Buyer's guide

Legal practice management software
in Australia, compared.

Every platform an Australian firm can realistically choose 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 whether you bill hourly. LEAP leads on Australian install base, Clio on integrations, Smokeball on automatic time capture, Actionstep on configurability, and MatterFirst on AI document extraction with onshore processing. 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 28 July 2026.

Every platform available to Australian firms, July 2026
Platform Origin Status Best suited to
Actionstep New Zealand Active Mid-size firms with someone whose job includes maintaining the configuration.
Affinity Australia Legacy, not recommended for new firms Existing users not yet ready to move. Not a candidate for a new selection.
Clio Canada Active Firms that need a wide integration ecosystem or operate in more than one jurisdiction.
FilePro Australia Retiring 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 Being retired, no announced date 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 Australian firms to about twenty seats wanting AI document extraction with onshore processing
Practice Evolve Australia and United Kingdom Active Mid-size firms with a specific need for on-premise deployment.
Smokeball Australia and United States Active Firms that bill hourly and want time captured automatically, and who are comfortable with a multi-year term.

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

Highly configurable workflow engine aimed at mid-size firms. Now also the owner of FilePro and LawMaster.

Strengths

  • Deepest workflow configurability of any platform in this list
  • Suits firms whose processes genuinely differ from the default

Things to weigh

  • Configurability makes initial setup a project, and keeps it one
  • Now migrating FilePro and LawMaster firms onto its own platform, which is a large concurrent workload for its implementation team
Pricing:
Not published. We do not list a competitor's pricing unless we can point at where it came from.
Suits:
Mid-size firms with someone whose job includes maintaining the configuration.

Affinity

Legacy, not recommended for new firms Australia

Lexis Affinity. Still supported, but built on older architecture that is not cloud native and requires workstation installation.

Strengths

  • Deeply embedded in the firms that run it
  • Still actively supported, unlike FilePro and LawMaster

Things to weigh

  • Not cloud native; requires installation on each workstation
  • Described in independent comparisons as legacy technology and not recommended for new implementations
Pricing:
Not published. We do not list a competitor's pricing unless we can point at where it came from.
Suits:
Existing users not yet ready to move. Not a candidate for a new selection.

Clio

Active Canada

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

Strengths

  • Largest integration marketplace of any platform in this list
  • Strong for firms operating across more than one country
  • Mature, well-reviewed product with a long reference list

Things to weigh

  • Built for the North American market first; Australian requirements follow rather than lead
  • Data residency options are not region-locked to Australia by default
Pricing:
Not published. We do not list a competitor's pricing unless we can point at where it came from.
Suits:
Firms that need a wide integration ecosystem or operate in more than one jurisdiction.

FilePro

Retiring 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
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

  • Priced per user, so cost scales with headcount
  • Precedent library is the reason to stay, which also makes leaving harder
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

  • Per-file pricing rather than per seat, which suits firms with few users and high file volume
  • Includes full general accounting rather than only trust
  • Single-year contracts

Things to weigh

  • Smaller vendor with a smaller ecosystem
  • Per-file pricing works against firms with many users and low file counts
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

Being retired, no announced date 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
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

Practice management aimed at mid-size firms, with both cloud and on-premise deployment.

Strengths

  • Offers a choice of cloud or on-premise, which a small number of firms still require
  • Workflow and document automation aimed at mid-size practice

Things to weigh

  • Independent comparisons report that support quality has declined and that some firms feel underserved
Pricing:
Not published. We do not list a competitor's pricing unless we can point at where it came from.
Suits:
Mid-size firms with a specific need for on-premise deployment.

Smokeball

Active Australia and United States

Known for AutoTime automatic time capture and a large library of automated Australian legal forms.

Strengths

  • AutoTime captures time in the background rather than relying on memory
  • Library of over 20,000 standard legal forms and documents
  • Deep Microsoft Office integration

Things to weigh

  • Published pricing is per user per month on 36-month contracts
  • AutoTime, its best-known feature, is an add-on below the top tier
Pricing:
Four plans, per user per month ex GST on 36-month terms: Bill from $49, Boost from $99, Grow from $189, Prosper+ from $239. AutoTime is $39 per month extra on Grow and included in Prosper+.
Suits:
Firms that bill hourly and want time captured automatically, and who are comfortable with a multi-year term.

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 AI document extraction and matter Q&A running in the AWS region your firm chooses.

Strengths

  • Document AI extracts contacts, key dates, figures and property details into the matter
  • OCR and AI inference both stay in your chosen AWS region
  • Client portal and automations included on every plan, not metered
  • Priced per workspace rather than per seat

Things to weigh

  • Newer than everything else on this page, with a correspondingly short public reference list
  • Smaller integration ecosystem than Clio
  • No precedent and forms library on LEAP's scale
  • Aimed at firms up to roughly twenty seats; larger rollouts are a conversation, not a signup
Pricing:
Per workspace from $149 per month, including users, automations, the client portal and a monthly Document AI credit pool. Full plans.
Suits:
Australian firms up to about twenty seats with a steady volume of documents to extract from, especially conveyancing and property.

MatterFirst is a legal practice management platform for Australian law firms, built by NorthCape Technology, covering matters, documents, trust accounting, billing and a client portal, with data hosted in the AWS region the firm chooses.

MatterFirst suits Australian firms from solo up to around twenty seats that want document extraction and automation at the centre of the file. It is the weaker choice if you need the largest integration ecosystem, which is Clio, or a 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.

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 bill hourly and want time captured automatically, Smokeball's AutoTime is the strongest answer. If you want the largest Australian install base and a deep precedent library, LEAP. If you want the widest integration ecosystem, Clio. If document-heavy work is your bottleneck and you want extraction and onshore AI processing, MatterFirst. There is no single right answer, and any page that gives you one is selling something.
Which Australian legal software is being discontinued?
FilePro and LawMaster. Actionstep acquired LawMaster in 2022 and FilePro in 2023 and is retiring both. FilePro sunsets on 31 December 2026. LawMaster is being wound down without an announced end date. Affinity is not being discontinued but is described in independent comparisons as legacy and is not recommended for new implementations.
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?
Most platforms price per user per month, which means the cost scales with headcount. Smokeball publishes plans from $49 to $239 per user per month ex GST on 36-month terms. MatterFirst prices per workspace from $149 per month with users included. Several vendors on this page do not publish pricing at all, which is why this guide says 'not published' rather than estimating.
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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