CosmoLex is a cloud-based practice management software with a robust feature set that includes a full law-firm accounting package. CosmoLex’s accounting features mean you don’t have to deal with migrating information to-and-from a general-purpose accounting software package like QuickBooks or Xero. And with the single-tier pricing, users get a lot of bank for their buck.
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Who CosmoLex is For
CosmoLex is an excellent choice for firms that want robust accounting. Having emerged from the same people who brought you Tabs3, they offer many features that are hard to find in a cloud-based LPMS. Attorneys who rely on complex fee-splitting will likely be happy with this offering. As will firms who want to reward attorneys in their firm who bring in business. Firms who are looking to migrate from Needles, PC Law, or other on-premises platforms, will likely want to give Cosmolex a look.
On the other hand, it’s probably not a great fit for firms that need to link a number of software and services together. Or for those who are looking to integrate their potential client intake into their LPMS.
Features
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Website
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www.cosmolex.com |
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Starting Cost
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$79/user/month |
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Apps
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Installation
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Case/Matter Management
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✓ |
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Client/Contact Management
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✓ |
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Task Management
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✓ |
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Calendar
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✓ |
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Timekeeping
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✓ |
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Conflict Checking
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✓ |
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Email Client
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✓ |
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Text Messaging
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✗ |
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Document Management
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✓ |
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Document Assembly
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✓ |
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Secure Client Portal
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✓ |
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Basic Bookkeeping
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✓ |
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Trust Accounting
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✓ |
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Full Accounting
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✓ |
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Billing & Invoicing
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✓ |
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Online Payments
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✓ |
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Software Integrations
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Open API
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✗ |
Additional Details
Project & Task Management
Workflows. Using CosmoLex’s Workflows feature, you can add a series of tasks that are triggered by the completion of the previous task or another time frame you set. Importantly, you can store these workflows as templates for later use.
Client Management
Client Portal. CosmoLex offers a secure client portal so you can communicate with your clients without worrying about your attorney-client privilege. This portal not only allows you to share documents back-and-forth, but you can limit specific permissions your client users have, and send and receive payments on client billing.
Email. With the in-app email features, you can automatically match a communication with a particular matter, and get an alert only if a match cannot be found. Additionally, as you categorize emails, you can keep track of your billing of each of these communications.
Document Management & Assembly
Document Storage. CosmoLex provides built-in document storage options, so you can track the information in your cases without needing to use a third party. However, they also integrate with OneDrive, Google Drive, NetDocuments, DropBox, and Box.
Document Assembly. Document assembly, as with most LPMS systems, is accomplished by connecting your client information to the “mail merge” function of Microsoft Word. Essentially, you design templates in MS Word using merge fields that you download directly from your database. You then upload these templates to the Cosmolex system. Here, they can be accessed by other users in your firm. Although this is not as robust as a system that stores your templates locally, most users will find that it does everything they need, and more. Additionally, it is much easier to share these templates.
Billing & Accounting
Trust & Law Firm Accounting. CosmoLex ships with comprehensive business and trust accounting features. This includes Bank transaction feeds (through Plaid), and credit card processing backed by LawPay. Additionally, it comes with a standard chart of accounts that law firms need. So, it has the potential to be much less confusing than QuickBooks.
For our Canadian readers, Cosmolex is well versed in Canadian trust accounting obligations. They offer features like internal three-way reconciliation that may be helpful during an audit.
Time & Expense Tracking. In addition to Trust & Law Firm Accounting, CosmoLex includes thorough legal billing components, including a mobile app to help you track your time and expenses on-the-go. You can also email invoices to your clients, and easily track retainer expenses.
Include your accountant. If you intend to do your accounting in CosmoLex, it’s a good idea to get your bookkeeper and accountant on board before you switch. They shouldn’t have any objection—trust accounting, in particular, will be much easier in CosmoLex—but they will need to work with it, too.
Security & Integrity
Security. CosmoLex protects all data traveling between your computer and CosmoLex’s servers using 256-bit SSL encryption, which is often referred to as “bank-grade” security. All CosmoLex servers are located in the United States, or Canada. And, as CosmoLex notes, they are subject to those jurisdictions. This may be a plus or a minus depending on your viewpoint.
