CosmoLex

I am glad I found CosmoLex, I could not get through a day without it.

Vorteile:

It's easy to use, intuitive, and the customer support is outstanding. I've occasionally contacted them with feature suggestions and they usually end up incorporating those suggestions - or they might show me how I missed something that accomplishes the same thing. The product works as advertised and I have no regrets.

Nachteile:

It had a little bit of a learning curve but I had nothing to compare it to. I now find it intuitive, so it's hard to say. Customer support is awesome, though, and they also have videos you can watch that explain most of the problems and issues I experienced along the way.

Great Program!

Kommentare: It's made reconciling accounts much easier and faster for me. I love the layout. It's also been a breeze to create invoices in (minus needing to edit them afterwards because the customization doesn't do what we'd like it to do).

Vorteile:

It's extremely user friendly! I love that I can print all the cheques I need on a file at the same time, or all the cheques I'm using to pay invoices at the same time.

Nachteile:

The invoice customization tool is the only non user thing about this program.

CosmoLex Review

Kommentare: In short, while CosmoLox is easy to use, it is not as comprehensive or feature-rich as some of the other legal case management software programs available on the market. If you are just starting out in the legal field, I would recommend looking for a less expensive product that offers more features and flexibility.

Vorteile:

I found it to be easy to use and the interface was nice to look at.

Nachteile:

I was disappointed that it did not have the features of some of its competitors and it cost more.

Great All in One Solution

Kommentare: Both lawyers & support staff are very satisfied with the switch to CosmoLex.

Vorteile:

Onboarding/migration process was quite smooth; great team to work with.Easy to use all aspects of firm and trust accounting, quarterly reporting, Love the integration with Microsoft 365; getting closer to becoming 'paperless'.Can't wait to get the client portal in full use.The Live Support portal is the best I've ever used. They usually have the answer but if not the matter is immediately escalated and responded to.

Nachteile:

A bit of a learning curve moving from previous software. Don't switch during a busy period.Would like to see a client ledger which incorporates both trust and general expense entries on single page.

Cosmolex review

Vorteile:

Lots of options to get to various points of use

Nachteile:

A lot to learn, only ongoing use will improve it

Time to Switch to a New Service

Kommentare: I regret everyday not simply using Quickbooks and Clio like a lot of other law firms do. We are going to try a demo with a few other products, Abacus and CaseManager, but I really don't think you can go wrong with Quickbooks especially if you want the payroll integrations. We're basically paying twice the price of Clio and other time-management options for accounting software that does not work.

Vorteile:

We liked that it appeared to have a bunch of services wrapped up into one--time-keeping for billing, accounting software similar to Quickbooks with an automatic feed into our accounts, and email archiving/practice management. The time-keeping component works well although you would think it would be easier to do mixed-fee or alternative fee arrangements given that these are the fastest growing in the legal industry.

Nachteile:

The accounting system is a joke. The bank-feed regularly just stops syncing with no notification. We have spent so much time reconciling our books this year as a result of issues that Cosmolex refuses to address claiming its the result of their third-party vendor. We recently needed to transfer a file, and in going to export the emails, we learned that we would need to go into each email, print to PDF, and manually save! When I asked why this wasn't explained in the marketing materials as we would never have used Cosmolex for email storage if we knew that it would require this much work to actually use or access the emails, I was given instructions for how to download the emails from my Outlook account directly. Then why am I paying to use Cosmolex? Lastly, the customer service has been consistently terrible. The chat function used to be helpful--but it appears they outsource it now, and it's no longer a benefit as the users can only refer you to articles. Additionally, we are constantly being told that they will make changes in response to our feedback (and presumably the feedback of others) but the only changes that have been made in the past few years have made the program less helpful. Where were the increased integrations we were promised? Why can't they figure out the syncing with their vendor?

Leaving CosmoLex after 60 frustrating days

Kommentare: I manage 3 small law firms. One of my firms moved from Prolaw to CosmoLex 60 days ago because management wanted to be 100% cloud-based, which Prolaw is not. Unfortunately, my CosmoLex experience has been really frustrating, to say the least. As background, I have used Prolaw for over 20 years, which performs back and front office tasks (like CosmoLex). At another firm, I have used Clio with QBs for about 7 years with lots of success. At a 3rd firm, I use Bill4Time with QBs with lots of success. I really tried to make CosmoLex work for the last 60 days. As the manager of 3 small law firms, I am a stickler for efficiency and productivity. Making small firms competitive with larger firms is a big part of my job. But unfortunately CosmoLex was a huge step backwards in that goal.

