CARET Legal is a cloud-based, integrated practice management platform for legal officers and individual law practitioners. It’s designed to handle the different business aspects of their practice while giving them a 360-degree view of their operations. This allows lawyers, law firms, and their staff to get things done without having to set up third-party integrations.
The system provides legal practitioners and their clients a place to securely store and access critical information. It offers an easy and quick way of capturing vital details such as personal details, contact info, meetings, etc. There’s a dashboard where both your staff and your clients are given restricted access to information to ensure that everyone is on the same page without compromising security. The calendar management tool tracks your schedules and the advanced note features help keep everything organized. There are built-in billing and accounting systems too that’s specifically designed for this field.
CARET Legal has core functionalities that are built-in the system, hence, it doesn’t have to rely on clunky integrations. It also has a true built-in email and complete legal and trust accounting. Meanwhile, the built-in CRM streamlines the pre-retention lifecycle management and intake processes.
While a robust solution by itself, CARET Legal does not slack with its integration capabilities either. To extend its functionalities and improve workflow, CARET Legal supports integration with email apps, document management software, and other business systems. This includes Gmail, IMAP, OneDrive and Google Drive to name a few. It also provides a 2-way calendar sync with Google Calendar and Office 365.
The platform offers dedicated mobile applications that lawyers and their staff can use to take their practice on the road. These apps are designed to fully leverage features that are unique yet becoming increasingly popular and functional to mobile devices. This includes fingerprint scanning and recognition for added security measures and business card scanning to quickly capture and store personal information to your firm’s address book. These apps are available for both Android and iOS devices.
CARET Legal comes in three main packages: Enterprise, Enterprise Plus, and Enterprise Insights. There are additional services, such as onboarding, training, and automation, which could be purchased separately regardless of the package you’re subscribed to.
Show MoreCARET Legal comes with an array of features that allows legal offices to perform various functions smoothly and ditch unwieldy workarounds. These include:
Built-in Core Functionalities
CARET Legal delivers a robust and reliable legal practice management suite that addresses the daily needs of legal firms, lawyers, and their staff for managing all aspects related to the business side of their practice. That includes having all the sensitive and crucial information of their clients and cases stored in a secure and accessible location. The platform can also easily capture and store contact information and other personal data, scheduling meetings, courtroom appearances. In addition, it can also track working hours and bill for time easily.
With all of the software’s core functionality native to the platform, it doesn’t rely on clunky integrations for managing day-to-day processes. Users only have to manage and log in to one easy-to-use dashboard for scheduling meetings, creating invoices, sharing files to clients, and distributing emails. By harnessing the power of all these components in one platform plus having to use only one set of login credentials with one monthly bill, you are ensured of maximum efficiency and profitability.
Complete Business and Trust Accounting
CARET Legal is the only cloud-based legal practice management application with true, built-in email, complete legal accounting, and robust billing and trust accounting. This saves you from using an external accounting solution that isn’t configured exactly for the legal field. Moreover, the system covers a wide range of scenarios that you might expect to run into within the duration of your business by offering over 11 ways of creating time entries and producing professional-looking invoices including LEDES invoicing and UTBMS codes. You can also download the account activities from all the major financial institutions as well as generate payable checks, trust checks, process payments, and more.
Matter Management
CARET Legal offers exceptional matter management capability. All your critical information is stored in a unified dashboard that you, your staff, and your clients can access. This makes it easy for you and other parties to be on the same page. The amount of information they can access can be configured and limited to ensure the security of sensitive data stored in the system. Any communication that occurred within is also tracked automatically for better audit and accountability.
Unlimited Cloud Storage
On higher pricing tiers, document storage is unlimited as everything is stored in the cloud. There is also no limit as to the number of versions you can create per document, providing you and your staff with the consummate collaborative experience. The file size limit for each document (5GB, 10GB, and 25GB) is also generous enough that it wouldn’t cause an issue in most cases. CARET Legal integrates smoothly with your email applications and stores all communications and attaches them to the relevant case files.
Utility Tools
With premium note features that are based on your matters, you remain in control of your practice and keep everything organized. The calendar management tool helps you keep track of your schedules and meetings. You can be sure that you are always in the right place at the right time. CARET Legal offers a comprehensive billing and accounting system that is designed specifically to meet the needs and requirements of legal offices.
