--- title: "Legal Software Development Company | Arbocode" description: "Matter management, document automation and conflict check software for law firms, with Clio and iManage integration and trust accounting rule support." url: https://arbocode.com/industries/legal --- 1. [Home](https://arbocode.com/) 2. [Industries](https://arbocode.com/industries) 3. Legal Industry # Legal Software Development Matter management, document automation and conflict checking, with privilege, retention rules and trust accounting designed in from day one. [Get a free estimate](https://arbocode.com/get-a-quote) [Speak with an engineer](https://arbocode.com/contact) NDA on request · Free, no-obligation estimate · Reply within one business day NDA signed before we start Full IP ownership on payment Your repository from the first commit Live demo at the end of every sprint Built by senior engineers [How we work](https://arbocode.com/process) Law firms and legal departments depend on a few processes that generic business software models poorly. A conflict check must run against related parties and prior representations before a matter can open. Document assembly must keep privilege markings intact through every revision. Trust accounting must keep client funds separate with a rigor that an ordinary invoicing system was never built to provide. We build matter management systems, document assembly tools with clause libraries, and client portals that integrate with Clio, iManage or NetDocuments rather than existing as a disconnected extra system. Where AI assists with contract review or summarization, we scope it to stay inside the line between tool-assisted drafting and the unauthorized practice of law. Trust accounting and IOLTA-compliant billing get built to the segregation and reporting rules your state bar actually enforces, and retention schedules are built as configuration since they vary by jurisdiction and matter type, not as a single hardcoded rule. The problem ## The hard parts of legal software - ### Conflict checks have to catch related-party conflicts A real conflict check has to search across related entities, prior representations and adverse parties, not just an exact name match, or a genuine conflict slips through undetected until it becomes a malpractice exposure. - ### Document assembly has to preserve privilege markings Templates and clause libraries speed up drafting, but every version generated has to carry the correct privilege and confidentiality markings through redlines and revisions, not just on the final signed copy. - ### Trust accounting demands strict segregation IOLTA and equivalent trust accounting rules require client funds to be tracked separately from firm operating funds with an audit trail a bar examiner can follow, which most general accounting software does not model correctly out of the box. - ### Retention schedules vary by jurisdiction and matter type How long a file has to be kept, and when it can be destroyed, depends on jurisdiction, practice area and sometimes the specific matter, so a single retention rule hardcoded into a system will eventually be wrong for some subset of files. - ### AI tools have to stay on the right side of unauthorized practice of law A tool that summarizes or drafts is useful; a tool that appears to give legal advice to a non-lawyer client crosses into unauthorized practice of law territory in most jurisdictions, and that line has to be designed in deliberately. - ### E-discovery volumes require defensible process, not just search Litigation holds and document review at scale need a documented, defensible process, since a court can challenge not just what was found but how the search was conducted. What we build ## Legal systems we build - ### Matter management systems Matter opening, staffing, deadlines and status tracking built to integrate with or extend Clio or a similar practice management platform, rather than duplicate it. - ### Conflict check automation Automated search across related entities, prior matters and adverse parties at intake, flagging potential conflicts for review before a matter opens rather than after. - ### Document assembly and automation Clause libraries and template-driven drafting that carry privilege and confidentiality markings through every generated version and redline. - ### Trust accounting and IOLTA-compliant billing Client fund segregation, three-way reconciliation and billing built to the specific trust accounting rules your bar association enforces. - ### Client portals Secure document sharing and case status access for clients, integrated with your document management system so nothing has to be manually copied into a separate portal. - ### Legal AI tools for review and summarization Contract review and document summarization tools scoped to assist an attorney's judgment, with the unauthorized practice of law boundary built into how results are presented to non-lawyer users. - ### E-discovery and litigation hold workflows Litigation hold notices, custodian tracking and defensible search documented at each step, so the process itself can withstand a challenge, not only the result. ## Regulations and standards we design for - ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct on confidentiality and conflicts of interest, and their state bar equivalents. - Attorney-client privilege preservation requirements across document versions and communications. - IOLTA and state-specific trust accounting rules requiring segregation of client funds. - State bar technology competence requirements around data security and confidentiality of client information. - Records retention and destruction rules, which vary by jurisdiction and practice area. - GDPR and UK GDPR for firms handling matters involving EU or UK-based clients. ## Platforms we integrate with - Clio for practice and matter management - iManage and NetDocuments for document management - DocuSign for e-signature - LexisNexis and Westlaw APIs for legal research - LawPay and Stripe for trust-compliant payment processing ## Conflict checks that catch related-party conflicts A name-match conflict check misses the conflicts that actually create liability: a parent company, a former