LegalEdge

Benefits:

There was no electronic data base before Legal Edge. Legal Edge was intuitive to set up, and Legal Edge was easy to train others in the use of. The support from Legal Edge has been outstanding. Re-contact by Legal Edge, after an issue is reported,is very quick. There are many, many types of reports. Legal Edge employees have gone out of their way to custom build reports as needed. Legal Edge is very user friendly for the Administrator. Legal Edge has been integrated with the Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System; this saves many hours of data entry and enhances accuracy within the data bae.

Drawbacks:

The reporting function needs a more defined way to identify what reports do what. The reporting choices are many, and difficult to separate out. There needs to be a method of highlighting reports that are used monthly.

In sum:

Prior to Legal Edge, our clients were tracked via a paper process. With the advent of Legal Edge, the tracking and recorded resolution of cases was greatly improved. The support staff has been very easy to work with and very responsive.

In sum:

I am not the most patient with learning new technology, but the software is not all that difficult. I love that the software is web based and is easy to learn. I honestly thought this would be a difficult process, but the ease of the software, training videos, and support staff make this process very fluid. The only difficulty I've encountered in learning the software is a result of the training videos being on you tube. The security settings at my employment don't allow me to review the videos as the office.

Benefits:

Import defendant cases; ability to manage cases , ability to customize workflows

Drawbacks:

Too many tabs, data could be presented on fewer tabs

In sum:

Ease of use, and containment of all cases in 1 location.

Benefits:

Once you get the hang of it, it is pretty simple to use.

Drawbacks:

It is very tab heavy. It seem some the information could be condensed.

In sum:

I have had a great experience with the support team. We have had some problems along the way. Some have been fixed quickly, others have taken some time to get fixed. It is nice to have a case management system that houses more than just the adverse party information and timekeeping.

Benefits:

I love the extent that this product can be customized. For a very small government office, it was hard finding a product that would reflect our needs (verse those of private and/or much bigger offices). The integration with Google is nice. The ability to search in the various grids is fantastic. I love the amount of information it can store, and the range of case matters that can be quickly and easily kept track off.

Drawbacks:

I wish in addition to being able to "name" each case that there was an added space that would appear on the dashboard and matter grids for the subject matter. So for example a construction contract with ABC Construction, Inc. could be "named" the contractor's name with a separate entry field that indicated "Annapolis Govt Building Renovations." This would help to sort out multiple matters with the same contractor/vendor more easily.

Benefits:

LegalEdge works closely with us to ensure software features mirror our work processes. Honestly, if I can dream it up, they can make it happen. The most impactful features of the case management system is the ability to interface with various other work products we need. This aids us in timely, automatic information sharing that is critical to our agency. Software is productive , consistently up and running, and is reliable. Customer service is AMAZING.

Drawbacks:

Not sure if I don't like something, we get it resolved.

In sum:

One of our initiatives is to minimize the amount of paper we process. One critical process is updating the state's criminal history database with case updates. This required us to mail paper updates by the thousands to the sate agency for manual data input. With grant funding, we were one of the first counties in the sate to automatically send the data through a data transfer process between our case management system and their electronic system. LegalEdge made that happen and it's been so exciting!

Benefits:

This product has served our office well. I like that we can call with a problem and people are there to help and resolve any issues. We can make suggestions and get either a work around or a change to make things work better. Everyone is super friendly and helpful.

Drawbacks:

Sometimes it seems like there is a lot of clicking to get the job done or the entry made, but you don't necessarily need to fill in all the blanks to utilize the software well. I hope to see a drop and drag feature that allows for upload of documents.

In sum:

We have had a good experience with this software. It does allow for easy access to all staff. All the information is kept in one central space. You can set up events and tasks easily for staff to complete.

Benefits:

The easy of implementation and user friendly environment.

Drawbacks:

The report writing capabilities and exporting of reports.

In sum:

Creating and managing a file management system for a large public defender's is no small feat. Bill and Jon Alvis via Legal Edge have managed to make this happen for us. The system communicates with various information systems to draw in pertinent and time-sensitive data. It is flexible in that you can manage your electronic file as a practitioner in the way it best suits your style. At certain times (high volume use) the system can be slow, but glitches are easy to fix. Overall, it's worth making the switch to American Defender to stay current wit the technology across all agencies.

In sum:

The software has be in use for over 10 years, the County used the old version and the new web version. The software has worked for us for many different processes we have by being easily customized by the vendor. The vendor has always offered exceptional support and training on site when needed. The vendor has a wide range of experience and many different court jurisdictions across the country that allows you to think of different ways to address process and/or any issue that may arise.