--- title: "AbacusLaw Reviews, Pros and Cons - 2026 Software Advice" description: "Reviews of AbacusLaw. Learn how real users rate this software's ease-of-use, functionality, overall quality and customer support. Talk to our advisors to see if AbacusLaw is a good fit for you!" source_url: "https://www.softwareadvice.com/legal/abacuslaw-profile/reviews/" page_type: "reviews" language: "en" --- 1 million+ businesses helped. Get advice Get Free Advice [Home](https://www.softwareadvice.com/) / [Law Practice Management Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com/legal/law-practice-management-comparison/) / [AbacusLaw](https://www.softwareadvice.com/legal/abacuslaw-profile/) / AbacusLaw Reviews Software Advice offers objective insights based on verified user reviews and independent product and market research. When our advisors match you to a software provider, we may earn a referral fee. [Overview](https://www.softwareadvice.com/legal/abacuslaw-profile/) Reviews [Alternatives](https://www.softwareadvice.com/legal/abacuslaw-profile/alternatives/) # AbacusLaw User Reviews ## Reviews summary - Overall rating: 3.9/5 - Total reviews: 371 ### Secondary ratings - Ease of use: 3.7/5 - Customer support: 3.9/5 - Value for money: 3.6/5 - Functionality: 3.8/5 ### Rating distribution - 5 stars: 160 reviews (43%) - 4 stars: 109 reviews (29%) - 3 stars: 40 reviews (11%) - 2 stars: 12 reviews (3%) - 1 star: 50 reviews (13%) ### Most mentioned pros - I loved that we can customize templates and that we could set up the files as we liked. - Abacus worked fairly well initially as a server based small number of user platform. - We specifically love the reminders feature, being able to create our own queries in reports, and being able to customize our case and intake screens. ### Most mentioned cons - I’m not sure if it’s improved but the customer service was an issue for us. - The customer service, lack of transparency. - Treatment and service was the worst I have ever encountered. ## AbacusLaw customer reviews Showing reviews 1-25 of 371 (page 1). ### Don’t do it! - Overall rating: 1/5 - Reviewer: Pejman M. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Legal Services - Company size: Self-Employed - Product usage: Used daily for less than 6 months - Reviewed: March 2019 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered Abacus was rude, unprofessional and essentially waste of time and money. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 1/5 - Value for money: 1/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 1/5 #### Pros Salesmen sale you the idea and software and make promises that never gets delivered. #### Cons It does not work properly, ever. Why spend money on these guys who cannot even help you properly and read off the script. --- ### This Saved My Business - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Assly S. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Law Practice - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: May 2020 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 4/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros As a small law firm you would think that software and a private cloud are luxuries reserved only for "big" firms but you are wrong. To be efficient, organized, avoid malpractice, and spend more time billing and less time on admin, a small firm needs legal software like AbacusLaw. When I wanted to add staff, the Abacus Private Cloud let all of my team utilize the AbacusLaw software with ease, from home and from other states where I am also licensed. And when COVID-19 hit, it was the AbacusLaw software and the Abacus Private Cloud that let us continue work uninterrupted, serving clients and not having to lay off a single person. #### Cons I wish there was a way to keep two separate books of business in AbacusLaw's accounting software since many small law firms are not "traditional" firms but several separate solo practitioners working together but with different accounting. The only "bad" part about having such a versatile and essential piece of software is on the occasion where it isn't working life seems to end. It has become indispensable. If that is a "con" that would be the biggest one! #### Reasons for choosing AbacusLaw I have worked with all four of those before when working with other attorneys. None were as versatile as AbacusLaw. Some had serious bugs in trust accounting. Others had horrible customer service and some had interfaces that were not user friendly. Then there was the price on some of the better ones. Finally none of them had the other software, security, and support I needed to grow my business. #### Reasons for switching to AbacusLaw Credenza reached end of life and was bought by AbacusLaw's parent company. I had to switch and I was worried but the switch was worth it and all my data migrated over. --- ### Excellent! - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Lori T. - Industry: Law Practice - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: October 2018 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered Great experience with Abacus, keeps our calendar flowing efficiently and easily! #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Abacus is extremely user friendly and easy to navigate! Customer service is friendly and efficient! #### Cons My overall experience has been positive, so I dont have anything negative to say about Abacus. --- ### All the Bells and Whistles - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Marie M. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Law Practice - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: March 2020 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. I have been an AbacusLaw users since I opened my own firm in 2006. I have used the software and switched to APC. I went briefly with a competitor for four months because of the cost difference and learned quickly: you get what you pay for. I promptly switched back to Abacus and determined that the APC was worth it. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros The ease of use, the triple reconciliation feature, and the linking items to client matters. #### Cons I wish the calendar syncing feature with Google calendar/Outlook was easier and not manually required. I also wish the price point was lower for small firms. It's just me and a paralegal. #### Reasons for choosing AbacusLaw See above. #### Reasons for switching to AbacusLaw I switched from Abacuslaw Gold to Clio to have the remote work feature. I switched to APC from Clio after four months because I missed the easier Triple Reconciliation, the calendaring and billing feature, and the document storage features that were either not available in Clio or not as developed and easy to use as they were in Abacus. --- ### Easy to use program - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Lela W. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Law Practice - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used weekly for less than 6 months - Reviewed: June 2025 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. I didn't get to use Abacus for very long, but the timeframe I did use it, it was very good program to work with. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros I didn't get to use Abacus for very long, but what I saw of the program, it seemed very easy to use and self explanatory. #### Cons I didn't see anything that I disliked about Abacus Law program, so I don't have any complaints about the program. #### Vendor response Hi Lela, thank you so much for sharing your experience working with AbacusLaw. We really appreciate it! Replied June 2025 --- ### Mixed Bag - Overall rating: 3/5 - Reviewer: Grayson C. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Law Practice - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: May 2020 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. It's a mixed bag. It could be great software if the people who developed it had real experience using it in a practical environment. And if they spent more time testing stuff to make sure it worked. And if their tech support people were more helpful and less evasive. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 2/5 - Value for money: 2/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 1/5 #### Pros Part of what attracted us to this software was that it advertised that it allowed us to integrate WordPerfect forms that we already had into the document preparation feature. We also like the group calendar that allows us to color-code each attorney making it easy to determine who is where. They also did a fairly decent job of integrating old data from a previous practice management software to allow more thorough conflict checking. The interface for most things is reasonably intuitive. It has features that can make it a good all-around practice management program if you use all of them. #### Cons Technical support is sad. So many of the people we get have no idea what the problems are or why the program is doing something it should not be. Correcting an error often becomes a lengthy boondoggle that takes ridiculous amounts of time. Features that they promise are part of the software are often not fully or properly functional, or the support staff seems to have no idea how they actually work. When trying to work with WordPerfect integration, for example, they did not seem to have any tech support personnel who actually knew how to use the program or how it was supposed to integrate and could not answer questions about it, so we were on our own. It does integrate, for the most part, but some things we try to ask about they just don't know an answer for . They promised us integration with LawPay and then backed out instead pushing a program they had developed to take payments. After seeing how they have been with other features, I don't want them to experiment on me and my clients with some "new" software they have halfway developed. We sometimes found that we knew more about the program than some of the tech support folks we were on calls with, and quite frequently we never receive explanations for why something was not working right, even though we WANT to know so we can avoid the issue in the future. I suspect sometimes it's a bug on their end that they do not want to confess to. It also does not double-check deletions and changes-leading to lost data. #### Reasons for choosing AbacusLaw Basically, the group calendar and WordPerfect integration - ProLaw was moving away from WordPerfect support and we already had a substantial number of documents and preferred this software. #### Reasons for switching to AbacusLaw Moving to a new firm that already had Abacus and wanted to integrate --- ### Stay away from anything having to do with Abacuslaw or Abacus Private Cloud - Overall rating: 1/5 - Reviewer: Joseph T. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Law Practice - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: December 2019 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. AbacusLaw and Abacus Private Cloud, which is AbacusLaw on a shared cloud, break down all the time. It was as though the company let monkeys into their server room at night because, while an issue may be fixed one day, it or another, or multiple other issues would pop up the next morning. I can't tell you how many times abacus simply went down right when I needed it most - in the middle of a murder trial for instance! The entire system would crash for days. Yes, the support staff was great but their management and the product itself may as well be the result of demons hellbent on destroying anything productive that you mean to do in your business. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 1/5 - Value for money: 1/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 1/5 #### Pros I needed a solution so I could link emails to certain case files. Also, the fact that all attorneys could access any other person's notes on a case was attractive. #### Cons The software looks and feels like it is straight out of 2002, if not right after Microsoft went WYSIWYG. It's about as clunky as software was in the early 00's as well although it probably isn't as efficient as software was back then. #### Reasons for choosing AbacusLaw AbacusLaw is closely related to Abacus Private Cloud. I could have just used AbacusLaw on the individual nodes at work but the sales rep oversold me on Abacus Private Cloud instead which is a lot more costly. When I called him out on it, he tried to get me to sign up to buy even more products! When I refused to pay my monthly fee because the system kept breaking down, then they held not only all of my exchange data hostage, but also my Microsoft exchange account! Again, stay away from anything having to do with Abacus if you value your business. --- ### Thought it would be better - Overall rating: 3/5 - Reviewer: Mary D. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Law Practice - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: May 2020 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. I really thought Abacus was a better product than it has turned out to be. It can't do basic things that an accounting system can do. It's a so-so product. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 3/5 - Value for money: 3/5 - Customer support: 3/5 - Functionality: 3/5 #### Pros I liked that it could integrate with our business systems as they are. #### Cons The add-ins do not work consistently and have more cons than pros. The reporting is not very good and making deposits that are not client checks makes no sense. The system is good for basic legal clients, but anything more complex and there's issues. You can't just double click on a number in a report to get more information on it like many other software programs. If you print a check, you can't change anything about it with an edit; you have to delete the entire thing to make small changes. There is also no way to track time reductions truly. Entering time takes forever because you have to go into each matter separately and enter your time instead of a large platform to enter time for each matter on one sheet. Editing bills takes so much longer than it should because of how it has to be done. #### Reasons for choosing AbacusLaw I thought it was the best product for it's money at the time. #### Reasons for switching to AbacusLaw The software was never setup right from the beginning and it had been too long running it at about 25% of what it was worth. --- ### Abacus Can Help - Overall rating: 2/5 - Reviewer: Samuel F. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Law Practice - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: March 2020 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 2/5 - Value for money: 2/5 - Customer support: 3/5 - Functionality: 2/5 #### Pros We have used Abacus since 2010, so 10 years. Abacus helped us to automate law billing. The program also features an excellent data base for notes as well as emails per client. It is fast in terms of locating electronic documents. Its technical support is also helpful. #### Cons The biggest feature to improve would be Abacus message slips. I have been trying for over a year to fix the app's propensity to suddenly disappear and then, days later, inform me of the number of messages I have received. BIlling software can be improved dramatically to make it more user friendly. #### Reasons for choosing AbacusLaw The other programs were cloud based and the effort to retool to one of those seemed to be way too expensive. In addition, I particularly like the data based system Abacus offers, which categorizes documents, emails to and from clients per matter. Neither Clio or Practice Panther offered this feature. #### Reasons for switching to AbacusLaw 2010 #### Vendor response Hi Samual, We are sorry for the issues you've run into with AbacusLaw and messaging. We have escalated your issue to our client services team and you will be hearing from the team shortly. We sincerely would like to make sure you are set up properly for success with our product. Thank you, The AbacusNext Team Replied March 2020 --- ### Do not buy AbacusLaw Case Management Software - Overall rating: 1/5 - Reviewer: David S. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: November 2017 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered Abacus is a disappointment and I strongly recommend against using it. The support blames its customer and Microsoft Abacus' failures. Our program crashes constantly and the supposed case management and document management features are too complicated to use. The phone calendar and contact updates no longer work, which was a major purchase consideration when we purchased Abacus. Now the company will not support its outdated system and is using its failure to extort upgrades from its long-term customers. We started using Abacus over five years ago and experienced many headaches thought that term. Now the system constantly crashes. As an example, for the past week or so we have not been able to add new client contacts or calendar events. Imagine trying to run a law office and you cannot open a file or put an event on the calendar. Abacus support was rude and cavalier about our problems and tried to put the blame on Microsoft Windows 10 and blamed our office for deleting something on our computer -- an utter impossibility. I cannot strongly impress upon anyone considering teaming up with Abacus my disappointment and hope you will steer clear of AbacusLaw. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 1/5 - Value for money: 1/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 1/5 #### Cons The company seems to have abandoned us. We purchased AbacusLaw five years ago and now the program keeps crashing and the rude support personnel blame us for using an outdated version which Abacus says it is trying to faze out an no longer support. We bought the program because it offered case management and document management capabilities, and automatically updated contacts and calendar on the phone. Over the years, we constantly needed to contact support because the calendar and contact update functionality constantly broke down. Now the software crashes all of the time. I could not enter new clients nor could I make calendar entries for the past five (5) days. I called support and they complained that Abacus no longer wants to support this version and claimed my staff must have "deleted something" -- which is an impossibility! and the support blames Microsoft updates. We are beyond frustrated with Abacus. The program is so poorly designed there is no way to utilize many of the features it claims to have. Frankly we gave up on linking documents, producing case management reports, etc. because the software is too complicated to understand. Abacus now wants to up-sell us on its new software products and the pricing could not be more noncompetitive. I sincerely discourage anyone from using Abacus Law and this is the advice from a long term user who gave Abacus an honest and fair chance. --- ### Good Program that was customizable - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Victoria S. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Law Practice - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: November 2024 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered It was decent program but I feel there was other programs that had better benefits. I’m not sure if it’s improved but the customer service was an issue for us. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 3/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros I loved that we can customize templates and that we could set up the files as we liked. #### Cons I didn’t like that we had a difficult time getting into our system if their system was down. It was also difficult to get in touch with support. #### Vendor response Victoria, thank you for taking the time to share your experience with AbacusLaw. We're glad to hear that you found the customization options useful. We're consistently striving to provide top-notch support to our customers. If you have any further suggestions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. Replied November 2024 --- ### Great system for a good price - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Barzin S. - Industry: Law Practice - Company size: Self-Employed - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: September 2018 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered It's saving my neck everyday. I love it. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros All encompassing bot front office and back office management. Fantastic customer support. monthly fees better than reasonable. not at all expensive. Awesome billing and invoicing. RULE BASED CALENDARING. so important. to me. I don't have to spend hours finding deadlines related to an event. #### Cons Software glitches and malfunctions. Online service (to host my system) is a bit out of my price range, but I don't know if it's unreasonable. I just can't afford it. --- ### Solo practitioner using Abacus - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: David R. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Law Practice - Company size: Self-Employed - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: May 2021 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. When I consistently enter time, the software works smoothly for me. Creating invoices is easy, as is correcting time entry errors. If I fall behind the software has no impediments to catching up on time entries. I've looked at switching to another program and concluded that the benefits of functionality I will not use are not worth the learning curve. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 3/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 3/5 #### Pros The bottom line is that Abuscu does everything that I need and has added bells and whistles that would be valuable in my practice. Once I figure out how to use a function it works well for me. Learning how to use most functions easy. Beyond basic time tracking, adjusting my working style to Abacus Law has been an obstacle. The problem is mine than the software. I've learned to use certain functions that would be valuable to me, but I have not been able to adopt them. I don't think another application would be better. The bottom line is that Abuscu does everything that I need and has added bells and whistles that would be valuable in my practice. #### Cons The software feels like it was written 20 years ago and not updated to a better user-interface. I wish that there were a simple to use app for my smartphone. Abacus may have that for its cloud product, but the cost difference made me lose interets. The online help is daunting, but the telephone support is terrific. It's an adequate balance. I wish there was a way to export billing data to Quickbooks. My accountant knows QB. I can't impose on him to learn Abacus accounting. I'm using a program that tracks my computer use by app and even collects screenshots. Something like that would be a wonderful addition. #### Reasons for choosing AbacusLaw I thought the price was better for my needs. I am still happy with the cost. --- ### You Really Don't Want to Know! - Overall rating: 2/5 - Reviewer: Lisa M. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Law Practice - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: May 2020 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. It was great until we were forced to upgrade. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 3/5 - Value for money: 2/5 - Customer support: 2/5 - Functionality: 3/5 #### Pros Ease of use. Accessibility for all paralegals and attorneys for file information. #### Cons After we upgraded, AbacusLaw has been terrible! It changed the decade from "19" to "20" in all client birth years, which will have to be corrected manually. It now locks people out on a frequent basis, occasionally limits their access (will not let them edit notes they have already entered). I was told by an Abacus Support Tech and our company's IT person that Abacus is not meant to be opened and left open. We have been told we need to only open it to do what needs to be done, then close it back out. To leave it open (and we are not even talking about overnight), will cause it to lock up and refuse to allow anyone but the administrator (me to get into it.) I then have to contact our IT guy and spend time that I don't have to get it closed down and re-opened. It is so frustrating on the part of every one of us who uses it!! It is a pain to have to log into Abacus just to check an address, get a telephone number, etc., then log out, only to have to log back in a little later, and on and on. #### Reasons for choosing AbacusLaw I thought it would be the better product for our needs. We were happy with Abacus until the upgrade. Now, we have constant problems. #### Reasons for switching to AbacusLaw It was a DOS program. We had no choice but to change. #### Vendor response Hi