Firm Central vs Tabs3

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Our analysts compared Firm Central vs Tabs3 based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Legal Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Firm Central Software Tool

Product Basics

Firm Central is an end-to-end cloud-based solution that provides firms with a centralized interface to manage legal matters, accounting, calendaring, time tracking, billing and client communication. Users can track time and expenses efficiently from multiple devices and create flexible payment options and custom invoices for clients. Monitor legal workflows using its legal calendar with custom rules templates, deadline assistance, permissions-based access and multiple viewing options. Dashboards and reports provide up-to-date data-driven insights.

It offers robust data security with encryption, compliant servers and 24/7 security monitoring. It also provides continuous data backups and seamless integrations. Users can access it from anywhere, from any device.
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Tabs3 is an integrated suite of solutions designed for law firms to streamline their entire matter lifecycle. Practices can opt and pay for only the modules they need, which include billing, practice management, general ledger, accounts payable and trust accounting. It requires minimal implementation and can be deployed either in the cloud or on-premises. It has an array of ways to review important metrics, track billable hours, send bills and get paid faster.

In addition to modifying account structures with ease, users can stay on top of their cash flows by tracking and resolving invoices, bank statements, deposits and payments. It improves firm-wide monitoring with dashboards to visualize historical data and flexible reporting on productivity, profitability, billing and other aspects. Users can access it on the go from any device and use numerous integrations to enrich it.
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$40/User, Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
$40 Monthly
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
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Chromebook
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On-Premise
Mobile
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Product Assistance