Vorteile:

You ALWAYS get a live person in customer service and they are GREAT! I have spent hours and hours on the phone, chat and email with many people in customer service in the last 60 days. It is really easy to get a live person, which is great! And I have been impressed with every single one of them. But unfortunately their answer is almost always: "I'm so sorry, CosmoLex cannot do that, I will add it to the list of features we could add." I haven't been around long enough to know if suggestions are actually ever incorporated into the software. Truthfully, so many features would have to be added to make this a viable program, I just can't wait to see. There is a robust filter / search mechanism. Literally, those are the only good things.

Nachteile:

Everything else. CosmoLex is a great idea, but the execution completely fails at both the accounting and practice management components. Entering data in the software is ridiculously inefficient - from simple time entries, which you have to choose from pulldown, scrolling menus rather than entering data quickly and tabbing through (there is NO tabbing through any data!), to an accounting system that is set up in inflexible, awkward components that make no accounting sense (not a debit or credit to be found), it just doesn't lend itself to efficiency or intuitiveness like most online billing programs. If you are used to customizable columns (who isn't?); screens in which you can edit, print, manipulate multiple items at one time; check boxes to select all or multiple items; or screens that show you totals like hours billed in a day, week or month, account balances, CosmoLex is gonna drive you crazy. It doesn't allow any of the above. There are so many downfalls, I truthfully don't know where to start. Additionally, we purchased the migration service. Each person I worked with was amazingly knowledgeable and professional, but the actual migration was a disaster. After hours of work on my and CosmoLex's migration team's part, my non-financial data migrated into ComsoLex very unusable. Also, they do not actually migrate financial data. I was hoping to move at least 7 years of accounting, as well as, historical invoices from open matters, but that is not possible.

2 Years Wasted

Kommentare: Cosmolex ended up being a major disappointment. Too many of the supposedly great features turned out to be practically useless. Clients can only upload one document at a time and then only if the name is 64 or less characters. Clients can only download one document at a time. The API is closed so automation is much more difficult and expensive. Email communications cannot be shared through the portal. The platform whereby custom invoices are created/modified is archaic and difficult to use.

Vorteile:

Document Integration with OneDrive and integrated billing

Nachteile:

The most important components of the software were rendered useless due to lack of most obvious features.

Good support

Vorteile:

It has the features to run a law practice

Nachteile:

The template settings are super confusing and not user friendly

It is very clunky to use.

Kommentare: I just plain don't like it. I also use Soluno, it is a far better software. You can easily make changes from the screen you are on. The visuals are far simpler as well. Plus it is very Canadian, and outstanding chat service.

Vorteile:

It is better than PC Law was. Other than that, I would rather not use it.

Nachteile:

you can't easily correct or edit entries. There is no clicking on when you are on a journal, you need to leave the screen and go somewhere else. Very time consuming. I also don't like that you can't just "view" reports, everything has to be downloaded and it takes time. When I contacted support as to why there were lines running through my view report, I was told it was a glitch...like really!! I don't find it at all intitutive . The downloading of bank statements for reconciliations is very painful, and quite frankly doesn't work.

CosmoLex review

Vorteile:

Easy to use accounting software with a smooth and friendly display interface

Nachteile:

Often quirks but over time will be fixed

CosmoLex does everything needed to keep our firm under control

Kommentare: We saw the biggest impact in time and billing -- it's easy to mark down the "tiny" slices of time because you are already in the file. Less chance of not documenting phone conversation or expense as you don't have to exit one program to enter into another.

Vorteile:

Billing/Invoicing/Payment management and Account reconciliation features are what I like best -- easy to stay on top of the flow

Nachteile:

I don't have a "least" -- I find CosmoLex easy to use and it does everything I need to keep our office well managed!

Billing is great! Case management, not so much.

Kommentare: We are a two attorney firm with one paralegal. We chose Cosmolex for the trust accounting feature. We were looking for a program that could do it all - keep the books and manage the cases.

Vorteile:

I love the billing and trust accounting features. Cosmolex really shines with maintaining the operating and trust accounts separately as well as generating invoices for our billable work.

