The Top 10 Legal Project Management Tools

Most legal tech is focused on half of a lawyer’s day – drafting, reviewing, researching, summarizing. Great progress is being made and Generative AI can now help write a memo, review a contract, or summarize a judgment – but that’s only half the story. 

The real drain on legal time is the work about work: the endless emails, document versions, status updates, and matter trackers that keep everything moving (or not). 

And that problem is getting worse. With AI, lawyers touch more matters and more documents per day than ever before. The human context window — what one person can realistically hold in their head about the status of their matters and cases – is becoming strained. 

In almost every other industry, this has been solved by modern, connected project management systems. In law, we’re still managing billion-dollar transactions and cross-border disputes in Word tables, Excel trackers, and email chains. 

It’s time for a change. But where do you start? 

How We Chose These Tools 

For this list, we focused on platforms that help BigLaw manage the work about work. Each tool was evaluated based on: 

1. Integration – Does it connect with DMS, e-signature, collaboration, and finance systems? 

2. Automation – Can it streamline repetitive admin? 

3. Adoption – Will lawyers actually use it? 

4. Visibility – Can teams and clients see progress clearly? 

5. Scalability & Security – Does it handle enterprise-level matters securely? 

The Top 10 Legal Project Management Tools for BigLaw 

1. Lupl 

Overview: Lupl is a task management and workflow automation platform built specifically for law firms and designed to work across all teams and departments. 

Pros: Deep integrations with law firm tools; powerful automation engine and AI-powered matter delivery; custom dashboards; sector-grade compliance; clients join free. 
Cons: If the use case is limited to closings and signatures, dedicated tools may be a better fit. 

2. Tables in Word or Excel 

Overview: Still the default “project management system” in most law firms. Word tables and Excel trackers are flexible but disconnected, manual, and error-prone. 

Pros: Ubiquitous, simple, and cost-free. 
Cons: No automation, no collaboration, version chaos. 

3. HighQ (Thomson Reuters) 

Overview: A powerful collaboration and client-portal platform designed for global law firms. It offers document sharing, task management, and secure workspaces. 

Pros: Strong client-facing tools, enterprise-grade compliance, analytics. 
Cons: Complex implementation and premium pricing. 

4. Smartsheet 

Overview: Spreadsheet-style project management with automation, dashboards, and reporting. Commonly used in legal ops for tracking projects or budgets. 

Pros: Flexible templates, robust reporting, familiar spreadsheet feel for Excel users.  
Cons: Steep learning curve; key features cost extra; new pricing requires you to pay for external (client) users; no DMS integration support. 

5. Monday.com 

Overview: A visual work management tool with automation and AI features, suitable for custom legal workflows. 

Pros: Highly configurable, modern UI, good automation options. 
Cons: Requires setup effort; lacks legal integrations and compliance controls; no DMS integration support. 

6. Microsoft Planner 

Overview: A lightweight task management tool within Microsoft 365. Integrated with Teams and Outlook for basic project tracking. 

Pros: Simple, accessible in Outlook/Teams, and a limited free version is included in Microsoft 365. 
Cons: Limited reporting, limited permissions, unable to support complex multi-workstream matters, no DMS integration support, adoption tends to be poor. 

7. Asana 

Overview: A popular task and workflow management platform with a clean interface and automation rules. 

Pros: Easy to use, strong collaboration features. 
Cons: No DMS integrations; limited compliance controls for law firms; more “task management” than “legal project management”. 

8. Dashboard Legal 

Overview: A workspace for legal professionals to manage tasks and deadlines. 

Pros: Designed for lawyers, quick setup, clear dashboards, DMS integrations, Bloomberg content integration. 
Cons: Lacking automations for large-scale deployments. 

9. Closing Tools (Litera Transact, Legatics, Closing Folders, etc.) 

Overview: Transaction-specific tools that automate deal closings, signature collection, and binder creation. 

Pros: Huge time savings for deal closings, intuitive for lawyers. 
Cons: Narrower use case – not for full matter management. 

10. Sharedo (now Clio Operate) 

Overview: An enterprise workflow and case-management platform used by large law firms for complex, repeatable processes. 

Pros: Deep configurability, automation, data insights. 
Cons: Implementation-heavy and IT-dependent.  

Choosing the Right Tool 

When evaluating project management platforms, consider: 

• Integration: Does it connect with your existing stack? 

• Automation: Can it reduce manual admin? 

• Adoption: Will lawyers actually use it? 

• Visibility: Can you easily track progress across matters? 

• Security: Is it built for legal confidentiality and compliance? 

Lupl is the only platform that ticks all five boxes — combining integration, automation, and usability in one legal operating system. 

Final Thoughts

The next leap in legal productivity won’t come from smarter AI prompts — it’ll come from systems that help lawyers manage the work about work: the flow of information, documents, and decisions that make legal work actually happen. 

Other industries have already solved this with integrated project management systems. Law is next.