Buyer's guide

Legal practice management software
in Australia, compared.

10 established and emerging platforms we reviewed for Australian firms in 2026, including two that are being retired and two that are not recommended for new implementations. We build one of these, and we have said so wherever it matters.

10 platforms. Sourced and dated.

Last reviewed

What is the best legal practice management software for an Australian law firm?

There is no single best one: the honest answer depends on firm size, practice area and how you bill. LEAP leads on Australian install base and its supplied precedent library, Clio on integrations, Smokeball on automatic time capture across Word and Outlook, Actionstep on configurability, and MatterFirst on AI and automation across the whole matter: document extraction and drafting, automatic time capture and configurable workflows, with documents and AI processed in Australia. FilePro and LawMaster are being retired.

Read this first if you are on FilePro or LawMaster

Actionstep acquired LawMaster in 2022 and FilePro in 2023, and is retiring both in favour of its own platform. FilePro sunsets on 31 December 2026: every FilePro firm in Australia has to be on something else before then, after which compliance updates cease and the Electronic File Purchase portal closes permanently. LawMaster is being wound down with no announced end date, which is its own planning problem.

If that is you, the question is not whether to move but what to move to, and the useful thing is to start early: migration capacity is finite and it is being consumed by every other firm in the same position.

Source: Law Support Australia, checked 29 July 2026.

10 established and emerging platforms we reviewed
Platform Origin Status Best suited to
Actionstep New Zealand Active Firms wanting configurable matter progression and step-based automation.
Affinity Australia Active Firms evaluating Affinity’s integrated accounting and configurable workflows.
Clio Canada Active Firms that need a wide integration ecosystem or operate in more than one jurisdiction.
FilePro Australia Reported retirement 31 December 2026 Nobody new. If you are on FilePro, the question is what you move to, not whether.
LEAP Australia Active Firms whose work is precedent-heavy and who want the vendor with the longest Australian track record.
Law App Australia Active Small firms with high file throughput that want general accounting in the same system.
LawMaster Australia Reported wind-down; confirm provider timeline Nobody new. Existing firms should be planning a move on their own timeline rather than waiting for one to be set for them.
MatterFirst Australia Active Small Australian firms to about twenty users wanting AI and automation across the matter, processed in Australia
Practice Evolve Australia and United Kingdom Active Mid-size firms evaluating connected matter, document and legal accounting requirements.
Smokeball Australia and United States Active Firms requiring Word and Outlook activity tracking or a supplied Australian forms library.

Origin, status and positioning are drawn from the sources listed at the foot of this page. Where we have not verified a competitor's pricing, the platform's own section below says so rather than guessing.

Platform by platform

What each one is actually good at.

Listed alphabetically, not ranked. A ranking would imply one answer fits every firm, and it does not.

Actionstep

Active New Zealand

Practice management with configurable matter workflows, step requirements and workflow-specific automation.

Strengths

  • Workflow diagrams organise matter steps and milestones
  • Steps collect information, assign tasks and enforce progression requirements

Things to weigh

  • Agree the configuration ownership and implementation scope before signing
  • Compare the workflows your team will actually maintain, including branching and approval requirements

Source · Checked 5 October 2026

Pricing:
Not published. We do not list a competitor's pricing unless we can point at where it came from.
Suits:
Firms wanting configurable matter progression and step-based automation.

Affinity

Active Australia

Lexis Affinity combines matter management, workflow configuration, data forms, precedents and legal accounting.

Strengths

  • Matter management, client data and configuration
  • Workflow automation, forms and precedent configuration

Things to weigh

  • Ask for current deployment, hosting and system requirements
  • Evaluate implementation, configuration ownership and support requirements

Source · Checked 5 October 2026

Pricing:
Not published. We do not list a competitor's pricing unless we can point at where it came from.
Suits:
Firms evaluating Affinity’s integrated accounting and configurable workflows.

Clio

Active Canada

The global market leader, with the largest third-party integration ecosystem and a long record of public reviews.

Strengths

  • Largest integration marketplace of any platform in this list
  • Mature, widely reviewed product with a long reference list
  • Clio Manage, Grow, Draft and Work cover practice management, intake, documents and AI
  • Australian offering includes billing, payments and client portal capabilities

Things to weigh

  • Check the selected Australian plan and each required integration
  • Agree hosting, AI processing and export requirements in your procurement review

Source · Checked 5 October 2026

Pricing:
Clio publishes EasyStart starting at $39/user/month on its Australian pricing page. Confirm currency, billing cadence, GST, selected plan and add-ons in your quote.
Suits:
Firms that need a wide integration ecosystem or operate in more than one jurisdiction.

FilePro

Reported retirement 31 December 2026 Australia

Long-established Australian platform, strong in conveyancing. Acquired by Actionstep in 2023 and now being retired.

