CARET Legal Reviews

“Freed me to concentrate on work

Pros

What I most value is that it has freed me to concentrate on delivering great legal work for my clients.

Cons

I don't have any complaints it runs smoothly for me and fulfills the needs of my practice.

“extremely intuitive and easy

Pros

I have found Zola Suite to be incredibly user friendly and simple enough that I could use it without any training.

Cons

As someone who only practices law on a very part-time basis, I find Zola Suite to be pricey for an occasional attorney and I wish they offered a lower-cost pricing tier tailored to people like me.

“Wonderful legal software for organizing

Pros

I've found Zola to be an excellent legal software that keeps clients, calendar events and documents well organized for both small-scale and large-scale practices.

Cons

In my experience, the only drawback I've come across with Zola is that after a number of updates certain parts of the software cease functioning correctly.

“Intuitive interface and easily syncs

Pros

Clear, user-friendly layout and it syncs effortlessly with G Suite. After demoing every leading practice management platform, I ultimately chose Zola. For me the system feels pretty easy to navigate and fits the way I like to keep my documents organized. To be frank, I cannot praise my experience enough so far and it has noticeably improved my workflow.

Cons

I've only been using Zola briefly and haven't run into any real drawbacks yet. If I had to name something, the one shortcoming I'd point out is the limited number of available form templates.

“Timekeeping and remote access ease

Pros

For me, time tracking, remote access, effortless file searches and the tidy organization are just a few of the many features this software offers that help us maintain our daily operations with significantly improved efficiency and success.

Cons

My only drawback so far is that not every document has been migrated into the platform yet as I understand it's a new system and from what I've been told the remaining files will be added soon. Once those documents are accessible inside the software, I expect our productivity to increase dramatically easily by tenfold.

“Ability to blend billing methods

Pros

What I really appreciate is that this tool lets me combine different billing approaches for the same client. For a long time I've been hunting for software that supports both hourly rates and flat-fee billing on a matter-by-matter basis instead of being limited per client.

Cons

I'm still wrapping my head around the accounting portion. I'm uncertain whether it's wiser to hold off until there's full QuickBooks integration before I start using those features. I also need a way to record expense disbursements that doesn't force me to enter a check for each one.

“Everything integrated in easy platform

Pros

I like that everything brought together in a simple web-based platform thats both user-friendly and easy to use. Also it is easy to manage my work, invoice, handle emails and keep documents all in one centralized place.

Cons

I wish there was a way to copy my most recent billing line while I'm working on a single file and adding several time/billing entries.

“Big things are accounting and billing

Pros

What I love the most about Zola are two major strengths. First thhe accounting module and the billing workflow. Before I landed on Zola I went through manual spreadsheets and a number of apps such as FreshBooks, Harvest, CaseOne, Clio, Xero, ebility and probably a few others trying to find something that would stop getting in the way of running my firm. None of those solutions let me just manage the business the way Zola does. Most of them presume I have got a dedicated office manager and even when I have one, I do not want to force that person to stitch together workarounds. Clio comes close since it gets how legal case files flow and if Clio were a new company today I suspect they would model matters and clients more like Zola Suite does. The two alternatives I use most Clio and Xero are so tied to their cloud partners that it feels like they can't ship some obvious features without stepping on those integrations. So Zola wins for me because many other platforms rely on integrations with other apps that only sync one way and one-way syncing is useless for billing when I need a single authoritative source rather than juggling two places.

Cons

There are a few user interface quirks that I believe will get better over the next year. For instance, I don't use Zola for email, yet it sits front and center in the interface, which isn't helpful for my workflow even though it's not something I have to contort my processes around. I appreciate that they publish a roadmap, so I'm confident the platform will continue to evolve.

“Interface is intuitive and customizable

Pros

As someone who picks things up by doing, the interface feels so user friendly that I can teach myself while I go. I also like that nearly every setting can be tweaked so it looks and behaves exactly how I want without me having to jump through endless hoops to customize it. A couple of clicks and it is ready.

Cons

I don't have many complaints, honestly. There was a bug in the Google Calendar synchronization that caused events to be duplicated multiple times. Still, I'd rather get a duplicate reminder than miss something entirely! From what I can tell, that syncing issue appears to have been resolved now.

“Does accounting and client management

Pros

One thing I like is that it handles both accounting and client management functions, so I have everything I need housed in a single software package.

Cons

I'll need to continue using this software for a longer period before I can truly determine whether any of its functionalities have shortcomings and up to this point I haven't come across any issues.

