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5 Best Legal Operations Software for Modern Legal Teams

 In Practice Pointers

5 Best Legal Operations Software for Modern Legal Teams

If you’re part of a legal team, you already know how much work happens behind the scenes. It’s not all case law and contracts—it’s budgets, documents, vendor coordination, and making sure everything runs on time.

And when you’re juggling all of that with outdated systems or manual processes, things get messy fast.

That’s why legal operations software matters. It helps you organize your workload, cut out repetitive tasks, and bring everything into one place. Instead of switching between spreadsheets and email threads, you get tools built to handle exactly what legal teams deal with every day.

In this guide, we’ll walk through what legal ops actually covers and show you some of the most useful tools out there—broken down by category. We’ll also highlight the key features that make each tool stand out so you can find what fits your team best.

lawyers looking at a tablet

What Are Legal Operations?

Legal operations—or legal ops—is the business side of running a legal team. It covers everything that supports lawyers without being legal work itself. That includes but is not limited to managing:

  • Budgets
  • Vendors
  • Tech tools
  • Data
  • Reporting
  • Internal processes

The goal is simple: take repetitive, non-legal tasks off the lawyers’ plates so they can focus on actual legal work. Legal ops help legal teams work more efficiently, make better decisions, and stay on top of deadlines and legal spend.

This area has grown into its own field, with professionals dedicated to improving how legal departments function. They handle strategy, process improvement, financial oversight, and technology adoption—to make sure everything runs smoothly behind the scenes.

Legal operations also play a key role in helping legal departments prove their value. Instead of being seen as just a cost center, legal teams can now show how they support the bigger goals of the business.

In short, legal ops is the engine that keeps everything moving while quietly powering the legal team so they can focus on what matters most.

What is Legal Operations Software?

Legal operations software is built to support the day-to-day work of legal departments. It helps manage contracts, budgets, vendors, legal spend, documents, eSignatures, compliance tasks, and more without relying on spreadsheets or outdated systems.

Most tools offer automation features, like auto-drafting discovery responses or routing contracts for review. Some use AI to flag risks or handle routine legal tasks. These features save time, reduce errors, and free up lawyers to focus on legal strategy.

As client demands increase, legal teams are expected to deliver faster results with fewer resources. Legal operations software makes that possible by improving how legal work is organized, tracked, and delivered.

It’s also great for reporting. Legal ops tools can show how much you’re spending, which vendors are performing well, and where bottlenecks are slowing you down. In short, it turns legal departments into more efficient, business-focused teams.

With all this in mind, let’s take a look at some of the best tools for legal operations teams and corporate legal departments.

Best Legal Operations Tools Per Category

Legal operations cover a lot of ground, so there’s no one-size-fits-all tool. The best approach is to pick software that’s built for specific tasks, whether it’s drafting documents, managing contracts, or tracking billing.

Below are the top tools in each category that legal teams rely on to get things done faster and with less hassle.

1. Discovery Document Drafting: Briefpoint

Drafting discovery documents can slow everything down. It’s repetitive, tedious, and takes up valuable time that could be better spent on strategy or case prep.

Briefpoint takes care of the busywork by auto-generating clean, formatted discovery drafts in minutes. This AI-powered tool handles interrogatories, requests for admission, and requests for production for all U.S. states and federal districts.

Briefpoint

The process is simple: upload your PDF, select your objections, and download a ready-to-edit Word file. No complicated setup, no steep learning curve—just faster drafting with less stress.

Best Features

  • Propound & respond support: Drafts and responds to requests for admission, requests for production, and interrogatories across all U.S. jurisdictions.
  • Fast document generation: Upload a PDF and get a mostly completed brief in minutes.
  • Click-to-add objections: Easily add objections to each request with a simple interface.
  • Editable Word downloads: Export fully formatted documents for final edits or filing.
  • Court-specific formatting: Automatically detects court info to apply local rules.
  • Private and secure: Uses end-to-end encryption and doesn’t store or train on client data.

Briefpoint can help you draft legal documents in minutes instead of hours. Find out more about the platform and book your demo today!

2. Contract Lifecycle Management: Ironclad

Contract lifecycle management (CLM) is the process of creating, reviewing, approving, signing, storing, and tracking contracts from start to finish.

Ironclad makes this process smoother by bringing everything into one central platform. It removes the back-and-forth emails, scattered edits, and tracking headaches that often slow things down.

Ironclad

Source: G2

With Ironclad, legal teams can collaborate with other departments, set up automated approval flows, and keep full visibility into every contract. It’s built to handle high volumes of contracts without the usual chaos.

Best Features

  • Full contract workflow: Manages everything from drafting to signature and storage.
  • Live collaboration tools: Teams can edit and comment on contracts in real time.
  • Automated approvals: Routes contracts through the right steps without manual follow-up.
  • Audit trail and version control: Tracks every edit, comment, and approval.
  • Central contract library: Organizes contracts with filters, tags, and search.
  • Integrates with key platforms: Works with Salesforce, Slack, DocuSign, and more.

