Permits me to practice law. Amicus is easy to use and very intuitive. It's just clicking away, and getting things done. Now, I can be anywhere and use it from my tablet or a laptop computer if I am out of town

I was never able to incorporate Amicus' billing software so I continued to use Timeslips, and both work well together. Now that Timeslips is getting expensive, I may give their billing software another try. Perhaps now it is intuitive as Amicus Attorney.

Overall I like Amicus. I looked at a number of applications, some less or more costly and settled here after talking with other attorneys who use a number of different applications. Amicus helps you become more organized, particularly if you are in a smaller firm environment. It can also reduce your overhead by reducing the need for staff because of how it integrates information, particularly timekeeping and billing.

This program is a good integration of: document management for clients; contacts; task and deadline tracking; timekeeping; billing; and, an email program. The fact that it can be accessed online and via a phone app is a major plus. You don't have to travel with a laptop and can access all of your files anywhere. The way it sorts emails, documents and everything else by client files that you can create is very useful in keeping you organized. Depending upon the settings you select, much of this is done automatically by the application. Multiple users can access and work on client files and immediately share their work with other attorneys in the firm. It's a very collaborative platform. I like the integration with QuickBooks and truly appreciate the ability to work with operating and client trust accounts. However, QuickBooks is the only financial management program with which it integrates. I have been at this almost a year and learn a new function daily that improves my effectiveness for clients. Their technical support has been great. I am crazy about their support staff and can tell you this is a major reason that I have stuck it out through a steep learning curve. I also appreciate the fact that it has an open forum where users can recommend changes and improvements. I am impressed that Amicus actually takes action on suggestions and has adopted user recommendations. This is a nice value add proposition.

There are some significant limitations. The application integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Word but not at all with the WordPerfect suite of programs that many attorneys find to be the standard in the practice and better that their Microsoft counterparts. Amicus indicates that it is considering creating an integration with the WordPerfect suite. Amicus limits users to 20 GB of space that is not much in this day and age. Expanding the account size within Amicus is very expensive. The application integrates with Dropbox, which is a more affordable option to add storage space. Yet, oddly, it does not integrate with Microsoft OneDrive. This is also a new functionality that Amicus says it is considering. When evaluating this program be mindful of this restriction as it can easily double the actual cost of moving to this platform. Getting documents out of and putting them back into a client file is a bit cumbersome. It also takes time to learn how to save versions of the same document and the versions are not easily seen. Moving emails around is a awkward. It is time consuming to select a group of emails for filing. Similarly, you cannot select an entire conversation on a subject, regardless of whether it is in your Inbox or Sent box, and place them in the client file. So, in some cases you need to clean both Inbox and Sent mail and place items in the client file. A real time killer. I have found that the application times out or snags on occasion.

Moderate. I loved Credenza. I use Amicus because it it is the least bad of the server-based options. I have often thought of retiring from law and working on a program that actually works the way lawyers do. The number one issue is the inability to have a workflow overview.

Easy to keep track of client info and who is who on the file, plus scheduling events

1. Document management sucks. I am sure that I am not the only person who keeps all documents organized in Windows subfolders. We should be abler to access and manage documents seamlessly and use that functionality in Portal. 2. Inability to create a workflow overview: we need to see status of file at a glance. The Chronology function is too cumbersome and is only chronological: not theme/category-organized. It does not tell us what is really going on in the file 3. Email integration almost never works well: multiple duplicate copiers for all recipients and not easily searchable. 4. Inability to immediately create letters to a contact ("person") on a file using firm letterhead. This should be a no-brainer but even your seminars can't teach us that. 5. Server version constantly crashing and freezing, meaning that all notes on the desktop are lost. 6. Notes are really hard to work with: impossible to reply to a sticky in a way that keeps a chain going and shows to whom the sticky was sent. 7. The custom pages function is really primitive

Attorney Schaeffer and I chose Amicus Attorney for our firm many years ago when we went to a legal tech show and I think Amicus was first coming out. We have been through I don't know how many upgrades through the years. My favorite version we have used was the one for small firms. That was our last version. It was easy to use. It had a great look to the program when you opened it up like having a file cabinet. For someone like me with dyslexia it was much easier to view the client page. To me the old version was something Steve Jobs would look at and have approved. It had a good feel and look. I used to like showing it off to visiting attorneys because it was so cool. This new one is just a program. I like the way the documents open with this new upgrade when attached but other than that there is very little I like about this new one. It is a little more confusing to explain the process of inputting new clients. I write our policy and procedure book and I always want to make it so anyone could pick up the policy book and be able to use the program and put in a new client, attach documents, write letters, etc. Maybe it was just that I was used to the old program but there were things that made more sense with it when explaining the process.