CosmoLex has McAfee run a third-party security audit every 24 hours, and a third-party penetration test from May 2016 found “no exploitable vulnerabilities … that could compromise customer data.”
To its credit, CosmoLex is quite transparent about its security features.
Backup. CosmoLex backs up your data every four hours and keeps multiple, redundant, encrypted backups in several locations. However, there is no way to download a copy of your data.
CosmoLex Pricing & Customer Support
Pricing. Cosmolex has a single pricing plan, which includes all of their features for every user. For users who are billed annually, they charge $79.00 per-month-per-user, while monthly accounts will pay $89.00 per-user-per-month. It is worth noting that firms with 10+ users may get “tiered pricing.”
Migration. CosmoLex can help you migrate data from your existing law practice management and accounting software. Plan ahead, though; data migration takes longer than simply signing up for an account. For non-financial data (i.e., contacts, matters, and associated information), you will have to work with their software technicians. Depending on the complexity of the data migration job, it could even take days or weeks to complete.
CosmoLex provides instructions for migrating financial data yourself, but you do have to wait until your non-financial data has been migrated. Which makes sense, as it gives your invoices and billing something to connect to. CosmoLex technicians or certified partners can also take care of migrating your financial data for a fee, or a minimum-term commitment.
Just left CosmoLex
We moved to CosmoLex a year ago after being unsatisfied with Clio, so (full disclosure) I’m not an easy-to-please client after working in technology and dealing with many user interfaces for years before starting a law practice.
CosmoLex has a great idea to integrate the GL and MMS, but the execution is flawed and clunky. There are too many pulldowns and checkboxes and eccentricities that hinder the great features. For example, email capture is great, and you could review the billable time from inside of the captured email. Still, it was impossible to go the other way and look at an invoice online and then get to the email for which you have billed from the billable time. We ended up inventing an elaborate description to include the date/time stamp of the email so we could trace it back.
Also, customer service was not impressive. The service reps always seemed to take a very ambivalent approach, so much so that we just gave up calling. I think they were probably happy to get rid of us, which is a valuable lesson for me in picking a vendor. Find that level of service that you need; don’t settle for less.
We switched to MyCase plus a cloud accounting system where it’s still a challenge to get things done, but it’s half the price, and MyCase doesn’t promise things it can’t deliver. I’m using the features of MyCase more than I ever did on Clio or CosmoLex, too, like tasks and client intake. My clients avoided the client interface on CosmoLex, but they use the MyCase interface daily.
We tried to make CosmoLex work, but in the end, it felt like we were feeding a giant machine that never gave us useful business data back and cost us a ton of time in lost productivity.
4.7 Rating - Great to have accounting and case mgmt combined
I’ve been using Cosmolex for over a year after experience with Clio and find that it pushes itself just over Clio. I also find it just slightly faster than Clio as well in toggling between tabs, matters, etc. Also, it is much easier to send reminders all at once for unpaid bills in Cosmolex than in Clio.
The main reason I like Cosmolex over Clio is that it handles my accounting too. I can link expenses to a matter to be reimbursed by the client. That way, the money I receive from the client is properly separated into reimbursements v. income. It integrates with Law Pay so that once I send the invoice, I don’t need to check back to see if the client has paid – it will automatically update as such once the client does so. I like having the accounting and case mgmt all together in one platform so I don’t have to purchase a separate software system for accounting.
The one downside is that if you want a bookkeeper- you need one who knows how to use Cosmolex. I haven’t started a bookkeeper yet because I want to understand exactly how everything works and comes together for this year’s books before turning it over to someone else. They do, however, have a list of accredited bookkeepers who have completed the necessary training, and I’m sure I’ll engage one of them in the coming year.
For both Clio and Cosmolex, I can always talk to a technician/helper anytime I want. This is big for me because I am really forgetful of how to do software tasks right. Clio also has the chat feature with someone always available and I can always call someone with Cosmolex, so they tie on this measure.
Robust Features
What I love above CosmoLex is the many case management options as well as the accounting capability. In addition, anytime I need to speak to a real person they are always available.