Smart Email Management
CARET Legal makes email management a cinch through a plethora of useful features such as its Smart Suggest system which automatically shows you the contacts that are related to your current case. Conversely, it would also identify and display the associated emails using the matter-related contacts for your cases. Other useful email management features include automatic filing of emails, easy conversion of emails to tasks, automatic time entry, and many more.
Built-in CRM
CARET Legal’s built-in CRM allows users to manage the pre-retention lifecycle and streamlines the intake process. Once a lead is converted to a Matter with the click of a button, all of the communications, documents, tasks, events, and data are seamlessly moved into a new matter, eliminating double data entry which is all too prevalent when firms rely on disparate CRMs and practice management solutions.
Robust Integration Support
While CARET Legal ensures that you don’t rely on clunky integration to run your business, it won’t also stop you from getting the edge you need from third-party solutions. The system can seamlessly integrate with a wide range of business systems such as email management, document management, cloud storage, and calendar tools. For instance, even if CARET Legal features a powerful built-in accounting tool, you can also use QuickBooks Online Integration for handling the accounting aspects of your business. The platform’s email management system also connects seamlessly with popular apps like Gmail, Outlook, MS Office 365, and Microsoft Exchange.
Seamless Migration from Other Systems
If you’re a user of other similar software such as AbacusLaw, Clio, and ProLaw, then switching to CARET Legal is affordable and efficient. Whether it’s a legacy application or a cloud-based solution, CARET Legal’s dedicated team of experts will make the entire process hassle-free. Essential data from your previous system like contacts, calendar, tasks, matters, unbilled expenses, documents, trust balances, and more will be accurately migrated to CARET Legal.
Legal Workflows
CARET Legal Workflows allows you and your team to automate the addition of tasks and calendar appointments for different case types and monitor their progress. It ensures smooth operation and clear visibility into all case management processes. By automating workflows, your team can better collaborate and stay aligned on case challenges and progress.
This not only boosts staff engagement and connection to meaningful work but also ensures continuity with a centralized information source. CARET Legal Workflows is customizable for any practice area, serving as a go-to playbook for managing complex tasks, discussions, and decisions efficiently.
Show MoreProblem #1: Over-reliance on external integrations decrease efficiency and productivity
Other cloud-based practice management solutions rely on external integrations to provide basic case management features. With a dependence on integrations, interoperability across all features is limited, data can be lost and firms are forced to pay for additional monthly subscriptions.
Solution: Every feature within CARET Legal is built into the platform, including email, billing/accounting, calendar, documents, notes, tasks, timekeeping, contacts, and CARET Legal’s secure client portal. CARET Legal connects your firm’s front office and back office within one user-friendly interface at one monthly cost.
Problem #2: Clunky workarounds for email management
Email is now the most common form of client and internal communication at law firms. Most practice management solutions do not offer native email, forcing users to BCC a matter-related email address (for example: 30229sij7+matter245982@maildrop.platform.com) to associate it with a specific matter. This extra step is tedious and easy to forget. Attorneys and support staff must also remember to create time entries for “email work.” Amidst a busy day, email time entries are often an afterthought and a great deal of work can go unbilled.
Everyone has made the mistake of emailing the wrong contact with a similar name. But when it comes to client confidentiality, emailing the wrong “Steve” can be detrimental. Most practice management applications don’t suggest matter-related contacts when drafting emails, causing misaddressing of sensitive information.
Solution: CARET Legal’s built-in email manages case-related messages through your existing email account. When drafting an email, CARET Legal’s Smart Suggest™ system locates matter-related contacts to prevent misaddressing confidential messages. Emails that are associated with a matter will be automatically saved in the matter’s Communications tab and available to all team members with permission to that matter. A timer also starts running when a message is associated with a matter, so you never forget to bill for all of the time you spend on email.
Problem #3: Outdated on-premise solutions lack essential functionality for modern firms
Many law firms have yet to break free from outdated on-premise practice management solutions. These platforms require ongoing hardware upgrades as well as physical office space for the in-house server. Not only can the servers be costly to maintain, but their static location makes them susceptible to data loss or damage. Furthermore, remote access to matter documents and data is often limited, if available at all.
Solution: CARET Legal is a cloud-based solution that can be accessed at any time of the day, in any location, on any device. Using CARET Legal’s iOS and Android mobile apps, your firm can take your practice on the go and stay connected to every aspect of a case. The CARET Legal team continuously scans for potential vulnerabilities in their applications, systems, and networks and fixes them upon notice to prevent cybersecurity threats.
