Caret Legal Review: Law Practice Management Software
Lawyerist Rating for CARET
Rating Breakdown
Our Rating: 4.6/5
Our rating is based on our subjective judgment. Use our resources—including our rating and community ratings and reviews—to find the best fit for your firm.
Community Rating: 4.5/5 (based on 18 ratings)
The community rating is based on the average of the community reviews below.
Composite Rating: 4.6/5
The composite rating is a weighted average of our rating and the community ratings below.
4.6/5
What is CARET Legal?
CARET Legal is a cloud-based, mobile-friendly Law Practice Management Software (LPMS) platform with exceptional design and user experience. It features mobile apps, fully-integrated billing and accounting, two-way synced email, and robust document management capabilities.
Starting Cost: $79/user/month
- True All-in-one
- Excellent Accounting
- Document Management
- Strong Task Management
- Advanced Trust Accounting
- Limited Intake
- Expensive
- Not for Solos
- Lack of Integrations
Caret Legal Review: Law Practice Management Software Features
Customer Experience & Support
/5
Price & Value
/5
Security
/5
Innovation & Future-Proofing
/5
Excellent Legal Management Software, especially for a small or start-up law firm!
Zola Suite is also constantly improving. Its network has been upgraded and performs at a much faster speed. Its client portal is a great way to share documents with clients.
I wish its calendaring system and billing system can be further improved though i.e. calendaring system shall include US Federal/Court holidays; and billing system should allow reminder of overdue bills and auto calculating of overdue penalties/interests.
Zola Suite’s email system is wonderful as it always asks if you wish to bill for the time reviewing an email and it starts timing right away and automatically when you respond to or compose an email for a case. Also, our firm uses Google Workspace and I must say Zola Suite’s email system works quite well with Google Workspace’s email system. The only thing I would recommend Zola Suite to improve in this aspect is that its email system needs to be more stable, error free, and it must work more continuously and more consistently and smoothly as we rely heavily on the email system each day. I must say that I have experienced a few downtime and problems with the ZS email system a little bit more often than I have liked.
Other than the above-mentioned little glitches here and there, I must say that Zola Suite’s awesome customer support team is a must! They are the reason we continue to use and enjoy Zola Suite. ZS’s awesome technical support team makes each obstacle/glitches bearable and worry-free!
I find Zola Suite to be economical and worth the price. I highly recommend Zola Suite to solo practitioners and start-up law firms!
Great Program!
It was slightly more expensive per year than what we were currently using but we can work remote with all the ease of working in our office, I can do billing and accounting whenever and wherever, I can easily see what my associates are up to, and all of my client information is right there at the tip of my fingers at all times. They even have a delightful mobile app that works seamlessly. It was worth every penny.
The onboarding and support team is out of this world! They are available for all questions, concerns, and issues. They provide useful tips and really go out of their way to make sure that you are satisfied with the answer that you receive.
I would recommend Zola Suite to all!
Super Tool
The get up to speed was not difficult, and was made easy by Zola’s onboarding assistance. As I continued to use Zola, I started to use more features and I found them intuitive. During Covid I have been practicing from multiple locations without a hitch. Everything I need is just a click away, click away… ( is that Mick Jagger).
The support provided by Zola is superb. Actually, all the reviews raved about Zola support before I signed on, and what they all said is so true. You deal with real humans, who are knowledgeable and respond to your request for help within a reasonable amount of time, frequently same.
ZolaSuite is the Best in the Biz
Everything in One Place
Pros:
* Web based platform allows me to log in on my work computer or if I am on the go. And, Zola’s app is great too.
* Files are all kept in one place. Within each Matter you can keep contact information, calendar, time, expenses, communications, emails, notes, documents, tasks etc.
* Streamlined time and expense keeping. Invoicing is simple! You can bill hourly or by flat fee. Invoices are customizable. We use various templates for different practice areas depending on billing type.
* Easy document storage within the Matter. Simply drag and drop to save within the Matter.
* Users are customizable too. You can give administrative privileges or simply the ability to input data.
* Unique search features – you can do a global search or search within a feature (calendar, Matter, contacts, email, time keeping, accounting, etc.)
* Calendar provides for one time or recurring events. You can assign it to one or multiple calendars and you can customize reminders. So handy!
