Law firm software in the Philippines, a buyer's guide.

A law office runs on dates. Every order, decision and notice received starts a period, and a missed period can cost the client the case. The system should turn the date of receipt into a due date, put it on the calendar of every lawyer on the matter, and warn before it falls.

• Intake and a conflict check against every client, adverse party and related name already on file.
• Matters with their court, case number, parties, lawyers and status.
• Hearings and deadlines on one calendar, with reminders.
• Time entries and expenses per matter, ready to bill.
• Statements of account, collections and official receipts or invoices.
• Client deposits and advances tracked per client, never mixed with fees.

Periods are counted under the Rules of Court: the day of the act or event is excluded and the last day is included, and when the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday the time runs until the next working day. The 2019 Amendments to the Rules of Civil Procedure changed several periods and filing practices, so a deadline table written before 2020 should be checked.

The Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability (2023) governs conflicts of interest, client confidentiality and how a lawyer holds client money and property. A lawyer who is a notary public keeps a notarial register under the 2004 Rules on Notarial Practice and submits it to the executive judge as the rules require.

Fees are income of the firm or the lawyer, so official receipts or invoices follow BIR rules, and corporate clients withhold tax on professional fees and issue BIR Form 2307.

A spreadsheet of cases depends on one person remembering to update it. A system ties every deadline to a matter and a lawyer, shows who changed a date and when, and lets the partner see every deadline in the firm this week in one screen. It also runs the conflict check on every name, not only the ones somebody remembered to search.

Client money is the other test. A deposit for filing fees belongs to the client until it is spent, and a system that keeps a ledger per client can show the balance on any day. A spreadsheet usually cannot without a person rebuilding it.

A small practice may only need matters, deadlines and billing. A firm with staff, several partners and its own books does better when billing posts straight to the accounting ledger, so the trial balance and the income statement come from the same records as the statements of account.

Client files hold personal and often sensitive information: health records in a personal injury case, criminal records, family and financial matters. Under RA 10173 the firm decides who may see them and must be able to show it. Roles that limit each person to their own matters, an audit trail, two-factor sign-in and backups are the minimum.