Lisa, We'd love to help you get set up properly. When was the last time you up updated the software? We have had a few updates recently and I'd like to help escalate your issue and have an expert make sure you are all set. Let me know! Sincerely, The AbacusNext Team Replied June 2020 --- ### AbacusLaw is the heart of my practice. - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Vanya T. - Industry: Marketing and Advertising - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: July 2016 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered I have been an AbacusLaw customer since 1998. I believe I was the first accountant to try and adapt your matters based program to a client based usage. We spent many hours adapting your improvements every year to insure that I could continue to manage my accounting practice through your program. It was a challenge, but the results are well worth it. I have a data file that has a record of every appointment, every phone call, what IRS agent is assigned to what case, etc., since 1998, for over 5500 tax clients.I have a record of every bill sent to our business clients since we started using Abacus Accounting to manage our receivables. I believe so strongly in this program that, when I joined H&R Block 3 years ago, I demanded a clause allowing me to put this program on their computers. After investigating your program, their tech team recommended that the clause is allowed in my contract, a very rare concession by H&R Block. They have since designed a program for appointments, which is free, and which I am required to use. So we make our appointments in AbacusLaw first then input them into the AM. It takes a little more time but it is worth it. When a client says they have not heard from us, I print out the Abacus record of contact, showing the date and time calls were made and what messages were left. It immediately tames the angry beast and I usually get an apology. This program is the heart of my business. I would be lost without it. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Their support is absolutely the best. In the very unusual event that I need support, they always remember me, are friendly and super knowledgeable. Usually I am asking for a workaround to make their program do something it isn't designed to do. They could just impress me off, but they really try to make it work the way I need it, and they usually find a way. Having client info at my fingertips makes me look very efficient and very competent. --- ### Good if you make additional significant investment into tailoring it to your firm's needs. - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Keelin B. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Law Practice - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: March 2020 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Abacus is probably best for an office with existing procedures and forms that is willing to make a significant investment into customizing and maintaining Abacus, including having at least one Abacus-designated point person who develops intensive understanding of Abacus. A point about customization: you need to think through your process. For some, a more "plug and play" program may help you to figure out your process. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 3/5 - Customer support: 3/5 - Functionality: 3/5 #### Pros Potential flexibility because of many functionalities. We use it every day to track matter activity, coordinate schedules, meet deadlines, retrieve critical information, and bill clients. #### Cons Cannot use many features without hiring expensive Abacus professional because program is not intuitive. Numerous online resources, including knowledge base and trainings, but difficult to find what I need when I need it. Reports and queries: Odd that in our present "plug and play" world, reports are poorly formatted and queries difficult to use. Email integration: Does not integrate with our google suite, only Outlook. Customer Support: Expertise and availability has declined, although still reasonable, if more time consuming. #### Reasons for choosing AbacusLaw When I purchased Abacus about ten years ago, I interviewed several other legal software providers. Abacus' flexibility and range of functionality led me to choose it for my interdisciplinary practice. --- ### AbacusLaw - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Laiba M. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Law Practice - Company size: 51-200 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: May 2023 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros For me, the software runs without a hitch. There are many functions, some of which I haven't yet fully utilized.The scheduling tool is fantastic and very flexible to my needs. Most functionalities are simple to learn how to use. You can carry your job everywhere you go thanks to it.Additionally, the application has a fantastic client database with notes . #### Cons This software usage is effective. apart from The only drawback I can mention is that updating can occasionally be a horrific experience. #### Vendor response Laiba, thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review of AbacusLaw. We love hearing from happy customers like you! Replied May 2023 --- ### Abacus for the Paralegal - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Erica V. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Law Practice - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: June 2021 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. I am able to update our dockets and manage our monthly client billing with ease. I occasionally get kicked out of Abacus but overall enjoy the software. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros Creating a docket is simple. We are able to quickly review the attorney notes and provide updates to the clients without having to get the attorney involved. #### Cons I wasn't involved in any training so I'm sure there are lots of features that our office is not taking advantage of. --- ### Everything was fine until we went to the Abacus Private Cloud - Overall rating: 2/5 - Reviewer: Frank N. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Law Practice - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: January 2018 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered Check out other options if you want a cloud bases case management program before going with APC. I am waiting for my 5 year contract to expire and then reevaluate my options. I would like to have more control over "my cloud" and have local, on the scene tech support like we used to enjoy before we were forced to upgrade to APC, or else pay a high price for non-supported, prior versions of the software. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 3/5 - Value for money: 1/5 - Customer support: 2/5 - Functionality: 3/5 #### Pros It is nice to be able to access the case management software through the cloud. It allows you to take you work with you where ever you go - which can be a good thing or a bad one. #### Cons Abacus Private Cloud does not play well with anything but MS Office 365. I had to buy a more expensive version of Dragon Naturally Speaking Legal and there is such a lag between dictation and text, that the Dragon software never gets used. We also use Essential Forms for our Judicial Council Forms in CA. APC tech support has left me hanging for over 2 weeks, and countless hours trying to figure out software that they had previously installed on their server for our use. It also seems like every time I call support to change something, there is a horrendous charge. --- ### Ongoing diffciulties - Overall rating: 3/5 - Reviewer: Louise S. - Industry: Law Practice - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 12 months - Reviewed: August 2018 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered As usual, Customer support was very helpful. He called when he said he would and did his best to resolve the issues over which he had control. Where the issues related to Amicus and he could not resolve them himself, he has pointed me in the right direction so that at least I can try to get them resolved in the future if he can’t do so whilst I am on annual leave. In my view, Customer support assistance is really the only redeeming feature of the support provided, with no one else showing any real interest in helping me. The product could be excellent but is let down by speed and support issues. Now I only bother to contact Customer support as he is the only person who has really shown any interest in trying to resolve issues. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 3/5 - Customer support: 3/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros The product has a number of useful features which make it good for use in legal work. The ability to store all documents and correspondences within a file and send them by email or move them to different files are excellent, as is the ability to generate template documents and amend as necessary #### Cons The product is often slow and cumbersome to use, with numerous glitches which never seem to get resolved. we are based in the UK and were told that we would have 24 hour support, but this simply hasn't happened. I have had some issues with Outlook, copying and pasting and documents not attaching to emails for three months now and, whilst Customer support has made every attempt to try and sort these out, he is only able to do so during US working hours (which means from around 3pm UK time) and, despite his commitment and many efforts, the problems are still not resolved which, I understand, is because there is a bug for which there is so far no fix. --- ### DO NOT FALL FOR THIER EXCELLENT SALES PITCH - Overall rating: 1/5 - Reviewer: M Patricia M. - Industry: Law Practice - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 6 months - Reviewed: November 2016 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered This was probably the worst decision I have made in my 38 year career. Our firm is still not operational and we've been working with them for six months. The main issue is that Abacus will not connect from San Diego to Colorado: the internet based program shuts down suddenly and your work is missing if you have not saved it on your server (outside of the Abacus program). This is a problem if you are on a deadline. When we brought that to Abacus attention, they blamed a third party connection. We had our IT guy call the third party but because we are not customers of the third party, they would not talk to us. So basically we are paying for a program that does not work AND Abacus wont fix it or even contact the third party with whom they contract for the connection. Furthermore, the migration of my billing program to Abacus billing was a nightmare as Abacus loaded the trust account into the operating account as a credit, i.e. zero in trust. Once they sorted that out, the billing program would not accept payments from clients. My bookkeeper was on the phone with Abacus techs for countless hours trying to work that out to no avail. Finally I sent them a certified letter terminating the contract for cause and guess what? Action! now I had ten technicians working on the multiple issues trying to get it all resolved. But that took time and my attorneys were required to spend literally hours on the phone with these guys. Billable hours lost, meant they did not get their bonuses this month, as well as the firm lost revenue. To make matters worse, the response from Abacus was that it was our fault because our attorneys were non responsive: a complete lie, unless you want to complain that sometimes our attorneys are in court handling actual client matters and cannot be on the phone with them while they are doing actual attorney work. Emails are still floating in cyberspace, not received. Printers don't work. etc etc. My choice is to litigate in another state -- completely untenable. Don't be stupid. Upgrade your server and stick with your current billing program. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 1/5 - Value for money: 1/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 1/5 #### Pros Great sales pitch. If the program worked, it is a lawyers dream. It doesn't. #### Cons The program does not connect and shuts down. Then you cannot do anything. It does not operate. --- ### Do NOT BUY IT - Overall rating: 1/5 - Reviewer: Esther S. - Industry: Law Practice - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used other for more than 2 years - Reviewed: May 2017 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered I am in the process of finding a different database. I pay almost money per month for technical support. I have been waiting for a week for an answer back from them currently. When they did the update it converted all the date of births to 2000 .... so if you were born in 1995 it shows your date of birth 2095. They tried to tell me a year ago that my contract had expired and wanted me to sign another 5 year contract. I was willing to sign a 3 year and they refused. They continued to charge my credit card for their support after that date. Turns out I did have another year with them and my contract was not expiring. They are HORRIBLE!!! #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 2/5 - Value for money: 1/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 2/5 #### Pros It's a database. It does what it is supposed to do... when it is working. However, it is impossible to get technical service. #### Cons Technical support is non-existent. I have tried multiple times to get an answer to a simple problem, and have been told everything from I don't have a contract with them to it's not their problem. Instead of attempting to help, they smart off and are rude and ridiculous in their responses. My IT people were working with abacus to install an update. It did not work and abacus did not respond to calls or emails for a full week. Then after refusing to get off the phone until someone spoke to me, the guy said they just needed to do a couple things and would I like him to do it then. Thirty minutes later it was working. We spent an entire week without it because they simply would not respond to us. They kept saying someone else had our account but that person was always on the phone with another customer, Managers did not return my phone call either. --- ### Worst Customer Service Ever. Overcharged me. Kept charging me after I cancelled service. - Overall rating: 1/5 - Reviewer: David V. - Industry: Law Practice - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: May 2017 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered It allowed us to move from a paper calendar to a electronic one. I cannot think of anything that is an upgrade from paper files except that. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 1/5 - Value for money: 1/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 1/5 #### Pros Our needs were minimal and this software met most of those minimal needs. #### Cons Screens are not customizable. We asked repeatedly for the ability to make custom buttons so that we could execute tasks on each Client without going through their rigorous protocols. After several years and release updates, custom buttons never made it. It seems they don't want users to alter the product so that it best fits the users needs. They are very rigid. At the term of our contract they began billing me at 4 times our agreed rate with no notice. Not once did they disclose the amount they were going to charge and it cannot be found anywhere in their emails, website, etc. For that matter, they could have charged me $1 million a month. In any event, when I told then I did not want do business with such a dishonest company and cancel any service agreement with them, they kept charging my bank card. I finally had to cancel my bank card to stop the charges. Worse than AOL and Comcast. --- ### Abacus - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Dominic C. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Law Practice - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: May 2021 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Great case management solution. Makes practice automation much easier. I've been a user since 2006 because it works! #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Abacuslaw is easy to use (even for lawyers), easy to setup and provides a central case management solution incorporating everything our practice needs from document generation and management, diary/calendar (rules-based features too to help with case workflow), email integration, etc. It is versatile enough to keep us on top of our litigation work (95%) of our practice, but we can also customize its features to handle our estates/real estate files. Keep up the good work. #### Cons I generally hate software that requires an ongoing subscription or nickels and dimes you for every added feature, but Abacuslaw is tolerable in that regard. #### Reasons for choosing AbacusLaw More customizable than Amicus, more user friendly than Time Matters, less expensive than Saga --- ### Been with them for almost 10 years and each version gets better and better - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Michael L. - Industry: Law Practice - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: June 2017 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered Most important... CONSOLIDATION! Abacus Law integrated the case management, "tickler" by rule, forms, contacts, matter, ACCOUNTING AND BILLING, all into a single easy to use and learn package. Changes in one area and iterated throughout the software. We almost never and disparate or duplicate data. Well Done! #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Ease of use, consistency in operation, great support. In nearly our entire use, different versions and our transition to the "cloud" last year, our up-time has been nearly 99%. I was worried about transitioning to APC (cloud), but the support and transition and setup was painless and well executed. Our employees barely noticed the difference, but for, the Remote Desktop link... Very well done! #### Cons There are a few very minor custom things, but overall, nothing worth mentioning. As I said, I have been a happy customer for about 10 years, seen the growing pains, and various upgraded and improvements, each being better than the previous. We've been quite pleased. #### Vendor response We appreciate your enthusiasm and thank you for your feedback! It has been a pleasure to serve you over the past decade. Replied June 2017 ## More reviews [Next reviews](https://www.softwareadvice.com/legal/abacuslaw-profile/reviews/?page=2) --- AbacusLaw Reviews, Pros and Cons - 2026 Software Advice