Documentation
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Email
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Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
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Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Comprehensive Reports: Get detailed daily, weekly and monthly reports of billable and non-billable time tracked. Maximize accuracy by cross-checking before billing. 
  • Easy Access: Directly access Westlaw’s legal research network from the homepage. 
  • Customizable Dashboard: Customize the dashboard with status bars for crucial functions. 
  • Simplify Collaboration: Collaborate with clients and team members by integrating with SharePoint. 
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  • Expedited Billing: Boost cash flow with multiple payment modes, mobile payment options, and customizable statements and payment plans.  
  • Streamlined Data Management: Quickly find legal matters, records and case information with electronic data organization and easy-to-use search tools. 
  • Sync With Court Rules: Seamlessly sync the legal calendar to Federal and State-based jurisdictional rules with affiliations to ALA and ABA. 
  • All-in-One Connectivity: Stay connected regardless of the mode of deployment using a mobile app. 
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  • Matter Management: Manage legal matters, tasks, contacts, deadlines and documents from a single platform. Automate the client intake process and store an unlimited amount of documentation and files. 
    • Matter Search: Identify specific legal documents and files with the global search function. 
  • Collaboration: Securely share case files and calendar entries with all team members and counsels. Encourage collaboration between counsels and clients with a dedicated client portal. 
  • Task Management: Assign tasks to staff members, set reminders for important events and appointments and keep track of notifications. Monitor document reviews and updates and perform conflict checks across the client database. 
  • Time Tracking and Billing: Track every single minute of billable time with the Firm Central Time & BIlling portal. Create and operate trust funds, run reports and issue expedited invoices for faster payments. 
    • Financial Reporting: Generate reports with custom datasets to identify profitable practice areas, aging receivables, referral values, important clients and more. 
    • Financial Dashboard: Get real-time access to firm financials, outstanding bills, WIP, year-end reconciliations and more through a single interface. Use the dashboard insights for agile decision-making and strategic future planning. 
    • Time and Expense: Log billable hours with multiple timers from any computer or mobile device. Integrate time tracking and billing capabilities to directly invoice for the time entries. 
    • Billing: Prepare tailored payment plans and payment options for clients. Edit invoices and accept credit card payments with the ClientPay portal. 
  • Accounting: Manage separate trust and operating accounts with purpose-built accounting software. Process invoices ethically and in compliance with industry standards. 
    • Reports: Run regular accounting reports to measure profitability, discounts, write-offs, bank reconciliations, account transactions and more. Stay on top of the firm’s financial health to make informed decisions. 
    • Eliminate Error: Automate data entry to eliminate duplicate data and human errors. 
    • Compliance: Prepare an audit trail for all trust account transactions and simplify year-end reconciliations. Set up internal controls to protect financial data from leaks. 
  • Legal Calendar: Manage deadlines, events, hearings and more with the integrated legal calendar tool. 
    • Deadlines: The Deadlines Assistant automatically computes the deadlines of ongoing projects based on the rules set by the firm’s jurisdiction. Set up custom rules if required. 
    • Calendar Sync: Add, edit and update events in either the built-in calendar or Microsoft Outlook and automatically synchronize entries. 
    • Multiple Calendar Views: Allow all staff members to view the legal calendar for a holistic awareness of deadlines and appointments. Drill down on specific entries by matter and permissions. 
  • Mobile Application: Retain full control over legal matters and tasks while away from the office. Use the mobile application to securely access legal documents, matters, contacts, calendars and more. Track time and process expenses on the go. 
  • Security: Secure firm files and documentation in transit as well as in storage. Additionally, solve any data residency requirements with U.S.-based servers hosted by Thomson Reuters. 
    • Data Encryption: All connections to Firm Central servers are routed via HTTPS sessions with 256-bit SSL and TLS encryption. 
    • Compliance: Ensure the data security standards of the firm are compliant with SOC 2 Type II and AICPA regulations. Physical data centers are ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certified. 
  • Client Portal: Provide clients with an encrypted communication environment for secure collaboration with counsels. 
    • Communications: Share documents, bills, case updates, messages and more with clients in real time. Monitor all client activity and maintain a record of all communications. 
    • Self-service: Clients can check case files and matter information, receive push notifications and upload documents. 
    • Security: Maintain ABA ethics mandates with the self-service portal. Use permission-based controls to decide who gets access to what items and documents. 
  • Westlaw Compatibility: Subscribe to Westlaw for built-in case citation flags and integrated global search and research tools. 
  • Integrations: Integrate with multiple Thomson Reuters applications under the same platform. Available inclusions include Westlaw legal research, Westlaw Form Builder, Practical Law and Drafting Assistant. 
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  • Financial Management: Manage firm financials with the end-to-end accounting portal. Interact directly with the billing module to issue checks, print financial statements, operate trust accounts and perform year-end reconciliations. 
    • General Ledger: Balance operating and trust accounts with the general ledger tool. 
    • Accounts Payable: Track all incoming and outgoing transactions for a holistic view of firm financials. Monitor aging receivables, cash requirements, vendor payments, recurring payments and voided checks. 
    • Trust Accounting: Automatically log all transactions made from trust accounts. Reconcile deposits and withdrawals and print checks from the client’s trust fund. 
    • Integrations: Supports integrations with Tabs3 Billing Software, Tabs3 Accounts Payable Software and Tabs3 General Ledger Software. 
    • 1099 Forms: Combine payment disbursements to vendors and trust account payees with the 1099 form. Always maintain compliance with IRS regulations. 
  • Matter Management: View a quick feed of matter-specific information like contacts, communication history, case notes, documentation and invoices directly into the dashboard. Verify the billing summary of matter information and issue invoices against unpaid bills. 
  • Calendar Management: Switch between firm-wide and personal calendar views to get a 360-degree picture of firm obligations. Schedule individual and/or collective appointments and color-code them based on associated staff and activities. 
    • Deadline Checks: Automatically check new calendar entries against existing events for scheduling conflicts. Set up custom federal, state, county and jurisdiction-based rules for detecting deadlines. 
    • Notifications: Notify individual or collective staff members about important events and hearings. 
    • Recurring Meetings: Automate calendar entries for recurring events that take place at both regular and irregular time intervals. 
    • Planning Templates: Prepare sequential events with calendar planning templates. Use event-based or time-based triggers for court rules and collection follow-ups. 
  • Conflict Checks: Check all potential clients for conflicts of interest. Investigate legal documents, emails, matters and attachments for partial and/or phonetic matches to the conflict checking tool. 
  • Email Management: Integrate with Microsoft Outlook to automatically track time spent on writing and reviewing client emails. Add emails directly to client files, perform conflict checks and sort by associated matter. 
  • Time and Expense Tracking: Track every minute of time spent on client activities and correspondence with multiple built-in timers. Interact directly with the billing portal to issue invoices directly from time entries. Set custom billing and increment rates for individual clients. 
  • Document Management: Organize legal documents by connecting them to associated matters and clients. Import scanned documents using the PaperPort extension. Track various changes made to a document across previous versions. 
    • Smart Documents: Autofill common data fields with information already in the firm database. Automatically issue invoices for any document-related activity. 
  • Workflow Automation: Engineer custom workflow patterns with up to 10 tasks including emails, communication, documentation, appointments and more. Assign tasks to staff members with trigger-based alerts. 
  • Controlled Access: Restrict access to sensitive documents with permission-based accounts and customizable viewership controls. Permit edits for specific data fields. 
  • Backup and Recovery: Secure firm information with regular backups. Export firm data at any time in case of power outages or network failures. 
  • eNote: Send secure messages in real time with the built-in messaging portal. Send appointment links and reminders along with text messages. 
  • Billing: Use the billing portal to directly transform time entries into billable hours. Prepare tailored bills with quick access to client contacts, payment history, write-offs, WIP, account balance and more. 
    • Billing Flexibility: Process payments faster with flexible billing methods. Issue contingency, retainer, hourly, flat fee or threshold-based bills and design custom rate charts for specific clients. 
    • Online Payments: Accept credit card transactions for expedited payments. Use the Tabs3Pay tool to email online payment links along with client invoices. Supports integration for LawPay and ProPay. 
    • Reports: Generate built-in reports for greater insights into revenue, important clients, receivables, compensation, productivity, profitable practice areas and more. 
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Product Ranking

