PracticePanther Legal Software

Vorteile

PracticePanther is intuitive and very user friendly. It has a ton of features that expedite minuscule tasks and free up admin time. It syncs with all my favorite resources, like QBO, MailChimp, and Box, making communication with clients a lot easier and keeps routine mailings operational. If you use a lot of form templates, the template builder is a major time saver and cuts down on user error and oversights. I use this program every day in my law office and am very grateful for how easy it is. Even better, the customer support team is phenomenal. I rarely have any issues with the program (it is easy to use), but when I run into something I need help with, a quick message to the PP team is responded to within minutes and the problem is solved or at a minimum I am given an update and expected time of completion. I couldn't recommend this program more to a solo or small legal practice.

Nachteile

Nothing, the team is constantly updating its software and programs that it connects to. They provide online videos to help and I frequently learn of new ways to use the program from regular updates by the team.

Vorteile

Price - either $59/mo or $49/mo if paid the year in full.
Fee to bill clients on-line: $.20 per transaction plus 1.95%
Workflow customizable - Yes, you can customize the workflow on different case-types.
Activity Log - easy access history.
Create Contact on the fly as creating matter - easy to create a Contact during the process of creating a matter.
Intake form for new clients - Yes, can put a link on your website so new clients can fill-out a new client form, and that info will auto fill into the client's PP account.
Time tracking timers - you can have multiple different timers open and running at the same time and assign them.
Mobile App - there is no mobile App, but the site is mobile optimized.
E-file integration - there is No e-file integration.
Color assignments - there are up to 6 colors that you can assign to parties & roles.
Task customizable - Yes, you can customize task flows.
Easy to create and merge documents - Yes, it's very easy to create and merge documents with the program.
PDF-auto convert - No, it cannot auto PDF convert a document.
Create documents that can merged - Yes. This program makes it easy to create documents that can be merged.
Support - Yes, support seems to be free.
Notify client when upload a document - Yes, you can notify a client a document gets uploaded that you want them to review or be aware of.
Email syncing - very good syncing with Gmail and Outlook.
Emails linked to a matter - Yes. Easy to link emails to a matter.
Client Portal - Yes.

Nachteile

The only thing that kept me from staying with PracticePanther, is that MyCase allows you to be able to set future billing to go out to a client(s) and forget it.
PracticePanther has a bit of a 'workaround' if you get the client's Visa/Debit card on file, but many times clients are uneasy giving you their card number.
With Criminal Defense clients that need to make monthly (or future) payments on a retainer amount, MyCase allows you to set-up future dates where a client will be emailed a bill, which they can tap on a button and pay on-line. This is the main thing that made me go with MyCase.
But if not for that, I would have stayed with either PracticePanther or Smokeball. Smokeball had/has the slickest software for being able to send emails from (either) Outlook or Gmail, and a small window at the bottom allows you to connect that email to a matter. Smokeball's software also made/makes it very easy to sync a Word document with a Client/Matter.

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Vorteile

Easy to set up and use, easy to integrate third party apps like Google Drive and Quickbooks.

Nachteile

The workflow automation has a bit of a learning curve if you've never done it before. Highly suggest watching the tutorials.

Vorteile

Clients can pay online.
I honestly can't think of anything else to say.

Nachteile

Where do I start?

The time keeping function is terrible. You cannot edit start and stop times. You cannot start and stop multiple timers in the mobile app. The software auto-saves frequently, and when it does, it moves the cursor in the entry to the end of the text. This is annoying. You cannot start a timer and then add the client-matter without causing the time to round up.

The syncing with G Suite is bad. The software will not sync with all the fields in Google Contacts, and the "custom fields" in PracticePanther do not sync into Google Contacts. This results in a lot of duplicate data entry, which is what I was trying to void with practice management software. The software does not sync will with Google Drive well at all either. Apparently, you can't have any folders in Google Drive with the same name. For example, Client_01\general and Client_02\general would result in an error and none of your Google Drive documents will be visible in PracticePanther.

The software billing feature is terrible. First, you cannot have multiple companies or entities tied to the same individual. Thus, if you have a contact who owns multiple businesses that are clients, you will not be able to list all those businesses under the client's name. To make matters worse, you can only email invoices to individuals who are listed under the company. I had to create multiple dummy contacts called "Accounts Payable" just so that I could email my clients their invoices.

I ran out of space.

Vorteile

Software and client management, as well as ease of obtaining payment via invoices.

Nachteile

Panther payments- seems to be a bit of a scam. They keep fees on money you immediately refund to clients.

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