CARET Legal is deployed on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform. Data and documents are protected and replicated across Availability Zones (located in different geographic locations within the US) for backup on a daily basis. This means that if some servers go down, the other connecting servers will auto-rollover and your access to your data will be uninterrupted.
Keeping in mind companies have their own business demands, it is only rational they abstain from going for a one-size-fits-all, ideal software product. Regardless, it is nearly futile to stumble on such a software product even among well-known software systems. The correct thing to undertake is to set down the numerous significant functions which demand research like major features, pricing, technical skill levels of the users, organizational size, etc. Then, you should do the research through and through. Browse through these CARET Legal evaluations and explore the other software solutions in your shortlist in detail. Such detailed product investigation makes sure you circumvent mismatched software solutions and subscribe to the system that has all the features your company requires.
Position of CARET Legal in our main categories:
CARET Legal is one of the top 3 Law Practice Management Software products
It's important to note that hardly any app in the Law Practice Management Software category is going to be an ideal solution able to meet all the goals of different business types, sizes and industries. It may be a good idea to read a few CARET Legal Law Practice Management Software reviews first as specific services may dominate exclusively in a very small group of applications or be designed with a really specific type of industry in mind. Others might function with an intention of being easy and intuitive and consequently lack complex features desired by more experienced users. You can also come across apps that focus on a broad group of users and provide a rich feature set, however that usually comes at a higher price of such a software. Be certain that you're aware of your requirements so that you choose a service that has exactly the functionalities you search for.
CARET Legal Pricing Plans:
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CARET Legal Pricing Plans:
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CARET Legal offers quote-based enterprise pricing options and a free trial for all plans. Contact the vendor for a custom pricing quote at 800-726-3339.
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We know that when you choose to purchase a Law Practice Management Software it’s vital not only to find out how experts evaluate it in their reviews, but also to check if the real people and enterprises that purchased this software are genuinely happy with the product. Because of that need we’ve designer our behavior-based Customer Satisfaction Algorithm™ that aggregates customer reviews, comments and CARET Legal reviews across a broad array of social media sites. The data is then featured in a simple to digest format revealing how many customers had positive and negative experience with CARET Legal. With that information at hand you should be ready to make an informed purchasing choice that you won’t regret.
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CARET Legal integrates with the following business systems and applications:
CARET Legal average rating:
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ADD A REVIEWThe most favorable review
PROS: The primary purpose of having this tool in our office is to help us automate specific tasks that we use to do manually. Having a law firm means that you handle multiple clients at the same time. The tasks can be overwhelming that could cause you to miss appointments and meetings. With the help of Zola, you can work more effectively with a well-organized schedule and well-kept documents.
CONS: I was surprised that the program is packed with features that I can utilize for my practice. It means that I have to dedicate a lot of time in terms of learning everything from scratch. What I'm trying to learn nowadays is how to bill clients and process payments within the system.
The least favorable review
PROS: There are so many reasons why we decided to shift to Zola suite for good. We can maximize the app and custom fit it to meet our needs in the office. I love to integrate our old apps and email servers into Zola to make communication easier on our end. Rather than keeping a directory of clients, we decided to upload their records into the CRM feature to pull it up anytime we need to reach them. Zola Suite is also beneficial for case management because you can file, view, edit and print your documents using one single platform.
CONS: There are a lot of things that I love and appreciate about Zola. The integration process has always been smooth and easy for everyone. However, in terms of the 3rd party apps' speed and performance, I think it is something that they need to improve over time. I like that we can send fast SMS messages using the app, which is easier for us to store all the contact numbers on our phones. Overall the app is above average in terms of performance but still below average in terms of speed.
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A highly recommended product for law firms of all sizes.
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PROS: I love the fact that Zolo can produce timestamps to keep track of my tasks accordingly. Whether I have to attend a meeting, leave notations, or do callbacks, I can keep track of the start and end times, which is important for documentation purposes. Aside from time stamps, Zola has helped us track down all our billable hours. All the things that it does for our practice are worth every penny that we are spending.
CONS: I am having constant challenges in syncing the calendar option to my work email. But I called for assistance and it was resolved after a few moments. All I need to do is make some adjustments to learn to appreciate the full functionality of Zola.