#37

among all
Legal Software

#49

among all
Legal Software

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Analyst Rating Summary

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Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

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Billing And Payments Calendaring And Legal Docketing Client And Contact Management Dashboard And Reporting Document Management Matter/Case Management Mobile Capabilities Task Management Time And Expense Management 96 69 83 69 64 78 67 100 0 25 50 75 100
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Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

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User Sentiment Summary

Good User Sentiment 141 reviews
Excellent User Sentiment 355 reviews
74%
of users recommend this product

Firm Central has a 'good' User Satisfaction Rating of 74% when considering 141 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

93%
of users recommend this product

Tabs3 has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 93% when considering 355 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

4.1 (5)
n/a
3.8 (11)
3.8 (27)
3.68 (62)
4.7 (160)
3.7 (62)
4.7 (166)
3.0 (1)
3.9 (2)

Awards

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Tabs3 stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Data Management: It provides easy and secure access to client records and legal matters, according to 100% of users mentioning data management.
Ease of Use: According to 83% of users who reviewed this aspect, the platform is user-friendly and easy to learn.
Sharing and Collaboration: All reviewers who mentioned this benefit said they found it easy to share and collaborate on legal matters, especially with access to SharePoint.
Task Management: According to 67% of users who reviewed this feature, the legal calendar simplifies tracking pending tasks, assignments and deadlines.
KPI Monitoring: Everyone reviewing this element said that the customizable dashboard made it easy to track KPIs.
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Intuitive Interface: Users highlight the user-friendliness of Tabs3, making it easy to navigate and manage legal tasks.
Comprehensive Features: Tabs3 is praised for its wide array of features, covering various aspects of legal practice management, from time tracking and billing to document management.
Robust Reporting: Users appreciate the detailed reporting capabilities of Tabs3, allowing for insightful analysis of financial and operational data.
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Functionality: Without integrations, it has limited functionalities, according to 57% of users mentioning this element.
Integrations: According to 71% of users who reviewed this feature, integrations can be buggy and expensive.
Service and Support: 64% of users who mentioned this aspect said they found the technical support lacking in knowledge and responsiveness.
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Limited Customization: Users have expressed frustration over the inflexibility of certain features, particularly when it comes to document assembly. For instance, one user found it cumbersome that they couldn't easily modify the formatting of numbered clauses within a legal document.
Learning Curve: Legal professionals transitioning from older software versions have reported a steep learning curve with Tabs3. The new interface and features require time and effort to master, impacting productivity during the transition phase.
Integration Challenges: Some users have encountered difficulties integrating Tabs3 with other essential software used in their legal practice. This lack of seamless integration can disrupt workflows and lead to inefficiencies.
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Firm Central provides legal practitioners with a capable practice management solution with direct access to Westlaw. It offers secure and fast web access to basic features, including time tracking, billing, accounting, and matter and task management modules. Access to Westlaw is an important asset and should weigh heavily on any acquisition decision. That said, multiple integrations can drive up costs and put a lot of pressure on the platform. Implementation and technical support can be hard to reach at times. Unless a Westlaw integration is absolutely essential to the firm, there are better options available in this price range.

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Users rave about Tabs3's robust document management and search capabilities, highlighting its ability to centralize all case-related information, making it easy to find any document quickly. They also appreciate the comprehensive financial tools, including billing, trust accounting, and reporting features, which streamline financial operations and ensure compliance. However, some users find the interface dated and not as intuitive as newer cloud-based solutions like Clio or MyCase. They also point out that the on-premise deployment option, while offering more control, can be more demanding to maintain than cloud-based alternatives. Despite these drawbacks, users consistently praise Tabs3's deep feature set and its long-standing reputation for reliability, making it a solid choice for firms prioritizing stability and comprehensive functionality over a modern user interface. It's particularly well-suited for larger, established firms with complex needs and the IT infrastructure to support an on-premise solution.

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