Nachteile:

The software is cumbersome, taking several clicks to get to information. The features I need most on the case management side are contacts and notes. The contacts drive me nuts! If I'm in Bob Jones' case, I want to see a list of all the other people involved such as other attorneys, witnesses, or other relevant parties. With Cosmolex, one has to go to a separate contacts page and link them rather than entering the information directly into the matter. The note taking feature is improving now that more characters are allowed, but it still leaves much to be desired for those who are answering client calls and wanting to log the information right away. It seems like it would be fine for a transactional practice but it's less than ideal for litigation.

2 year Cosmolex User

Kommentare: Having a cloud based system during Covid and into the future allows our firm to be flexible and current. Although pricey, the value is still there and we enjoy using this software.

Vorteile:

Cosmolex integrates the accounting software and features we needed with the management of our law practice. Support takes care of any issues that arise quickly and efficiently.

Nachteile:

Some parts of customization are not intuitive and assistance from customer support is sometimes required. Luckily, customer support is quick and easy to access.

This is a time and money saver for any firm.

Kommentare: I was looking for a complete solution to my practice management and accounting needs.

Vorteile:

I tried various other platforms including PCLaw and Clio, but they lacked in usability or functionality compared to CosmoLex. PCLaw is outdated, slow and not cloud based, while Clio lacks firm accounting functionality and though they advertise quickbooks syncing, there are major issues with the syncing that requires a great deal of work by the end user. CosmoLex is able to do virtually everything Clio can do with respect to practice management and even has a few unique features. However, where CosmoLex really shines is with its built in accounting system. As a Canadian Lawyer we require certain functionality that our American counterparts do not and CosmoLex has done a great job of meeting our needs. CosmoLex can properly deal with our HST/GST/PST issues and payments as well as offer us accrual based accounting as we are required to use by law. There is NO other cloud based platform with an all-in-one solution for Canadian Lawyers. This is a time and money saver for any firm.

Nachteile:

I would like to see document generation (of all sorts), multiple clients per matter, the ability to generate Client I.D. Forms from the contact information. Also helpful would be the ability to attach scanned receipts, cheques, and bills to accounting entries similar to the functionality in QuickBooks. Some minor efficiency changes like being able to select certain options when creating an entry rather than having to re-open it afterwards.

By far a much better experience in legal software than previous program

Kommentare: I am practicing law more than I am fighting with accounting software for lawyers!

Vorteile:

It does front and back office and IT WORKS. Very little technical support needed on a regular basis. It allows clients to make payments online through an invoice link and cosmolex is partnered with LawPay. Also integrates well with outlook exchange and all programs like google, onedrive, dropbox ; allows all emails to be saved to the associated matters for easy access. billing process is fairly simple the invoice links are keeping receivables down as client's can pay their bills 24/7. bills are able to be emailed easily and in bulk; invoice reminders and trust deposit requests are easily sent out without the need to draft letters individually to the clients. I could go on and on......

Nachteile:

Hard to complain about much with this program. It depends on your needs. For me there are still some features I am used to from my server based program that are not availableyet in this cloud based software, but there are lots of things in the works. It seems each month a new feature is released that I had learned to live without or work around. The things I am missing right now are invoices saved automatically to a matter in a hard pdf when initially generated. The original invoice cannot be recreated unless you physically print or save a downloaded copy at the time they are generated.

Love it!

Kommentare: Very well. Customer service is excellent. Very user -friendly.

Vorteile:

We swapped from Abacus to Cosmolex a few years ago and its a MAJOR improvement. I love how it is continuously updated to better the program. It is very user-friendly and I love how customizable it is. I also LOVE the upgrade with the new spell check!

Nachteile:

Nothing right now. We are loving the latest updates!

Cosmolex works well

Kommentare: I like Cosmolex in most ways better than my old software but Cosmolex could still take some steps to improve the functionality and robustness of the software.

Vorteile:

I like the online nature of the software and how easy it is to use.

Nachteile:

There are some serious deficiencies with the functionality of Cosmolex especially for use in Canada. There are many reports that it won't generate. Trying to deal with GST is extremely difficult.

Cosmolex is the best solution for a small law office.

Kommentare: Time keeping, calendar, scheduling and accounting.

Vorteile:

Cloud based; access from anywhere. I can access my calendar from an iPad or iPhone.