Amicus always trys to make a product that is easy to use and learn which this product is. I really like the way it brings up the documents to be able to see them once they are attached to the file. It is also easy to put in notes about the document. I review the medical records and put notes on the file. Your tech people are always helpful and pleasant.

Unfortunately I have found many glitches with this upgrade that I do not like. One is when you are attaching a new person to the file you get choices from the contact list but there is no way to review the person to see if the address for that person is correct. We have doctors who work out of multiple locations. I asked someone at Amicus and they told me there was no way to do it. Our old Amicus program allowed us to do this. Another thing was if someone else has the file open I can not cut and paste from the custom pages area. I prepare depo billing while the attorney is preparing the client and if the attorney has the file open I can not cut and paste info from it. Also because most of us have older eyes we need the resolution made larger on our computers. This distorts the info on the people on the file. You can not see all the phone numbers or the e-mails. Another thing is there any way to make the program use fax numbers with out the ( ) on the area code number. We use ring central for computer faxing and it takes twice as long to try take the () out and put a hyphen in when copying and pasting into our outlook.

For the cost, it is a good program, and it allows all attorneys and paralegals to both communicate and keep track of the status of all cases.

this program is excellent for keeping track of cases, clients, court dates, to-do notices, escrow accounts & billing.

When closing elements of the program, one has to be careful not to inadvertently close the entire program on the user's computer. There is no warning that you are about to close the entire program on your computer. While the escrow (trust) account feature is good, it has limitations. It cannot interface with the bank, so auditing the account is a manual procedure. Also, the escrow function is limited to a case by case report. The program does not give the user an overview of the entire status of all escrows )in a separate report.

Abacus must be in real financial trouble because now they are employing callers who threaten old Amicus customers with risk of data loss or hacking if you continue to use the old Amicus Small Firm Edition. Thank goodness the old program still works great. These callers are really obnoxious and unprofessional. I will never buy anything from Abacus software. I really miss the Canadians with the old Amicus company.

The old Amicus Small Firm edition was THE BEST database system for small law firms until Abacus bought the Canadian company that created Amicus. The old program was easy to learn and use. All of your data remained your data on your computer. No cloud requirement. It interfaced with e-mail and Time Slips. The pricing was good... everything was really great for the small firm law office. Customer support was the best; nice Canadians answered all of your questions. I really, really miss the Canadian company.

When Abacus bought the company they eliminated the Small Firm Edition. They tried to force everyone onto their platform. They went to monthly billing for maintenance and they could terminate your data if you failed to remain with their captive service. I refuse to use a "Cloud" based services because of the risk of hacking. In addition, Abacus almost doubled the price of the old Amicus maintenance plan. I will never do business with Abacus.

I have used various versions of Amicus continuously since 1999. When it works it is very good. The program kind of reminds me of the General Motors cars that my parents used to buy. Every car had it issues. GM always promised that next year's care would be trouble free and better than ever. But it never happened. I keep Amicus because there is to my knowledge nothing better in marketplace and because the cost of replacement is probably not justified. However the Amicus program that I use is still very flawed.

I like it because it organizes me. It is easy to use (when it works) and very logical.

I am unhappy with the many flaws and quirks of the system. If you buy it you will have to become best friends with a really smart computer geek who will be able to sort out the many idiosyncrasies of the system. It crashes routinely. I am happy that I pay my computer technician a fixed monthly fee because otherwise I would be in financial trouble.

I like the overall software. However, for the cost, the accounting side is lacking, and the tech support is horrible. For the price of this software, I expect more.

The cost and the tech support. If you are going to double the cost of the software, you should at least have good tech support. The last couple of times I have called in I was told my issue needed advanced technical support. I have still not had a call back, even though I was promised a call back in 24 hours. I have had to hire an outside consultant at my expense to fix this problem. I have difficulty justifying paying a monthly subscription fee for this horrible support. I would love an answer to this, but when I ask on tech support calls they have no response.

Keeps records of everything through one program. All my correspondence/ communication, contact info, file info, documents, timekeeping, calendar, etc. is tracked through Amicus. It's like a "one-stop-shop" deal.

I try to keep the People (contact list) cleaned up, i.e. consolidate multiples or delete them. My People section looks fine after I "clean up" but no one else's is, because, each User has their own module/domain. Just wish that when I make those types of changes it would be effective for every User.

Some frustrations here and there, but benefits greatly outweighed the issues. The best thing is that I can sleep at night without waking up wondering about this or that case. Really has improved my professional life and hugely improved my personal life, because the software really ties up the loose ends.

Handles all aspects of a law practice: (1) contact management (2) file management (3) document management (4) communication management. I love having everything at my fingertips.

Nothing comes to mind. Works pretty well.

