I've used Prolaw since '99

I have used Prolaw for over 20 years. In the beginning (pre-West), it was the most amazing product on the market with the most amazing customer service, for small to mid-sized firms. West ruined that. I have nothing against West generally. I just have over 20 years of first-hand knowledge of how West negatively affecting this otherwise amazing product.

Pros

Everything. Prolaw does it all. The accounting function is the best I have seen, better than QBs, CosmoLex, etc. The front office functionality is so robust I wouldn't even know where to start. You own it the software license which is a huge advantage to monthly subscriptions. You don't have to upgrade if you don't want to, no monthly fees, I stopped paying the annual fee after a few years because it wasn't worth it. Just pay the upgrade fee if and when you ever need to upgrade.

Cons

Since purchased by West a while ago, the customer service has become non-existent, in all honesty it is a detraction. Your IT people will have to train West's IT people. They will likely sell you the wrong version initially, etc. If you are a new user, a migrating user, just expect to have lots of headaches in the beginning. But once you master the software, it is worth it!

Great vision for a converged legal platform, but clearly under-resourced

We need a unified platform for all data entry and consumption that understands the legal business. ProLaw does that well. It allows us to maintain a high standard of data integrity, provide a large degree of automation, and develop solutions on top of a central "hub" that everyone understands. The vision is great, the implementation is not so great. The people are great, the company is not so great. If you have good IT support, It's great. If not, well...

Pros

Centralized data management is very powerful. No other solution provides CMS, DMS, Document Assembly, Calendaring, Routing, Cost Management, Accounting, Billing/Collections, and Groupware Integration all in one platform. ProLaw allows us to have all front office and back office work in one system. Reducing the need for duplication of effort, and reducing the possible errors caused by that effort. ProLaw is that it gives us the choice to remain on-premises (or in private cloud) meaning we maintain 100% control over our clients data. Are not held hostage by all the problems inherent with software-as-a-service solutions. Importantly, ProLaw leverages a modern and accessible technology stack. That is very important for customization and integration. I can do what I need, When I need it, and I am not stuck relying on a proprietary support structure to get results. Importantly, ProLaw leverages a modern and accessible technology stack. That is very important for customization and integration. I can do what I need, When I need it, and I am not stuck relying on a proprietary support structure to get results. The Staff at ProLaw is friendly and helpful. They share an enthusiasm for the vision and work hard to deliver the best product possible. They always go out of their way to help achieve customer goals.

Cons

ProLaw is clearly under-resourced, Implementation is buggy and upgrades are a nightmare. While individual Customer service is fantastic, there is a lack of modern support such as self service installers, 64-bit applications, and proper quality assurance. ProLaw can be slow, clunky, and just feels out of date. Controls have no real business validation, As one attorney said, "It looks like something we worked on in collage", referring to the events tree and the clunky custom tabs. There is a real problem with policy over practice at ProLaw. Any deviation from Standard Operating Procedure is a nightmare. this causes almost every interaction to begin on the wrong foot, and long complicated interactions to be a nightmare for all parties involved. There is clearly problem with leadership which causes a strict adherence to an ineffective set of policies. Off-shore outsourcing of Professional Services.

All in one gets the job done

We remain with ProLaw because it is highly customizable and offers the best value for a firm our size. We continue to exploit every feature it offers, sometimes even beyond that for which it was designed.

Pros

The best feature of ProLaw is only having to learn one program. We use it for our document management, case management and deadline management. That translates into a time savings and shorter learning curve for new hires since we are only training on one piece of software.

Cons

It is buggy, you have to live with the bugs for years until you can determine that the newest release of the product has been thoroughly vetted before adopting it to solve old issues. When updates come out there are invariably new bugs introduced.

Opinions on Prolaw

Overall its been pretty solid. We can get the job done and we manage to get through the issues when they come up.

Pros

Overall Prolaw is a nice piece of software. There are very few packages out there that integrate front office and back office. Particularly for accounting. Its a one-stop shop for us.

Cons

There are two overwhelming issues that have been a thorn in our side throughout the years we have owned the software. The first issue being the lack of quality customer service and second, a clunky soviet era interface that never seems to have evolved. I say this with the understanding that there have been substantial improvements on the backend over the years. I can appreciate this as a systems guy, however, a lawyer could care less. The user interface needs to meet the needs of a modern practice like ours. Regarding the customer service issue, we have noticed real improvements over the last 6-9 months. The quality of care and the talent has changed remarkably. We are very grateful for that. We ask that [Sensitive content hidden] continue to make sure there are always enough technicians and resources for their technicians to make sure the client always gets a speedy resolution when possible and always feels like they are good hands and not forgotten about throughout the lifecycle of a more challenging trouble call. On the second issue with the interface, we can only hope that [Sensitive content hidden] is fired up about making significant modernizing improvements to the front-end interface and building out the web and mobile apps to offer as much functionality as possible. I would recommend that [Sensitive content hidden] spends some time reaching our to their customers on a more regular basis, particularly their long term customers to get feedback on how the product is working. The users should drive the direction of the product

all encompassing - server based Prolaw - purchased in 2003 for $10,000

I loved it - it is difficult to use - but it is highly data driven and every penny of the accounting is at your fingertips. No QB needed.

Pros

this is the only system with full accounting at the time it was purchased circa 2003, at the time - that was a big deal. The system was purchased out right and lived on the server.

Cons

it was server based - so nobody could login remotely without VPN- that is a silly inconvenience at this point in 2020