How much does law firm software cost?

For law firms in the UK and Ireland talking to us at Access Legal about new software, we are finding the majority are going for one of the cloud options described above. However, there are still some that prefer traditional on-premise hosting that they can manage themselves on their own inhouse servers.

Cloud-based law firm software pricing:

• Tends to be subscription based, i.e. a monthly fee per user.
• For your fee, cloud-based software is usually maintained and updated regularly by your software supplier.
• Can typically be activated from any device with internet access that can support the software.
• This kind of arrangement is often described as the newer, modern way to buy/sell software.

On-premise law firm software pricing:

• Tends to be licence based
• The software is loaded onto local hardware at the law firms premises and maintained by law firm’s own staff.
• An on-premise software licence tends to be limited to the device it was originally intended for and physically installed to that device only.
• This kind of arrangement is often described as the old fashioned way of buying and selling software.

What kind of SaaS pricing is likely to be available for law firm software today?

With SaaS pricing law firms may find the following models in the legal IT market place today:

Flat rate pricing: this is similar to buying licenses, you buy it once and the software is yours, but with the added advantage that the supplier breaks it down into monthly billing for you over a period of time.

Volume pricing: the more licenses you have the lower the price per license is for all users. However, the pricing is sometimes tiered. With tiered volume pricing law firms would receive a discount for exceeding a certain number of licenses, but the discounts are applied across the tiers not across the whole purchase.

For example:

Tier 1: 1-50 licenses could be priced at £130 per user
Tier 2: 51-100 licenses could be say £99 per user
Tier 3: 101+ licenses could be £75 per user
This would mean if a law firm wanted 101 licenses they would pay (50 x £130) + (49 x £99) + (1 x £75) = a total £11,426 per annum.

What can a law firm expect to pay for legal case and practice management software?

The per user pricing model described above is most often used for legal case and practice management software. This kind of pricing can range from anywhere between £60 per user per month up to £175 plus per user per month. The price per user will vary based on the law firm’s requirements in terms of the range of multiple workflows the Practice needs, other value-add modules such as client portals, costs management and anti-money laundering modules etc. Also the number of integrations a law firm needs will affect the price per user per month too.

What else should a law firm expect to pay for with a new software implementation?

Data Migration: Data migration is a key aspect of switching to a new software system for any legal practice. Law firm data is of great value, and starting a brand new system when all your data has been migrated across is a must-have for many law firms. There are degrees of data conversion on offer though. An increasing number of firms find taking legal accounts headers and balances across to their new system sufficient, and less costly. If you are planning a software switch for your legal business, Access Legal’s team of experts are highly experienced in providing guidance to law firms on how to approach your data migration and make it as pain free as possible. The data migration cost will depend on the size of the practice and level of data required.

Training: Training varies widely in the legal IT sector. A good software supplier will give you options. Some law firms may require end user training for all. Others may need train-the-trainer sessions so that they can roll the new software training out in a controlled manner across the firm. Whilst some will be happy with a combination of both and perhaps some training videos for people to watch in bite-sized chunks. Some suppliers mix law firm users in their training sessions, which is not an adequate approach for all law firms. Legal case and practice management training costs will naturally vary depending on the depth of training required, number of participants and format. 

At Access, we believe that the functionality of our legal software is important but equally as important is how the system is rolled out to ensure our customers realise the full value of their investment.

To ensure a smooth implementation Access Legal therefore offers FlightPath services for law firms which follow a well-defined journey with key milestones, to ensure you achieve value from your investment as soon and as fully as possible. Our FlightPath services have been designed to be remote-first, so wherever your employees are they can still be onboarded by our FlightPath consultants who are all fully trained and certified in our best practice implementation methodology. Access Flightpaths include everything from initial calls, environment installation and system set-up, to document alignment and user training.

For more information about Access Legal Flightpaths and how they work please request a call from a specialist legal software consultant.

Software Support:

A key part of your new software purchase is your support contract for the provision of support services for your users. Often contracts are based and paid annually or are incident-based arrangements on a pay-as-you-go basis. A software support contract typically includes assistants from legal software experts that will help you with troubleshooting, provide technical assistance and advice as well as help with usability. This kind of service for law firms tends to be delivered remotely, either via the telephone or via online communication with screen-share capabilities, and there is often a range of online, self-help, look-up facilities for software customers. Access Legal for example offers all customers with unlimited anytime anywhere access to a Customer Success Portal which provides the answers to all your questions through knowledge articles, product events or you can even ask the customer community.

Some providers will include support in your contract and other vendors may charge an additional fee depending on the level of support you require. Either way it is worth carefully considering the level that is right for your firm. 

The Access Legal is here not just to support you when you need help but are with you at every stage of your journey with two plans for success to choose from. Our Standard Success Plan includes telephone support, live chat, unlimited knowledge articles and regular product webinars to help you get the most from your software as well as access to a team of Customer Success Managers, who are experienced in the legal market. Our Premier Plan provides an additional level of service allowing unlimited users to access product e-learning as well as a designated named Customer Success Manager to work closely with you.

Service Packages:

Some software providers will bundle a range of services together for you for an up-front fee to make the buying of services more cost-effective and flexible for the law firm. Access Legal offer a scheme called FlexPoints whereby the law firm purchases a number of points to redeem over a 3-year period. The kind of services covered by Access FlexPoints are: software customization services, training, integration, analytics and reporting. Your Access FlexPoints account is accessible via Access Legal’s Customer Success Portal where you can book services, check your points balance and buy more as and when needed. 

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