Ever feel like legal work moves in ten different directions at once?
Between client expectations, internal requests, research, drafting, deadlines, and all the paperwork that comes with each matter, it’s easy for even the most organized legal professional to feel stretched thin.
Legal project management tools step in to bring order to all of that. These platforms help you track tasks, manage documents, map out timelines, and keep communication clear for everyone involved.
The right tool gives you a predictable way to move work forward, no matter how many responsibilities land on your desk in a single day. But where do you start?
Below, you’ll find a breakdown of the top tools legal teams rely on, along with the strengths that make each one a good fit for certain types of legal projects. Let’s take a look at what they can do for your workflow.
Legal project management has many moving parts, and anyone who handles a steady flow of matters knows how quickly tasks, documents, and responsibilities can build up.
Legal professionals often balance client work, internal questions, research, drafting, reviews, and follow-ups all at once. Plus, law firms and in-house teams deal with shifting priorities every day, so having a clear plan for how work moves from start to finish makes a real difference.
Legal project management tools give legal practice teams a structured way to handle all of this. These platforms organize tasks, track timelines, manage documents, and keep communication in one place (among many other functions).
Teams use these tools for a wide range of projects. Some rely on them for contract processes, while others use them for litigation, research, budgeting, or cross-department collaboration. Each setup looks a little different based on the type of work and the level of oversight required.
Legal project management tools help teams stay organized, move work forward with fewer delays, and create a more predictable process across the entire legal function.
If you’re not sure where to start with legal project management tools, here’s a quick look at the platforms that make it easier to organize work, stay on track, and keep your workload manageable.
Aline is an AI-powered contract management platform designed for legal firms that want contract work to feel easier, faster, and far more organized.
Contract cycles often become chaotic once drafts, comments, and approvals start shifting between people.
Aline cuts through that clutter by bringing everything into one clean workspace. You can draft, review, negotiate, and track agreements without bouncing between versions or waiting on slow handoffs.
Aline AI plays a big role in keeping your process steady. Drafts come together in minutes, reviews feel more consistent, and approvals move through a clear path that helps you keep things moving.
In other words, it takes a lot of pressure off the parts of contract work that usually drain your time.
With tasks that once required multiple tools now happening in a single system, you get a smoother rhythm to your day.
If you want an all-in-one solution that supports your workload without adding complications, Aline delivers a blend of workflow automation, structure, and clarity that fits naturally into everyday contract workflows.
Filevine is a litigation management platform built for teams that handle cases with constant movement and a heavy flow of legal documents.
Court deadlines, discovery exchanges, and client updates can pile up quickly, and having one place to track everything makes the work far easier to manage.
The platform helps you turn case details into actionable tasks, which, in turn, can give you a clear view of what needs attention and who’s responsible for each step.
Additionally, you can rely on Filevine when your matters involve multiple people touching the same information. Updates stay in one place, documents stay organized, and timelines stay visible so the entire team can move together while keeping context intact.
Clio is a legal practice management software platform that helps you keep every matter organized from the moment a client reaches out.
If you want a clear home base for tasks, documents, communication, and billing, Clio gives you a setup that feels easy to maintain even during busy stretches.
You can open a matter and see everything tied to it in seconds, which takes a lot of pressure off the daily shuffle of tracking details across multiple places.
What stands out is how Clio supports the natural flow of a legal practice. You can build custom workflows for your routine case types, track your time as you work, send invoices without fuss, and share documents securely with clients or colleagues.
Notion is a flexible project management software platform that brings legal teams and other departments into one shared workspace.
Collaboration tends to feel smoother when everyone contributes to the same pages, dashboards, and task lists, and Notion makes that easy to maintain.
For example, a legal project manager can map out complex projects, assign work, track deadlines, and organize legal documents alongside contributions from HR, finance, operations, or any other group involved.
The tool works especially well for projects that don’t fit neatly into traditional case systems. Pages are customizable, task tracking can take any format you prefer, and updates appear in real time.
