Which Project Management Software Is Ideal for Legal Professionals?
Every day, lawyers wade through a deluge of emails, with important client requests often buried in back-and-forth exchanges or updates from colleagues. Tired of information silos, many attorneys turn to project management (PM) software, such as Asana or Microsoft Teams, hoping to streamline task tracking and internal communications.
While these general-purpose PM tools are designed to serve a broad range of industries, they aren’t suited for the unique needs of legal teams – including strict security standards, intricate timelines, and nuanced communication among teams or departments. Dashboard Legal bridges this gap by offering a platform that is made for lawyers by lawyers.
Email vs. Dashboard Legal
Outlook or Gmail have been the go-to tools for firms. But because important details often get buried in long threads, attorneys might end up duplicating efforts on a project, miss deadlines, or have incomplete information, which can lead to errors and inefficiencies.
Dashboard Legal addresses these inefficiencies. By creating teamwide or departmentwide dashboards, users have a secure, centralized space to see all updates, assignments, and documents. If a client wants to know the status of a project, all attorneys need to do is check the dashboard, ensure it is up to date, and then export the document.
Without Dashboard Legal, lawyers would need to leaf through lengthy email chains or rely on ad hoc checklists in Microsoft Word that may be outdated. Instead, by using Dashboard Legal, attorneys can get their clients the information they need in a matter of minutes, leading to higher client satisfaction from faster response times and substantially lower bills.
PM software vs. Dashboard Legal
When legal professionals realize that inboxes aren’t the best system for organization and collaboration, they often explore general-purpose PM software as an alternative. But because legal work requires precision, security, and well-structured flows of information, many PM tools fall short in providing lawyers exactly what they need.
The following sections outline critical components to project management to better understand why a specialized tool, such as Dashboard Legal, can empower legal teams in ways that other software cannot.
Structure and functionality
General-purpose PM software, while versatile, often introduces complexities for highly specialized fields, such as law. Designed for broad usage and mass adoption, tools such as Asana and Monday have a wide variety of features, buttons, and widgets that aren’t relevant for lawyers. These superfluous functions can create clutter and disjointed workflows for attorneys and paralegals, who instead need access to legal-specific tools that will help them get the job done with ease and efficiency.
Purpose-built with client matter taxonomy at its center, Dashboard Legal consolidates relevant emails, documents, chats, and checklists – all in a single view. Materials are organized by client boards and matter boards, so lawyers know where conversations are supposed to happen, and the work stays streamlined. Additionally, partners have a resource management view to better understand who is doing what.
Integrations with other systems
Legal teams rely heavily on secure document management systems (DMS) to handle large volumes of sensitive documents, with the ability to track document changes, provide feedback, and set permissions for different users.
While Dashboard Legal seamlessly integrates with such DMS as iManage and NetDocuments, general-purpose PM tools do not have this capability, which forces legal departments to manage their documents in a parallel system. Needing to manage two systems at once can lead to duplicative work, disrupted workflows, and overall inefficiencies.
Onboarding processes
Many general-purpose PM tools lack robust onboarding programs, leaving users to decipher unfamiliar features and widgets on their own. Attorneys and paralegals have to then spend valuable time configuring the platform and adapting it to their unique legal needs – a process that leads to frustration and disjointed implementation.
Dashboard Legal, on the other hand, has a structured, battle-tested implementation program, specifically designed to get lawyers up to speed quickly. With dedicated onboarding resources and guided tutorials, Dashboard Legal’s support staff work with lawyers every step of the way and ensure that lawyers are able to integrate the platform into their workflows from day one.
Taking the next step in selecting PM software
When choosing the right PM software for your legal department or firm, there are a lot of variables to take into consideration. A streamlined structure, strong security, and tailored support are critical factors that will set you up for success.
See how the global law firm Gunderson Dettmer improved their task management and client response time with Dashboard Legal. To learn more, request a demo.