Best Project Management Software for Lawyers in 2024: 5 Legal Project Management Tools
We know that legal matters involve in-depth attention to detail and technicality. Have a look at the best project management software for lawyers to get started.
Written by Beatrice Manuel (Writer)
Reviewed by Aleksander Hougen (Managing Editor)
Facts checked by Jasna Mishevska (Lead Fact-Checking Editor)
Last Updated: 2024-02-19T13:55:34+00:00
All our content is written fully by humans; we do not publish AI writing. Learn more here.
There are many skills a lawyer needs to be successful. With so many things to manage, strong organization is a must. Even the smallest details are important in the legal world, which is why having the best project management software for lawyers can make all the difference. Our expert team tested dozens of tools to bring you our top picks.
Key Takeaways:
- For legal practitioners, staying on top of clients and cases is essential to success. Many law firms, big and small, struggle with managing multiple projects at once.
- Look for secure project management tools with features that help manage tasks and team members, communicate efficiently, track time and stay updated.
- We recommend monday.com, Asana and ClickUp for workflow-heavy operations, especially if you need a focus on time management and overview of all your cases.
When dealing with numerous clients every day, it can be difficult to keep all of the case information straight. To help you out, we’ve lined up some of the best legal project management software options for you to check out. For a broader list of options, check out our choices for the best project management software in general.
Top Project Management Apps for Lawyers
- 1
- 2
- 3$9.80 / month(All Plans)
- 4
- 5$15 / month(All Plans)
What Makes the Best Project Management Software for Law Firms?
In the legal field, it helps to have all the information for different clients and cases at arm’s reach — which is where a top project management tool for law comes in. Here are our top five recommendations for lawyers, including monday.com, ClickUp, Wrike, Asana and Basecamp.
- monday.com — A legal management solution with comprehensive features
- ClickUp — Most generous free plan with access to almost all features
- Wrike — Helps to systematically automate your workflow
- Asana — A hands-on approach to prioritizing and delegating tasks
- Basecamp — A communications-first approach to your legal teams
There are a number of factors to consider when looking for the best project management tool for legal purposes. Law firms often work with a team of lawyers, and one of the most important ingredients for team success is coordination to ensure a smooth workflow.
While you coordinate with your team, you need to balance the workload. An uneven assignment of tasks can result in imbalance and productivity problems. Assigning actionable tasks without overburdening your team members ensures that sufficient project progress is made and helps you stay on track. This is key to overall case management.
Some legal cases can be wrapped up quickly, whereas others take time. You need to be able to track both your time and the status of every case, while getting constant reminders and updates regarding the next steps. A good legal management tool does not only help in managing your database, but also helps you in improving your efficiency.
The 5 Best Legal Project Management Software
Time management is vital in legal work. When looking for the right legal project management software for your needs, you want a tool with a fantastic user interface that helps you maximize efficiency. Here are five of the best project management tools for lawyers.
1. monday.com
More details about monday.com:
- Pricing: Free, $19 per month (one-year plan) per user
- Provider website: monday.com
Pros:
- Convenient to use
- Versatile feature set
- Reasonable mid-range plans
Cons:
- Limited accessibility in the free plan
- Steep difference between paid plans
With monday.com’s easy-to-use UI, project management becomes straightforward and stress-free. It’s packed with features to help you stay updated and keep a close eye on all your cases. A drag-and-drop feature helps you easily arrange your case files and relevant documents.
monday.com helps promote seamless collaboration through clear visibility and improved communication. You can help your team and clients stay in the loop throughout the whole case process. Use monday.com’s tools to seamlessly create tasks, organize, add files, attach messages, manage staff members and report status updates.
Security-wise, the company is SOC-2 Type II certified, and it uses TLS when transferring your data to AWS, a company with great security but with a history of leaky buckets.
Ready-to-Use Legal Templates
monday.com provides a set of premade templates, which you can customize based on your needs and requirements. It saves a lot of your time, and you can easily access all relevant case files with a simple click. With a variety of available views like Kanban boards and timelines, monday.com can help you see the case from another angle.
Small legal teams can choose monday.com’s free plan. However, there are some limitations; you cannot have more than two individuals on an account, and there’s a max limit of 1,000 tasks and 500MB of file storage.