client under a different entity name, or a witness represented in an unrelated matter years earlier. We build conflict checking to search across related entities and historical matter data, surfacing possible matches for an attorney's review at intake rather than relying on staff to remember every prior representation. ## Document automation that keeps privilege markings intact We build clause libraries and template assembly so privilege and confidentiality markings propagate automatically through every generated draft, redline and exported version, since a marking that only appears on the final signed copy does nothing to protect the drafts that circulated before it. ## Where AI assists and where unauthorized practice of law draws the line We design AI-assisted contract review and summarization to present output as a drafting aid reviewed by a licensed attorney, not as advice delivered directly to a client. That distinction shapes interface decisions as much as backend logic, since how a result is framed to a non-lawyer user is part of what keeps a tool on the right side of unauthorized practice of law rules. Services ## How we serve legal companies - [Legal AI Software DevelopmentContract review and legal research AI with privilege controls and citation verification, so fabricated case law never reaches a filing.](https://arbocode.com/services/ai-development/legal) - [Custom Legal Software DevelopmentPractice management software for conflict checks, trust accounting, and the deadlines that one missed e-filing field can break.](https://arbocode.com/services/custom-software-development/legal) - [Law Firm Website DevelopmentPractice-area and attorney bio pages designed within the advertising rules that a state bar enforces.](https://arbocode.com/services/web-development/legal) - [SaaS DevelopmentWe build multi-tenant SaaS products around tenant isolation, subscription billing and self-serve onboarding, architected to scale beyond your first cohort of customers.](https://arbocode.com/services/saas-development) - [CRM DevelopmentWe build the system that follows a customer from first contact to renewal, as a custom CRM or as an extension of Salesforce, HubSpot or Dynamics.](https://arbocode.com/services/crm-development) Solutions ## Legal solutions we deliver - [Law Firm Client Portal DevelopmentPrivileged messaging, trust account visibility and matter status in one place, so case updates no longer sit in an email thread.](https://arbocode.com/industries/legal/customer-portal) - [Legal Document Automation SoftwareDocument assembly built on clause libraries, matter data and the retention rules that a firm's client files have to follow.](https://arbocode.com/industries/legal/document-automation) - [BI & Reporting DashboardsReporting on a single data model in place of five spreadsheets, with dashboards that stay quick against years of history.](https://arbocode.com/solutions/bi-dashboards) - [AI Chatbot DevelopmentA chatbot that draws its answers from your own documentation, performs real actions in your systems and recognizes when to pass a conversation to a person.](https://arbocode.com/solutions/ai-chatbot) - [Internal Tools & Admin DashboardsBack-office software where your team can look up, edit and act on production data safely, replacing the spreadsheet or the direct database query.](https://arbocode.com/solutions/internal-tools) Technology ## Technologies we typically use - [React](https://arbocode.com/technologies/react) - [Next.js](https://arbocode.com/technologies/nextjs) - [Node.js](https://arbocode.com/technologies/nodejs) - [PostgreSQL](https://arbocode.com/technologies/postgresql) - [AWS](https://arbocode.com/technologies/aws) FAQ ## Legal software FAQs Can you integrate a custom matter management tool with Clio? Yes. We build against Clio's API to keep matter, client and billing data in sync, so a custom tool extends what Clio already handles rather than duplicating matter records in a second system. How does an automated conflict check search for related-party conflicts? We build the search to check related entities, prior matter history and known adverse parties, not just an exact name match, and we surface possible matches for attorney review rather than auto-clearing or auto-blocking a matter. Can trust accounting software handle multi-state IOLTA rules? Yes, though the specific segregation and reporting rules are built per jurisdiction since IOLTA requirements differ by state bar. We scope which jurisdictions' rules the system needs to support before implementation. Does an AI contract review tool count as giving legal advice? Not as we build it. The tool surfaces flagged clauses and summaries for a licensed attorney to review and approve, rather than presenting conclusions directly to a client, which keeps it on the assistive side of unauthorized practice of law rules. How long does a document automation system with privilege tracking take to build? A clause library and template assembly system with privilege marking propagation typically takes eight to twelve weeks, depending on how many document types and practice areas the templates need to cover. Insights ## Further reading - [6 min readWhat Custom CRM Development Cost Looks LikeCustom CRM development cost starts near $40,000 for a focused pipeline tool and reaches $250,000+ for a multi-team platform with automation and reporting.](https://arbocode.com/blog/crm-development-cost) - [8 min readHow to Build an MVP and Skip the Wrong FeaturesA practical guide on how to build an MVP: scope the smallest viable version, validate demand, pick an engagement model, and avoid the usual mistakes.](https://arbocode.com/blog/how-to-build-an-mvp) - [7 min readWhat MVP Development CostsMVP development cost runs $15,000 to $60,000 for a single-workflow product, and $60,000-$150,000+ once billing or integrations come into play.](https://arbocode.com/blog/mvp-development-cost) ## Talk to us about your legal project Send a short description of the project. A senior engineer reads each request and answers with questions, next steps and an early budget range. [Get a free estimate](https://arbocode.com/get-a-quote) [Speak with an engineer](https://arbocode.com/contact)