It’s very convenient to use because it’s easier to find the things you need with only a few clicks.
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PROS: Zola is surprisingly a competitive product because it allows us to take advantage of all the existing features like creating a database for all our contacts, synchronizing all emails, and scheduling appointments. It is also easy for us to perform several accounting tasks without leaving the said platform.
CONS: I want to keep hoping that there would be no downtime. We lose a lot of productive hours, for we are highly dependent on Zola.
Zola gave us more than what we expected.
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PROS: We spent years looking for an app that would help us manage our records and track our expenditures. The good thing is that we found out about Zola through some of our co-lawyers who have been using this tool for some time already. It's capable of doing so many things like simple accounting, managing your contacts, updating schedule calendars, and optimizing emails. All of these tasks would require us to spend hours in front of the computer each day, but we are lucky because Zola can do these things on our behalf.
CONS: I don't advise using Zola when sending and browsing emails from clients and colleagues because you'll end up feeling frustrated. There are speed issues that we frequently encounter at the same time, missing folders, which I find alarming. Although the problem resolves on its own after a day or two, I still believe that this should not happen at all.
I love that Zola continues to strive to become a better product.
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PROS: Discovering how Zola works has been a big blessing not just for me but also for the entire practice. We have created an effective system to keep tasks organized in all aspects. From billing, collections, accounting Zola can definitely do it. I like that Zola continuously evolves to keep clients happy.
CONS: Everything is all and well with Zola. We will keep using it.
Promotes efficiency within the entire practice.
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PROS: It's a good thing that we're able to merge our calendars with Zola. So we could easily keep track of our daily appointments in court. Also, we are assured that all paperwork is being tracked and kept accordingly.
CONS: I hope that they could redesign the dashboard's overall look to make things easier for my staff and me. Since we handle so many cases, there are times that we fail to prioritize. What I'd like to happen is to get a full view of all outstanding cases on one page so I can determine what needs to be done as soon as I start my day.
Great tool for firms that are just starting in the business.
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PROS: The app is known for possessing a smart user interface that makes it a popular choice among lawyers starting their practice. It is essential to find a platform that we can rely on to help us handle our daily tasks and distribute workload efficiently to all staff members. What's good about Zola suites is that integration with 3rd party apps is never a significant issue, and you can always get the support you need from the company.
CONS: Zola should invest more effort into allowing users like us to customize its features for a more personal touch. Renaming some of the tabs according to our daily and weekly needs would be a great way to use the product to our advantage.
Zola has been a significant part of my law practice ever since.
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PROS: I love that is app can perform some accounting work for the entire firm. We don't have to spend hours crunching on complex numbers. It helps me with the audits, balance and expense reports, and even invoicing. I am not an accounting expert, so Zola helps a lot.
CONS: I don't use Zola to view and send emails because the system kind of gets slow. Plus, it doesn't highlight the latest features that they promised. I would instead use the traditional email program that I am used to for a more favorable experience.
Innovation is definitely a must for Zola Suite
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PROS: We have been with this platform for a long time already, and we genuinely value its purpose and contribution to our company. Since the beginning, we have been striving hard as a team to transition into a paperless workplace, and we were able to achieve it all because of Zola. Also, since this tool is cloud-based and can store large amounts of documents, we no longer have to spend thousands each year to purchase and maintain servers. With the search feature's help, we can quickly locate all kinds of documents in less than a minute, so it hassle-free on our end and for our clients.
CONS: We will always choose to work with Zola because of the ease of accessing and storing important case documents by only utilizing a single platform. I love the fact that we can easily share documents with authorized users and viewers that would allow us to work more efficiently at all times. Now we can get rid of obsolete apps to save more money. So for me, there's nothing to dislike about Zola at all.
Zola is definitely getting a lot better as time goes by.
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PROS: This tool is really striving hard to meet and exceed client expectations by continually developing its features for better use. Running a practice takes so much effort, but Zola is always there to provide us with the necessary tools to succeed.
CONS: Although Zola has been present in the industry for quite some time already, I have noticed that the developers could not address the usual issues in terms of latency. I understand that all software have their own unique issues, but if Zola must step up their game, they want to retain their long time clients.
Very helpful in keeping all our schedules updated, making sure that we do not miss anything important.
