5 Best Legal Workflow Software to Use in 2026

What Are Legal Workflow Tools?

Legal workflow tools are specialized software applications designed to optimize and automate various tasks and processes within legal practices.

Generally, these tools aim to improve efficiency, accuracy, and consistency by managing and simplifying routine tasks, including but not limited to:

• Document creation
• Case management
• Legal billing
• Scheduling
• Communication

In other words, legal workflow management software streamlines processes wherever automation is possible.

For the legal industry and corporate legal departments, most of the focus is on incorporating automated workflows to let legal professionals focus on value-adding tasks that tech cannot do.

What Are the Types of Legal Workflow Tech Solutions?

Legal workflow automation software can be classified into many distinct types based on its function. In this article, we’ll focus on some of the most important, which include:

Document Automation

Document automation is a type of legal workflow automation software that creates or drafts legal documents, including discovery responses and requests. Without this type of tech, legal professionals would still have to spend hours, if not days, drafting documents manually.

Besides speeding up the process of creating legal documents, document automation helps ensure consistency and accuracy across the board.

Task or Project Management

In most law firms, a significant chunk of time is usually spent on organizing legal teams and delegating tasks for maximum efficiency. This might be easier for smaller law firms, but not for big ones that have dozens of legal staff members.

Task management involves the utilization of software solutions to organize, monitor, and assign tasks within a team. These solutions typically bring:

• Deadline reminders for critical filings and submissions
• Task assignment to specific team members based on their expertise
• Client communication follow-ups
• Progress tracking dashboards for a quick overview of ongoing projects
• Recurring tasks like monthly case reviews or billing reminders
• Integration with calendars to align tasks with schedules
• Status updates for team-wide visibility on task completion

Acting as a digital project manager, legal task management software can help you establish efficient workflow coordination to avoid overlooking tasks or missing deadlines.

Database Management

With database management systems, law firms can ditch the chaos of physical files and keep everything organized in one secure digital space.

These tools make storing and finding information like case files, client details, and legal research a breeze. Instead of spending precious time searching through folders, advanced search features let you pull up what you need in seconds.

On top of that, they’re designed to keep sensitive data safe, with built-in encryption and access controls.

Collaboration gets easier, too. Whether you’re in the office or working remotely, team members can share, update, and access files in real time.

Billing Management

Law firms generate profit through billable hours, which makes an efficient billing management system an absolute must.

Billing management tools automate administrative tasks such as invoicing and payment tracking within legal operations.

Compared to general accounting tools, these billing systems are built specifically for legal work. At the very least, legal billing tools reduce manual data entry and align billing directly with matters, time entries, and client agreements.

These tools help optimize tasks like:

• Tracking billable hours
• Generating invoices
• Monitoring outstanding payments
• Maintaining transparent financial records

While general accounting software focuses on high-level finances, legal billing tools connect timekeeping and case activity to billing in a way that fits how law firms actually work.

Legal Reporting

Another useful type of workflow automation software is legal reporting tools, which help law firms gauge their profitability and overall health.

An ideal reporting tool should be capable of data analysis, productivity monitoring, key performance indicator (KPI) tracking, as well as tracking and analysis of important metrics like cash flow, law firm profitability, cost-per-client, and more.

Law firms need this kind of software to make sure they’re always in the black and anticipate potential financial issues down the road.

What are the Benefits of Using Legal Workflow Software?

Legal workflow software helps bring order to work that can easily feel scattered. If your day includes jumping between emails, documents, and reminders, these tools pull everything into a clearer flow and reduce reliance on manual processes that slow you down.

Here’s where the value really shows up:

• Saves time on everyday work: When you automate tasks like legal document drafting, task tracking, and approvals, you spend less time on busywork and more time moving cases forward and supporting strategic initiatives.
• Cuts down on mistakes: Manual handoffs and repeated data entry create room for error. Workflow software adds consistency across all areas.
• Reduces administrative overhead: Fewer follow-ups, fewer spreadsheets, and less rework make day-to-day legal operations easier to manage.
• Makes collaboration easier: Everyone can see what’s happening, what’s next, and who’s responsible, which helps teams stay aligned even when they’re not in the same office.
• Improves user adoption over time: Tools built around real workflows feel easier to use, which helps teams stick with them instead of falling back on old habits.

Overall, legal workflow software gives you a more reliable way to manage work without adding extra layers of complexity.

Top 5 Legal Workflow Automation and Management Software

Choosing the right legal practice management software can be complicated, given the dozens of potential options out there. So, we’ve narrowed it down to a top-five list:

1. Briefpoint: Best for Discovery Document Drafting

Briefpoint is a discovery automation platform designed to reduce the time and effort it takes to draft discovery requests and responses.

It pulls key information from your documents and generates suggested answers or objections you can review and edit, which helps you move through discovery with less manual work.

You can use Briefpoint to handle common discovery documents, such as:

• Requests for admission
• Requests for production
• Interrogatories

Briefpoint also includes Briefpoint Bridge, a built-in tool that simplifies collecting client responses. 

You can choose the interrogatories that need answers, rewrite them in plain language, and send them directly to your client. When responses come back, Bridge places them into the draft automatically.