3. Collaborative eDiscovery: Everlaw

Everlaw is a cloud-based electronic discovery platform that helps legal teams review, organize, and share case documents in one secure place. It’s designed for collaboration, making it easier for teams to manage both internal and external matters without getting buried in files or emails.

Everlaw

Source: G2

As part of modern legal operations management, Everlaw simplifies the process of reviewing large sets of data. Teams can highlight key info, leave notes, assign tasks, and build case timelines—all within the same platform. It reduces the back-and-forth and keeps everyone on the same page.

Used by law firms and in-house legal teams, Everlaw fits well into any legal software setup. It gives legal professionals the tools to work faster, stay organized, and handle discovery with less stress.

Best Features

  • Cloud-based access: Review discovery documents anytime, from anywhere.
  • Team collaboration tools: Comment, tag, and assign tasks within your team.
  • Powerful search options: Find the right documents quickly with smart filters.
  • Timeline builder: Visually map out events, facts, and evidence.
  • Secure document sharing: Control who sees what, inside or outside your team.
  • Seamless integration: Connects with your other legal tools and systems.

4. Electronic Signatures: DocuSign

DocuSign is an electronic signature tool that allows legal teams to send, sign, and manage documents digitally. It replaces the need for printing, scanning, or mailing paperwork, speeding up approvals and keeping signatures organized in one place.

DocuSign

Source: G2

For legal teams managing contracts, agreements, or filings, DocuSign is a key part of modern legal workflows. It helps reduce delays, improves accuracy, and makes it easier to track who signed what and when.

Everything is timestamped and stored securely, which is especially helpful when working with outside counsel or across departments. DocuSign also supports integration with other tools, which helps legal teams manage legal data without extra steps.

Best Features

  • Legally binding eSignatures: Secure and accepted in courts and across industries.
  • Audit trails: Track every step in the signing process for transparency.
  • Reusable templates: Save time on documents you send frequently.
  • Mobile-friendly: Send and sign documents from any device.
  • Real-time notifications: Get alerts when documents are viewed or signed.
  • Tool integrations: Works with contract tools, CRMs, and cloud storage apps.

5. Legal Accounting: LeanLaw

LeanLaw is a legal-specific accounting and billing tool built for law firms and in-house teams. It helps manage time tracking, invoicing, trust accounting, and expense reporting—all while syncing directly with QuickBooks Online.

leanlaw

Source: LeanLaw.co

Essentially, it’s designed to simplify billing and give full visibility into legal costs without needing to juggle spreadsheets.

LeanLaw also helps legal teams stay organized with detailed reporting, making it easier to monitor budgets and work with legal vendors. It supports internal tracking needs and offers features that work well alongside legal tracker support systems used in larger departments.

Best Features

  • QuickBooks Online integration: Syncs billing and accounting in real time.
  • Time tracking tools: Track billable hours by client, matter, or user.
  • Trust accounting: Manage client funds in compliance with legal standards.
  • Detailed reporting: See where money is going and identify gaps.
  • Invoice automation: Generate and send polished invoices with a few clicks.
  • Vendor management: Track and manage outside costs tied to legal work.

Briefpoint Eliminates One of the Most Tedious Parts of Legal Operations

Legal operations software covers everything from contracts to billing to eSignatures and the right tools can save your team serious time. But even with solid systems in place, discovery drafting often remains a stubborn bottleneck.

Briefpoint solves this by tackling one of the most tedious parts of legal work: drafting and responding to discovery requests. Instead of spending hours formatting documents or copying standard objections, you can upload a PDF and generate a ready-to-edit draft in minutes.

Briefpoint handles interrogatories, requests for admission, and requests for production across all U.S. jurisdictions. You stay in control of the content, but the heavy lifting is done for you—fast, secure, and fully editable.

If your legal team is already using tools to manage contracts, track spend, or collect signatures, adding Briefpoint to your toolkit is a simple next step.

See it in action—book a demo and find out how much time you could save.

FAQs About Legal Operations Software

What is the most popular legal software?

Some of the most widely used legal software tools include Briefpoint, Ironclad, and DocuSign. Each serves a different purpose—case management, document storage, contract workflows, or eSignatures. The right choice depends on your team’s needs. Popular platforms often offer features like custom workflows, integrations with other tools, and dashboards that provide actionable insights into legal activity and performance.

What is legal operations management?

Legal operations management refers to the processes, people, and tools that help legal teams run more efficiently. It focuses on things like budgeting, vendor relationships, project management, reporting, and technology adoption. The goal is to support legal work by handling everything behind the scenes—allowing lawyers to focus on legal tasks, not admin work. Many teams also rely on vendors that offer implementation services to set up their systems smoothly.

What is legal case management software?

Legal case management software helps lawyers track cases, deadlines, documents, contacts, and communications in one place. It allows teams to assign tasks, store case files, and view case progress at a glance. Most platforms also let you import data from older systems, which helps teams switch over without losing past work.

What is legal CRM software?

Legal CRM (customer relationship management) software helps law firms manage client interactions, track leads, schedule follow-ups, and keep contact records organized. It’s especially useful for intake teams and business development. A good legal CRM makes it easy to turn client communication into valuable data that helps teams improve service, follow up consistently, and grow smarter.

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