We are able to increase efficiency & deliver better value to our clients because we have built automated tasks, checklists, templates, data collection, and deadlines at every step of the process. We know in advance which team member will complete the tasks, and we have peace of mind that nobody will miss anything. We can gather data about our files and make decisions based on real insight into our firm, rather than gut-based guesswork.

Actionstep allows you to build custom workflows that you can use to manage any aspect of your practice. We believe in workflows so much that we dedicated an entire podcast episode discussing our experience with another lawyer obsessed with workflows too. We have over 50 workflows that help us to structure processes within our tax-litigation files, as well as for administrative matters, such as asking for client testimonials. We give our team peace of mind that nobody will miss anything as we have built in automated tasks, templates, checklists, and deadlines at every step of the process. We can make sure that the most appropriate team member performs each task. The workflows are also a great resource to help train new team members because we created detailed descriptions of how to complete each task with links to our internal knowledge base to give team members additional support where needed. In addition to custom workflows, Actionstep also allows you to gather custom data so that we can make more informed decisions.

Actionstep is unique and sophisticated. However, Actionstep falls behind its competitors and is underdeveloped in some key areas, such as budgeting capabilities, template user experience, graphical displays, mobile applications, and reports. Prospective users should not underestimate the commitment and resources required to build workflows and implement Actionstep. Building workflows requires time, money and, most importantly, grit. Not everyone is ready to make this investment in the future of their firm. Although you can outsource the technology aspect of inputting the workflows to the system, you need people within your firm identifying the steps and tasks that you want to build into the system. We are a very process-driven law firm with a lean focus, so Actionstep is perfect for us, but if you aren't familiar with process mapping it can be a daunting task. When you get over the initial investment of mapping your processes, you will see first-hand how quickly Actionstep improves your firm's ability to grow and deliver better value to your clients. We hope that Actionstep will continue to develop its product to address its limitations and bugs. Actionstep has promised that it is working to address the concerns that our firm and other users raise in the LinkedIn user forum and UserVoice feedback. We hope that Actionstep continues to improve the product, and we look forward to more progress. If so, we expect to continue to use Actionstep for a very long time.

I have used the product extensively over the last 5 years and would happily recommend it as a platform for legal practice management

I have used the product in a number of different law firms and have been involved in the setup for those firms. It is easy to use and easy to adapt to your own requirements

I have no adverse comments as I have not found any aspect of the software to fall short of what is needed

It has helped to automate case management and save time but the system is very glitchy and constantly "breaks". They offer little support and constantly direct customer to hire expensive "consultants" to address issues that their support should provide.

Workflow automation, task creation and automated emails

Setting up the system to integrate with office procedures is difficult and very expensive. Setting up is not user-friendly and will cost over $20,000 for even the smallest of offices. They are constantly making changes to the system which always breaks something else. Their support is poor to none. Had we not invested so much already into this system, we would look for something else. Lots of "promises" with no delivery. This product could be the best there is if they would just make what they have actually "WORK".

Everyone has gone above and beyond to make sure our team is thoroughly trained, and assures they are always a phone call away if ever we have questions. That kind of support is hard to find.

The ease of integration between Actionstep and Office software has been very useful. The two programs work seamlessly with each other.

The only con is the lack of an integration between Actionstep and Adobe software.

Satisfactory until recently. Support has been pretty poor at times.

It works, although aspects of the accounting side are a little clunky and some of the field names (for example in contacts) are inappropriate.

When I signed up to Actionstep it was about AUD $80 per user per month. The price steadily increased over the next 5 years. Currently it is about AUD $135 per user. Then suddenly I am told that the minimum monthly charge will be $469, which is for up to 3 users - there is no option for just 1 user. Yet the website still advertises the pricing as being "per user", which is clearly misleading. I have tried to speak to someone at Actionstep about this situation but have been ignored. Clearly they are no longer interested in sole practitioners. I regard a price increase of over 300% on 6 weeks notice to be very poor business practice, as is their failure to note that their minimum package is for 3 users in the pricing part of their website. I now have to find another provider of a similar service which is time consuming and disruptive.

Given these problems, we are preparing our exit. It is an economic disaster for us (losses in implementation and losses on invoicing).

Powerful and easily editable workflow engine. Really. Mass billing features. Customizable fields. Extremely powerful templating.

Bugs in invoicing and accounting made me lose a lot of money. Despite corrections, some invoices do not appear at the customer level and we work in files with open balances. It's very stressful, too. Money flows are case centred, not customer centred. This is highly problematic (retainers go on a case and not on the client, so you have to open X tabs for X cases opened in this client to make sure you are not going to send an invoice to a client who has provisioned you...). User acceptance is difficult. It is complicated to require changes in workflows and field fills (this is not the responsibility of Actionstep, but don't think it will run by itself. You will need to coach your employees). Customer service is catastrophic. I screamed for help when the system started to double-deduct (!) the retainers. It took 4 months to get a solution. In the meantime, I have continued to lose a lot of money. I have doubts about their financial strength, since six months after I started using the software, I received a notice of license increase. When I asked for some help to switch to a cheaper license, I was told that it would not be possible to keep my data (!!!!).