For matters with large productions, Autodoc extends Briefpoint’s capabilities even further.

Upload your RFPs and production or case files, and Autodoc identifies responsive documents, generates Word responses with page-level Bates citations, and prepares a Bates-numbered production ready to serve. Review controls and privilege tagging keep everything transparent.

More than 1,500 law firms trust Briefpoint to reduce discovery time and keep work moving when deadlines matter.

See how it works today.

2. Clio: Best Legal Practice Management System

Clio is a cloud-based practice management platform built to support the day-to-day operations of a law firm from a single system.

Source: G2

This popular tool brings together core functions that firms rely on to keep matters organized, deadlines visible, and work moving forward without handling multiple platforms.

Its feature set covers:

• Case management
• Time tracking
• Billing and invoicing
• Document management
• Calendar and task management

Clio also works well alongside other workflow tools, which makes it easier to connect case data with the rest of your tech stack. For firms focused on process management, this flexibility helps reduce gaps between intake, active matters, and billing.

And because it’s cloud-based, Clio supports remote work and shared access across teams. Attorneys and staff can review files, update matters, and communicate without being tied to the office. 

The platform also supports a smoother client intake process and clearer collaboration across roles.

If you’re looking to streamline operations and centralize case-related work, Clio offers a practical foundation that scales as caseloads grow.

3. Smokeball: Best Automation Software for Smaller Firms

Smokeball is designed for smaller teams that want legal automation without adding complexity to their day. 

If you handle a high volume of similar tasks, this platform helps you automate routine tasks while keeping work consistent and easy to manage.

Source: G2

It supports automation across areas you likely touch every day, including:

• Time tracking
• Document drafting
• Email management
• Billing and invoicing

One of the key benefits is how everything connects. Time entries flow into billing, documents pull from the same matter data, and fewer details fall through the cracks. That structure helps with maintaining consistent quality, even when you’re managing multiple matters at once.

Smokeball also offers seamless integration with tools you may already rely on, such as Microsoft Office and QuickBooks. You don’t need to rebuild your workflow to use it, which makes adoption smoother from the start.

4. PatentPal: Best Legal Workflow Software for IP Law

PatentPal is a niche software solution developed with the unique needs of intellectual property professionals in mind. 

Basically, it automates and smoothens the most complicated parts of drafting and managing patents.

Source: Patentpal.com

PatentPal decreases the time and effort typically required in the patent application process, which makes it an invaluable asset for those specializing in IP law.

Some of its key features include:

• Automated drafting
• Customizable templates
• Error detection
• AI-powered suggestions
• Version control

5. FileStage: Best for Document Reviews

FileStage brings structure to document reviews that usually feel scattered and hard to track.

When approvals, comments, and revisions live across emails and shared drives, it’s easy to lose momentum. FileStage pulls that work into a single review space so documents move forward without constant follow-ups.

Source: G2

It’s a solid fit for contract review and other approval-heavy work where multiple people need to weigh in. Every comment, change, and decision stays tied to the document, which makes it easier to see progress and avoid duplicate edits.

By automating repetitive tasks like reminders and approval tracking, reviews don’t stall waiting for responses across multiple systems.

FileStage helps organize:

• File review and approval
• Task assignments
• Auditing
• Version tracking and change history
• Centralized feedback from internal and external reviewers

The result is a review process that feels more predictable and easier to manage, especially when several stakeholders are involved, and timelines matter.

How Can You Incorporate Legal Workflow Automation in Your Law Firm?

Adding workflow automation works best when it feels like a natural extension of how work already gets done.

Always remember that the goal is to reduce human error and introduce workflow solutions that actually support your day, not slow it down.

Here’s a simple way to approach it:

• Start with friction points: Look at tasks that create delays or rework, such as drafting, approval processes, billing, or legal project management. These issues show up in small teams and enterprise legal departments alike.
• Be clear on what you want to improve: Faster turnaround, fewer mistakes, better visibility, or smoother handoffs all shape which tools make sense.
• Choose tools that fit your setup: Workflow solutions should work alongside your existing tools, not replace everything overnight. Strong integrations make adoption easier and keep work moving.
• Roll it out in stages: Introduce automation gradually, migrate data carefully, and adjust workflows so they match how your team already operates.
• Get people comfortable using it: Practical training and open feedback go a long way. When legal software feels intuitive, teams stick with it.
• Keep reviewing and adjusting: Check performance, gather feedback, and refine workflows over time. Pay close attention to compliance tracking and data security as processes evolve.

Legal Workflow Software Is the Future of Efficient Practice

In this guide, the focus has been on reducing friction in everyday legal work. When workflow software is used well, tasks stay organized, and teams spend less time chasing details across systems.

Discovery is the legal workflow that often carries the heaviest load. Deadlines are tight, documents pile up quickly, and manual drafting leaves little room for error. That pressure can ripple through the rest of your workflow and slow everything down.

Briefpoint fits naturally into that picture by handling discovery drafting and responses with far less manual effort. It keeps documents consistent, shortens turnaround time, and gives you clearer control over a process that usually demands a lot of attention.

When one of the most demanding parts of the litigation process becomes easier to manage, the rest of your workflow benefits, too.

If discovery continues to take up more time than it should, book a demo today!