* Set up contacts as individual or business. And, the information you gather is customizable.
* Zola provides plugins for Outlook and Word.
* Amazing customer support. From webinars to YouTube videos to emails to one-on-one support we have always had our questions answered.
* Zola is always looking for ways to improve. They listen to suggestions.
Cons
* Not a fan of the integrated email. However, there has been a recent announcement that there are changes coming. I attended a webinar that showed some of the features and am looking forward to what is new. Also, Zola offers an Outlook plug in so we currently use Outlook.
* I am a color coder so I would love as an administrator for my Google calendar to be able to sync with all users, not just mine. Or, be able to send out a Google Meet link when you are setting up an appointment on the Zola calendar.
* Would still like to see some ability to customize printed checks. For example, I would prefer a way to customize size of font on Payee address so that when you are using a #10 envelope with window the address is larger and easier to read. It is so small you can see the memo line.
We highly recommend Zola Suite!
Zola Suite Review
Overall Zola is much more user friendly than the former software we were using.
Since Zola is cloud based, we can access it from anywhere. It took no time to get used to the layout of the applications and navigating the software. Entering time is much easer and less time is missed because of the time entry prompts as well as being able to enter time anywhere, on a desktop, laptop or smart phone. The help screen covers any question you would have navigating thru the system, so if you didn’t take notes during the training, you can easily find answers to your questions. If you need assistance Zola’s support is outstanding. You get a confirmation of your support request and a support person calls. Support can also perform a screen share with you to answer your questions while you are viewing your own screen, which gives you a better perspective. All in all, I’d say it’s an excellent choice.
Excellent Practice Management Solution That Keeps Getting Better
The one thing he wasn’t wrong about (but which applies to any email program) is that Zola’s email search capabilities are not as good as Outlook’s. That said, it’s unfair to compare any email program’s search capabilities to Outlook… Even Google – a company founded on their SEARCH capabilities – doesn’t have as good an email search function on gmail as Outlook. And as an example of the type of company Zola is (and why I included in the title of my review “keeps getting better”), they recognize some people prefer using Outlook (for any number of reasons) and so they created a plug-in for Microsoft Outlook. This wasn’t recent either – it’s been at least a year they’ve had this plug-in – so the person criticizing the email search had this capability. With the plug-in, you or any of the members in your firm can use Outlook and still get the benefits of Zola (like associating emails to specific matters & time entries being automatically created for writing emails). Hence why I think the last reviewer meant to leave his review for another product.
Is it perfect, of course not; but perfection doesn’t exist. Does it deliver on its promises and what it advertises – absolutely. Customer service is and has always been excellent – not only to help you fix something or figure something out, but also to take suggestions for future changes/features that would be nice to have. And they aren’t just placating you; some of those requests/features really do end up in future updates. I don’t work for Zola nor am I being paid or receiving anything in exchange for this review. I started using Zola when I was a firm of 1 person and have continued using it now that we have 3 attorneys, 3 paralegals, and continuing to grow. It works even better now with a bigger team than when it was just me and I’m sure that won’t change as I continue to grow. I’m told Zola offers free onboarding, but we’ve never needed to take advantage of that since Zola is so intuitive to use. We give our new employees their login credentials and tell them to let us know if they have any questions once they start using it – we have yet to receive any questions from employees – young & old alike.
As for price, in my opinion it is fairly priced, but if you think it’s expensive I’ll remind you what they say about lawyers – if you think it’s expensive hiring a good lawyer, wait until you hire a cheap one.
Bugs Bugs Bugs - A good way to throw away $700.
I reviewed a couple of practice management software platforms, figuring none could be as bad as the last one I’d used. Zola caught my eye because it was promoted as having integrated time-keeping, billing and accounting, along with automated features for ease of use. Or something like that. The promises tend to fade from your mind when you come to the horrifying realization that you’re once again chained to the floor.
Customize your dashboard? Nope!
Set a default font for email? Wh-why would you want that?
Search for keywords and names across email? Absolutely – but it doesn’t work most of the time!
“We’ve got our people working on that. Thanks for letting us know about the problem.”
You can’t reliably search for a person’s name or a keyword in your emails! Not even in the subject or sender lines! Forget about searching the text in the body of your emails or other documents. This is a basic function of every email client I’ve ever used.