Nachteile:

Some reports are not intuitive. But the knowledge base is easily accessed and will answer most questions.

I love using Cosmolex

Vorteile:

I love using Cosmolex, I find it easy to use and everything I need is easily accessible.

Overall I am very satisfied.

Vorteile:

It is Easy to use and has logical organization.

Nachteile:

Certain features are very difficult to correct mistakes in, and the existing videos and articles are not helpful to me in resolving.

Love it!

Kommentare: I didn't have LMP software before although I did have QuickBooks for awhile. Thus, there is nothing to compare to but it fills the bill for what I need. I think it was thoughtfully designed, and I find it straightforward and easy to use.

Vorteile:

I have enjoyed the ease of learning and using this software. I like the Dashboard that tells you many useful things at a glance. Customer service is also very good. I like that it integrates with several other applications, such as LawPay and Casemaker (although I no longer use Casemaker). I also found a CL knowledgeable accountant through the site, which was very useful for getting set up my first year.

Nachteile:

I really don't have cons. They did go up in price by $10/month without warning (one time in 18 months) but I still think it is a fair value.

It is a very stable product that is continually getting better.

Kommentare: Some of the shortcomings that I initially identified as possible deal-breakers have been remedied within the short time that I have been using the product (ex. the failure of multi-day events to properly appear on the calendar system). I am hopeful that the "ease of use" issues are addressed over time (quickly). Again, a very nice product overall, that has demonstrated an ability and inclination to get better.

Vorteile:

The integration of accounting and check preparation into the law practice package.

Nachteile:

The calendar is not easy to view and use. Quite frankly, I merely have linked to to my Outlook Calendar and avoid using the Cosmo calendar entirely. The other "con" which surfaces each time I use it, is that when you cycle to matters or clients, you cannot simply begin to type a name and have the system go to the name in the list. Being forced to do a search each time you want to go to a listing is really a time waste.

I can't imagine practicing law without this essential tool.

Vorteile:

My practice is focused primarily on residential real estate in NY and NJ and I represent a lot of lenders, so I have been relying upon Easy Soft’s hud-1 program and their billing/trust accounting program for years, so when I learned about everything CosmoLex had to offer, I was excited to jump in. What really separates CosmoLex from the others is that it’s completely cloud based and also offers a full IOLA/IOLTA accounting system. I’m able to login from the office, from home, and even on the road from my smart phone to add billable events, log and print checks, or search for anything I need. Because I’m a sole practitioner, I don’t have an IT department to help me install/upgrade my programs and the people at CosmoLex actually converted my existing data and had me up and running in about 15 minutes. Knowing that my data (and the programs) are off-site means less to worry about if and when a computer at my office should fail - and not having to worry about re-installing and restoring data (just knowing that it’s always safe and ready to access) makes sleeping at night a little easier. The controls are intuitively setup and searching for matters by client or other keyword or searching transactions by dollar amount, etc., could not be easier. I’ve already watched some of their online tutorials and when those did not help me understand something, I contacted tech support for personalized support and training that did the trick every time!

Nachteile:

Nothing comes to mind so far. It's everything I need.

Made specifically for law firms - cool!

Kommentare: For many years our firm used a number of different back office software products. For example, we used Easy Trust for trust accounting, Quick Books for financial accounting and payroll, and Timeslips for time and billing. These are all products that run on individual computers. About 3 years ago, the company that produced EasyTrust quit supporting that product. For the last 3 years we have basically been on our own regarding trust accounting. It has worked out okay to date, but at some point we knew that we would encounter an operating system problem or something and we would have had a substantial problem and the program would've stopped working and we would've had no support or help.

Vorteile:

When we started looking for new trust accounting software, we saw that your product was made specifically for law firms - cool! It also combined trust accounting, financial accounting, time and billing, which was the most appealing aspect. But the fact that Cosmolex is cloud-based, cinched it for us. Because our office manager (who oversees and reconciles the trust accounting -- that is, the software is on her computer) telecommutes from her house. So every time I needed to enter credit card payments, Trust deposits, write checks, etc., I had to drive 3 miles to her house. So being able to do a lot of that work from the office, has been wonderful.

Nachteile:

Your product is intimidating! It encompasses several different departments and getting everyone on the same page took (and will continue to take) a good amount of time. But your training videos and free support have really helped us. As a suggestion, perhaps transcribing the training videos might be useful for a quick reference?