Professional services
Clients of solicitors and accountants ask the same handful of questions on every matter — what's the status, what do you need from me, what will this cost, and can I safely send you this document — and answering them by phone or email consumes fee earner time that is ordinarily billable and rarely enjoyed by either side of the conversation. A client portal answers the routine questions directly, and gives the firm a secure channel for the documents, signatures and messages that should not be travelling as unencrypted email attachments.
We build portals that sit alongside Clio, LEAP, Actionstep, Practice Evolve, Xero, Sage, IRIS or CCH, reading matter status, WIP and fee data from the firm's existing practice management system rather than duplicating it, and adding the client-facing layer those systems either lack entirely or offer only as a generic bolt-on. Every feature is built with the assumption that some material on a matter is privileged or otherwise not for the client's eyes, and the portal's defaults reflect that.
The workflow this replaces
Before a portal exists, a client's interaction with the firm on an active matter typically looks like this, repeated across the matter's life.
Step 01
With no other route to an answer, the client contacts their fee earner directly, who has to interrupt whatever they are doing, open the practice management system, and reply — a pattern that repeats every few weeks on a longer-running matter and is a genuine source of client frustration when the answer could have been self-served.
Step 02
Contracts, statements and identity documents move back and forth as email attachments, with no guaranteed encryption in transit, no reliable version control if a document is revised, and no audit trail of exactly what was sent, to whom, and when, beyond whatever is left in a mailbox that may not be searched again until a dispute arises.
Step 03
A document requiring signature is sent out, and the fee earner or their assistant follows up by phone or email to check whether it has been signed and returned, because there is no automatic status visible from a signature provider unless someone actively logs into that provider's own dashboard.
Step 04
A client asks what the final bill is likely to be, and receives either a verbal estimate that is not written down anywhere the client can refer back to, or a formal letter of engagement figure that is not updated as the matter's actual WIP develops, leaving the client uncertain whether the final bill will match expectations.
Step 05
Clients raise questions that reference personal financial details, medical information relevant to a claim, or transaction specifics, over standard email, because no secure alternative has been offered, which sits uncomfortably against the firm's own data protection obligations even where the client does not object.
None of this reflects poor service — it reflects the absence of a channel purpose-built for client self-service and secure exchange, which is precisely the gap a portal fills without changing how fee earners do the underlying work.
What we build
Encrypted upload and download of documents against the matter, with documents tagged by category and privilege status so only material explicitly marked shareable appears in the client's view, and a full log of who accessed or downloaded what and when.
Signature requests raised through DocuSign or Adobe Sign directly from the matter record, with status and the completed, signed document pulled back automatically rather than tracked separately in the signature provider's own dashboard.
A client-facing status view built as a curated summary of the matter's key milestones, pulled from the practice management system, showing what has happened and what is expected next without exposing internal notes or fee earner-only detail.
A running fee estimate view showing amount billed to date against the original estimate or budget, updated as WIP develops, giving the client an honest, current picture without exposing internal rate cards or time entry detail.
A message thread scoped to the matter, replacing ad hoc email for routine queries, with messages logged against the matter record in the practice management system so nothing sits only in a portal inbox disconnected from the file.
Standard multi-factor authentication for all portal access, with step-up verification required before higher-sensitivity actions such as downloading identity documents or confirming a payment instruction on a property or high-value matter.
Client-facing forms for initial identity verification and source-of-funds evidence at matter opening, feeding directly into the firm's AML record rather than arriving as scanned attachments that have to be manually filed.
Configurable email or SMS notifications when a document is ready, a signature is required, or an action is needed from the client, reducing the number of matters that stall purely because a client did not know they needed to act.
Integrations
Legal practice management
Accountancy practice management
Signature and identity
Communication
The portal is built to read matter, WIP and billing data from the firm's existing practice management system via API, so fee earners keep working in Clio, LEAP or IRIS as normal, and the portal reflects that system's data rather than requiring parallel entry.
Data and compliance
Architecture note
The portal is built as a client-facing layer over the firm's existing practice management system, reading matter, document and billing data through that system's API rather than holding a separate, potentially divergent copy of the matter record.
A presentation layer sits between the raw practice management data and what the client sees, applying privilege tagging, fee estimate formatting and status curation, so internal-only detail never reaches the client view by default and has to be explicitly included.
Document storage uses encryption at rest and in transit, with access governed by matter-level permissions that mirror the firm's own file access controls, so a client can only ever see documents tied to matters they are a party to.
E-signature and identity verification are integrated as adapter services, so the portal can support DocuSign or Adobe Sign, and whichever identity verification provider the firm already uses, without the core portal logic depending on any one vendor.
Timeline
Weeks 1-3
Mapping of current client communication patterns, document exchange volume, and practice management system API capability.
Weeks 4-6
Client-facing data model, privilege tagging scheme, and API integration plan against the practice management system.
Weeks 7-10
Secure document upload and download, matter status view, and access audit logging.
Weeks 11-13
E-signature integration, fee estimate presentation layer, and secure messaging.
Weeks 14-16
Client-facing onboarding forms, multi-factor and step-up authentication, and notification engine.
Weeks 17-19
Pilot with a single practice group or client cohort, feedback incorporation, and phased rollout across the firm.
Indicative cost
Bands assume integration with one existing practice management system. A firm running two systems after a merger, or requiring portal access across several distinct client-facing brands, typically sits at the upper end.
Where this sits
Questions
Alongside it. Some clients will always prefer a phone call, and some matters genuinely need one. The portal exists to answer the routine questions — status, next step, fee estimate, outstanding documents — without a fee earner having to stop and reply individually, and to provide a secure channel for documents that should not travel by ordinary email.
Documents and correspondence are tagged at the point of creation or filing, using the same categorisation the practice management system already applies where possible, and the portal's client-facing view is built to include only documents explicitly marked as shareable, rather than excluding privileged items from an otherwise-open view. The default is closed, not open.
Yes. The client-facing fee estimate view is built as a distinct presentation layer over the matter's WIP and budget data, showing what the client needs — estimated total, amount billed to date, next billing point — without exposing internal rate cards, individual fee earner time entries, or write-down decisions that are not the client's concern.
Most commonly DocuSign or Adobe Sign, depending on which the firm already has a commercial relationship with. Signature requests, status and the signed document are pulled back into the matter record automatically so a fee earner does not have to separately track a document through a signature provider's own dashboard.
Portal access uses multi-factor authentication as standard, and for higher-sensitivity matters — property completions, high-value transactions — we add step-up verification before a document can be downloaded or a payment instruction actioned, in line with what the firm's professional indemnity insurer and its own risk policy expect.
Send the problem, not a brief. We will tell you whether it is a project we should be involved in.
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