Auto-save email drafts? Every email client I’ve used in the past ten years could do that. Not Zola.
Scroll side to side in a window? Only in full screen mode – because that’s where you don’t need it.
Scroll down to the ‘save’ button in a pop-up window? Once again, only in full screen.
Can I use Zola in a split screen with another window to work-around the no-scrolling problem? No.
It’s as if someone said, “Let’s make a sh*tty version of Outlook” – but then they gave up.
Oh, and there’s no integration with OneDrive. But you can pay extra for Z Drive!
Marketing people are great with Zola, full of promises and ever-ready to refer you to the tech support folks for your daily let down. My pitch person talked about how awesome it is to use encrypted emails. When I pressed for details, she elaborated. Turns out that’s only for users of a third party add-on that costs something loony like $100+/yr. I can encrypt an email with my protonmail account that costs $6/mo.
The tech support folks are usually able to respond within a few hours. The response is almost always – “no, you can’t do that. we thought you could, but they told us you can’t”.
Syncing my bank accounts was easy. Except they didn’t sync. Apparently a problem with a third party processor called Plaid. Since I’m not an accountant I was pleased as punch at the extremely specific and tempermental accounting and finance reporting section. Zola is so advanced that I get to manually enter every transaction into Zola Suite and pray to god it goes somewhere useful. That’s assuming it goes anywhere at all. Zola has lots of rules – lots of rules – but not a lot of explanations of the rules. Oh, and just because you enter it into one report doesn’t mean it enters into another. No, you’ll need to enter it twice under two different designations to get that result, but Zola won’t provide instructions on that sort of distinction unless you manage to track down one of their accounting specialists. They’ll offer to walk you through the accounting aspects of it, but it’s just another canned speech/demo. And if you have a question during this demo, you will have to loudly and repeatedly interrupt them – because they’ll just keep talking over you if you don’t. After the first accounting demo I had major problems with basic reconciliation (which I had specifically gone over with the person helping me), so I asked them what was wrong. They told me to schedule another accounting walkthrough – because that’s going to help a ton and waste more time. I’m glad I haven’t had to invoice a client on it yet. Frankly I don’t think I’d feel comfortable using it for client matters. Also, the Zola Knowledge Base is just a FAQ like any other tech support site: problems you don’t have, language you don’t understand, answers you don’t need to questions no one needs to ask.
The real kicker was when I inquired about a pro-rated reimbursement if I cancelled. They were finally able to tell me something for certain without any delays or caveats: We don’t offer refunds. But we accept feedback! To be fair, they did say they would escalate the matter to billing management, but then the sales VP claimed it was a mistake on their part to make it sound like a refund was possible because they warranty all of their buggy tech, which totally excuses the underwhelming functionality and constant glitching.
They divide their promotional team from their support team, so when you send complaints to the sales people who sold you their garbage product, you get back a canned answer like: “Gee, _____, I’m so sorry to hear that you aren’t loving Zola! I don’t normally hear this feedback, because [that’s for support to deal with, and I work in the smiles department].”
I’ve been setting up my solo practice for the past few months. An unacceptable amount of that time was spent battling with Zola to function. Now I’m stuck paying for it for a year, but I don’t think it’s reliable enough to use. All I can think about is developing a workaround like I did at my last job. I made a few basic excel spreadsheets for tracking timekeeping, billing, profit/loss statements, quarterly expenditures, etc., but I’m not well versed in accounting. I threw a couple hundred dollars at Quickbooks just to have some basic accounting tools, and that’s helped a lot. Mind you I’m not planning to try to integrate Quickbooks with Zola, as that would be counterproductive at this point. I have to access my emails through Office/Outlook because I can reliably search for information across the entire platform (unlike on Zola), and I can save everything in OneDrive. It’s not a great system, but at least it will keep me going while I sort out something sustainable. I just wish I hadn’t wasted so much time trying to figure out Zola. I also wish they would refund my money. But I guess $700 is the cost of believing that ‘this time it’ll be different.’
No solo or small firm should ever use this software. If you’re a large firm and you hate your employees – go to town.