For legal teams, we think the Pro plan is best, as it offers time tracking, private boards and documents, and 25,000 automations and integrations per month. It also comes with 100GB per user, unlimited guests and a one-year activity log. You can always try the 14-day free trial. Check out our monday.com review to learn more.
- Maximum users: 2
- Minimum users: 3
- Minimum users: 3
More plans
- Minimum users: 3
- Enterprise-level features.
2. ClickUp
More details about ClickUp:
- Pricing: Free, $12 per month (one-year plan) per user
- Provider website: clickup.com
Pros:
- Generous free plan
- Pocket-friendly prices
- Unlimited storage on paid plans
Cons:
- UI could be more friendly
- Lag in task movement
- Needs more feature refinement
ClickUp lets you access almost all of its majority features for free. There are over 15 different view options for your data (like Gantt charts, calendars, timelines, etc.) and many customizable features. While you have access to various features, the extent to which you can use them is limited.
You can either choose and customize an existing template from the template center, or create, save and customize your own templates to be more adaptable to your style of work. Using its advanced whiteboard and mind map features, you can document important notes on the case and quickly track the information that needs more legal research and focus.
ClickUp has no known history of breaches and, like monday.com, it also stores your data with AWS, so you can trust that the storage is secure.
Advanced View With Whiteboards
ClickUp’s whiteboard feature provides an easy and quick overview of all your cases and their stages. You can link tasks, establish dependencies between multiple tasks and navigate to other tasks with ease. Create additional columns and subtasks to assign them to your team and get a bird’s eye view on the progress of every case.
ClickUp’s free version comes with full-fledged accessibility to some major features. However, it’s worth noting some limitations. There’s a 100MB file-size limit, a limit of 100 ClickUp automations as well as restrictions to the dashboard and Gantt chart views.
Moreover, if you wish to collaborate and integrate data (such as a timesheet) with external apps (such as Google Drive or OneDrive), or have access to client collaboration, you should consider upgrading.
For legal teams, the Business plan would be best, as it includes advanced time tracking, workload management, timelines and unlimited storage. For more details, take a look at our ClickUp review and ClickUp pricing guide.
- Basic functionality with some limitations
- All prices per user
- All prices per user
3. Wrike
More details about Wrike:
- Pricing: Free, $9.80 per month (one-year plan) per user
- Provider website: wrike.com
Pros:
- Remarkable security
- User friendly
- Structured automation features
Cons:
- Costly paid plans
- Inadequate tutorials
- Limited file storage space
Wrike — one of the best ClickUp alternatives — provides an excellent user-friendly interface that can be easily understood and adapted by anyone. Its advanced project management features help you create a clear outline of all your cases.
You can save time with the project templates and improve efficiency by using its tools for different tasks. You can also navigate through any files, documents and attachments by creating a specific folder for them.
By tracking edits, you can stay up to date on case activity, and compare updates and changes. Wrike also lets you generate detailed reports from various views, such as the Kanban board and Gantt chart, and the software automatically offers suggestions to improve your efficiency.
Wrike is one of the few services to host its own data, and encrypts it using AES-256 both at rest and in transit. This means Wrike offers excellent security.
Improve Efficiency with Cross-Tagging Feature
With Wrike’s cross-tagging feature, you can categorize and manage the workload of your team as well as their relevant case files. By adding agenda items to a shared list, you can receive and discuss team updates. Cross-tagging helps you save time and improve visibility without compromising on the details and clarity of your cases.
Wrike gives you access to some generous features, such as creating and managing tasks and subtasks. However, there is a limit of 2GB of storage, and a cap of 200 tasks that can be actively used. The paid plans can be a little expensive, but you should consider upgrading if you want to unlock features like multiple views and extra cloud storage.
The Business plan would be the best option for lawyers, as it includes advanced reports, guest approvals and time tracking. However, note that this plan includes only 5GB per user, which is minimal compared to ClickUp’s unlimited space on paid plans or monday.com’s 100GB per user on the Pro plan. Learn more about the tool in our Wrike review.
- Unlimited users. Basic features.
- Price is per user. Plans for 5, 10 and 15 users.
- Price is per user. No monthly option. Plans for 5 to 200 users.
- Plans for 5 to an unlimited number of users.
