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7 Best CRM Software for Law Firms in 2023

Written By

Aug 2, 2023

2 minute read

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The best CRMs for law firms provide lawyers with general CRM functions such as contact management and lead generation plus law-specific features that enable firms to keep track of critical information, perform client intake, and manage their legal workflow. The top law firm CRMs also offer case management in common legal practice areas. To help you choose the right one for your practice, we've evaluated the best law firm CRM software and their use cases.

Here are the seven best CRMs for law firms:

Clio: Best overall law firm CRM option for features and customization (7-day free trial)
Law Ruler: Best for industry-specific marketing automation tools ($169 starting price)
Zoho CRM: Best general CRM for multichannel lead management (free starting price)
Freshsales: Best CRM for document management and esigining (free starting price)
Pipedrive: Best CRM software option with a la carte add-on tools (14-day free trial)
HubSpot CRM: Best free CRM software with premium upgrades (free starting price)
Lawmatics: Best law firm CRM for client intake and management ($199 starting price)

Overall, we found that the best CRM for law firms is Clio, scoring the highest for customization and user support while tying for security and compliance. Most of our highest scoring options are general CRMs, but three industry-specific software made our list as well. Read more to see each option's use case, pricing, and key features, or see our scoring logic in the section below.

Note: All per-user prices are with a one-year commitment unless noted.

Clio: Best Overall CRM for Law Firms

Offers robust niche-specific tools and customization capabilities for legal case management.

Price Range: $39 to $129+ per user, per month (7-day free trial)

Overall Rating

4.4

Core Features

4.4

Security & Compliance

5.0

Cost

3.6

Customization

4.9

Ease of Use

4.0

Customer Support

2.8

Pros

Quick to use & set up
Easy client onboarding
Simple & intuitive UI

Cons

Limited automation features
No built-in CRM platform
Clunky reporting tools

Clio is a leading law practice management software offering case and document management, client intake, and a CRM available as an add-on in lower tiers and included in its highest tier. It's highly versatile, providing general niche tools for many legal specialties, from estate planning and injury cases to intellectual property and bankruptcy law. Customize online intake forms, document templates, and intake stages to organize your onboarding and case management.

Even though Clio is rated our top CRM for law firms, it only offers its CRM as an add-on in lower tiers. If you're looking for an industry-specific option with a native CRM, try Law Ruler.

Clio Pricing

EasyStart: $39 per user, per month (Clio Grow unavailable)
Essentials: $69 per user, per month (plus $49 Clio Grow add-on)
Advanced: $99 per user, per month (plus $49 Clio Grow add-on)
Complete: $129 per user, per month (includes Clio Grow add-on)
Free Trial: 7-day free trial

Clio Key Features

Client Intake: Automate your processes for client generation, onboarding, and retention.
Documents & Esignatures: Send documents and contracts to clients for quick signing.
Time Tracker: Create and manage time entries for easier task management and billing.
Track Performance: Get insights on your law firm's KPIs on a user-friendly dashboard.

Law Ruler: Best for Marketing Automation

Helps you automate industry-specific marketing initiatives via email, text, and phone.

Price Range: $169 per month to $212+ per month + $399 setup fee

Overall Rating

4.1

Core Features

4.5

Security & Compliance

5.0

Cost

2.4

Customization

4.5

Ease of Use

3.0

Customer Support

4.5

Pros

Robust customer support
Excellent automation
Optimized client intake

Cons

UI could be improved
Setup fee required
Additional seats cost extra

Law Ruler is a law firm CRM that includes customer and legal case management, marketing automation, and client intake software to quickly onboard new clients. Simplify your outreach efforts to clients by automating email drip campaigns and utilizing text messaging marketing to send follow-ups, appointment confirmations, court date reminders, and more. You can also launch voice-calling campaigns by sending pre-recorded, targeted messages to your clients.

While Law Ruler offers a native industry CRM, it can be pricey for some and may be missing some general sales features. If you need a well-priced and robust CRM, check out Zoho CRM.

Law Ruler Pricing

Legal CRM Pro: $169 per month for up to 3 users + setup fee
Legal CRM Premium: $212 per month for up to 3 users + setup fee
Legal CRM Enterprise: Contact for quote
Setup Fee: $399 one-time cost
Additional users can be purchased for a monthly fee

Law Ruler Key Features

Client Intake: Automate client intake with decision tree logic and personalization.
Document Management: Create forms, contracts, and documents for easy signing.
Built-In Dialer: Contact leads instantly with an easy-to-use click-to-call phone dialer.
Marketing Automation: Launch and manage trigger-based marketing campaigns.

Zoho CRM: Best for Multichannel Lead Management

Provides comprehensive CRM tools for managing leads via email, SMS, and social channels.