Was such a standout performer for a small firm. Loved all the functionality but the recent increase in costs is disappointing. I recommended this product to other firms and spoke so highly of this software. Their target customer/client may have changed.

Very user friendly and suited my firm perfectly. The time recording and accounting were great to use. There were always improvements, most didn't relate to my firm's needs but so good to see. Loved the product.

The recent increase in fees. It appears that this will not be viable to small firms. An increase in fees is always expected by not by 300-400% in the one year. Customer service has gone downhill with its growth which appears common in software companies.

Almost all of our working processes have moved into Actionstep, with some changes and pruning along the way. Setting up the system takes a lot of thought and input, but you are rewarded for your efforts, as once your data is in place, it's very easy to manage and use. I particularly like the amount of customization that is possible - as well as the regular product updates, which add interesting features.

It can be difficult to use data for reports, where some data does not interact usually within the system. It's necessary on our end to use other software to review statistics and to report. Exporting the data in order to facilitate this is very easy, however.

This software has allowed me to simplify management of my business, keeping all of the information I need to operate in a single location. When I was employing staff it recorded all of their time against the relevant projects, reported taxes due, kept all client details, kept a record of all projects I had undertaken, allowed me to look back on projects to aid in costing of prospective projects.

That you are able to operate your whole business on the one platform. Everything from the initial client contact through to completion of services, incorporating a single place to track all project related emails, time tracking for employees, easy billing process, tracking of invoices, creditors, production of financial reports, outstanding billing reports and numerous other customisable options.

The only downside I can think are that it is a little expensive (but then I am only a sole trader now not working full time, so if I was working this business full time then I would probably feel differently on this factor) It is generally easy to use, but maybe not as intuitive as programmes like Xero or MYOB, but that said I feel this system does a hell of a lot more than they do.

I get one stop software in Actionstep. I generate documents; bill clients, record time; maintain trust ledgers; write checks. All if it is integrated. When I generate docs, I bill; when I disburse for a client, it goes on the bill automatically. In particular, the Enhanced Billing Mode is excellent! I keep track of other processes in my firm as well. I typically spend the whole day in Actionstep

It's thorough knowledge of the special rules that apply to law firms; the ability to modify your processes to reflect your specific jurisdiction and forms. I like the ability to see who did what, and when. There is a lot of accountability in this system.

Some of the accounting modules are (rightly and deliberately so) difficult to correct if an error is made in parts of the accounting system. The system forces a great deal of transparency. They just need to update all the accounting modules.

Poor experience. The salespeople were nice and I believe genuine. The techo people are not trained in real technical problems and use the excuse of putting something to the 'development' team. I am not sure the development team exists. Am on hold now for 25 minutes while I wait for someone with a small understanding to talk to me.

The system is a great concept. Great robust software that, if working properly, would allow practitioners to set up what they want by way of workflows and templates for each practice area.

My accounts simply do not work. I cannot bill clients. I cannot receipt monies. I do not have an 'accounts' menu. The software has bugs and Actionstep are incapable of fixing them.

None. It turned out to be too hard to use. When I wanted to move to a different software, I could not export any emails.

Nothing - I found it was more trouble than benefit. The software claims to manage emails, and it will manage them as long as you stay with that software. If you want to change to another software, you cannot retrieve your emails.

The description of using "work flows" sounds like a very good and useful idea. It is not. The company wants users to hire a "partner" company to set up the software or purchase pre-programmed workflows from third party vendors. "Partner" companies are extremely expensive, if they return your call at all. You pretty much have to hire a third party company to program the software just to use it. As far as I can tell, the workflows are so detailed that you will spend every minute typing data into the software system instead of doing legal work. When I got rid of the software, none of the thousands of emails flagged into the system could be exported into another system. It was very difficult to transition away from the program.

It was easy to integrate and allows all team members to access all information from anywhere with an internet connection. Including file notes, emails and documents as well as time records. You can set tasks and monitor the step a matter is on with ease.

Integration with Outlook is good but not able to upload documents or attach documents if using Office 365

The breadth and depth of Actionstep's features are quite impressive for a cloud-based SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) product. Its functionality can compete with the best of the premise-based practice management programs, and it has the "any time, anywhere" advantages of a cloud-based system. It offers unlimited custom case fields by practice type, so you can automatically have a statute of limitations field in a PI case and an Estate Plan Type in an Estate Planning matter. All fields can be used to merge documents and emails(!) using Actionstep's internal merge function or HotDocs. Your standard tasks and document/email merges can be created automatically as the case proceeds from one step to the next, so that when a bankruptcy case is filed a letter to the client with the 341 meeting date, time, and place is created automatically. Views can show filtered lists of cases, tasks, or appointments that need your attention. Any of these lists (think PI cases that have outstanding medical records requests, overdue high-priority tasks, or all court dates in the next 30 days) can be emailed to you automatically each day so you can prepare for your day if you schedule the email in the morning, or the next day if you schedule the email at night, without having to log into Actionstep. Because Actionstep has such a wide range of features, it can be challenging to configure it for your practice and to learn how to use it, but that's true whenever you compare a program with more functions (think Word) to one with fewer functions (think Notepad). If you don't need the additional functionality, stick with the simplest solution that meets your needs. But if you do need the additional functionality (case management, document/email management, billing, and accounting), then you may want to consider hiring a consultant to guide you through the implementation. (Do you prepare your own tax return or do you hire an accountant?) Full disclosure: We are an Actionstep Certified Consultant/Partner. There's nothing else on the market that has Actionstep's range of functionality in a cloud-based practice management system that can be configured for the specific needs of different practice areas, and tailored to an individual firm's practices and procedures. If you're looking for a complete end-to-end practice management solution, especially if you don't want the cost and potential headaches of a local area network, you should take a look at Actionstep.