I have a small 5 attorney firm. with a large support staff. At any given time, we handle about 1,000 active files. Our practice is very paper intensive. We've tried to go paperless, but it doesn't quite work with out type of practice, so we still do things the old fashioned way ... with file folders and legal pads. I've been an Amicus Attorney user for over 10 years. Prior to that, I tried and use several other "name brand" case management systems. Until about a year ago, we used the Amicus Small Firm program and it worked great. We switched to the Premier edition when we upgraded our server and all of our workstations. The premier edition was more adaptable to our practice. First of all, it was faster, second, we liked the better document management and third, for a rather small increase in cost, we got more bells and whistles. There are at least a half dozen firms in my area that are now using Amicus because of my recommendation. The links with other programs like Outlook are seamless. One calendar entry in Amicus updates Outlook and my laptop and my phone. I have not seen another case management program that has a document assembly system for letters, pleadings, emails, faxes anywhere as sophisticated as Amicus Attorney's. Also, check out their "Do" button and their "precedent" processes.

Their support is fantastic. Very little wait time. The support people are courteous, knowledgeable. and patient.

In many ways, the program is overwhelming for some of our staff. It takes a lot of time to train new staff members on the program. Also, there are many things that the program does that I haven't been able to use because it takes a lot of time to set up those things. This is probably more of a problem with smaller firms that don't have staff who just handle equipment use. In addition, we're WordPerfect users. I feel that the program works slightly better with MS Word.

It allows the members of my office to act as wild ducks flying more or less in formation, i.e. it provides a common path for all of us to stay organized and communicate regarding information in our system.

I would switch to CLIO if I did not have so much data that would need to be replicated. (History creates inertia.)CLIO has so many good features and provides such good training I don't like Microsoft exchange and several features require Microsoft exchange. I don't like it that the process of exiting the software changed in the last upgrade - I have been using the software for 20+ years and suddenly the way of minimizing the program has become the way of closing the program -,my muscle memory tells me to do it one way and some bright techie has decided that what I have been taught through year of use is no longer correct. I don't like it that there is no free training module for users we bring onto the team. Booking a private training is too pricey. Tech support is spotty. Sometimes you get a poor techie who cannot help with the problem- in such cases we call in again and hope we get a good techie (we frequently get someone on the 2nd or 3rd call who can solve our problem. Upgrades are buggy and it takes several patches to get things right. Abacus has an immigration module that is not available for Amicus. I get way too many sales calls and e-mails for Abacus Cloud. I am not paying the company to be a marketing prospect.

We've use Amicus Attorney for over ten years. It originally had superior functionality, and it showed great promise for future development. Unfortunately, as time has moved forward, Amicus Attorney did not. For us, some of its modules, e.g., "Communications" have stopped working. I see I have "phone messages" but none are available to retrieve. There is no fix to my knowledge until perhaps a new update. Calendaring events, "To Do's" no longer provide useful information to staff because repeating events clog the calendar rather than showing a single even in a month. Even creating a file or a contact has become an inordinately difficult task.

It can handle "project codes" for clients so that work on performed on various matters can be billed in a single file but the fees and costs can be subtotaled by that matter. This is a rare among the software or cloud based apps that exist currently. Once it was set up (for an additional fee), it has worked well for many, many years.

The software! It is outdated and unmanageable. Modules inexplicably stop working. Syncing with Outlook is painful, when it works. Customer support (even though we have prepaid for it) is worthless. You only get return calls, days later. And the information is unhelpful. This required us to retain, at added cost. outside technical support.

Have small 1-2 attorney firm, used Premium. Lots of features, many of which I haven't used due to learning curve and pace of daily practice. As I have integrated QuickBooks and Outlook I have found it more useful, but doing this was tricky and frustrating. It was recommended by WSBA Law Practice Management staff over using Outlook alone for case management. The phone notes feature has proved very helpful and wasn't really available in Outlook when I first invested in the software. Technical support, once paid for the subscription, has been very good and responsive. I like that they take remote control and help quickly to solve problems.

I have reconsidered whether to keep Amicus many times; but once invested in such software, there is a high price to switch products. It has improved over the years. I don't use the Tasks feature the way it is designed, because it involves too much data input. I have modified a system that seems to work well enough and involves less data input but still tracks upcoming deadlines and target dates.

Amicus Attorney is capable of being a one stop shop when it comes to case management, but your users have to be trainable properly and they actually have to use the program accordingly for this to be true.

Amicus Attorney is a very robust case management program with tons of beneficial features. It has the ability to streamline repetitive tasks and entries.

We deployed Amicus Attorney almost twenty (20) years ago. A lot has change over the years, some good, some bad. The decline in tech support has been the most unfavorable change.

Meh

If you need technical support, there is none. As far as I can tell there are 2 people working at tech support and you can expect to wait months for an answer that doesn't solve the problem. we have had the same recurring problems with dropped emails for years and there is no solution in sight., we will be switching.