Strengths

  • Well understood by the Australian conveyancing firms that use it
  • Long history in the local market

Things to weigh

  • Sunsets 31 December 2026. Every FilePro firm in Australia has to migrate before then
  • Compliance updates cease and the Electronic File Purchase portal closes permanently at sunset
  • Actionstep migration slots for late 2026 are reportedly filling, which compresses the margin for anything going wrong

Source · Checked 29 July 2026

Pricing:
Not applicable: the platform is being retired.
Suits:
Nobody new. If you are on FilePro, the question is what you move to, not whether.

LEAP

Active Australia

The incumbent in Australian small-firm practice, with the largest local install base and a deep precedent and forms library.

Strengths

  • Largest install base among Australian small firms
  • Extensive precedent and forms library built for Australian jurisdictions
  • Matter management, trust accounting, billing and a client portal in one system

Things to weigh

  • No published price list, so ask for the per-user figure and the contract term up front
  • Check supplied forms and precedents for your jurisdictions and practice areas

Source · Checked 5 October 2026

Pricing:
Not published. We do not list a competitor's pricing unless we can point at where it came from.
Suits:
Firms whose work is precedent-heavy and who want the vendor with the longest Australian track record.

Law App

Active Australia

Australian-built and owner-operated, priced per file rather than per user, with general accounting included.

Strengths

  • Offers per-file pricing and a fixed monthly option
  • Includes full general accounting rather than only trust
  • Matters, trust, time, billing and general accounting in one system

Things to weigh

  • Compare per-file and fixed monthly quotes using your own matter volumes
  • Confirm the availability of roadmap features at the time of evaluation

Source · Checked 5 October 2026

Pricing:
Not published. We do not list a competitor's pricing unless we can point at where it came from.
Suits:
Small firms with high file throughput that want general accounting in the same system.

LawMaster

Reported wind-down; confirm provider timeline Australia

Australian platform acquired by Actionstep in 2022, now being wound down with no announced end date.

Strengths

  • Established product with a long-standing base of Australian firms

Things to weigh

  • Being wound down. No public deadline has been announced, which is its own planning problem
  • Not recommended for new implementations

Source · Checked 29 July 2026

Pricing:
Not applicable: the platform is being retired.
Suits:
Nobody new. Existing firms should be planning a move on their own timeline rather than waiting for one to be set for them.

Practice Evolve

Active Australia and United Kingdom

Cloud practice management aimed at mid-tier firms, connecting matters, documents and legal accounts.

Strengths

  • Cloud access and collaboration across matters and documents
  • Workflow and document automation aimed at mid-size practice

Things to weigh

  • Ask for current reference firms of your size, and what the support response times actually are

Source · Checked 5 October 2026

Pricing:
Not published. We do not list a competitor's pricing unless we can point at where it came from.
Suits:
Mid-size firms evaluating connected matter, document and legal accounting requirements.

Smokeball

Active Australia and United States

Known for AutoTime activity tracking across Word, Outlook and Smokeball, and a large library of automated Australian legal forms.

Strengths

  • AutoTime tracks activity across Word, Outlook and Smokeball
  • Supplied legal forms and document templates
  • Microsoft Office integration

Things to weigh

  • Compare plan inclusions and per-user costs for your team
  • AutoTime is an add-on on Grow and included on Prosper+; confirm its current add-on price in your quote

Source · Checked 5 October 2026

Pricing:
Smokeball Bill from A$59, Boost from A$129 and Grow from A$249 per user/month, excluding GST. Prosper+ has custom pricing. AutoTime is an add-on on Grow and included on Prosper+. Confirm contract terms and additional charges in your quote.
Suits:
Firms requiring Word and Outlook activity tracking or a supplied Australian forms library.

MatterFirst

This is us Australia

Australian-built, from NorthCape Technology in Melbourne. Matters, documents, automation, trust accounting, billing and a client portal in one workspace, with configurable workflows, automatic time capture for review, AI document extraction and Matti matter questions processed in Australia.

Strengths

  • Configure matter workflows: describe the process, edit visually, check, simulate, review and publish. Use conditional decisions, tasks and dates, approval requirements, document preparation, prepared signing requests and waits. Publishing creates a version; drafts do not silently alter running workflows.
  • Automatic time capture generates reviewable suggestions from matter-linked meetings, sent and received emails, added documents and file notes. Meetings use calendar durations; other activities produce estimated durations for review. Time entries are created only after acceptance.
  • Document AI extracts contacts, key dates, figures and property details for source review; Matti helps prepare drafts and proposed matter changes.
  • Document reading runs on Microsoft Azure AI Document Intelligence in Australia East. Document analysis and Matti matter questions run on AWS Bedrock in Australia.
  • Client portal and automations included on every plan, not metered
  • Workspace base pricing with specified included users, extra-seat charges and AI allowance

Things to weigh

  • Newer than everything else on this page, with a correspondingly short public reference list
  • Smaller integration ecosystem than Clio; check required integrations against the integration setup list
  • No supplied precedent and forms library on LEAP's scale; firms use their own Word templates
  • Aimed at firms up to roughly twenty seats; larger rollouts are a conversation, not a signup
Pricing:
Workspace base pricing starts at A$199/month for Solo with 1 included user and A$139/month per extra seat, up to 3 users. Each plan specifies included users, extra-seat rates and a monthly AI allowance. Prices exclude GST; additional AI usage is separately payable. Full plans.
Suits:
Small Australian firms, from solo up to about twenty users, that want AI and automation across the matter: document-heavy commercial and conveyancing work, hourly billing with automatic time capture, and processes worth configuring.