Price Range: Free to $52 per user, per month (15- to 30-day free trial)

Overall Rating

4.4

Core Features

3.8

Security & Compliance

4.0

Cost

4.8

Customization

4.3

Ease of Use

3.8

Customer Support

3.3

Pros

Strong CRM features
Customizable for law firms
Affordable pricing plans

Cons

Limited case management tools
Steep learning curve
Advanced features require upgrade

Zoho CRM is a customizable general CRM popular for its multichannel marketing features that help capture and nurture leads. Generate potential clients or cases from web forms, which you can embed in your site, and automatically assign them to the right lawyer or team via Zia AI. Build personalized email campaigns or send SMS messages based on your lead data, and engage with your potential clients on social channels like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

While Zoho CRM is an excellent tool to manage your leads, niche-specific features need to be customized, which can be overwhelming. If you need an industry-specific software that offers lead management tools, check out Lawmatics.

Zoho CRM Pricing

Free Version: Supports up to 3 users
Standard: $14 per user, per month
Professional: $23 per user, per month
Enterprise: $40 per user, per month
Ultimate: $52 per user, per month
Free Trial: 15 to 30 days
Access to Zoho One Marketplace Apps

Zoho CRM Key Features

Smart Web Forms: Capture high-intent web visitors and engage with them right away.
Multichannel Communication: Talk to potential clients via email, text, chat, and more.
Zia AI: Automate social media posts, text blasts, and email campaigns with AI tools.
Social CRM: Publish targeted content on social media and receive instant feedback.

Freshsales: Best for Document Management

Allows you to track legal documents and secure esignatures within your CRM.

Price Range: Free to $69 per user, per month (21-day free trial)

Overall Rating

3.9

Core Features

3.5

Security & Compliance

3.5

Cost

4.8

Customization

3.8

Ease of Use

4.6

Customer Support

4.0

Pros

Free version for 3 people
Intuitive pipeline view
Advanced AI automations

Cons

Few insights in Growth
Not industry-specific
Missing some marketing features

Freshsales is our top-rated general CRM, offering tools for storing, organizing, and monitoring documents for clients and cases. Craft and send documents to clients with templates for contracts, agreements, NDAs, and more. Autotag these documents to your contact record so you can view them easily, share them with your clients via email, and avoid duplicates. Then, send out your documents for esignature with Freshsales' CPQ tool powered by DropBox Sign.

Freshsales is a great general option for document management, but most of its features aren't industry-specific. For a top-rated industry CRM to help you manage legal documents with esigning capabilities, look into Lawmatics.

Freshsales Pricing

Free Version: Supports up to 3 users
Growth: $15 per user, per month
Pro: $39 per user, per month
Enterprise: $69 per user, per month
Free Trial: 21 days
Access to Freshworks Marketplace

Freshsales Key Features

Document Template: Draft contracts, proposals, and NDAs with its prebuilt forms.
Drag-and-Drop: Easily customize your documents and add esignature elements.
CPQ Tool: Automate pricing and quotes, then send them to your clients within the CRM.
Integrations: Sync with apps like Google Workspace, DocuSign. PandaDoc, and more.

Pipedrive: Best for Add-On Features

Offers an intuitive pipeline with advanced add-ons that let you pay for the features you want.

Price Range: $14 to $99 per user, per month (14-day trial)

Overall Rating

3.8

Core Features

3.5

Security & Compliance

4.0

Cost

3.4

Customization

3.9

Ease of Use

4.0

Customer Support

4.2

Pros

Top-notch 24/7 support
Easy to use
Provides multiple pipelines

Cons

Lacks a forever-free plan
Somewhat limited feature set
Difficult to separate leads and contacts

Pipedrive is an easy-to-use CRM that offers a la carte tools to help engage with potential clients and manage your law firm's documentation process. Identify who is engaging with your content and campaigns via the Web Visitor add-on and capture leads through web forms with LeadBooster so you can prequalify them and add them to your lead inbox. Then, easily transition to managing legal cases with its Projects add-on once the lead turns into a client.

Pipedrive is great if you need their a la carte features, but it may be missing some out of the box functionality. For a more robust general CRM with native features, try Freshsales.

Pipedrive Pricing

Essential: $14 per user, per month
Advanced: $29 per user, per month
Professional: $49 per user, per month
Power: $64 per user, per month
Enterprise: $99 per user, per month
Free Trial: 14 days
Access to Pipedrive Marketplace

Pipedrive Key Features

Web-to-Lead Forms: Capture inbound and outbound leads with embedded forms.
Contact Management: Easily store and access your client's data and conversations.
Deal Rotting Feature: Identify missed meetings and opportunities for engagement.
Integrations: Customize your CRM with third-party apps for industry-specific features.

HubSpot CRM: Best Free CRM With Upgrades

Provides core features for sales, marketing, and service and the ability to upgrade.