There is not way to distinguish calendar events like continued or settled items that I want to keep on the calendar but maybe change color or be greyed out. There is no way to alert team members that a file has exhausted their retainer so work is frequently done by a conscientious worker without realizing that we won't get paid for it.

Generally I like this program very much and customer support is stellar. But the mediocrity of the billing component prevents me from calling this a top notch program

The calendar, communication center, and file management modules are invaluable and much better than just using Outlook.

The billing feature is very cumbersome and is not easy to use. The billing templates are terrible and you must have extensive knowledge of Report Builder to modify the templates or to create new ones. I integrated Amicus with Timeslips before I switched to the billing component . Transferring billing information between Amicus and Timeslips was a problem because it would send data both ways every time I ran a sync and I would end up with the same timeslip as often as 10 times.

Honestly, the prior Amicus program was much better than the online version. But I am making this one work.

I like that I can have all of my Clients and cases easily accessible.

The mobile app leaves a LOT to be desired. After a couple of years of use, I still can't see a calendar on my app or transfer my calendar to Outlook. I have also asked that the new company develop the ability to print a "NEW MATTER REPORT" like the old Amicus had. I received an email quite some time ago indicating that they had accepted my suggestion but this program still does not have that ability to my knowledge.

I have used Amicus Attorney for over 20 years in my small firm and could not practice without it. It saves time and help organize my to-do list. It also reminds me of appointments and work to be done. I could not handle the types and volume of work I do without Amicus Attorney's ability to call up cases and people quickly, preserve what was done and said and get it all billed immediately. Highly reocmmended.

I save time and money with Amicus Attorney. No more lost billing because the billing is done at the same time as I do the work, whether it is a phone call or drafting .

One feature you need to consider is whether Amicus Attorney will interface with your billing program because when it is time to bill all your need to do is send your time, already logged and organized, to your billing program further processing.

The system bogs down, freezes and is horribly slow. Customer support seems non-existent these days (and I was a user of the programme from back in the '90s, and it seemed to work great then and we had more users at that firm).

The calendar and linking of ALL information for each file, including contacts and bring forward dates that automatically calculate out from a date certain, etc., is so incredibly beneficial in our world of litigation.

Over the years support for the programme has eroded. Customer service is terrible. The programme has changed a great deal and is now VERY slow in its operation, often freezing. It has become cumbersome to use yet it is still the most comprehensive programme out there, to our knowledge, for managing complex (and not so complex), litigation matters.

Following is my email to a technical support representative after another wonderful experience: I am still out of the office, but have been testing Amicus on that workstation with great success the past two days. I'm a bit baffled by the whole thing. I will share the only change to the machine since we last spoke I uninstalled the OEM Microsoft Office 365 Click-to-Run software that came installed w/the Dell PC. I had installed Office 2016 when it arrived, and configured to our MS account, appropriately. However, in my attempt to clean up any unnecessary applications, I removed that small component and voila!!! Thank you so very much for your diligence and professionalism! My experience in working with you has been superb!"

Although we have experienced some issues, the technical support team always assists in a timely manner.

The ability to integrate your emails, calendar, reminders, and case load all in one is what sets amicus apart. Whenever I have had a problem the support team has acted promptly and efficiently. Very courteously as well.

Many of the features take to much time to set up. As a small firm, we do not have a separate IT department and simply cannot deploy amicus to its full potential. Also, I have seen staff become overwhelmed with the software. Training can be tedious.

We are going on 3 years using this product. Overall since we only use it for timekeeping and billing it works OK. However, the billing side is buggy and there are a limited number of staff who can fix the problems. They accept support email, but rarely answer them. I often wait 15 minutes or more on hold before I get through to support. Support is of the "take a message and have someone else fix the problem" not first-line answers to problems.

Timesheets and billing are interfaced automatically.

Bugs in billing: e.g., last month I ran 358 bills that never printed. I had to get the list of bills from a report and then individually print them by going into the bill images and requesting a print. That is the second time that happened and they have no explanation for why it happened or how I can prevent it.

Still waiting to assess

Centralization of documents, email, phone calls etc. It is extremely valuable when more than one lawyer is working on the file.

Issues with PCLAW link. Not happy with customer support. They do not seem to be able to assist with some issues and do not call back when they say they will. We still have unresolved issues. The software was purchased in November, installed at the end of December, and we still have problems. We want to get the issues resolved before we being with the training of new users. Therefore we are frustrated with the delays as the new users are still not using the software, even though I am paying for them.

We are pleased to have the software. It simplifies our schedules and provides all the client information that allows the office to streamline our work.

The software is very easy to learn and use. It helps arrange all of our cases in an organized manner. Calendar features provide our office with a day to day schedule. The software allows the office staff to leave case notes and memos without the use of extra paper.

The required updates. It has been difficult trying to updated abacus changes through our server. Once the changes have been made, it appears that software enables our staff to keep track of client files efficiently.