Overall, Notion behaves like general project management software, but it adapts quickly to the structure your team needs, which helps people stay on the same page from start to finish.
SimpleLegal is a platform that gives legal teams a clear view of their spending, from day-to-day expenses to invoices for services rendered.
Many groups rely on it when they want tighter control over budgets, cleaner expense tracking, and a better handle on how outside work is billed.
Everything related to legal spend sits in one organized system. This simple feature makes it easier to compare costs, review payment details, and keep financial information aligned with your broader legal operations.
The platform also supports consistent collaboration with vendors and outside counsel. Invoices arrive with status updates you can review at a glance, and payment processing becomes more predictable thanks to built-in workflows.
Plus, SimpleLegal pairs these tools with bank-grade security and smooth integrations with accounting software, giving legal teams a financial hub that’s both safe and easy to operate.
It leans toward legal-specific tools rather than general finance software, so the setup already fits the way most legal departments manage money.
LexisNexis is a research platform built for legal work that depends on accurate information and deep source material.
It’s widely used for pulling statutes, case law, commentary, and secondary references into one place, which helps you build stronger arguments without scattered research files.
Everything loads quickly, searches run with precision, and you get the kind of detail that supports solid legal briefs and informed decision-making.
The platform also makes it easier to stay organized as your research grows. Notes, saved searches, and collected sources can all live in structured folders, so you can return to your work without retracing your steps.
Agiloft is a legal management software solution designed for legal departments that run large, complex operations across many business units.
Enterprise teams often need legal technology that can handle high-volume work, custom processes, and detailed oversight, and Agiloft fits that environment well.
The platform gives you a structured way to manage contracts, approvals, data, and internal requests while keeping legal processes consistent across the organization.
What sets Agiloft apart is its depth. The system comes with advanced features that support everything from contract workflows to internal service requests, and it can scale as operations grow.
Dashboards convert contract and matter data into insights you can use for business performance reviews, and the level of configurability makes it easier for teams to shape the platform around how they already work.
Legal projects cover a lot of ground, and the tools in this list each support a different part of that work. Some focus on research, some help with budgeting, and others keep cross-department projects organized.
Together, they give you a full set of options for managing the many responsibilities that land on a legal team’s plate.
Contracts are a category of their own, and they benefit from a tool built specifically for precision, speed, and clear structure.
Aline brings the entire contract process into one place, making it easier to draft, review, approve, sign, and track agreements without bouncing between multiple systems. The workflow feels steady, organized, and far less time-intensive.
If you want to get a sense of how much smoother contract work can feel with everything centralized, a quick trial gives you an easy way to try it in your own workflow.
Start a free trial of Aline and see how it handles your next round of contracts.
The best option depends on the type of legal work you handle. Tools like Aline, Clio, Filevine, and Notion all support different parts of the legal sector. Contract-heavy teams often choose Aline, while firms focused on litigation or daily matter tracking may prefer Filevine or Clio. Notion works well for cross-department collaboration. A good starting point is identifying which key features matter most for your workflow and client service goals.
Legal project management is the practice of organizing, planning, and managing tasks across legal matters or projects. It helps you assign tasks, track progress, control timelines, and communicate clearly with your team or clients. Firms use it to improve client outcomes and create predictable processes around everything from research to drafting to case preparation.
General project management software solutions like Notion, Asana, and Monday are popular across many industries, including the legal industry. Law-specific platforms such as Clio and Filevine offer additional structure tailored to managing tasks, client data, documents, and legal workflows.
These tools bring more clarity and consistency to your work. You can stay organized, respond faster, keep client communication cleaner, and streamline processes that normally slow down client management. Even small law firms see value because predictable systems often lead to better client outcomes.
There’s no single answer, but the best legal project management tools are the ones that match your priorities: document organization, billing, research, collaboration, or contract work. Many firms adopt a mix of legal software depending on their needs, though Aline, Clio, and Filevine tend to be top picks for managing tasks and maintaining structure across the best legal project management workflows.
Brent is an attorney, a full-stack JavaScript engineer and the CEO of Aline.
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