Many attorneys who have determined that they need a Case Management System find themselves trapped among three unfortunate facts:

1. You don’t have the time, interest, or experience required for choosing the right program.
2. If you decide to implement a Case Management System in your office, your state bar expects you to know as much about that type of software as you do about any type of law you practice.
3. Given the fact that there are so many choices out there, making a selection is a downright daunting task.

We are taught if it’s not broken don’t fix it but that’s sending the wrong message. Just because something isn’t broken doesn’t mean you can’t improve it.

Stacey Burke is a Houston-based attorney and law firm management consultant who works around the world with lawyers and law firms to improve their business development, marketing and infrastructure. Although we have no business relationship with Stacey, I recently came across an article she published entitled "Top Ten Reasons We Hate Case Management Software." Although nearly two years old, most, if not all of the points the article raises are still valid and prevalent.

LexisNexis has announced that it will be discontinuing its Firm Manager case management software, effective October 31, 2017. After that date, Firm Manager clients will no longer be able to access the product, which is available only as a cloud based solution.

Last year in SmallLaw, I reported on the practice management bubble. Given the number of practice management apps flooding the market, you would expect software companies to differentiate. And in fact you would be correct.