MatterFirst is an AI-native legal practice management platform for Australian law firms, built for small and boutique practices by NorthCape Technology.

MatterFirst suits small Australian firms, from solo up to around twenty users, that want AI and automation across the matter: document extraction and drafting, automatic time capture for review and configurable workflows. It is the weaker choice if you need the largest integration ecosystem, which is Clio, or a supplied precedent library built over decades, which is LEAP, or if your selection process requires a long list of local references, which a newer vendor cannot yet offer.

Evaluation checklist

The questions behind this guide

Everything above is our reading. This is the list of questions to put to each platform yourself, including capture sources, workflow controls and precedent coverage. Free, ungated, and downloadable as markdown.

Read the checklist Download it

Reviewed by Liam Killingback

Co-founder and Technical Director, NorthCape Technology

Full-stack engineer with deep experience in Elixir, private AI systems and secure infrastructure. Builds the MatterFirst platform and reviews the comparison and migration pages on this site. Engineer rather than lawyer, which is why the pages he reviews cite sources instead of asserting legal positions.

Last reviewed

How we check this

  • Every claim about another platform comes from that platform's own public documentation or pricing page, linked from the page it appears on.
  • Where a vendor does not publish something, the page says 'not published' rather than estimating it. A guess that reads as a fact is the failure mode this rule exists to prevent.
  • Every page carries the date its competitor facts were last checked, so you can see how fresh they are rather than assuming.
  • We sell one of the products being compared. Every page says so, and every page states the cases where the competitor is the better choice.
  • If you find something here that is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will correct it and re-date the page.

FAQ

Choosing, answered.

What is the best legal practice management software for a small Australian law firm?
It depends on how the firm bills and what it does. If you want the largest Australian install base and a deep supplied precedent library, LEAP. If you want the widest integration ecosystem, Clio. If you want time tracked across Word and Outlook, Smokeball. If you want configurable matter steps from an established vendor, Actionstep. If you want AI and automation across the whole matter, with document extraction and drafting, automatic time capture for review and configurable workflows processed in Australia, MatterFirst. There is no single right answer, and any page that gives you one is selling something.
Which Australian legal software is being discontinued?
Actionstep acquired LawMaster in 2022 and FilePro in 2023. Law Support Australia, a competing vendor, reports a 31 December 2026 FilePro retirement and a LawMaster wind-down. Confirm timelines and support commitments directly with the provider before deciding. Affinity should be evaluated against its current deployment and configuration requirements.
What should a FilePro firm move to?
That depends on the firm, and the honest first step is to start looking now rather than to pick fast. Actionstep is the incumbent's own destination and will be the path of least resistance. LEAP, Clio, Smokeball and MatterFirst are all genuine alternatives. The thing that matters more than the choice is the timing: migration capacity across every vendor is finite and is being consumed by every other firm facing the same deadline.
Is Australian data residency actually required for a law firm?
Not as a blanket legal rule, but it is frequently a client requirement, particularly for government and institutional work, and it simplifies your position under the Australian Privacy Principles. Platforms differ here: some let you pin the region, some do not, and some pin storage but process AI requests elsewhere. If it matters to you, ask specifically about where inference runs, not just where files are stored.
How much does legal practice management software cost in Australia?
Smokeball Bill from A$59, Boost from A$129 and Grow from A$249 per user/month, excluding GST. Prosper+ has custom pricing. AutoTime is an add-on on Grow and included on Prosper+. Confirm contract terms and additional charges in your quote. Workspace base pricing starts at A$199/month for Solo with 1 included user and A$139/month per extra seat, up to 3 users. Each plan specifies included users, extra-seat rates and a monthly AI allowance. Prices exclude GST; additional AI usage is separately payable. Compare included users, extra-seat rates, AI allowances, additional usage, contract terms and external costs on the same basis.
Why does a software vendor publish a comparison that names its competitors?
Because a page that names only one product does not answer the question anyone asked, and because we would rather you found the honest version here than the dishonest version elsewhere. We build MatterFirst and we have said so on this page, including where it is the weaker choice.

Sources

MatterFirst is made by NorthCape Technology. We have tried to be accurate about the other platforms on this page and to say plainly where ours is not the right choice. If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will correct it.

Want to see where MatterFirst fits?

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