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PROS: It is essential to take your time to study the product's ins and outs, which can be very useful for your daily workload in the office. I like that you could easily gather all the essential information with the search button's help, which is a neat feature that Zola can offer. There is no doubt about the app's visibility, which can be accessed using any gadget for your convenience.
CONS: Not much to dislike because I can easily make changes to the programs and features if needed. If I need extra help with any issues, a CSR is always willing to answer my questions on the other end. The resolution rate has always been high and successful; that is why I really like Zola a lot.
Easy to understand, comes with a good support team on the back end.
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PROS: The primary purpose of having this tool in our office is to help us automate specific tasks that we use to do manually. Having a law firm means that you handle multiple clients at the same time. The tasks can be overwhelming that could cause you to miss appointments and meetings. With the help of Zola, you can work more effectively with a well-organized schedule and well-kept documents.
CONS: I was surprised that the program is packed with features that I can utilize for my practice. It means that I have to dedicate a lot of time in terms of learning everything from scratch. What I'm trying to learn nowadays is how to bill clients and process payments within the system.
Zola is suitable for law practice.
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PROS: There are so many things that I like about Zola as a platform. I know that we made the right choice of acquiring Zola because it helps a lot in terms of billing and accounting tasks. The amount of information you can store via the cloud is so massive that I always use it for case management purposes. If I need to share a document or reassign a specific task to a colleague, I can do it in minutes.
CONS: There is nothing really to dislike about Zola. I use it as much as I can to collaborate with other people to expedite our tasks and meet deadlines with the client and the court. Also, I don't have to worry about micromanaging other people because Zola gives me access to monitor the status of each task that is being assigned.
Highly recommended for newbies in the industry.
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PROS: When I started building my practice, I admit that I had a hard time putting things together and keeping all my cases organized the way it should be. I had the opportunity to use other platforms for case management, but most of them were too slow or latent at some point. Since I have to work within a schedule, I have no choice but to look for better alternatives. With Zola, I was able to find the accounting and CRM features that I badly needed to help me run my practice the way that I envision it to be. I don't have to worry about spending and maintaining multiple applications because it is powered with more than enough features to get all my tasks done within my schedule.
CONS: One of the opportunities that Zola Suite should look into is its ability to organize all receipts and invoices according to dates and other subcategories. Since Zola does not have that particular feature, I am being forced to use another paid app to help us handle our monthly expenses and do financial audits on behalf of our company. Also, it needs to develop a better system that would help me determine how we have settled with our defendants. Often it takes so much work to check all the past paperwork instead of having all the documents readily available within the system.
It caters to all the things necessary for my business to run smoothly.
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PROS: Zola is well known for its versatility, which is perfect for people like me, who are always on the go. Whenever I need to check on documents or take a good look at my schedule for the day, I can log in to Zola using my tablet. There are instances that I share my access to my colleagues so we could accomplish some of the documents at a faster rate.
CONS: There are instances where Zola really works very slow, especially during peak hours. It cannot be enjoyable because there are certain days where our schedule is so tight, and we need to work overtime to get things done. Another concern is that it's challenging to conduct a check and balance on the payments that we are getting from our clients. We would still have to rely on our old system to do this for us.
It’s an impressive cloud-based platform meant for lawyers.
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PROS: There are so many reasons why we decided to shift to Zola suite for good. We can maximize the app and custom fit it to meet our needs in the office. I love to integrate our old apps and email servers into Zola to make communication easier on our end. Rather than keeping a directory of clients, we decided to upload their records into the CRM feature to pull it up anytime we need to reach them. Zola Suite is also beneficial for case management because you can file, view, edit and print your documents using one single platform.
CONS: There are a lot of things that I love and appreciate about Zola. The integration process has always been smooth and easy for everyone. However, in terms of the 3rd party apps' speed and performance, I think it is something that they need to improve over time. I like that we can send fast SMS messages using the app, which is easier for us to store all the contact numbers on our phones. Overall the app is above average in terms of performance but still below average in terms of speed.
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A highly recommended product for law firms of all sizes.
Read full review >Overall impression
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It’s very convenient to use because it’s easier to find the things you need with only a few clicks.
Read full review >Overall impression
Customer Support
Value for Money
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Zola gave us more than what we expected.
Read full review >Overall impression
Customer Support
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I love that Zola continues to strive to become a better product.
Read full review >Overall impression
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Promotes efficiency within the entire practice.
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