Great software that helps with emails, documents, and time keeping
Great so far
Zola is perfect for our small firm
*Updated Review*
When I initially wrote my review in January of this year, I had a lot of problems with Zola. It immediately got the attention of its CEO, who contacted me personally with assurances that Zola would correct as many of these issues as it could. (He didn’t offer me money for this re-post, unfortunately). But, nevertheless, I am very happy to report that Zola has added a lot of functionality and features that correct much of what I complained about. Zola’s customer service has always been stellar, and I see now that this is modeled by its CEO. I have been in repeated contact with him and have found him to be responsive, attentive, and never condescending.
Since talking with Fred Cohen, Zola has corrected the sync issues with Google calendar, integrated with OneDrive for Business, introduced a bulk-email-assigning function, corrected the self-population feature in individual email assignments, improved its email interface to lessen freeze-ups and to keep drafts, corrected its accounting, introduced new accounting reports (billable hours recap is my favorite), fixed the organization of invoices to find them more easily in the direct payment window, and improved UI for bulk file sharing. I have also been told that partial payments on Caseway are coming soon. Zola will offer a mechanism to charge interest on unpaid invoices soon, I think. And I am sure that I am forgetting a few things.
In all, the product is much improved. It’s not perfect, but I don’t think that its CEO would tell you that either. I would increase Zola’s rating to a rising 3.5 stars. Zola’s customer service is 5 stars (always has been), its price is 4 stars (still a healthy bill at the end of it all), and its functionality is 3.5 stars. I am very hopeful that the product will keep improving — its vision is to be an all-in-one system that serves small and mid-size firms. That niche is sorely needed and Zola does it pretty well.
* * * * * *
Original Review: January 2, 2019. (1/5 Stars)
I was hopeful that Zola would provide me (starting as a solo) and, later, my small firm of me, my paralegal, and one associate, with more functionality, document storage, and basic accounting when I signed up in late 2016. I have been very disappointed on all of these fronts since that time. While the customer service staff is pleasant and very responsive, the programmers seem to lack the skill to properly put this system together. Problems seem to keep occurring with no solutions in sight.
My problems include: Zola’s failure to properly integrate with Google calendars; its failure to integrate with OneDrive at all; a cumbersome, non-automated, and clunky document storage system; no “rules” option in its email interface to automatically assign an email to a matter (you have to assign the matter to each email, one-by-one); the email interface freezes often and does not keep drafts of emails when it freezes; matters do not self populate in generated emails as the videos indicate; Caseway (its client-interface to exchange invoices and other documents) is unusable and caused client complaints; Caseway will not allow clients to make partial payments on invoices (which is helpful if there is a large month, or if a client wants to utilize two accounts to pay an invoice); you cannot charge late fees or interest on overdue invoices; there are no “reminder” options for unpaid invoices; generated accounting graphs on various pages are not customizable and are frequently wrong; trust account reports are frequently incorrect; you cannot assign a retainer to a client (who may have a number of matters to which you could use that retainer); and the payment windows do not list unpaid invoices in a cognizable order (by date or by invoice number). Some of these errors or non-functionality are acceptable. All of them at once are not.
The most pressing difficulty with Zola was its lack of reliable accounting (which is one of the main reasons I chose Zola, rather than a system that didn’t have accounting reports). As a small firm — one partner, an associate, and a paralegal, accounting reports don’t need to be particularly robust, but they must be right. I could not count on Zola to do that, frequently finding errors in simple accounting reports. I also could not get it to sync cleanly with LawPay (credit card processor) and it frequently would not register a payment. Clients were complaining. Staff was complaining. I was complaining so much that my wife is tired of hearing about Zola’s errors and told me that I should get a new platform.
Zola finally got bad enough that I had to subscribe to Quickbooks (extra expense) and sync it to Zola. But, Zola’s integration with Quickbooks was not intuitive and lacked features that caused my accountant to wonder how it should be set up. The last straw? When Zola refused to recognize my integration with Quickbooks altogether while I was getting out year-end invoices.
I really hate to complain. And I really, really hate to change practice management software. But, I have come to the realization that I should do both. Zola could be a great platform. But, it has far too many bugs that prohibit its effective use.
Everything I was looking for
Nothing else compares...
Zola does it all
No two factor authentication makes this a “no”
But in 2018, lack of two factor authentication should be disqualifying.
Helpful tool for any firm!
Big Firm Software Functionality for a Reasonable Price