Internal modelling indicates the potential to recover up to £846,000 in billable capacity for a 20-person firm annually, driven by the integration of AI and a unified platform that can return an additional hour of fee-earner capacity per day.

Law firms now face pressures traditional CMS platforms were never designed for: fixed-fee work, tighter margins, rising caseloads, increasing SRA scrutiny and the need for consistent, auditable processes across every team. Legacy systems can no longer support that reality, and firms remaining on them face growing operational and regulatory risk. Add to this the inefficiencies of admin time required to manage cases, compounded by a loss of admin personnel over the years, which leaves firms more pressured than ever.

CaseMatters Evo is purpose-built for these conditions, operating as a ‘legal performance engine’ that improves consistency, reduces risk, and gives leaders greater clarity across the whole practice. This reflects a wider shift in legal technology, with firms now expecting CMS platforms to provide both a proven operational foundation and the intelligence required to manage consistency and oversight.

Informed by more than 30 years of legal expertise, CaseMatters Evo gives firms a modern, cloud-based, intelligence-led platform designed for operational realities they face today, with seamless integration across a wider software ecosystem. Delivered through a browser-based experience, and sitting within Access’s Evo platform, it uses a 3-tier security model to ensure enterprise-grade protection, keeping data private and permissions aligned.

It brings key operational capabilities into a single environment: configurable workflows, automated document generation, centralised communication (including deep integration with Outlook), client and third-party portals, embedded compliance steps and dashboards highlighting progress, bottlenecks and risk. This consolidated approach replaces fragmented systems and inconsistent workflows that erode fee-earning capacity in many firms today. Sitting within the Access Evo platform, firms can access a range of broader services, such as payroll or learning, allowing them to run their entire business from one place.

Crucially, CaseMatters Evo preserves firms’ existing Proclaim customisations while enabling new configuration options, removing one of the biggest barriers to modernisation and ensuring a smoother transition to the new platform.

CaseMatters Evo is also AI-native. Intelligence is embedded directly into everyday workflows (cutting tasks from 15 minutes to under 1), supporting task prioritisation, time capture, instant summarising of documents, risk checks and reporting, rather than being added as a bolt-on tool. This gives firms the benefit of AI within governed, auditable processes and addresses a growing challenge across the sector: AI improves outcomes only when it sits inside the workflow, not outside it.

Internal modelling shows CaseMatters Evo can recover over £42,000 in additional income per fee earner each year by reducing admin and system switching. Early testing also suggests up to an 80% reduction in compliance errors when checks and approvals are embedded into guided workflows, a critical shift for firms facing heightened regulatory pressure. Furthermore, by improving both profitability and risk control, CaseMatters Evo gives firms a more stable, predictable and sustainable operating model.

Andrew Stevens, General Manager, Access Legal, said:

“Traditional CMS platforms were built for a different era. They record activity but do little to help firms deal with rising caseloads, fixed-fee pressure or growing regulatory demands. That gap has become a real operational risk. CaseMatters Evo is our response to that shift: a next-gen, AI-powered performance engine designed to power beyond traditional case management. This means not just moving cases forward but strengthening how the whole practice operates.”

Emma de Sousa, Group Managing Director, Access Legal & Access Recruitment, said:

“Leaders tell us the real challenge now is running a firm that’s predictable, scalable and safe under growing pressure. CaseMatters Evo is built for that reality. It gives firms the clarity and control they need to operate confidently as the market shifts, in one powerful platform, supercharged with AI-native intelligence, unifying multiple systems and removing unnecessary clicks from fee earners’ daily routine.”

CaseMatters Evo is now available to Access Legal customers and the wider market, giving firms a clear path to transition to a modern, intelligence-led platform designed for long-term performance, stability and growth.

For more information about Access Legal, visit: https://www.theaccessgroup.com/en-gb/legal/.