We have been able to automate our invoicing which has allowed more time to be spent on other matters. We now have greater oversight as to how much time is spent is certain matter.

Ease of use, ability to automate a number of tasks, oversight of office time.

Inability to convert $ format to € format, for example $4,000.85 needs to be manually converted to 4.000,85€ and 1.5 hours manually converted to 1,5 hours. Inability to customise the automatic email that is sent to client portal users to grant them access. Inability to select size and font of text that will automatically be generated when copying text from Actionstep system to a word document. Sections of the system still refer to GST when using a different tax. Inability to change a matter type once a matter has been created, instead a completely new matter with a different matter type needs to be created.

The information is organized in such a way as to keep everyone on task, organized and successful in the day to day operations of the firm. Actionstep Webinars are efficient, effective, insightful and when paired with customer support, outstanding. Overall the program and support adds to my ability to remain a step ahead in meeting client expectations. A program that does that is worth applauding.

Actionstep's fields and layout are intuitive, data is easy to enter, monitor and track.

additional tiers of user privileges would be nice

Before ActionStep, our office was using DropBox as our inter-office storage, which was not very reliable for record keeping. We needed everything to be in ONE place and ActionStep has solved that issue. Our office has been using ActionStep for about 3 years now & I personally love it. It's easy to customize.

What I like most about the software is that everything is in one place - past & present records, notes, time tracking & billing, tasks, etc. I find the File Notes feature EXTREMELY useful because myself AND any of my co-workers can create a File Note for record keeping when we speak to the client or need to keep current notes on a project. ActionStep is also very easy to customize.

It is difficult for me to find something that I dislike about this software. The only opinion I can offer is what I hear from our office book keeper - she dislikes the billing feature because it is not compatible with her Quik Books.

Actionstep helps us stay organized and on track with our daily tasks.

We rely on tasks and steps to complete estate planning for our clients, and Actionstep makes it easy to keep track of where we are in our planning process. With Actionstep we can easily transition from one step or task to the next, eliminating the need for pen and paper. We use this program frequently throughout the work day. We can even email and upload documents through their secure client portals. We would be lost without it!

the only con to Actionstep is not having a local customer service rep, but they are good about getting back to you in a timely manner, so the lack of someone local doesn't usually come into play.

I do like the billing feature and being able to see who needs to be invoiced.

I like that it keeps all of our records easily accessible without having to pull each file.

It is so customizable it makes it hard to set up and use the software. I had to watch several hours of videos to design one matter type and invoice. I also wish that the HOME section of each matter had "sticky note" capability.

Trust accounting is very easy and efficient along with creating and managing matters

Actionstep does it all, from trust accounting to matter creation and workflows and firm accounting. Fully customisable matter and document templates.

Updates and user suggestions take a while to be onboarded

I believe this is one of the best practice management programs available at a reasonable cost.

I have found that the combination of file management, ticklers, calendar and ability to operate across the law firm by our users was very helpful

As an Internet cloud-based program it is subject to the rims of the various Internet providers use across the firm. That being said, in four years I have only had one problem which lasted more than half a day, and it was probably addressed by customer service

Great software!

It is all inclusive - with the exception of acouting

Accounting! it does't work for us - we are still using QBO

My overall experience with Actionstep is excellent.

ActionStep is easy to use and maintain as a central portal for keeping up with client files and work between staff.

I wish the software had better search functions including an ability to look up contacts by phone number.

I like the ease of use and intuitive format of the software. I have worked in a number of different law firms with a number of different software packages, and Actionstep is by far the best. Opening a new matter is super easy, which is important.

I can't think of anything right now but will come back to you if I do.

We like the software itself. We have been using it for approximately 6 months and are in the beginning of phase 2 where we are starting to develop our work flows for each action type. We are anxious to learn how to build the processes so that we can begin doing things ourselves instead of paying the consultant to do it. I am not overly confident in the knowledge of our consultant so I feel that at times we are overpaying for the time he spends looking for the answers to our issues and helping to train us on how to do things.

The ability to create workflows and automate some of our processes

The lack of after hours tech support and if our consultant is out of town or busy we have to wait to resolve issues that come up. We pay for every phone call to get assistance so the install and the ongoing support has been very expensive