Price Range: Free to $1,200+ per month (Sales Hub)

Overall Rating

3.8

Core Features

3.6

Security & Compliance

3.0

Cost

3.8

Customization

4.2

Ease of Use

4.3

Customer Support

4.2

Pros

Robust free tier
Visual dashboard & sales funnel
Sales & marketing features

Cons

Not specific to law firms
Upgrades can be pricey
Customizations could improve

HubSpot CRM is a widely used CRM across various industries and is rated our top overall free CRM. Its free sales features offer a visual sales pipeline for contact and deal management along with core sales reporting features. It also integrates seamlessly with the free tiers of HubSpot's marketing and service platforms, adding features such as drip campaigns, web forms, and case management. Upgrade to its paid tiers for tools like forecasting, revenue tracking, and more.

HubSpot offers a great free option, but its paid tiers can get expensive quickly. If you need a robust general CRM with more affordable premium plans, check out Freshsales instead.

HubSpot CRM Pricing

Free Version: Supports unlimited users
Sales Hub Starter: $18+ per month for two users
Sales Hub Professional: $450+ per month for five users
Sales Hub Enterprise: $1,200+ per month for 10 users
Additional users can be purchased for extra
Access to free tiers of its marketing and service platforms

HubSpot CRM Key Features

HubSpot Ecosystem: Sync with free Marketing, Service, and Operations Hubs.
Intuitive Interface: Leverage an intuitive interface for management and reporting.
Live Chat: Communicate with customers and prospects via free live chat widget.
Conversation Routing: Route conversations to the right lawyers or department.

Lawmatics: Best for Client Management

Offers an all-in-one solution for client generation, onboarding, and retention.

Price Range: $199 to $249 per month + $399 setup fee

Overall Rating

3.7

Core Features

4.1

Security & Compliance

5.0

Cost

1.7

Customization

4.8

Ease of Use

3.0

Customer Support

3.3

Pros

Custom document creation
Custom client intake forms
Built-in suite for esignatures

Cons

UI requires a learning curve
Automation can be hard to use
Customization can be improved

Lawmatics is a modern-day CRM and legal intake platform offering tools to help generate and manage clients. Create custom intake forms that capture key client data, then reach out to them via an appointment scheduling tool to pinpoint the best time and date to meet. Organize client data and cases or generate legal documents automatically and monitor activities like phone calls, court appearances, and consultations via your pipeline and a time-tracking tool.

While Lawmatics offers robust client intake and management for law firms, it can be pricey for some. If you're looking for a lower cost law firm CRM option, try Clio instead, which is our best overall option.

Lawmatics Pricing

Lite: $199 per month for up to 3 users
Pro: $249 per month for up to 3 users
Setup Fee: $399 one-time cost

Lawmatics Key Features

Document Management: Create custom intake forms and documents for esignature.
Marketing Automation: Segment contacts and send emails to specific demographics.
Proactive Triggers: Automatically send invoices once an agreement has been signed.
Visual Pipeline: Manage your leads and existing clients with a kanban-style pipeline.

Top 4 Law Firm CRM Features

All law firm CRMs should come with the core sales CRM features you'd expect. However, the best CRM for law firms should also include these industry-specific features or capabilities:

Simplify the onboarding process for new clients using custom online forms and workflow automations. This helps you aggregate relevant client data, sign relevant documents, and save time by forgoing manual work. From there, easily manage client cases using the onboarding information you collected. Some platforms even offer automated consultations.

How We Evaluated the Best CRMs for Law Firms

Law firms looking for CRM software need a tool that can nurture leads, manage clients, and maintain legal compliance. When conducting our editorially independent review, we identified six weighted evaluation criteria important to law firms and lawyers. From there, we used key subcriteria to assign every potential law firm CRM a score out of five, including primary use case for each.

Evaluation Criteria

First, we looked at both general and industry features offered to make sure it's useful for a firm or lawyer. Then, we took security and compliance, cost, and customization into account. Finally, we looked at ease of use and customer support to round out our evaluation.

Methodology weights

Core Features 25%

Security & Compliance 20%

Cost 15%

Customization 15%

Ease of Use 15%

Customer Support 10%

Bottom Line: Best CRM for Law Firms

CRMs are commonly known for their use in sales teams but are also helpful for law practices that want to find new leads and manage their existing clients. The primary function of law firm CRMs is to allow lawyers to do more billable work by automating workflows and streamlining client intake, so they can focus on managing their caseloads, deadlines, and clients. If a more general option sounds right to you, check out our article on the best overall CRM software.

Eze Onukwube

Eze is a New Orleans-based writer, business software expert, and technologist holding a Master's Degree in communications. Apart from writing comparison guides, his multifaceted writing includes topics as wide-ranging as DevOps, cybersecurity, and more. He is a sports enthusiast who once considered a career in professional sports but says his talents never quite matched his ambitions.