Firm Central

Tight integration with Thomson Reuters products. This includes Westlaw, Westlaw Form Builder, Practical Law, and Drafting Assistant, although each is sold separately.

Searchability. All documents and other information a firm uploads into the platform are indexed to make search quick, easy, and pretty comprehensive.

QuickBooks integration. This software can handle timekeeping, expense tracking, billing, and trust accounting. Users who add an Accounting module get access to Accounts Receivable, Check Writing, Reporting, and other features they would expect from basic accounting software. Additionally, it integrates with QuickBooks, which is likely where most users will get their business accounting functionality.

Tiered pricing. The Core plan is $40/user/month, but most lawyers will want the Essential plan, which is $65/user/month and adds timekeeping and billing and trust accounting. The Premier plan jumps to $105/user/month and includes more powerful features like rules-based calendaring, docket notifications, and more.

Deadline Assistant. Firm Central’s Deadline Assistant tool helps law offices manage court deadlines and syncs them with their Outlook calendar. Firms willl even receive email alerts when important court dates have been changed. However, this is only available to Premier plan subscribers.

Security. This company provides plenty of information about security on its website, but the important parts are these: Firm Central encrypts data in transit and at rest using “bank-grade” encryption. All data is stored on Thomson’s US-based data centers. (Many other law practice management software providers use Amazon Web Services servers.)

Secure client portal. Firms and their clients can send and receive messages, files, and tasks securely.

Who Firm Central is For

Firm Central is really just meant for existing Westlaw customers. If an office doesn’t  use Westlaw or other Thomson Reuters products, it’s hard to recommend Firm Central.