“paperless process all-in-one

Pros

Between the RPost e-mail encryption and e-signature capabilities and the LawPay integration, together with everything Zola Suite already includes case management, custom forms, document automation, document management, excellent time tracking, client portal, business and trust accounting, etc. Plus I enjoy a smooth, paperless workflow that covers client intake and e-signing the engagement letter through doing the actual work, billing and receiving payment. I also do not need to learn another application to handle my firms bookkeeping and trust account. The iOS app is excellent and gives me the freedom to work from wherever there's internet or cellular coverage. The platform is simple and user freindly. When I hit a feature that is not immediately obvious, Zolas knowledge base and tutorial videos generally answer my questions. On the two times I have needed them, customer support has responded promptly. Ultimately, every time I use it, it reinforces my belief that choosing them for my law practice management was the right move. I also like how it streamlines workflows, reduces paper clutter and keeps everything centralized so I can focus on client work instead of administrative tasks.

Cons

I experienced a time when the e-mail sync was somewhat unstable and the document automation's merging of data from custom form fields didn't behave like the training video showed. Thankfully, both problems have been fixed and those features have functioned properly ever since without further issues reported.

“Stores information but navigation is difficult

Pros

I really appreciate that this program lets me keep huge amounts of information consolidated in one compact, well-organized place that I can quickly get to and consult whenever I need to down the road.

Cons

Sometimes the pages are hard to navigate and I often find it confusing to pinpoint where specific tools are located and to understand exactly what many of the other tools are supposed to be used for.

“Perfect for billing quick emails directly

Pros

The feature I appreciate most is being able to open the client's profile straight from an email I get and reply directly and the client is billed precisely for the actual time spent. I don't have to create a separate billing entry that eats up my time trying to account for a two-minute or three-minute email reply, which seems to occur more and more often.

Cons

Sometimes I accidentally close the program far too often, whether it's due to my mistake or a quirk in the software. Maybe the exit button should be placed somewhere else on the toolbar to prevent me from shutting it unintentionally so frequently.

“Find it easy to use

Pros

For me the interface is user friendly and self-explanatory and I have really appreciated how simple it is to log my time and quickly produce invoices for clients without any fuss.

Cons

Occasionally the site freezes or runs very slowly for me and I've had multiple occasions where a draft email vanished because the system locked up as in those moments I ended up rebuilding the entire message from scratch since it never saved any draft or backup of what I'd written.

“Document and email integration is useful

Pros

Having document management and email integrations has been incredibly helpful, letting my team and me work remotely whether we're at home or appearing in court. I've also been very impressed with Zola's customer support and the ongoing flow of innovations they keep introducing.

Cons

I wish Zola offered a separate tab for phone messages and allowed adding multiple team members to the same event. Another limitation is that Zola caps how many timers a team member can have running at one time to five, which becomes an issue when someone is juggling more than five cases simultaneously.

“Ease of use all in one

Pros

it is really easy to use. I also like that everythings tucked into one place, the features are excellent and it integrates smoothly with my other tools like LawPay.

Cons

I do find that there are frequent updates to introduce new features as while I appreciate the improvements, the constant changes in the software can sometimes slow down processing and make things feel sluggish.

“Customer service is prompt and helpful

Pros

I am really pleased with Zola's customer support as they are quick to respond and genuinely helpful whenever we need them. The interface itself feels user friendly and easy to move through, which makes daily use pleasant. Tracking time and creating invoices is also not a porblem now. We used to lose a lot of billable minutes because emails were not logged but with Zola when I open an email, pick the related matter and send it the timer has already been running and that time shows up on the matters timesheet. It also seems like Zola pushes useful updates frequently and adds features that actually help our workflow.

Cons

We've noticed Caseway still needs work. Our clients often struggle to get their Caseway accounts set up and it can be frustrating for them. That said, the team does keep releasing updates and improvements on a regular basis so it's getting better over time. One minor annoyance for us is that attachments can't be previewedit would be much more convenient to be able to view a file before downloading or saving it into Zola Docs rather than having to save everything first.

“Integrated email is unique

Pros

I love that e-mail is built in. As far as I am aware, it is the only browser-based case management tool that handles e-mail natively. With many other systems you end up BCC'ing messages to a special address to attach them to a matter but Zola lets me just pick the matter from a drop-down list. The support is excellent too. As they not only fix specific issues but also adapt the software as new needs emerge.

Cons

When it comes to accounting, the core features are there but they feel like the weakest area of the whole package. It's not a substitute for a full accounting system such as QuickBooks, yet I find it sufficient for managing the finances of small to mid-sized firms.

“Tracks Client Sources, Billing is Difficult

Pros

I like that the app lets me track which practice area brings in the most clients. Creating matters is also easy and helpful. On top of that, syncing the calendar to Google was a welcome feature even though it initially duplicated every entry.

Cons

Billing is a real headache for me because it does not link to our bank accounts, which ends up doubling how long invoicing takes. Fixing or adding details to a client's matter is not simple and there aren't any clear instructions to follow. I wish there were a proper how-to guide.

“Timekeeping and invoicing streamlined process

Pros

I've found the timekeeping and invoicing tools have really simplified my billing workflow and the way I handle trust account record-keeping.

Cons

While I've noticed a few quirks from time to time, their customer support is reliably on hand to help sort things out whenever needed.