whole. The platform is easy to navigate and provides the firm flexibility to shape the software to their practice.
Based on your experience, what words of wisdom or advice do you have for legal professionals looking to help their law firms win more business, impress clients, and be more efficient?
Automate...automate...automate. Do this with any repeatable task and look for ways to save time on processes that drown you with admin work. I also recommend viewing intake as a sales process that involves not just acquiring information through intake but having visible tracking and automated follow-up.
What is your role at Lawmatics, and what does your job entail?
I am a Lawmatics software craftsman. I am responsible for taking care of our platform’s infrastructure while simplifying our customers’ lives by helping the engineering team create the powerful features we offer in our platform.
How did you end up working for Lawmatics?
I started working with Matt and Roey a long time ago on other products. I've been working for Lawmatics since the very beginning. I enjoy how we continue to work together to deliver an exceptional experience to our customers.
What’s the best part of your job?
The best part of my job is interacting with all the amazing people we have in our team. It's pretty incredible to feel that everyone here works with passion and acts like a family.
What challenges have you faced or opportunities you’ve uncovered working remotely during COVID-19?
Well, I was already working remotely for Lawmatics before COVID. And I really appreciate that the Lawmatics team communicates really well and stays organized despite the team being entirely remote.
Where are you originally from, and how did you end up in San Diego?
I'm from Goiania, Brazil, and still here in Brazil. But I love to go to San Diego to visit our team. I miss these moments so much with our team. I look forward to when it is safe for us all to come together as one team again.
What do you like to do when you aren’t working?
I'm a person with a lot of hobbies, and I'm learning to fish this year. I take my hobbies very seriously with a learning plan like a business. I'm a Tennis addict and love to play board games.
What is a fun fact most people may not know about you?
I love popular Brazilian country music. It's really fun because as a nerdy engineer, nobody can imagine my music taste.
What is the one thing you can’t live without, and why?
I can't live without "Pamonha.” Pamonha is a very typical Brazilian food that is a paste made of sweet corn that is boiled and wrapped in corn husks.
Do you have a favorite saying, quote, or personal mantra, and if so, what is it and why?
"Love the life you live. Live the life you love." -Bob Marley
I really appreciate all the moments that happen in my life. Bad moments are an opportunity to learn and grow.
Can you walk us through your "Aha" moment—the moment when you realized how powerful the Lawmatics platform is for lawyers and law firms?
I decided to use our platform for hiring new engineers and created a hiring process flow using Automations, Pipelines, and Email templates. At that moment, I realized how adaptable Lawmatics is, and you can automate everything.
Based on your experience, what words of wisdom or advice do you have for legal professionals looking to help their law firms win more business, impress clients, and be more efficient?
A long time ago I got an SMS from my dentist on my birthday. I never forgot about this dentist because of this one small thing. My advice is "be simple" and never forget the most important part of your business: your customers. Simple actions like an SMS on your customers’ birthday will help them keep your business top of mind.
Since an engineer's mind naturally wants to automate everything, I highly recommend focusing on automating your workflow. Our pipelines with Automations can be a very powerful way to organize your day-to-day work, and taking the time to explore Automations can help you be more efficient.