4. Asana
More details about Asana:
- Pricing: Free, $10.99 per month (one-year plan) per user
- Provider website: asana.com
Pros:
- Multiple view options
- Easy to use
- Many features & integrations
Cons:
- Expensive
- Poor customer support
- Big jumps in pricing
Compared to the other entries on this list, Asana’s tools are more focused on deliverables and task management. Legal matters require proper communication, discussion and analysis throughout all stages, and Asana helps provide a complete overview of each activity.
You can assign dependencies to the created tasks and delegate them to your team based on the available resources. This makes it a perfect tool for improving efficiency and balancing your team’s workload.
Asana’s workflow management and shared calendar ensures that you do not miss anything. You get to analyze your cases in detail with the help of hierarchical charts. You can review the case as a whole and even a particular task to get complete statistical information.
Like monday.com and ClickUp, Asana uses AWS. It holds certificates for SOC 2 Type I and II, and that data is encrypted with TLS when in transit. Read our ClickUp vs Asana comparison guide to learn how the two products compare.
Strategic Goal Setting and Progress Tracking
Using Asana’s strategic goal-setting feature, you can ensure that time is not unnecessarily wasted on irrelevant tasks. Clearly defined goals can guide your legal team in the right direction and free you of costly distractions.
With the universal reporting feature, you can track the progress of your cases from the dashboard and prioritize tasks based on available time and resources. You can also use the expense tracking feature to assess your operational costs.
Asana’s free plan provides some good basic features, and lets you collaborate with up to 15 members. You also get unlimited storage in the free plan. However, the file size is capped at 100MB per file.
If you want to unlock advanced features like customizing fields and building workflows with the admin console page, consider upgrading to the Premium or Business plan. For more insight, check out our Asana review.
- Up to 10 users
- Price is per user. unlimited users, expanded features
- Price is per user. unlimited users, even more features
- Custom pricing, advanced security features
5. Basecamp
More details about Basecamp:
- Pricing: Free, $15 per month (one-month plan)
- Provider website: basecamp.com
Pros:
- One-size-fits-all paid plan
- Advanced communication
- Complete projects overview
Cons:
- Limited features
- Complex UI
- Pricey for smaller teams
Lawyers come across rapid new developments in their cases every day. With Basecamp, you can communicate information with your team and assign tasks based on their category. Features include a message board, to-do list, group chat, schedule, automatic check-ins and file sharing.
With Basecamp’s advanced communication tools, you and your team can work remotely when out of town. However, only the basic calendar view is available; other advanced views such as Gantt charts or Kanban boards are not available.
Basecamp uses AWS, but encrypts data in transit and at rest with a reliable cipher. In 2014, extortionists carried out a DDoS attack against Basecamp, and in 2019 attackers staged a mass login attack — both times the company increased its security and also came forward with the news and advised users what to do to protect themselves.
Great Communication Tools
As a legal counsel, your busy schedule can lead to missed meetings and calls. Basecamp’s advanced communication tools can help catch you up. With real-time communication, stay in the loop and ensure that you don’t miss out on any crucial information when you are otherwise engaged.
Basecamp usually provides a free trial for 30 days, where you get storage of up to 1GB with 20 users. However, Basecamp has a special offer where you get 12 months of free access for the first three users. You can extend your document storage capacity up to 500GB and create unlimited case projects. Read more in our Basecamp review.
- Per user. Unlimited projects, Unlimited users, All features. 500GB storage.
- Unlimited users. 5TB storage. Priority support.
Final Thoughts
Running a legal firm or being a lawyer can mean taking on increasingly complex projects. Efficient workflows help you stay on top of your deliverables. Now that you know the most important features of a great legal project management software, finding the right one that suits your requirements will be easier.
If you want to simplify your workflow, improve efficiency by organizing your tasks and case files, and fulfill your firm’s requirements with great ease, we highly recommend choosing monday.com or Asana.
We recommend ClickUp or Wrike if your workflow involves multiple levels of tasks and dependencies. If communication is of utmost importance to you, you can try Basecamp.
Which among the mentioned software on this list did you like the most? Are there any we missed? What elements of legal work do you use these tools for? Let us know in the comments, and thank you for reading.
FAQ
Legal project management software lets you organize your cases and tasks, track time, and provide updates on events.
Although there is a lot of software available for the legal industry to take advantage of, monday.com is our top recommendation. With monday.com, you can manage your time efficiently and stay ahead of your deadlines.